Political inequality and local government capacity for Disaster Risk Reduction: Evidence from Mexico

•Capacity inputs for DRR are unequally distributed among Mexican municipalities.•Better levels of capacity do not translate into less emergency/disaster declarations.•A correlation between declarations and hazard exposure is not statistically conclusive.

The susceptibility of different territorial units to be affected by natural hazards has been usually associated with the type and intensity of the hazard itself, together with the socio-economic conditions of the population. However, the political conditions that underlie planning and emergency response have been less explored. We argue that the capacity of local governments to reduce and manage risk in decentralised countries varies is influenced by internal political inequalities regarding financial, normative and operative resources. This paper reviews the conceptual links among political inequalities, decentralisation and risk reduction, and applies these categories to a quantitative analysis of the correlation between capacity resources and disaster and emergency declarations issued for hazard-exposed municipalities in Mexico. The evidence shows the extent to which institutional capacities are unequally distributed among municipalities and proves that even in cases with better levels of capacity resources, such resources have not translated into less emergency and disaster declarations.