In very graphic ways, disasters serve as indices of the success or failure of a society to adapt, for whatever reasons, to certain features of its natural and socially constructed environment in a sustained fashion (Oliver-Smith 2002). To adequately analyze disasters the barrier between human activity and eco-system activity must be collapsed, transforming a relationship of difference into a relationship of mutuality. Thus, disasters occur at the interface of society, technology and environment and are fundamentally the outcomes of the intersection of these features. This perspective shifted the focus away from the disaster event and towards the “on-going societal and man-environment relations that prefigure ”(Hewitt 1983: 24-27). Hewitt (1983) posited that most natural disasters are more explainable in terms of the “normal” order of things, that is, the conditions of inequality and subordination in the society rather than the accidental geophysical features of a place. Although the term “disaster” actually refers to a process, essentially the disruption of social functions, it is generally employed to characterize an event or agent such as Hurricane Mitch or the Northridge Earthquake.ĭespite a popular construction of disasters as “acts of God” or “fate” in which nobody is really responsible, there has been a general reconsideration in the scientific community of this event/agent focused perspective. Perhaps because the term is so widely and loosely used, disasters are quite difficult to define. However, regardless of region, some form of displacement of individuals and communities frequently results from the threat or impact of a disaster.īoth disaster and forced migration are terms that are used to describe a wide variety of environmental and social processes. In fact, disaster risk and losses have dramatically increased, but unevenly so according to region (International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies 2003). Greater numbers of people are more vulnerable to natural and other hazards than ever before, due in part to increases in population, but more so to their location in dangerous areas. Disasters are, in fact, increasing in impact and scope through the combined effects of economic, social, demographic, ideological and technological factors. Virtually the entire population of the city has been displaced, a large proportion of it perhaps permanently, presenting a host of profound economic, social and psychological challenges to individuals, communities and all levels of government.ĭespite technological and scientific advances in prediction and mitigation, we have seen a serious increase in both mortality and economic losses from disasters since 1960, particularly in the developing world. Hurricane Katrina’s impact on New Orleans was compounded by an excessive dependence on technology and half a century’s assault on the natural defenses of the environment of southern Louisiana, leaving the city tragically vulnerable. The increasing complexity of disasters is rooted in the interplay of social and economic factors in the environment, exacerbating the vulnerability of people and environments and intensifying their impacts when they occur. However, today, more than ever, the complex nature of disasters such as Hurricane Katrina in the city of New Orleans, bring with them an enormous potential for the uprooting of large numbers of people. Migration, whether permanent or temporary, has always been a traditional response or survival strategy of people confronting the prospect, impact or aftermath of disasters (Hugo 1996).
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