From Yardstick to Gyroscope -
Interdisciplinary Methods for the Long-Term Study of Social-Ecological Systems
Natural & Unnatural Disasters: Assessing risk, vulnerability, and adaptability
Instructor - Anthony Oliver-Smith
Date - April 14

Comfort, L., B. Wisner, S. Cutter, R. Pulwarty, K. Hewitt, A. Oliver-Smith, J. Weiner, M. Fordham, W. Peacock, and F. Krimgold. 1999. Reframing Disaster Policy: The Global Evolution of Vulnerable Communities. Environmental Hazards 1:39-44. Publication

A disaster is widely perceived as an event that is beyond human control; the capricious hand of fate moves against unsuspecting communities creating massive destruction and prompting victims to call for divine support as well as earthly assistance. We challenge these notions and argue that, instead of helping us to understand and ameliorate the root conditions of disaster, they actually perpetuate and worsen them. We call for an explicit analysis of the circumstances that make human communities vulnerable to unforeseen natural and technological events.

There is a widespread failure to recognize and address connections between changes in land use, settlement policies, population distributions and the accompanying degradation of habitats on the one hand and dramatically increased levels of hazard exposure and vulnerability on the other. We propose that human vulnerability - those circumstances that place people at risk while reducing their means of response or denying them available protection - becomes an integral concern in the development and evaluation of disaster policies. We must change the policies of today that rely heavily on sending assistance only after tragedy has occurred.