People and community as constituent parts of hazards: the significance of societal dimensions in hazards analysis |
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| Authors: | C Emdad Haque David Etkin |
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| Institution: | (1) Natural Resources Institute, University of Manitoba, Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada, R3T 2N2;(2) Emergency Management Program, Atkinson Faculty of Liberal and Professional Studies, 4700 Keele Street, Toronto, Ontario, Canada, M3J 1P3 |
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| Abstract: | Nature-triggered hazards and disasters have traditionally been treated only from the lens of geophysical and biophysical processes,
implying that the root cause of large-scale death and destruction lies in the natural domain rather than in a coupled human–environment
system. Conceptually, the physical domain has been seen as discrete and separate from human entities, and solutions were sought
in the technological intervention and control of the physical environment—solutions that often ended up being less effective
than hoped for and sometimes even counter productive. At all levels, institutions have directed and redirected most of their
financial and logistical resources into the search for scientific and engineering solutions without allocating due attention
and resources towards the assessment of effects and effectiveness of the applications of such technological outcomes. However,
over the last two decades, forceful criticisms of the ‘dominant’ technocratic approach to hazards analysis have appeared in
the literature and consequently there has not only been a shift in thinking of causation of disaster loss in terms of human
vulnerability, but also newer questions have arisen regarding distinguishing between the ‘physical exposure’ of people to
threats and societal vulnerability, and linking them with propensity to hazards loss.
Though the vulnerability/resilience paradigm has largely replaced the hazards paradigm within the social sciences and much
of the professional emergency and disaster management communities, this shift of thinking has not progressed to much of the
physical science community, decision-makers and the public, who have not yet accepted the idea that understanding and using
human and societal dimensions is equally or more important than trying to deal and control nature through the use of technology.
This special issue is intended to further the idea that the aspects of community and peoples’ power to mitigate, to improve
coping mechanisms, to respond effectively, and recover with vigor against the environmental extremes are of paramount conceptual
and policy importance. |
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| Keywords: | Risk Hazards Vulnerability Resilience Community Disaster management Canada United States Bangladesh |
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