A Dilemma of Language: “Natural Disasters” in Academic Literature

Abstract

For decades sections of the academic community have been emphasizing that disasters are not natural. Nevertheless, politicians, the media, various international organizations—and, more surprisingly, many established researchers working in disaster studies—are still widely using the expression “natural disaster.” We systematically analyzed the usage of the expression “natural disaster” by disaster studies researchers in 589 articles in six key academic journals representative of disaster studies research, and found that authors are using the expression in three principal ways: (1) delineating natural and human-induced hazards; (2) using the expression to leverage popularity; and (3) critiquing the expression “natural disaster.” We also identified vulnerability themes that illustrate the context of “natural disaster” usage. The implications of continuing to use this expression, while explicitly researching human vulnerability, are wide-ranging, and we explore what this means for us and our peers. This study particularly aims to stimulate debate within the disaster studies research community and related fields as to whether the term “natural disaster” is really fit for purpose moving forward.

Keywords

Academic communication / Disasters / Natural hazards / Language

References

[1] AragÓn-Durand, F.D.J. 2009. Unpacking the social construction of “natural” disaster through policy discourses and institutional responses in Mexico: The case of Chalco Valley’s floods, State of Mexico. Ph.D. thesis, University College London, Lodon. http://discovery.ucl.ac.uk/18983/1/18983.pdf. Accessed 3 Sept 2019.

[2] Ball N. The myth of the natural disaster. Ecology, 1975, 5(10): 368-369.

[3] Bankoff G. Rendering the world unsafe: “Vulnerability” as western discourse. Disasters, 2001, 25(1): 19-35

[4] Bankoff, G. 2010. No such thing as natural disasters. Harvard International Review. 23 August 2010. http://hir.harvard.edu/article/?a=2694. Accessed 3 Sept 2019.

[5] Bankoff G. Remaking the world in our own image: Vulnerability resilience and adaptation as historical discourses. Disasters, 2019, 43(2): 221-239

[6] Brookfield H. Environmental damage: Distinguishing human from geophysical causes. Global Environmental Change Part B: Environmental Hazards, 1999, 1(1): 3-11

[7] Bull-Kamanga L, Diagne K, Lavell A, Leon E, Lerise F, MacGregor H, Maskrey A, Meshack M From everyday hazards to disasters: The accumulation of risk in urban areas. Disasters, 2003, 15(1): 193-203.

[8] Cannon T. Varley A. Vulnerability analysis and explanation of “natural” disasters. Disasters, development and environment, 1994, London: John Wiley and Sons 13-30.

[9] Cardona OD. Bankoff G, Frerks G, Hilhost D. The need for rethinking the concepts of vulnerability and risk from a holistic perspective: A necessary review and criticism for effective risk management. Mapping vulnerability: Disasters, development and people, 2003, London: Earthscan 37-51.

[10] Chipangura P, van Niekerk D, van Der Waldt G. An exploration of objectivism and social constructivism within the context of disaster risk. Disaster Prevention and Management, 2016, 15(2): 261-274

[11] Chmutina K, Bosher L. Risk reduction or risk production: The social influences upon the implementation of DRR into construction project in Barbados. International Journal of Disaster Risk Reduction, 2015, 13: 10-19

[12] Chmutina, K., J. von Meding, and L. Bosher. 2019. Language matters: Dangers of the “natural disaster” misnomer. Contributing paper to Global Assessment Report (GAR) 2019. https://www.preventionweb.net/publications/view/65974. Accessed 3 Sept 2019.

[13] Chmutina, K., J. von Meding, J.C. Gaillard, and L. Bosher. 2017. Why natural disasters aren’t all that natural. OpenDemocracy. https://www.opendemocracy.net/ksenia-chmutina-jason-von-meding-jc-gaillard-lee-bosher/why-natural-disasters-arent-all-that-natural. Accessed 3 Sept 2019.

[14] Fothergill A, Maestas EGM, DeRouen Darlington J. Race, ethnicity and disasters in the United States: A review of the literature. Disasters, 1999, 23(2): 156-173

[15] Gaillard JC. Disaster studies inside out. Disasters, 2019, 43(1): 7-17

[16] Gaillard JC, Liamzon CC, Villanueva JD. “Natural” disaster? A retrospect into the causes of the late-2004 typhoon disaster in Eastern Luzon, Philippines. Environmental Hazards, 2007, 7(4): 257-270

[17] Gee J. An introduction to discourse analysis: Theory and method, 1999, London and New York: Routledge

[18] Gill, J.C. 2015. How “natural” is “natural disaster”? EGU blogs. https://blogs.egu.eu/network/gfgd/2015/01/16/how-natural-is-a-natural-disaster/. Accessed 3 Sept 2019.

[19] Gould KA, Garcia MM, Remes JAC. Beyond “natural-disasters-are-not-natural”: The work of state and nature after the 2010 earthquake in Chile. Journal of Political Ecology, 2016, 23(1): 93-114

[20] Harris, K., D. Keen, and T. Mitchell. 2013. When disasters and conflicts collide: Improving links between disaster resilience and conflict prevention. https://www.odi.org/sites/odi.org.uk/files/odi-assets/publications-opinion-files/8228.pdf. Accessed 3 Sept 2019.

[21] Harrowell E, Ozerdem A. Understanding the dilemmas of integrating post-disaster and post-conflict reconstruction initiatives: Evidence from Nepal, Sri Lanka and Indonesia. International Journal of Disaster Risk Reduction, 2019

[22] Hewitt K. Interpretations of calamity from the viewpoint of human ecology, 1983, Boston: Allen and Unwin

[23] Hsu EL. Must disasters be rapidly occurring? The case for an expanded temporal typology of disasters. Time & Society, 2017, 28(3): 904-921

[24] Ivanič R. Writing and identity: The discoursal construction of identity in academic writing, 1998, Amsterdam: John Benjamins e-platform

[25] Kelman, I. 2010. Natural disasters do not exist (natural hazards do not exist either) Version 3, 9 July 2010 (Version 1 was 26 July 2007). http://www.ilankelman.org/miscellany/NaturalDisasters.rtf. Accessed 3 Sept 2019.

[26] Kelman I. Lost for words amongst disaster risk science vocabulary?. International Journal of Disaster Risk Science, 2018, 9(3): 281-291

[27] Kelman I, Gaillard JC, Lewis J, Mercer J. Learning from the history of disaster vulnerability and resilience research and practice for climate change. Natural Hazards, 2016, 82(1): 129-143

[28] Kolawole A. Responses to natural and man-made hazards in Borno, Northeast Nigeria. Disasters, 1987, 11(1): 59-66

[29] Lewis J. Risk, vulnerability and survival: Some post-Chernobyl implications for people, planning and civil defence. Local Government Studies, 1987, 13(4): 75-93

[30] Masters RD, Kelly C. The collected writings of Rousseau., 1990, Hanover, Lebanon, NH: University Press of New England

[31] Miskimmon A, O’Loughlin B, Roselle L. Strategic narratives: Communication power and the new world order, 2013, New York: Routledge

[32] Mora S. Disasters are not natural: Risk management, a tool for development. Geological Society London Engineering Geology Special Publications, 2009, 22(1): 101-112

[33] O’Brien G, O’Keefe P, Rose J, Wisner B. Climate change and disaster management. Disasters, 2006, 30(1): 64-80

[34] O’Keefe P, Westgate K, Wisner B. Taking the naturalness out of natural disasters. Nature, 1976, 260(5552): 566-567

[35] Oliver-Smith T. The Martyred City: Death and rebirth in the Andes, 1986, Albuquerque: University of New Mexico Press

[36] Oxford English Language Dictionary. 2019. Online edition. https://www.oed.com/. Accessed 5 Sept 2019.

[37] Pelling M. Castree N, Braun B. Natural disaster?. Social nature. Theory, practice and politics, 2001, London: Blackwell 170-188.

[38] Rahman MH. Earthquakes don’t kill, built environment does: Evidence from cross-country data. Economic Modelling, 2018, 70(C): 458-468

[39] Smith, N. 2005. “There’s No Such Thing as a Natural Disaster”. Understanding Katrina: Perspectives from the social sciences. http://understandingkatrina.ssrc.org/Smith. Accessed 3 Sept 2019.

[40] Staupe-Delgado R. Analysing changes in disaster terminology over the last decade. International Journal of Disaster Risk Reduction, 2019

[41] Sun L, Faas AJ. Social production of disasters and disaster social constructs: An exercise in disambiguation and reframing. Disaster Prevention and Management, 2018, 27(5): 623-635

[42] Sutter, J. 2018. How to talk about hurricanes now. CNN News, 11 October 2018. https://edition.cnn.com/2018/10/10/health/sutter-natural-disaster-hurricane-michael/index.html. Accessed 3 Sept 2019.

[43] UNDP (United Nations Development Programme). 2011. Disaster-conflict interface: Comparative experiences. http://www.undp.org/content/dam/undp/library/crisis%20prevention/DisasterConflict72p.pdf. Accessed 3 Sept 2019.

[44] UNDRR (United Nations Office for Disaster Risk Reduction). 2019. Global Assessment Report 2019. https://gar.unisdr.org/. Accessed 3 Sept 2019.

[45] UNISDR (United Nations International Strategy for Disaster Reduction). 2010. Natural hazards, unnatural disasters: the economics of effective prevention. http://www.unisdr.org/we/inform/publications/15136. Accessed 3 Sept 2019.

[46] UNISDR (United Nations International Strategy for Disaster Reduction). 2018. Terminology. https://www.unisdr.org/we/inform/terminology#letter-d. Accessed 3 Sept 2019.

[47] von Meding, J., G. Forino, J.C. Gaillard, and K. Chmutina. 2017. Grenfell tower fire exposes the injustice of disasters. The conversation. https://theconversation.com/grenfell-tower-fire-exposes-the-injustice-of-disasters-79666. Accessed 3 Sept 2019.

[48] Wallace-Wells D. The uninhabitable earth: Life after warming, 2019, London: Allen Lane

[49] Ward PS, Shively GE. Disaster risk, social vulnerability, and economic development. Disasters, 2017, 41(2): 324-351

[50] Wisner B, Blaikie P, Cannon T, Davis I. At risk: Natural hazards, people’s vulnerability and disasters, 2004 2 London and New York: Routledge

[51] Youngman N. The development of manufactured flood risk: New Orleans’ mid-century growth machine and the hurricane of 1947. Disasters, 2015, 39(S2): 166-187