In Harm's Way: Rethinking "Natural Disasters"
We cannot say that disasters are natural. Some physical events are natural, but the effects of these events are not natural; they are built on social practices. Disasters are socio-natural events. If we accept this, then we must accept the idea that disasters can be prevented.
The term "natural disaster" is familiar to us all. We're accustomed to thinking of it as a dramatic event where nature and humans collide in ways that are both unavoidable and unavoidably tragic. Yet a closer look at how events like earthquakes, volcanoes, droughts, floods, and tsunamis become tragedies reveals that these events of nature, while powerful, only trigger disasters if vulnerable communities are exposed to their destructive force.
A river overflowing its banks is simply a natural phenomenon; it becomes a disaster only if communities located in low-lying areas—perhaps because they have no affordable alternatives—lose their homes, farms, and loved ones to the flooding.
Likewise, a volcano that erupts in an uninhabited area can hardly be called a tragedy. But when—for lack of safer options—communities live on the side of a volcano, an eruption can be disastrous.
Earthquakes may appear to affect rich and poor alike, but this is far from true. Earthquakes produce landslides on steep hillsides and the edges of ravines—areas often occupied by the poorest of the poor. Those with the fewest resources can seldom afford to build earthquake-resistant features into their houses. And the poor lack insurance to provide for them if an earthquake destroys their homes or their means of making a living.
Oxfam's program to reduce disaster risks
Responding to disasters when they occur is a crucial part of Oxfam's humanitarian mission. Saving lives, upholding the health and dignity of disaster survivors, and providing support for communities to build back better than before continue to be top priorities. But finding ways to help communities prepare for emergencies and prevent natural events from becoming disasters is the cutting edge of our work.
Oxfam's work to help communities reduce disaster risks in regions that are prone to floods, earthquakes, droughts, and volcanoes includes:
- preventing injury, loss, and death, community by community;
- planting trees to prevent catastrophic flooding;
- training communities to become effective emergency responders in regions that experience powerful earthquakes, hurricanes, and floods;
- improving water sources in areas where droughts periodically decimate the livelihoods of impoverished communities; and
- providing the means for communities to store food and seeds in regions where harsh weather and pest infestations often cause devastating food shortages.
- advocating for risk-reduction efforts
Disaster prevention also takes the form of helping ensure that resources from national governments and international agencies are directed at reducing risks, not simply at responding to disasters after they've occurred. In El Salvador, for example, an Oxfam partner co-authored a law that for the first time requires that disaster preparedness be incorporated into development planning. - addressing root causes of disasters: inequities and global poverty
Extreme poverty translates into extreme vulnerability at times of emergency. Oxfam's work to end global poverty includes campaigning for fair trade, advocating for wealthy nations to lift the crippling burden of debt from impoverished countries, helping strengthen the voices of women and of other vulnerable and disenfranchised groups, and assisting marginalized communities around the world through microfinance programs.
Read about how Oxfam's disaster-preparedness programs in El Salvador are strengthening communities.
Read a profile of Luis Romano, a risk-reduction specialist whose organization partners with Oxfam in El Salvador.
Lastest update: November 2006
