Disaster Research and Policy, History

Definition

Disasters are not new phenomena. Disasters have affected humans throughout history and, consequently different forms of research (that evolved into the modern scientific method) as well as policies have been applied to deal with them. Overall, these approaches have moved from assuming a lack of control over disasters, to blaming external forces such as the “hazard” along with people affected by “hazards,” to more recent approaches accepting that humans are responsible for creating the conditions that lead to disasters. To fully tackle disasters, research shows that policies should focus on reducing vulnerability which is created by humans, usually affecting others.

Introduction

Disasters have long been viewed principally as natural hazards through physical science disciplines such as seismology, volcanology, climatology, geomorphology, hydrology, and meteorology. Up until the mid-twentieth century, the responsibility for the occurrence of disasters that include physical...