Abstract
Studies in disaster research often begin with an attempt at defining what this area covers. Enrico Quarantelli in What is a Disaster? explains how his interest in definitions took shape as almost fifty years of empirical research had failed to ‘address the central concept of the field’—that is ‘disaster’ (Quarantelli, What Is a Disaster? London and New York: Routledge, 1998, 3).
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Notes
- 1.
Ksenia Chmutina and Jason von Meding broadly define this ‘field’ as comprising ‘any research that is focused on disasters and their components, and ranges from human geography to history to structural engineering’ (Chmutina and Meding 2019, 284).
- 2.
On the contested notion of ‘natural’ disaster see for example: Harold Brook, ‘Environmental Damage: Distinguishing Human from Geophysical Causes’, Environmental Hazards, 1, 1999, 3–11; Katiuscia Fara, ‘How Natural Are “Natural Disasters”—Vulnerability to Drought of Communal Farmers in Southern Namibia’, Risk Management, Vol. 3, No. 3, 2001, 47–63; Chmutina, K. and J. von Meding, J.C. Gaillard, and L. Bosher, ‘Why Natural Disasters Aren’t All That Natural’, Open Democracy. https://www.opendemocracy.net/ksenia-chmutina-jason-von-meding-jc-gaillard-lee-bosher/why-natural-disasters-arent-all-that-natural; R. Jigyasu, ‘Disaster: A “Reality” or “Construct”? Perspective from the “East”’ in R.W. Perry and E.L. Quarantelli (eds.), What Is a Disaster? New Answers to Old Questions, Xlibris, 2005, 49–59.
- 3.
See https://news.harvard.edu/gazette/story/2020/04/harvard-experts-discuss-climate-change-fears/ (Date accessed: 23 November 2021).
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Patel, S. (2023). General Introduction. In: Patel, S., Chiari, S. (eds) The Writing of Natural Disaster in Europe, 1500–1826. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-12120-3_1
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