Regulation and Coupling of Society and Nature in the Context of Natural Hazards

Abstract

Disasters are often viewed as sudden onset events triggered by external shocks impacting on societies and causing major harm and losses. However, most disasters linked to hazards of natural origin – such as the Cyclone Nargis (May 2008) which devastated the Irrawady-Delta in Burma with more than 100,000 fatalities, the Hurricane Katrina (August 2005) that caused major losses and harm particularly in New Orleans, and the Indian Ocean Tsunami (December 2004) that left more than 230,000 dead behind – are characterized by a major crisis and partial collapse of communities and socio-ecological systems as well as by important changes and feedback processes during and after the disaster. To achieve a better understanding of disasters and to derive lessons learned for future risk reduction endeavours, a more comprehensive perspective on these regulation and coupling processes is needed.