Critique The term natural disaster has been called a misnomer already in 1976. A disaster is a result of a natural hazard impacting a vulnerable community. But disasters can be avoided. Earthquakes, droughts, floods, storms, and other events lead to disasters because of human action and inaction. Poor land and policy planning and deregulation can create worse conditions. They often involve development activities that ignore or fail to reduce the disaster risks. Nature alone is blamed for disasters even when disasters result from failures in development. Disasters also result from failure of societies to prepare. Examples for such failures include inadequate building norms, marginalization of people, inequities, overexploitation of resources, extreme urban sprawl and climate change.
Critique The term natural disaster has been called a misnomer already in 1976. A disaster i.s a result of a natural hazard impacting a vulnerable community. But disasters can be avoided. Earthquakes, droughts, floods, storms, and other events lead to disasters because of human action and inaction. Poor land and policy planning and deregulation can create worse conditions. .They often involve development activities that ignore or fail to reduce the disaster risks. Nature alone is blamed for disasters even when disasters result from failures in development. Disasters also result from failure of societies to prepare. Examples for such failures include inadequate building norms, marginalization of people, inequities, overexploitation of resources, extreme urban sprawl and climate change.