{"id":282,"date":"2024-11-17T21:30:11","date_gmt":"2024-11-17T21:30:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/wpmu.mau.se\/msm24group1\/?p=282"},"modified":"2024-11-17T21:48:21","modified_gmt":"2024-11-17T21:48:21","slug":"are-natural-disasters-natural","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/wpmu.mau.se\/msm24group1\/2024\/11\/17\/are-natural-disasters-natural\/","title":{"rendered":"Are Natural Disasters Natural?"},"content":{"rendered":"<div id=\"fb-root\"><\/div>\r\n<h1>Humanitarian Action or Alibi: Inequality Amidst Humanitarian Efforts<\/h1>\n<p>As the number of armed conflicts and natural disasters causing humanitarian emergencies continues to rise, the role of humanitarian actors is more crucial than ever. This JustHumanitarian blog aims to raise awareness, provide thoughtful insights, and engage a broad audience in discussions on key global challenges\u2014from disaster relief and refugee crises to human rights and sustainability. However, is there a glaring element that has been overlooked that further perpetuates inequality amidst humanitarian action?<\/p>\n<h2>Are Natural Disasters Natural?<\/h2>\n<p>This opening introduction from JustHumanitarianism brings a reflective and critical question to analyse: Are natural disasters indeed natural? Is the use of these terms a way to divert attention from the root issues, leading to the sensationalizing and simplifying of complex crises?<\/p>\n<p>Reflecting on the text from Carbon Colonialism, Dr. Laurie Parsons highlights that the intersection of dangerous hazards with vulnerability and economic inequality is not an accident of geography but rather a consequence of a global economy. This economy shapes vulnerability and ensures that some parts of the world remain more susceptible to climate change than others (Parsons, 2023).<\/p>\n<p><img fetchpriority=\"high\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone wp-image-288\" src=\"http:\/\/wpmu.mau.se\/msm24group1\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/96\/2024\/11\/india-landslide-2024-300x213.jpeg\" alt=\"\" width=\"485\" height=\"344\" srcset=\"https:\/\/wpmu.mau.se\/msm24group1\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/96\/2024\/11\/india-landslide-2024-300x213.jpeg 300w, https:\/\/wpmu.mau.se\/msm24group1\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/96\/2024\/11\/india-landslide-2024-1024x728.jpeg 1024w, https:\/\/wpmu.mau.se\/msm24group1\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/96\/2024\/11\/india-landslide-2024-768x546.jpeg 768w, https:\/\/wpmu.mau.se\/msm24group1\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/96\/2024\/11\/india-landslide-2024-1536x1092.jpeg 1536w, https:\/\/wpmu.mau.se\/msm24group1\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/96\/2024\/11\/india-landslide-2024-430x306.jpeg 430w, https:\/\/wpmu.mau.se\/msm24group1\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/96\/2024\/11\/india-landslide-2024.jpeg 2048w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 485px) 100vw, 485px\" \/><\/p>\n<p><span class=\"css-jevhma e13ogyst0\">The site of landslides in Kerala, India.<\/span><span class=\"css-1u46b97 e1z0qqy90\"><span class=\"css-1ly73wi e1tej78p0\">Credit:<\/span><span aria-hidden=\"false\">Francis Mascarenhas\/Reuters<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<p>Manufacturing disaster is a reality and a consequence of historical and ongoing global dynamics. Two centuries of carbon emissions may have increased the risk of natural hazards, but five centuries of domination shape the context in which they occur. Allowing disasters to happen is a choice that society continues to make. Thus, natural disasters are, in essence, economic disasters.<\/p>\n<p>The funding structure of international entities, dominated by powerful nation-states, ensures that actors from the Global North remain prominent in humanitarian decision-making (Roth, Purkayastha, &amp; Denskus, 2024). This dominance may lead external humanitarian actors to overlook the unintended consequences of foreign aid, such as providing emergency relief to economic disasters. This could also lead to a backlash effect, which often finds its roots in anti-colonialism. With centuries of dispossession and exploitation under the guise of &#8216;progress&#8217; have led to a deep-seated suspicion of foreign (especially Western) interference, passed down through generations (Koch, 2024, p. 27).<\/p>\n<p>Furthermore, what effects does humanitarian aid or emergency relief have on unintended migration and resettlement, whether voluntary or involuntary? For example, migratory pull effects may incentivize people to migrate or temporarily move to the site of aid intervention. Do these activities create more dependence, and does humanitarian aid obscure the economic and political factors contributing to these events?<\/p>\n<h2>A way forward<\/h2>\n<p>There is an opportunity for humanitarian practitioners, particularly in the communication for development sector, to reconsider the language used. Referring to these events as economic disasters instead of natural disasters could highlight the systemic issues where the environmental cost of wealth generation is paid in places far from where that wealth is accumulated (Parsons, 2023).<\/p>\n<p>Bringing the combined topic of climate and social injustice further into the mainstream is highly relevant for communication for development. It helps critically analyze the current status quo, better understand the politics and power relations shaping media and political thinking and is key to achieving meaningful action on climate change, which will continue to distress livelihoods in some of the world&#8217;s most geopolitically unstable regions.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<h5>REFERENCES<\/h5>\n<p>Parsons, L. (2023).\u00a0<em>Carbon Colonialism<\/em>. Manchester University Press.<\/p>\n<p>Roth, S., Purkayastha, B., &amp; Denskus, T. (Eds.). (2024).\u00a0<em>Handbook on Humanitarianism and Inequality<\/em>. Edward Elgar Publishing.<\/p>\n<p>Koch, D.-J. (2024).\u00a0<em>Foreign Aid and Its Unintended Consequences<\/em>. Routledge.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Humanitarian Action or Alibi: Inequality Amidst Humanitarian Efforts As the number of armed conflicts and natural disasters causing humanitarian emergencies continues to rise, the role of humanitarian actors is more crucial than ever. This JustHumanitarian blog aims to raise awareness, provide thoughtful insights, and engage a broad audience in discussions &hellip;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":718,"featured_media":288,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-282","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-disaster-response"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.1.1 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\r\n<title>Are Natural Disasters Natural? - JustHumanitarianism<\/title>\r\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\r\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/wpmu.mau.se\/msm24group1\/2024\/11\/17\/are-natural-disasters-natural\/\" \/>\r\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\r\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\r\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Are Natural Disasters Natural? - JustHumanitarianism\" \/>\r\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Humanitarian Action or Alibi: Inequality Amidst Humanitarian Efforts As the number of armed conflicts and natural disasters causing humanitarian emergencies continues to rise, the role of humanitarian actors is more crucial than ever. 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