Disaster by Choice

Ilan Kelman

Natural hazards are just part of the earth’s natural life cycle. They happen all the time in uninhabited areas without consequence; only when they impact lives and livelihoods do they become disasters. In life, we make choices, and those choices have consequences, some good, some bad, such as we have the choice rather or not to be in natural hazards these impact areas. So, since we have a choice between natural hazard and disaster and our choices determine the difference, is there such a thing as a “Natural Disaster,”? or is it just the consequence of bad decision-making on our part?

We are our own worst enemy when it comes to disaster, where we choose to live, and our impacts on the environment; instead of or not, we listen to warnings and alerts, all contributing factors to the effects of natural hazards. Our own choices and what we do are the difference between a natural hazard just running its course and a catastrophic event. We created our vulnerability when we lived in hazard-prone areas, compounding these vulnerabilities by not preparing for disaster, implementing mitigations, or adhering to mitigation attempts of public officials.

But sometimes, the choice is made for us through discrimination, poverty, and incompetent leaders making poor decisions. Decisions on where to invest money on mitigation projects to protect communities and preparedness efforts are subject to decision-maker biases. People living in poverty cannot afford to be discerning about where they live, invest in a disaster kit, or implement mitigation measures such as insurance, floodproofing, or even evacuation. All the while, incompetent leaders make poor decisions on laws, policy, and even building codes failing to protect the very community they serve, and, in this country, we choose who makes those decisions for us. These vulnerabilities that have been created did not happen overnight. They took a long time and are deeply entrenched in our society; mitigating these vulnerabilities will not happen quickly either.

Disaster is a result of choices, ones we make or ones made for us. We must make the best decisions about our options, like where we live, the environmental impacts we make on the earth that contribute to the severity of natural hazards, and who we elect to decide on our behalf. Mitigation measures we adopt to reduce the impacts of hazards. We suffer from a chronic human condition of vulnerability which increases the likelihood and impact disasters have on us. The only cure for our condition is us and our choices. So, let’s choose to do better.

Take-Aways

The difference between a natural hazard and a disaster is our choices. If we choose to be vulnerable, we will suffer, but we can choose to reduce our vulnerability.

The socially vulnerable members of our communities deserve our attention as Emergency Managers because they lack the choices our better-off community members have. We should deliberate efforts to engage with these communities to reduce their vulnerabilities and the impacts they will have on our response resources.

Natural disasters are not “natural”; they are a result of choices we have (or have not) made or that were (or were not) made for us. Disastrous events dramatically expose our vulnerabilities and allow us to make better choices moving forward.

We can reduce our vulnerabilities, but we must choose to do so contentiously.