By Deborah Storie. Disasters are rarely "natural". Disasters occur when communities are affected by hazards that exceed their capacity to cope. Hazards that are disastrous for some may merely inconvenience, or even benefit, others. For instance, floods which destroy the livelihoods of communities farming marginal riverbanks may minimally impact urban communities above flood plains, and be welcomed by landowners who rely on regular flooding to replenish their fields. Similarly, labour-saving innovations materially benefit factory owners, shareholders and consumers but challenge workers to adapt to changing employment opportunities, devastating those with little capacity to change. "Natural" hazards (droughts, floods, earthquakes, landslides) exact a disproportionate toll from the poor, but this does not mean that they constitute the greatest threat to poor communities. Their vulnerability results from complex arrays of forces that shape societies and individuals in profound ways. At a global level, poverty-associated disability, death and displacement far exceed…
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