How Are Natural Disasters Socially Constructed? Essay

All disasters are either natural or man-made. Majority of the United States’ most costly disasters have been natural disasters (Steinberg, 2006). Ted Steinberg, an environmental historian, uses Acts of God to analyze how American interference with nature intensifies the harmfulness of natural disasters. Steinberg (2006), states “those in power have tended to view these events as purely natural in an effort to justify a set of responses that has proved both environmentally unsound, and socially, if not morally, bankrupt”(p.19). This book selectively exhibits solid facts pertaining to specific natural disasters; namely hurricanes, floods, and earthquakes. In this manner, Steinberg attempts to persuade readers of the idea that natural disasters are not outside of human control or consequence. The idea of an “act of God” was initially from the idea that natural disasters were a result of punishment for sin (Steinberg, 2006). When Americans started to venture from the idea of natural disasters being a result of human actions, the assumption arose that natural disasters were without human culpability.

A natural disaster is a natural event such as a flood, earthquake, or hurricane that causes great damage or loss of life. “The Perfect Storm” by Sebastian Junger and “Super Disasters of the 21st Century” by Jacqueline Adams describes the cause and effect of nature’s savagery. Each author uses similar and different strategies and techniques to accomplish this goal. In an excerpt from the article “Super Disasters of the 21st Century,” Jacqueline Adams points out recent disasters and provides an in depth look at how hurricanes, earthquakes, and tsunamis occur and the devastation that result. In an excerpt from “The Perfect Storm”, Sebastian Junger combines a first person anecdote

Imagine living your life on a regular day for you and BOOM! Your life is now suddenly completely changed, everything you thought was normal or part of you has changed. This is what natural disasters tend to make happen in your life, they affect us in many ways. In this essay i will discuss the various elements each author uses to express the causes and effects of disasters. The author Jacqueline Adam clearly expresses the causes and effects of disasters through the use of text structure, choice of vocabulary and use of data and details.

Disasters, whether natural or manmade, can happen anytime and anywhere, without warning. An earthquake, hurricane, tornado, fire, or hazardous material spill or even an act of terrorism can happen

Distressing natural disasters, such as hurricane Irma have devastated the world and caused loss of homes, as well as greatly affecting humanity. According to French Prime Minister, Edouard Philippe of St. Martin, “95 percent of the island’s houses had been damaged and 60 percent were uninhabitable. Earlier, France's interior minister said at least eight people had died.” This devastating hurricane is one of the many examples of how extreme natural disasters negatively impact the world and how dominant Mother Nature is over humanity.

Indeed, natural disasters are uncontrollable, dangerous, and terrifying in the sea as well as land. These horrible events change our lives, our creations including homes, and most noticeably the Earth. Even though we can not manage what nature brings or does

Every emergency or disaster, from a small house fire to a hurricane that devastates entire communities, have a distinct cycle. This is

Due to diverse geo-climatic conditions prevalent in different parts of the globe, different types of natural disasters like floods, droughts, earthquakes, cyclones, landslides, and volcanoes etc may strike according to the vulnerability of the area.

In his book, “What is a disaster?” Quarantelli asked five researchers with different social science background (Gilbert, Dombrowsky, Kreps, Porfiriev and Horlick-Jones) to define the term disaster. Unsurprisingly, all the scholars defined disasters differently (Rosenthal, 1998). For instance, Kreps defined disasters as: “non-routine events in societies or their larger subsystems (e.g. regions, communities) that involve social disruption or physical harm” (Kreps, 1998:34).

A disaster is a highly disruptive event that causes suffering, hardship, injury, and even death (Anderson & McFarlane, 2015). A disaster can cause interruptions in businesses, and can cause partial or total destruction to infrastructure, such as homes or hospitals (Anderson & McFarlane, 2015). A disaster can cause downed power lines, loss of transportation, loss of food, and sanitation problems. Disasters are caused by naturally occurring events or man-made events. Examples of naturally occurring disasters are earthquakes, floods, hurricanes, and tornadoes. Man-made disasters are accidental, unintentional, or deliberately caused (Anderson & McFarlane, 2015). An accidental man-made disaster example would be a toxic spill, or a nuclear power plant event. A deliberately caused man-made disaster would be a terrorist attack, school violence, or a bombing. Certain types of natural disasters are more likely to occur in certain areas than others. For instance, areas along the coastline are more likely to experience a hurricane than areas more inland. Every place one can live is prone to having a natural disaster occur. Also, a man-made disaster can happen anywhere; no place is safe from the threat of terrorism. In my community of Mt. Lebanon, the biggest natural disaster that has happened was flooding. About fifteen years ago, Mt. Lebanon had a terroristic attack. The terroristic attack was a deliberate man-made disaster. A man went on a racially motivated crime spree, killing five

Natural disasters have never been an issue for me in the twenty years I have been living in Florida. There have always been the threats of dangerous hurricanes living near the coast, but I never took them seriously. I always thought " they're just little storms, what's the worst that could happen?". I was so naive to think that way.

Natural disasters throughout the world are very frightening although there might be reasons to look at them in a different perspective? How you may ask, seeing homes and hundreds of people panic for their lives is all a natural reaction because we don’t know what to do for the most part. However there are other ways into viewing these disasters not only as that nature stops by a decides to struck a certain place on earth but, that we have a partial responsibility in these disasters. We all influence how earth's environments work and how we treat it eventually builds up and causes natural disasters. For the most part literature can give you a whole different perspective on natural disasters.

There are tons of natural phenomenon. Such things as landslides, earthquakes, volcanoes, meteors, and floods. Today in this article the two topics of Meteors and floods will be the main focus. These disasters can change the earth an astronomical amount. For meteors such things as their craters and their effects on the climate. Floods are more of a tricky subject, but their main effects on the Earth are the effects of erosion and the aftermath of environmental consequences.

    Natural Disaster can occur at any place and any giving time without much of a warning. With a Natural Disaster taking place the best way to be ready for a Natural Disaster is to know about them and how they occur. In “Natural Disaster Facts” it says, “A natural disaster is the consequence of the combination of a natural hazard (physical event like a volcanic eruption, typhoon, tropical cyclone, tornadoes and earthquakes, a landslide or a tsunami) and human activities”. Many of these Natural Disasters cannot be predicted but knowing the environment can help us with whatever Mother Nature throws our way.

As we all know there were a few natural disasters during 2017. Just to name a few, let's start with Hurricane Harvey which forced thousands of residents from their homes in the state of Texas in addtion to leaving many stranded without power and/or clean drinking water. Next, another disaster occured in the state of Florida where residents there also had to evacuate, particurlaly coastal areas due to their proximity to flood zones are being located percisely in a highly possible area to flood. These events really left many families in a uneasy position that will take time to redeem. As the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) acknowledges these horrific events leaving Tax Payers in an economic disarray, relief is provided.