Editorial: Hurricane Katrina rekindles thoughts about fallacies of a so-called “natural” disaster

Abstract

When it comes to disasters, people have to be careful about making sweeping generalizations, because they will not necessarily be evaluated for their validity. Myths of all kinds, like unfounded rumors, are very misleading and can have dangerous long-lasting consequences for societies, as well as for the victims of natural hazard-related disasters in the distant, as well as near-term, future.

Keywords

• disasters
• hurricanes
• emergency preparedness
• flooding
• geopolitics
• poverty
• hazard assessment
• technology attitudes
• education
• warning systems
• global warming
• developing countries
• developed countries
• disaster relief
• government regulations
• human-environment relationship
• Hurricane Katrina