The case against "natural disasters"

July 16, 2020

“My world’s on fire” is a free newsletter about disasters from journalist Colleen Hagerty. I understand news about disasters can feel a bit overwhelming, but my goal is to help you feel a little bit more at ease about our unpredictable world by equipping you with in-depth reporting and insights. I can only do that with your continued support, so please subscribe and share!

Sometimes, writing a newsletter by myself is great. I can work on my own schedule! I can include random cute animal content! And, to all my wonderful new followers, trust me, I do.

While that also means any changes made here are on me, I want to be transparent when that happens. So, today, I’m going to explain why I’ve edited all past newsletters to remove the term “natural disaster.”

It all traces back to a shark.

Or, at least, an imaginary one, as described by Amanda Lamont, co-founder of the Australasian Women in Emergencies Network.

“If you’re standing on a jetty, and there’s a shark in the water, the shark is a hazard. If you’re not in the water, it’s not a disaster,” she said on a recent episode of the Me, Myself & Disaster podcast. “It only becomes a disaster when you’re in the water with the shark.”

Lamont continued that if you label something a “natural disaster,” people tend to shut down, seeing it as an unfortunate inevitability – well, the shark’s there, it’ll get them eventually.

If you instead explain an earthquake or wildfire as a natural hazard that could cause a disaster, she believes it gives people back their agency. It shows they have some power to avoid that shark, or at least, to learn what to do if they encounter it (obviously, this is a metaphor, but in case you are curious).

Lamont’s not alone in her criticism of this language – experts have actually been denouncing the “factually incorrect and misleading” terminology since 1756, according to the #NoNaturalDisasters campaign.

The movement aims “to show that whilst some hazards are natural and unavoidable, the resulting disasters almost always have been made by human actions and decisions.”

“We're not just doing this for the sake of being difficult to change terminology,” Kevin Blanchard explained to me on a call earlier this week. He’s a Senior Disaster Risk Reduction Advisor who previously worked for Public Health England, and the person behind the #NoNaturalDisasters website and Twitter.

“There are real concrete issues that need to be addressed because of decisions we've made,” he added. “By using ‘natural’ to describe that, it really takes away the responsibility from us to do something about it.”

To bring it back to Lamont’s shark metaphor – it’s about reestablishing accountability.

Blanchard offered examples, ranging from the recent bushfires in Australia to Hurricane Katrina in the United States, of how human decisions have significantly impacted the devastation caused by natural hazards.

“It tends to be people in positions of power have made decisions, usually historical decisions, that have meant that particular marginalized groups or vulnerable communities are so at risk,” Blanchard said. “Humans have failed these people who are losing their lives and their belongings.”

Personally, I think the #NoNaturalDisasters campaign highlights a critical need to rethink how we view ourselves, our societies, and our officials in relation to the natural hazards we face, so I have eliminated that phrase from all of my past newsletters and plan to continue that moving forward.

That said, I understand there are plenty of people who disagree with the campaign, so now, I want to hear your thoughts and get a discussion going. I’ll be checking in on the comments below, but you can also find me on social media (Twitter, Facebook, Instagram). If I get enough responses, I’ll include some in next week’s email!

Event alert:

  • If you’re interested in learning more about #NoNaturalDisasters, the campaign is hosting a webinar this Friday, July 17!

And, as always…

thank you for becoming an early part of this community and sharing it with yours! Here’s a little something for reading to the end.