Zusammenfassung der Ressource
Theme 1: Geography of Natural Hazards
- Social
Science
- 1. The Risk
- How accurate are
predictions ?
- Some are very e.g. flood risk maps - only if
looking from a physical perspective
- Models are only as good as the human beings who made them
- The Nature of consequences over time,
space , scale etc.?
- Always going to be different making the
predictions of consequences highly problematic
- People's perception of likelihood and
consequences
- Fundamentally problematic , we don't
perceive risk in the same way
- Traditional ideas about
being prepared
- If a place rarely/has never experienced a particular hazard e.g. floods then they
are less likely to be prepared
- Long Term recovery is dependant on
importance of the area (i.e. popular
trade route) and monetary strength
(richer can rebuild / stay somewhere
else in the mean time).
- 2.
Vulnerability
and Impact
- Material wealth and assets,
connections
- In USA planning and zonal
laws have put many
ethnic people at risk.
- Social and
Environmental justice
- Hurricane Katrina (2005) highlighted disparity
between ethnicities , many black people were living
in New Orleans which was one of the worst hit
areas.
- 3. Perception
- Understanding big risks around
and seeking to take action
- e.g. extra insurance or
believe life is for living.
- 'Psychology of denial'
Complexities of a
simple idea (Wright
2012)
- We deny that personal change is
possible either from not expecting any
change to be available, or by denying
that our failed attempts at change
needed more understanding.
- 4. Resilience
- A. Engineering
- Build more and more to stop
the hazard
- B. Ecological
- Most common form,
reflection on how
nature deals via
adaptations.
- C. Evolutionary
- More radical , understand why
people are put in risky situations e.g.
New Orleans.
- Politicised agenda - structural issues in society,
can’t just help them to adapt.
- More positive term.
developed by physical
scientists but taken on
by social scientists to see
how people cope with
shock
- KEY THEMES
- Idea of Risk and frame according to culture
- Understanding Risk as a social construct
- Determining and evaluating vulnerability
- Psychological state
- Monetary State
- Policy and Politics of risk communication
- Politicians hate risk
- Cannot assume and protect people completely
- Managing & Governing Risks
- Hard Engineering
- Build to prevent e.g. Flood barriers from concrete
- Soft Engineering
- Flood plain zoning, warning systems ,
ultimately letting nature do it's bit
- People may not feel as safe compared to hard solutions
- Creating Resilience (Heavily contested idea)
- Can't protect 100% but asks individuals to
consider their actions
- Why Social Science Matters
- 1. Natural hazards have differential impacts
- 2. People don't act rationally
- We don’t calculate risk in the same way as scientists
- 3.People and societies' resilience
depends on individual and social
psychology, political and economic
factors
- 4. Human societies are
inherently fragile , especially our
'hyper-technical' society
- 5. Hazards are complex
- Some are 'natural' whilst others are human
induced: Anthropogenic climate change, resource
security and new forms of disease