Original Research

An introduction to neglected disasters

Ben Wisner, JC Gaillard
Jàmbá: Journal of Disaster Risk Studies | Vol 2, No 3 | a23 | DOI: https://doi.org/10.4102/jamba.v2i3.23 | © 2009 Ben Wisner, JC Gaillard | This work is licensed under CC Attribution 4.0
Submitted: 25 April 2009 | Published: 25 April 2009

About the author(s)

Ben Wisner, Aon-Benfield Hazard Research Centre, University College London, UK Environmental Studies Program, Oberlin College, USA, United States
JC Gaillard, UMR 5194 Pacte – CNRS, Université de Grenoble, France Department of Geography, University of the Philippines Diliman, Philippines

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Abstract

This theme issue of Jàmbá takes up the question of neglected disasters. It is an important topic because the world is changing, disasters are changing, and theory is changing. All these changes call for a re-assessment of why some human suffering and social disruption receive attention from authorities, donors, researchers and the media, while some does not. Recent progress in both development studies and disaster studies provides tools for answering this question. Development and disaster studies date in their current forms to ways of thinking that were current in academic and policy circles in the late 1950s and 1960s. At that time the world was recovering from world war and former colonies of Europe were gaining independence. It was a world in which (with some exceptions) conflict was held in check in an uneasy cold war balance. It was also a world where a growing UN system held the promise of meeting humanitarian needs when they arose. That world is no more. ‘Development’ has changed.

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