MITIGATING PEOPLE AND DISASTERS:APPROACHES OFSOCIAL SCIENCES
Dr. Sébastien P. BoretSocial Anthropologist, Archives, IRIDeS

Lecture outline■ 1. Disaster as a process■ 2. Exposure to risk
■ 3. Social vulnerability■ 4. Cultural resilience1. DISASTER AS A PROCESSAre these all disasters?
NATURAL HAZARD ARE PHYSICAL AGENTS NOT DISASTERSVSA disaster isa human centered concept (anthropocentric)
Human
settlement+PHYSICALAGENT=DisasterDOrigins

Process

Drives fast everydayISA

EventTERProcess

Impacts

MITIGATING DISATERS

Process

Eventhuman-environment relations

Earthquake

development

TsunamiDrought

preparedness/unpreparedness

Avalanchesocial inequality

Flood
Hurricane

Vulnerability
Risk…

Process

Reconstruction
Spiritual careFinancial aid
Technological support
international/national solidarity
Political leadership

Resilience
Adaptation

2. EXPOSURE TO RISKUnderstanding RISKNatural phenomena bring a setof opportunities and risks.
“The risk inherent in nature
consists of a wide range ofhazards that put constraints on
production (e.g. frosts affectingagriculture) and on otheraspects of livelihoods and safety(earthquakes, floods, droughts,etc.).” Cannon 1994: 14.

Volcanic mountain – fertile soil
(opportunity) vs. eruption (risk)

The sources of risks are not limited to natural
hazards but also depend on human behaviors.

Coastline – Fishing (opportunity) vs.
Flood (risk)

Human behavior: Evacuation (good or bad)

We Create Environmental RISKS
The environment in which humans
live is a social construction.

Nuclear plant, France

Global warming, Tokyo
Pollution, London 1953 (=COVID-19?)

■ Risk is not an objective fact.
■ Risk perception will dictate people’s adaptationand disaster mitigation■ Risk perception and adaptation depend on“political, economic, and social forces, obliging
people to adapt to an institutional environment
as well as a natural one.” (Vayda and McKay1975)■ ”We can frequently be the cause of our own
hazardous situation.”(Oliver-Smith: 26)

3 SOCIAL VULNERABILITY

Which car would you prefer tobe in?

Which car would you
prefer to drive?

In a car accident, some people are more vulnerable than others.

If it is true in car accident, why not during a natural hazard?

Vulnerability within a group■ The idea that we are all equal in disasters is a myth.
■ Vulnerability is the degree to which people are exposed to risks.
■ Research shows that ethnicity, class, gender, disability, age, poverty,education, and so on makes people more vulnerable than others.
■ Types of vulnerability: livelihood vulnerability, self-protection and socialprotection.

How to identify VULNERABILITY?
Forensic researchWho are the survivors/victims of theTitanic?

The social class issue

The gender issue

How do people create vulnerability?
■ Development: when men build an environment, they make choice thatwill make (some) people more vulnerable to the risks of hazards.
■ Inequalities: the more a society is based on principal of inequalities themore it creates vulnerable people. Class structures, ethnic groups,gender, marginalization (disability, travelers, homeless, etc.).
Attention this idea is relative – if all people are equal in being highly
vulnerable, this system still contributes.
■ Reducing vulnerability is not just about survival: It includes also
reducing the psychological, social and cultural impacts of disasters.

4 DISASTER RESILIENCEWhat isresilience?

Civil Engineering■ Civil protection, 1867:“a resilient steel beamsurvives the applicationof a force by resisting itwith strength (rigidity)
and absorbing it withdeformation (ductility).”(Alexander, 2013,2710).

Image of a resilient beam

Earthquake resilient building, Tokyo

Social analogy“the strength of a humansociety under stress is its
ability to devise means ofresisting disaster andmaintaining its integrity(coherence), while ductilitylies in its ability to adapt tocircumstances produced bythe calamity in order tolessen their impact.”(Alexander 21013 : 2710).

Image of a resilient society• Preparation• Adaptation• Sustainability• GovernanceRESILIENCE IN SOCIETY

is adaptation

Adaptation in Japan

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TSUNAMI HISTORYIN SANRIKU, TOHOKU

869 Sanriku Earthquake2011 Great East Japan Earthquake, Ishinomaki

1896 Sanriku Earthquake and Tsunami

Knowledge/Behviour

Tsunami Stones
Saying/Tradition “Going up the hill by yourself”
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Environment/Reconstruction Planning

Rikuzentakata City, Iwate Prefecture, JapanElevating the land

Rikuzentaka City,
Iwate Prefecture,JapanAdapting Sea Defense

⽥⽼地区

Great Seawall, Miyako City Before the tsunami
After the tsunami

Seawall Windows,Kesennuma City

Green Seawall, Iwanuma CityResilience of some can create the vulnerability of others!
Solution

BUT

Increase Resilience of Some

Probl em

Increase Vulnerability of Others

The cause of
VULNERABILITY

Conclusive balance

DISASTER MITIGATIONThe solution for
RESILIENCE