Contextualizing disaster Contextualizing Disaster offers a comparative analysis of six recent highly visible disasters and several slow burning hidden crises that include typhoons tsunamis earthquakes chemical spills and the unfolding consequences of rising seas and climate change. The book argues that while disasters are increasingly represented by the media as unique exceptional newsworthy events it is a mistake to think of disasters as isolated or discrete occurrences. Rather building on insights developed by political ecologists this book makes a compelling argument for understanding disasters as transnational and global phenomena