Globalization of Disaster: Trends, Problems and Dilemmas

After the Indian Ocean tsunami of 26 December 2004 donor countries subscribed to . post-disaster relief appeals so copiously that all the money could not be spent quickly enough to justify the reasons for which it was donated. For other contemporary disasters, particularly in sub-Saharan Africa, there was an alarming dearth of funds and a general failure to respond to international relief appeals. This paradox neither illustrates that the world is becoming more generous nor demonstrates the opposite. It does, however, highlight one of the many contrasts inherent in current approaches to disaster. As worldwide involvement in the relief and mitigation of catastrophe deepens and becomes more complex, so the approach becomes more fragmentary in some respects, particularly those that relate to global security strategies, and more uniform in others, especially in terms of where the international political system directs its limited attention. Over the last half-century the massive growth of worldwide travel and telecommunications has brought what were once essentially regional and local problems onto the world stage. In considering such momentous changes, this article surveys the global pattern of catastrophes and offers an analysis of modern systems of emergency preparedness and processes of disaster relief, with particular attention to the problems of creating resilience and the moral and practical dilemmas of prevention and response. First it examines tbe global impact of disasters with respect to changes in societal vulnerability and growing imbalances in economic development. Next, it considers mass communications in relation to the symbolic significance of disasters and the patterns of donation to relief appeals. It then looks critically at the logistical and organizational aspects of humanitarian relief, with particular attention to major events, such as the Atlantic hurricanes of September 2005 and South Asia