Disaster Reduction: The Importance of Adequate Assumptions About Social Organization

RUSSELL R. DYNES

Proceedings of the Seminar "Training for Disaster Reduction II, Cairo, Egypt, 2-5 September, 1991 (Delft, The Netherlands: Disaster and Emergency Reference Center, Delft University of Technology, 1992): 14-25





Abstract:

There are current efforts, including the Intemational Decade of Natural Disaster Reduction, to modify the effects of disaster Many of those efforts emphasize technological solutions and view "people" as impediments to progress.  Efforts to reduce disaster involve planning and action by various social units.  The success of such efforts depends on the adequacy of understanding sociai dimension.  Three examples emphasize the import2nce of the underlying social assumptions: (a) the presuppositions that undergird much of contemporary emergency planning, (b) the issues relating to the institutionalization of flood mitigation measures in developing countries, and (c) the resettlement of populations as a mechanism to reduce future risk.  These examples point out the importance of understanding both the social costs and possibilities for effective social action.

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