Southern Exposure Asks: How Natural Are Natural Disasters?

The latest issue of Southern Exposure magazine, published by the Institute for Southern Studies in Durham, N.C., looks at what we generally call “natural disasters” – and considers just how natural they really are.

In his letter introducing the issue, Publisher Chris Kromm observes that the United Nations’ International Strategy for Disaster Reduction challenges the idea that there really are such things as “natural” disasters. “There are only natural hazards, the U.N. says – which only become ‘disasters’ if communities are vulnerable or unprepared for whatever nature has in store,” Kromm writes.

You’ll have to get the print issue to see Hart Matthews’ photos of North Carolina’s hurricane-stricken coast, Penny Loeb’s report on West Virginia residents’ efforts to reform industries that have worsened flood impacts and Ted Steinberg’s account of an earthquake that devastated Charleston, S.C. But you can read my story – about the history of floods in Princeville, N.C. and officials’ failure to prevent future catastrophes – by clicking here.