Natural Disasters -- Cultural Anthropology Blog

     

     In May of 2011, an EF5 tornado hit Joplin, Missouri, resulting in the deaths of 162 people and around $3 billion in insured losses. The article used this tragedy as an example of how natural disasters can and cannot prepare us for future disasters. For instance, citizens often ignore tornado warnings because there have been warnings in the past that have turned out to be false alarms. Also, many safety protocols aren't available to people who are poor, elderly, or disabled, whether it's because of limited mobility or limited access to proper shelter. Research does show that people who have been directly affected by a natural disaster are more likely to heed warnings and early predictions in the future. In conclusion, populations affected by natural disasters adapt and become more prepared for future disasters. This is demonstrated by the city of Joplin implementing a recovery plan and new design standards for construction.

    Though this article centered around tornadoes and the study of natural disasters, I think cultural anthropology was a big factor. Much of the article talked about groups of citizens and social groups and the differences in how they responded or were able to respond to natural disasters. This led me to believe that the article was centered around the way people react to events in their society and how the reactions evolve over time. The concept is very interesting to me because one of the biggest struggles in American society today is not knowing what's going to happen next. I'm sure there are going to be many articles in the future discussing how Houston's population responded to different stages of the covid-19 pandemic, did they learn anything?, how the anti-maskers evolve over time?, and so on.


Source:

https://www.longdom.org/open-access/natural-disaster-much-space-for-progress-2167-0587.1000e103.pdf

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