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a b s t r a c tThis editorial serves as an introduction to the special issue of Religion on Religions, Natural Hazards, and Disasters. It sets out some conceptual background and briefly reviews the existing literature on religion, natural hazards, and disasters. It also provides a brief assessment of the role of religious and groups in reducing the risk of disasters.Ó 2009 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.Disasters associated with natural hazards are on the rise worldwide. Disasters basically result from the spatial and temporal conjunction between the occurrence of a harmful natural hazard and a vulnerable human society. Available databases show that the number of disastrous events increased sharply between the first and second half of the 20th century (Centre for Research on Epidemiology of Disasters, 2008; Corporació n OSSO and La Red de Estudios Sociales en Prevenció n de Desastres en Amé rica Latina, 2008). The first decade of the 21st century has since brought about further damage. Guha-Sapir et al. (2004) reported that, between 1974 and 2003, more than 2 million individuals were killed and 182 million rendered homeless, with about 5.1 billion people cumulatively affected. Over the same period, estimated reported damages reached US$ 1.38 trillion. Overall, there is sufficient evidence to support the widely acknowledged assertion that the occurrence of disasters is increasing. This serves as a rationale for the present special issue.In a time of disasters, religion easily stirs the attention of the media, who are keen to cover alleged ''acts of god'' or the religion-related fatalistic attitudes of victims. Furthermore, disaster stories are omnipresent in the tradition of the three major monotheist religions, Islam, Judaism and Christianity (Dynes, 1998). Surprisingly, however, the set of scientific studies on the topic is limited. All major recent treaties on hazards and disasters -as well as older ones -have overlooked or totally omitted religion in their assessment of the works issues in the field (see, for example, Burton et al.so far dedicated a special issue to the interplay of religion and disasters. Only Dynes and Yutzey (1965) provided an initial theoretical overview. The religious studies and theology fields have been similarly silent on issues pertaining to natural hazards and disasters (Chester, 1998).This special edition of Religion is an attempt to fill this gap. It compiles three Southeast Asian case studies which were prepared for a panel of the 5th European Association for South East Asian Studies (EuroSEAS) conference held in Naples, Italy, between 12 and 15 September 2007 (Lindberg-Falk; Merli; Schlehe). These initial articles were complemented by three additional contributions (Chester and Duncan; Dove; Wisner). In this editorial, we set out some conceptual background and briefly review the existing literature on religion, natural hazards, and disasters. This should enable the reader to critically assess the contribution of the present volume. Natural hazards and disasters: some theoretic...

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to analyze the root causes of disaster vulnerability in Jakarta, to highlight the strategies and implications of official policies, and to consider alternatives for vulnerability mitigation. The February 2007 floods which struck Jakarta emphasized the extreme vulnerability of informal poor communities and the inefficiency of the disaster management policy set up by the Indonesian government.Design/methodology/approachDetailed field investigations were undertaken before, during and after the February 2007 flood event in several informal districts of Jakarta to collect secondary data and conduct interviews with the population and some stakeholders of the disaster management scene.FindingsHuman factors are dominant in explaining the magnitude of the 2007 flooding episode. Urbanization is partially responsible for the extent of the flooding by waterproofing the soils. Yet floods do not strike the inhabitants of formal and informal settlements in the same way. People from the poor illegal areas are the most affected. Their behaviour and coping strategies during the crisis are not due to a low perception of risk, but rather to some daily and non‐hazard‐related constraints which are not taken into account by the government.Practical implicationsTo prevent increasing vulnerability among these communities, it is essential to refocus disaster management strategies on a daily pattern and to integrate them within a global development framework, to de‐marginalize them in terms of access to resources (public services, economic values), and to favoir empowerment.Originality/valueIt is imperative to focus on poverty reduction and to develop economic projects aimed at treating the causes of vulnerability.