Religions, natural hazards, and disasters: An introduction

Abstract

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...

Community resilience factors to disaster in Saudi Arabia: the case of Makkah Province

“…Risk perception can determine the response of individuals or communities to disasters (Howe [29]). For instance, a community with low perceptions of risk are likely to cope poorly with disasters, while a community which has high risk perceptions tends to behave in a positive anticipatory way to build more disasterresilient communities (Gaillard and Texier [2]). …”

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Individual Risk Perception and Flood Mitigation: An Empirical Study of Protective Actions in Australia

“…13 Religion is an important variable in shaping risk perception. However, as Gaillard and Texier (2010) highlight, there has been lack of academic interest in the relations between religion and disasters. Researchers may avoid asking about religious beliefs for fear of sounding confronting when collecting personal data (Ehman et al 1999).…”

The Role of Religious Beliefs and Institutions in Disaster Management: A Case Study

“…Nevertheless, an increasing number of individual researchers have introduced the notion of religion in disaster, mainly because religion influences how people sense or manage disasters. Similarly, some international journals have begun to publish articles on the relationship between religion and disaster (or its management), such as "Religions," "Religion," "Public Health Ethics," "Disaster Prevention and Management," and others [18][19][20][21].…”