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Cover -- Half Title -- Title -- Copyright -- Contents -- List of Tables and Figures -- Preface -- 1 THE BHOPAL TRAGEDY -- Levels of Explanation -- Limiting the Detection of Hazards by Processes of Definition -- Uncertainty and Counterfinality -- Global Economic Pressures in the Production of Pesticides -- Conclusion -- Notes -- 2 BHOPAL AND THE CRITICAL THEORY OF HAZARDS -- Hazards and Disasters -- Two Hypotheses -- The Possibility of Detection -- Redefining Hazards and Mitigations -- Hazard-Mitigation Transformations and Detection -- The Logic of Hazards Mitigation as an Explanation for Increasing Hazardousness and Vulnerability -- Conclusion -- Notes -- 3 FACTORS AFFECTING THE DETECTION OF HAZARDS -- Safety and Culture -- An Expanded Model of the Hazards Process -- Unintended Effects of Mitigation -- Global Economy, Hazards, and the Poor -- Conclusion -- Notes -- 4 CONCLUSION AND RECOMMENDATIONS -- No More Bhopals? -- Hazardousness and Vulnerability in Bhopal -- The Safety Record of the Chemical Industry -- Criteria for Enhancing Detection and Reducing Hazardousness and Vulnerability -- Conclusion -- Notes -- Appendix -- Bibliography -- Index.

This paper aims to theoretically and empirically test whether the Weather Index Insurance for Mutton Sheep (WIMS) which protects the herders from increased feeding costs resulting from drought and snow disasters promotes the income of herders in China's Inner Mongolia or not. We have applied the OLS, PSM, and quantile regression models using field survey data from 261 herders in Xilin Gol, Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region for our objective. The findings demonstrate that the WIMS significantly increases the overall and high-income herders' income, but has no significant effect on herders' income at other income levels.. According to the results, we recommend that as the subsidized agricultural insurance product, the government should expand the pilot region of WIMS to furtherly test its income effect and consider reducing or exempting insurance premiums for low-income herders to reduce their financial pressure.

AbstractFamily and community resilience in the contexts of natural disasters and climate change have earned a place of prominence in the research field. This article provides a descriptive review of the literature published between 1997 and 2023 examining family and community resilience in the context of wildfires, climate change, and sustainability. Ninety‐two articles were included and analyzed, with three research questions addressed. Results show family and community resilience as essential to the adaptation process to extreme natural events. Family and community experiences appear to be linked with changes in beliefs, behaviors, and priorities. Findings point to potential connections with sustainability, adaptation and mitigation efforts, and the need for communities to coexist with fire in forest ecosystems. Some gaps in literature are pointed out, including scarcity of data from diverse geographic locations, looking at the family unit perspective, and spanning the entire trajectory of disaster and recovery process.

In the face of disasters, disadvantaged populations often rely on the recovery opportunities and pathways provided by grassroots movements. These pathways are built through informal planning practices and meanings that are often illegible for planning scholars and practitioners, and thus rarely reach disaster scholarship in ways that stimulate theory building. This article uses insurgent planning as a lens to examine grassroots movements and their efforts to advance alternative pathways for recovery in contexts where formal disaster planning is more likely to displace and dispossess than to enhance the livelihoods of the poorest and most marginalized. The article is based on an exploratory case study research in Puerto Rico after the 2017 Hurricane María and introduces the notion of ' bomba planning' as an analytic device to capture the distinctive features and dominant modes of engagement of grassroots movements in Puerto Rico in their pursuit of a more just and humane recovery.

AbstractThis article explores the making of identity for two sets of human skeletal remains, labeled 1928 Hurricane Victims 1 and 2 Belle Glade. The remains are so poorly preserved that traditional bioarchaeological analysis to explore their perimortem identity is not possible. However, an exploration of their postmortem identity allows us to examine the relationship between landscape, soil, memory, and bodies in bioarchaeology. This article challenges us to consider how bioarchaeology "makes" identity. It does so against the backdrop of one of the worst natural history disasters in United States history, the 1928 Lake Okeechobee Hurricane in Belle Glade, Florida. The loss of some 2,000 to 3,000 individuals in one night, primarily Black migrant farm laborers, is little remembered in national history, but it profoundly shaped the region, and contributes to an ongoing creation of a category of skeletal remains found in the area even today and labeled hurricane victims.

Abstract The objective of this article is to present paths that can contribute to mitigating the effects of climate change on houses built in the metropolis of Curitiba. The analysis of the occurrence of natural disasters in the state of Paraná demonstrates that the most frequent extreme climatic event is the windstorm, and the Curitiba region is the one that most presented occurrences of windstorms in the analyzed period. Federal laws and municipal plans related to the theme are presented, as well as points that can be adopted as tools to mitigate the impacts of the climate crisis on the city. Finally, it is concluded that, through the concept of demand--side innovation policies with the use of software programs, which simulate the future scenario of climate transformations, it is possible to contribute to the development of resilient housing.

Abstract
Planned relocations often take place in displacement contexts. They ensue not only in settings of disasters and climate change, but also during armed conflicts and in development projects. But what is 'relocation'? Is its meaning identical across these diverse contexts? And what is its relationship to displacement? Conceptual clarity on these points is needed if humanitarians are to engage with the critical question of how international law regulates such relocation processes. This article reviews scholarly, policy and legal sources on relocations across these varied contexts in order to (i) propose a universal concept of relocation and (ii) reflect on its relationship to concepts of displacement. Then, by considering the issue in relation to internal displacement frameworks, the article explains how international law governs relocations, regardless of the specific setting in which they occur. This has important implications in a world of diverse, and often entwined, displacement contexts.

This article examines authoritarian states' roles in commodifying freshwater resources in illiberal societies. The authors argue that collusion between global capitalism and national authoritarian interests has affected the legal structure, regulation enforcement, and institutional practices of public–private partnerships in China's municipal water systems, resulting in regulatory failures in drinking water provision. The article also explores the implications of China's state capitalist expansion into the global water utilities market as part of the green Belt and Road Initiative and suggests that this expansion may lead to new patterns of environmental concerns in the Global South. The findings demonstrate that collusion between neoliberal and authoritarian capitalist expansions shapes increasing inequalities and environmental governance standards in the Global South. The authors stress the need to view environmental and public health disasters resulting from water privatization as a transnational crime rather than solely focusing on nation-state regulatory mechanisms that exemplify "metropolitan thinking" in criminology.

AbstractNatural disasters are likely to increase in the near future. How does the emergence of such events influence voting behavior? While the literature has focused on the electoral repercussions after disaster has already struck, we investigate whether imminent disaster influences vote choice. We study the effect of the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic on electoral choice in a setting that allows for causal identification: the local elections in Germany's southern state Bavaria in March 2020, where, at the time of the elections, only an as-if random sample of localities had recorded cases of COVID-19. We find that initial local outbreaks favored the political party governing at the state level and hurt the far right. These findings are most likely driven by a 'strategic alignment' mechanism, whereby voters choose the party or candidate they believe is best placed to help them through the crisis.

AbstractEvents such as pandemics, natural disasters, and other social issues reveal societies' increasing reliance on voluntary unpaid workers. However, there is a decline in people's willingness to volunteer with established organisations. While management research has shown that leadership plays a major role in motivating and retaining paid employees, further investigation is needed to understand how leadership motivates volunteers. This paper integrates leadership literature into a widely adopted volunteer motivation model through a narrative review, aiming to distil precise leader behaviours that could be used to fulfil or trigger people's motivation to perform unpaid work. Our goal is to draw clear conceptual links between the different facets of leader behaviours and volunteer motivation and highlight the role of leadership in triggering and fulfilling volunteer motivation and therefore sustaining vital volunteer workforces. Limitations of our chosen approach, implications, and future research directions are discussed.

In Thailand, 9% of people with disabilities are visually impaired (VI). VI children are vulnerable when disasters occur. This study investigates risk situations and disaster risk reduction (DRR) methods in VI schools to identify present and potential ways that students can be provided skills. An interview was administered in two schools to schoolteachers and administrators. Content analysis was used to analyze qualitative data based on core keywords. DRR for daily risk exposure and fires is the priority. Concerns over VI students are based on the difficulty in orientation. Support is considered crucial for student safety. Supervisory means to limit risk among the VI is uncertain in times of disaster. Students are capable of learning about DRR and, combined with assistive techniques, can limit their risk. DRR policies in VI schools are primarily reactive. Uncomplicated risk awareness information and training could foster an appropriate approach to bringing self-efficacy to deal with risk.

This qualitative exploratory single case study identified strategies for lessening population vulnerability during a hydrological disaster. The research occurred in a densely populated county in the South Atlantic region of the United States. Semi-structured interviews and thematic data analysis served to address the research question. Methods involved n = 15 semi-structured interviews with uniformed and sworn personnel working in emergency management and public safety roles from agencies and divisions within the county. The data analysis found four generic strategies for lessening population vulnerability to hydrological disasters, (1) resiliency management, (2) resiliency partnership, (3) safety preparedness, and (4) backup preparedness. These four strategies support previous empirical findings and identified best practices. The four generic strategies offer practical approaches that can become a part of a community's overall emergency management plan to assist in lessening the challenges associated with hydrological disaster vulnerability.

Crises and disasters give voters an opportunity to observe the incumbent's response and reward or punish them for successes and failures. Yet, even when voters perceive events similarly, they tend to attribute responsibility selectively, disproportionately crediting their party for positive developments and blaming opponents for negative developments. We examine selective attribution during the COVID-19 pandemic in the United States, reporting three key findings. First, selective attribution rapidly emerged during the first weeks of the pandemic, a time in which Democrats and Republicans were otherwise updating their perceptions and behavior in parallel. Second, selective attribution is caused by individual-level changes in perceptions of the pandemic. Third, existing research has been too quick to explain selective attribution in terms of partisan-motivated reasoning. We find stronger evidence for an explanation rooted in beliefs about presidential competence. This recasts selective attribution's implications for democratic accountability.

AbstractClimate change and the COVID‐19 pandemic posed significant challenges for Ankara city in Turkey. The city authorities have taken a number of strategic and operational measures to improve water security. This paper explores the linkages of regular forces such as climate change and disasters, as well as disruptive forces like pandemics, sudden shocks, and actions needed to overcome the resulting challenges. Based on 13 key informant interviews with a semi‐structured questionnaire and literature review, the existing water security situation is explored in relation to climate change and the impacts of the COVID‐19 pandemic. Ankara is still behind in terms of climate‐related adaptation practices and management. Financial resources are inadequate, so policy measures like neighborhood‐level responsibility‐sharing frameworks, resilience integration into existing policies and involving local people in policymaking, and developing capacity building for local government can help to ensure Ankara's water security.

The study of the audiences of distant suffering in authoritarian regimes has received relatively little scholarly attention. This article begins to ameliorate this gap in knowledge by examining how Chinese audiences legitimise their unresponsiveness to mediated victims of global disasters. Drawing upon data from semi-structured interviews and focus groups with participants ( N = 81), the study discusses the dominant regimes of justification which inform audience inactivity, the associated argumentation strategies and patterns of reasoning, and their sociocultural and ideological underpinnings. We find that decision-making about the moral justification for inactivity is influenced by state-propaganda media narratives, preferences for ideologies, perceptions of national identity and global responsibility, and geopolitical imaginations. These findings have implications for expanding the ontological horizons of distant suffering studies that are currently embedded in Western spatial and ideological dimensions, particularly in a world of crises spawned by globalisation and mediatisation.