Why Has Catastrophe Mitigation Failed in the U.S.?

In: Zeitschrift für Politikberatung, Band 8, Heft 4, S. 149-173

Abstract

Natural disasters and extreme weather events are common in North America. The U.S. in particular, is especially exposed to natural catastrophes, such as earthquakes, drought and fires on the Western Coast, recurring severe storms, tornados (in the Midwest), and hurricanes in the South-East, as well as flooding that follows these storms and strong precipitation. In historical terms the losses and damages caused by these events have taken place under specific national boundary conditions that significantly differ from those in many poorer countries that are prone to natural catastrophes; over the last century, the U.S. witnessed a steep increase in economic growth and wealth, especially after WWII, which made the country more prone to material losses but which could have also provided it with the necessary resources to successfully fight exposure to these catastrophes "The rapid and fairly stable rise in prosperity formed a background against which the enormous suffering and considerable destruction caused by natural catastrophes played out." (Werner 2017: 260) From the early 1990s on, events like Hurricane Andrew (1992) and later Hurricane Katrina (2005) drew a mark on the American public consciousness. Along with smaller and medium-size events, this led the public to suspect that the frequency and intensity of such natural catastrophes were increasing and were the consequence of climate change. Climate change, warming temperatures, melting ice caps, and elevated sea levels are most likely due to human influence in recent decades. Therefore, severe weather events as predicted by climate experts, are surely to blame for the ever increasing costs and damages from these weather events.