Disaster by Choice: Why 'Natural Disasters' Rarely Exist

This paper summarizes baselines from disaster risk science, disaster risk reduction, and disaster risk management on why disasters tend to be created by human choices rather than by nature. Consequently, the phrase “natural disaster” is a misnomer, because disasters are typically not “natural”. This paper begins by discussing the origins of disaster through a risk lens, explaining why hazards are much less relevant than vulnerabilities for creating disasters. Some hazards and vulnerabilities, though, are not redressable at the moment, demonstrating the importance of considering “few natural disasters” rather than “no natural disasters”. Three areas of further work are indicated as considering disaster conceptualizations beyond human beings, off-Earth disasters and disaster risk reduction, and unknowns from nature.

• Publication year

  2025

• Venue

  International Journal of Sustainability and Risk Control

• Publication date

  2025-12-06

• Fields of study

  Not labeled

• Identifiers
  DOI 10.64599/uxfq6987
• External record

  Open on Semantic Scholar

• Source metadata

  Semantic Scholar

• No claims are published for this paper.

• No concepts are published for this paper.

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