EDMG502week4

The readings this week make the point that hurricanes, floods, earthquakes, etc., are not disasters in and of themselves. They are only disasters when they impact humanity. Therefore, the study of emergency and disaster management is a social science rather than a hard science. Or perhaps more correctly, a social science supported by various hard sciences.

Bottom line, the EM field is about protecting people, and therefore society and civilization. We as a people don't tend to do ourselves any favors with respect to protecting ourselves, because many of the greatest constructs of our civilization are in earthquake zones, flood zones, drought zones, etc. We complicate the task of protection by creating potential human-caused disasters--nuclear accidents, war, and so on.

There is plenty of room to study and understand those topics. However, it's important to remember that the overriding concern is the safety and protection of people. We often find reasons to try not to do that, or at least to not do it well. The readings this week talk about 'blaming the victim'. This is a real concern. We blame hurricane victims for building in hurricane country, earthquake victims for building in earthquake country, etc.--even though we would and do make the exact same types of mistakes every day.

At our lowest point, we blame the impoverished for being poor. We blame post-disaster looters of food for trying to stay alive. We blame rape victims for being raped, and murder victims for being murdered. It's our most disgraceful way of making a last attempt to avoid responsibility for our fellow citizens--and is completely antithetical to what the field of emergency and disaster management stands for.