Week 4 Assignment

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American Military University *

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EDMG502

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Sociology

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Apr 3, 2024

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Week 4 Assignment Therien 1 Week 4 Assignment Marissa Therien American Military University EDMG502 12/03/2023

Week 4 Assignment Therien 2 Introduction For this composition, the book "What is a Disaster? New Answers to Old Questions" by Perry & Quarantelli will be reviewed as the primary resource. Initially published in 2005, the material offers varying perspectives from authors and editors on disaster topics and adjacent topics, such as how disasters have changed over time and the media's influence on a catastrophe. This review will also be sourced from contributors from the document, such as Scanlon and Alexander, in highlighted segments through the first part of the referenced material. Defining Disaster When an individual is asked to define or discuss the term disaster, the term often has a different or alternative meaning relative to the individual in question. Many individuals view disasters more personally, as if it did not happen to or affect them, it doesn’t count as a disaster in their opinion -- this seen with foreign natural events and wars. Throughout the original source material, Perry and Quarantelli view the term disaster as “ especially relevant to the issue of comprehensive emergency management and integrated emergency management systems as promoted in the United States. To say that an "in place" system (for mitigation, preparedness, response or recovery) that works for one "disaster" will also work for another requires that one knows about the comparability and "types" of disasters .”(Perry & Quarantelli, pg 20). However, there are events throughout history that the masses agree on as being "disaster" worthy, such as the eruption of Mt. Vesuvius, the Holocaust, the Assassination of President John F. Kennedy, and the events of 9/11, to name a few. Whether deemed a historical or modern disaster, it can be hard to see the commonalities between events that are coined as a disaster other than loss of life. Merriam-Webster defines the term disaster as " a sudden calamitous event bringing great damage, loss, destruction .” (Merriam-Webster, 2023). With this widely accepted definition, it

Week 4 Assignment Therien 3 can be more straightforward as to how disaster is genuinely defined. Nevertheless, the definition of disaster is set to change as each applicable situation pushes the boundaries of previously set disaster terminology. Through the text, Scanlon offers a variety of insights as to how to define a disaster and models his definition of disaster off larger scale events such as the terrorist attack on 9/11, which can be seen here, “ There is no question 9/11 has become important in our struggle to find an acceptable definition of disaster. Nonetheless, when perusing this book, it caused me to reflect not so much on 9/ll and its significance but on the agenda-setting role of the mass media in determining what we think about and write about .” (Scanlon, pg 13). With this quote, we can see Scanlon's belief that media coverage is the ultimate determining factor in the definition of a disaster. The idea that media coverage, especially social media, creates alternative and new definitions of disaster has been on trend for the last three decades of media and its influence on worldly affairs, especially as social media becomes ever more prevalent in the daily life. An example of the media's influence on a termed disaster lies in the COVID-19 outbreak – how quickly the media created drama and coined the appearance of a disaster before the authorities could even begin to figure out what was happening . Here, Scanlon also helps illustrate how culture and social media control reigns in some countries and the effects this media control may have on defining disaster . "Media coverage of human suffering in countries with authoritarian regimes is subject to government censorship and control of both domestic and outside news media. The outstanding example is the largest famine in modern history, in which somewhere around 30,000,000 Chinese died in 1958-61 as a result of Maoist mismanagement. The famine was kept secret within the country and from the outside world, and indeed, the highest levels of government

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Week 4 Assignment Therien 4 refused to accept information on it and continued to demand the extraction of food from the starving areas. Other examples of "secret famines" come from the Stalinist dictatorship in the Soviet Union. In the 1930s, the government created the Ukraine famine to wipe out peasant resistance to collectivization and a similar famine right after World War II, in both of which millions died under conditions of secrecy and state terror. The British colonial government imposed wartime censorship on the Bengal famine of 1943, in which over 2,000,000 died, to avoid pressure to divert resources from the war effort. Around 3 million are estimated to have died in the North Korean famines in the 1990s under conditions of secrecy and suppression of information.” (Scanlon, pg 15). The idea is that governments that control the individuals access to media are better able to define a disaster and how it may apply to the people it governs and how it may change the countries culture, but also the culture of disaster. The Culture and Design of Civilization and Disaster Perception With disasters becoming more common and the media bringing countries and people more connected on the world stage, the question of culture and its role in how the disaster is perceived is coming to the forefront as the type of disaster and media reaction to said disaster affect the cultural response, similar to Scanlon’s idea of the media controlling the true definition of disaster. “ Not only is disaster common – and increasingly so – it is an extraordinarily revealing affliction. It can be interpreted in various ways as a window into the inner workings of society. To begin with, any failure to mitigate hazards is shown in their impacts. Second, corruption is exposed by bringing its consequences to light, for example, in the collapse of a badly built structure during an earthquake. Third, human relations are made more explicit and conspicuous by the increased levels of socialization that commonly occur in the immediate aftermath of a disaster. In this respect, people's attitudes and preferences are

Week 4 Assignment Therien 5 revealed (Rogers and Nehnevajsa, 1984). Fourth, the spotlight is turned on ways of life that have been threatened or disrupted. As a result, outsiders may accentuate and scrutinize cultural traits.” (Gherardi 1998). (Alexander, pgs. 25-26). This quote from Alexander displays how culture is involved in every part of disaster and how a disaster is perceived, such as a failure to mitigate what may typically not be a cultural hazard – it can be seen here that there is an overlap between Scanlon and Alexanders’s emphasis on the importance of culture and media/social media when defining a disaster. The idea that culture and the design of a civilization change when principles or ideas of life are threatened is also echoed by Alexander – as if a culture views disaster through specific parameters. Additionally, Alexander goes on to explain the role of civilization in disaster and disaster perception by showcasing two different landslides. In the mentioned section, Alexander highlights that the lack of humanity or civilization in the area of one landslide is overall perceived to be a lesser disaster while overall being a more damaging disaster: " The Sherman landslide in Alaska, a direct consequence of the 1964 earthquake in that state, involved 29 million cubic meters of rock that slid at 180 km/hr into an uninhabited valley (Shreve 1966). Except from the point of view of local flora and fauna, the event was a mere geological curiosity that was discovered by accident during a routine aerial photography overflight. In contrast, the Aberfan landslide of 1966 in South Wales was 193 times smaller and moved 25-30 times more slowly, but it killed 144 people, 116 of them small children. It was a major disaster and led to decades of hardship for bereaved survivors (Austin 1967). This implies that physical magnitude is not necessarily useful to our attempts to develop a general definition of disaster.” (Alexander, pg 27). Alexander’s emphasis on how the media portrays disaster is seen in the way that the disaster is described relevant to the indivusals who are watching – being that the media did not

Week 4 Assignment Therien 6 display neighbors or areas that the individuals watching were concerned about, it was deemed less of a disaster. Reality and Construct in Disaster As defined, reality is “ the quality or state of being real” or “a real event, entity, or state of affairs .” (Merriam-Webster, 2023). With this definition in mind, it can be easy to see how it applies to a disaster, as disasters are genuine and tangible events, often filled with trauma for the individuals and the environments in which the disaster happens. However, reality in a disaster may differ from individual to individual. For example, during the 9/11 terrorist attacks, the overall reality of two planes crashing into the Twin Towers would be the same from the media's perspective, and individuals removed from the physical event and only watching the television, would all be experiencing the same content that the news outlet chose to broadcast, as compared to an induvial trapped in the towers would be experiencing a different reality. Finally, those individuals in the surrounding suburbs would have a different reality during the disaster, attempting to get into or out of the city as needed – all different perspectives of reality, but none more right or wrong from the other, as each individual experiences a different reality concerning their place in the disaster. Jigyasu highlights Dombrowsky's thoughts on the relevance and perception of reality in a disaster; “ Very much the way Dombrowsky states, the core question always was and still is the relation between idea and the world beyond perception. I believe the world beyond perceptions is not about constructivism but about comprehension in physical and mental space and time. Although, as geographers, we describe disaster in space and time, the mental description (collective and individual) constructs disaster in human conscience. Therefore, no matter how we describe a disaster in constructivist tradition (image formation), it is ultimately a reality, which is constructed in the cognitive mind of those who experience and

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Week 4 Assignment Therien 7 those who address disasters.” (Jigyasu, pg 111) . In addition to this feedback from Jigyasu on Dombrowsky’s work, the idea here; “ It is important to move beyond western world views on which our notions of “reality” have been well-founded and take into consideration multiple world views from various cultures, not only to emphasize what is different, but rather more importantly to recognize the basic similarities which form the crux of human behavior in the times of “disasters” as is understand by us and them. ” (Jigyasu, 112) displays that with media and other forms of international communication, one must look beyond their geographical borders and consider the reality of disasters for their neighbor and further. Academic Literature on Disaster and the Roles of Contributors In an academic discussion, similar to news and media, a respondent reacts to information provided by other parties. Cutter is a respondent to colleagues such as Dombrowksy in the resource being reviewed through this paper. In responding, articulating points logically and numbered such as this; “ First, I do not hold a "suspicious view of the philosophy of science ."Rather, I acknowledge that there are competing views of science and scientific explanation (Snow 1993). From my perspective, science (and scientific practice) is socially constructed, a position that is viewed as membership in a relativist school of thought within the "science wars" (Gould 2000) (Cutter, 104). Fourth, I think Dombrowsky misunderstood the meaning of my phrasing "regardless of origin." Until recently, research and practice in the disasters field were segmented into specific hazard domains: earthquake response, hurricane preparedness, etc.” (Cutter, 105) displays Cutter as a well-rounded respondent open to all criticism of her work. Conclusion

Week 4 Assignment Therien 8 Overall, the first section of this resource review centers on disaster, reality, the construct of reality through media use, and the role of culture in each topic. This resource gives a well- rounded view of each contributor and the respondent where applicable and overall is an easy read for beginners, especially those willing to follow up with specific attributes in separate academic work.

Week 4 Assignment Therien 9 Citations Merriam-Webster. (2023). Disaster Definition and Meaning. Merriam-Webster. https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/disaster Merriam-Webster. (2023). Reality. Merriam-Webster. https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/reality#:~:text=plural%20realities,1,our %20dream%20became%20a%20reality Perry, R. W., & Quarantelli, E. L. (Eds.). (2005). What is a disaster? New Answers to Old Questions. United States of America: International Research Committee on Disasters. The World Bank. (2010). Natural hazards, unnatural disasters. Washington DC: The World Bank

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