Framing disasters as natural masks societal inequalities, charity says

Describing disasters as natural masks the systemic inequalities in access to resources and power, the head of a disaster relief charity has said.

Sanj Srikanthan, CEO of ShelterBox, said framing catastrophes like earthquakes, tsunamis, droughts and floods as natural disasters undermines the need for preventative action.

His comments come on the anniversary of the devastating floods in Pakistan last year, which killed over 1,700 people and 1.2 million livestock while affecting around 33 million people in total.

In an open letter addressed to the UK’s media, Mr Srikanthan said the term natural disaster is “misleading and harmful” and it “perpetuates a dangerous myth that nothing could have been done to prevent people being so badly affected”.

He added: “When we frame disasters as natural, we fail to acknowledge the complex interplay between nature and the role of human actions and how they impact communities around the world.

“A disaster is not a natural occurrence but a result of systemic inequalities in access to resources and power.

“Where we live and how much money we have often determines our ability to recover. By framing these events as natural, we undermine the need for proactive measures to protect vulnerable communities.

“It masks the underlying social, economic, and political instability that make marginalised and disadvantaged communities disproportionately affected.”

Pakistan’s monsoon season last year saw nearly three times as much rain as the 30-year average, the British Red Cross said.

It rained continuously for two months and upturned the lives of millions between June and October last year.

Shortly before, in April and May, temperatures reached 49C which baked the ground so the flood water was less easily absorbed.

Higher temperatures, brought on by human-induced climate change, also mean glaciers in the Himalayas and Hindu Kush melt faster and push more water through the Indus River basin, where hundreds of millions of people live and work.

Mr Srikanthan said: “When I visited Pakistan after monsoon flooding last year, it was clear how the devastating impacts of the floods were within humanity’s power to mitigate – the people worse affected were those living in poverty with the least means to protect themselves and few resources to withstand the next event.

“It was little reported that regions of Pakistan were in the middle of drought and food insecurity just prior to the flooding that compounded a pre-existing crisis.

“Instead of using natural disaster we simply say disaster or are more specific, describing the extreme weather, earthquake, tsunami, or volcanic eruption.

“I urge the media to act, help us in breaking this cycle, by reframing their reporting and committing to language that accurately reflects why people are affected so badly.”