Dealing with natural disasters in a postsocialists society - the example of Slovenia

Abstract

Many countries around the world are facing increasing impacts of natural disasters. This is primarily attributed to climate change, accompanied by an increase in the intensity of meteorological and hydro-geomorphological natural hazards. However, is climate change really responsible for this increased damage and low resilience, or should the cause be sought elsewhere? Based on the case of Slovenia, it is shown that social irresponsibility (e.g., inadequate spatial planning, lack of supervision, insufficient insurance policies, and a mix of politics and capital influences) could be a factor more responsible than climate change for the “catastrophic” consequences of natural disasters.