Thinking across disaster

Abstract

This chapter describes aspects of the Fukushima disaster that were foreshadowed by other disasters, demonstrating the potential of comparative disaster studies. While acknowledging the way disasters are always unique, emerging from complex drivers that produce cascades of interlaced effects, this chapter highlights recurrent patterns across disaster. This chapter encourages development of comparative disaster literacy alongside development of logistical plans for disaster–so that those involved are able to “read” patterns in disaster as they unfold. Disasters are always unique, resulting from multiple failures (organizational, technological, educational, etc.), producing cascades of effects (ecological, biological, emotive, conceptual, etc.) – all forcefully shaped by context. Yet there are also patterns across disaster that when recognized can orient disaster mitigation, preparedness, immediate response, and long-term recovery. The Fukushima nuclear plant disaster is no exception. Its tragic unfolding has been both unique and illustrative of patterns that recur across disaster. Building on other chapters in this volume, this chapter will identify dimensions of the Fukushima disaster that were foreshadowed by other disasters, pointing to structural similarities. This chapter will conclude with a call for disaster education that exposes students and professionals across disciplines to case studies that illustrate structural similarities across disasters, enhancing their capacity to anticipate, analyze, and respond to disaster.