Introduction: Conceptualising the demography of disasters

Abstract

Understanding and documenting intersects between disasters and human demographic change is an emerging academic field. Both the study of disasters and demographic issues are broad constructs in their own rights. While it may seem obvious to link the two, as we have in this book, disasters can impact on populations and population change in multifarious, obtuse and complex ways. Our aim in this book is to extend the nascent work to improve disaster policy and planning processes through enhancing knowledge about the demography-disaster nexus. In this chapter, we overview contemporary debates and paradigm shifts within the field of disaster studies to provide conceptual links between these and the field of demography. To conclude, we outline the topics and case studies which form the basis for individual chapters in this book.