Natural Catastrophe

Monday 1st February

Aceh, Haiti and the Perils of Post-Disaster Reconstruction

Peter Fragiskatos, 1 February 2010
Can Indonesia’s Aceh province provide Haiti and the global community with lessons about rebuilding after a catastrophe?
Wednesday 29th August

When the levee breaks

Ian Christie, 29 August 2007
When the levee breaks, it's a message for the world too (archive)
Sunday 8th October

Kashmir earthquake: one year on

openDemocracy, 8 October 2006
Photographs marking the first anniversary of the earthquake in Kashmir which killed nearly 75,000 people on 8 October 2005.
Monday 28th August

'In the wake of Katrina,' Larry Towell

openDemocracy, 28 August 2006
Between 3–11 September, 2005, photographer Larry Towell, accompanied by novelist Ace Atkins, travelled along the coast of Alabama, Louisiana and Mississippi, documenting the dramatic aftermath of Hurricane Katrina.

Hell hath no fury: Katrina's weight

Jim Gabour, 28 August 2006
New Orleans a year after Katrina remains a city of multiple distresses and defiant hope , reports Jim Gabour.
Monday 13th February

A New Orleans diary

Jim Gabour, 13 February 2006
Thursday 22nd December

Kashmir Diary

Sharmeen Obaid-Chinoy, 22 December 2005
After the immediate shock of the earthquake that hit the Kashmir regions of Pakistan and India, killing nearly 75,000, the approach of winter poses a second deadly threat to the survivors. Sharmeen Obaid-Chinoy sends a diary full of tragedy, despair and heroism from a Cuban medical camp in the mountains.
Wednesday 21st December

Western NGOs and the tsunami test

Jan McGirk, 21 December 2005
A year on, western NGOs are being forced to learn some bitter lessons from their attempts to aid survivors of the Indian Ocean tsunami, reports Jan McGirk.
Monday 5th December

Kashmir: the tragedy of opportunities

Omair Ahmad, 5 December 2005
Militant Islamists have served Kashmir’s earthquake victims better than an uncaring India or an incompetent Pakistan, and the consequences for ordinary Kashmiris will be bitter, says Omair Ahmad.
Thursday 1st December

The unwinnable war: an interview with Zygmunt Bauman

Zygmunt Bauman and Łukasz Gałecki, 1 December 2005

Sunday 16th October

Kashmir: brothers in aid

Michel Thieren, 16 October 2005
The Kashmir earthquake is still claiming its victims, but Michel Thieren sees humanitarian and political lessons from hurricane Katrina being applied in its painful aftermath.
Monday 10th October

Pakistan's mountain tsunami

Maruf Khwaja, 10 October 2005
“As usual, God is being unjustly blamed for tragedies that are the consequence in large part of human failure.” Maruf Khwaja weighs the balance of cosmic justice and earthly negligence revealed by the Kashmir earthquake.
Monday 26th September

Hurricanes, global warming, and global politics

Dáithí Stone and Dave Frame, 26 September 2005
A new research paper providing scientific underpinning for links between global warming and the increasing regularity of hurricanes is a challenge to policy-makers to think afresh, report Dave Frame & Dáithí Stone.
Tuesday 6th September

Katrina's triple failure: technical, ethical, political

Michel Thieren, 6 September 2005
The experience of disaster management around the world has three lessons for the United States, says Michel Thieren.
Monday 5th September

After Katrina, a government adrift

Godfrey Hodgson, 5 September 2005
The aftermath of Katrina reveals how sectarian conservative politics have brought disrepair and neglect to the heart of American politics, says Godfrey Hodgson – democratic government must be revived.
Thursday 1st September

Katrina: a disaster guide

openDemocracy, 1 September 2005
openDemocracy staff – Alexandra Matine, Anju Srivastava, Antoinette Odoi, Charlie Devereux, David Hayes, Maryam Maruf and Sarah Lindon - digest reactions to the United States’s Gulf coast catastrophe, survey the views of bloggers and columnists, and post a brief guide to essential sites for news, images and opinion.
Thursday 13th January

India's tsunami

Antara Dev Sen, 13 January 2005
The Indian government’s refusal of foreign aid to its devastated coastal and island regions reflects its aspiration to sit at the world’s top table. Antara Dev Sen on the national dimensions of a global tragedy.
Wednesday 12th January

Sin and tsunamis

Dave Belden, 12 January 2005
The Lisbon earthquake of 1755 provoked the first modern discussion about the causes of natural disasters – fate, science, God, or human failure. What lessons does the world need to learn from the Asian tsunami 250 years later?

When tsunamis destroyed one of Europe’s greatest cities in 1755, there was as yet no science of seismology. Governments did not yet expect to take responsibility for the results of natural disasters or “acts of God”. People thought it was God’s punishment – though they differed on how people had sinned.

Friday 7th January

Tsunami coming for us all

Caspar Henderson, 7 January 2005
The tsunami that swept across the Indian ocean on 26 December 2004 was cataclysmic. Our Globalisation Editor Caspar Henderson asks what it means for the future of an interconnected world.
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