"There is no such thing as a natural disaster"

(Neil Smith)

Highly differentiated vulnerability – by neighborhood and social group – to the storm. Who was able to evacuate in timely fashion and who was left behind?

Those w/ money were able to evacuate quickly and have their homes, neighborhoods, communities rebuilt... poor people were left to suffer

Triage is the sorting of and allocation of treatment to patients and especially battle and disaster victims according to a system

of priorities designed to maximize the number of survivors. It is the reality of disaster interventions but it is also an allegory for post-disaster reconstruction. It is necropolitics, i.e. the politics of life and death. 

Occurs when disasters become prolonged part of life... leads to permanent displacement of vulnerable populations (poor people) from social landscape

- poor people get overlooked in relief efforts and uncertain situations

Disaster Capitalism

(Naomi Klein)

- Disasters provide opportunity for accelerated capital accumulation

- Provides opportunity for economic shift/exploitation

Economically exploitative relationships between landowners and workers

- how to eliminate diseases more efficiently/effectively