Hiding Behind Hurricanes: The Unexpected Social Consequences of Natural Disasters

2015 | Natural World

As we know only too well in the wake of Hurricane Sandy, no one is immune to natural disasters. Urban, rural, rich, poor, we all suffer the effects of nature's tantrums. However, in the aftermath we discover that while some of us suffer terrible losses, others can cope easily, and some people actually gain. How can this be explained?John Mutter'sHiding Behind Hurricanesexplores the turbulent boundary where Mother Nature meets human nature under extreme duress.He shows how the common perception of Nature as a capricious villain, random in who it selects as its victims, is wrong, and argues instead that it is human nature that is the critical element that determines what disaster results in tragedy. What we attribute to the hand of nature, we are actually doing to ourselves, and in diverting blame from our own actions we have permitted, even encouraged, injustice to prosper. This is an authoritative examination of the most extreme disasters to have rocked our planet in the last decade, and an optimistic exploration of how we can prevent the injustice of future disaster outcomes. He lives in Piermont, NY.

John C. Mutter (Author)