Disaster risk reduction and applied anthropology

This article reviews the conceptual development of the disaster risk reduction perspective in research in general as well as its formalization as an instrument of policy and practice at the international level. I also review current programmatic applications of disaster risk reduction in research and policy fora and assay key anthropological contributions to risk reduction policies and practice. I also consider the links between disaster risk reduction and climate change adaptation, as the possible trajectories of these phenomena are as intimately bound to one another as are their root causes. Finally, I discuss some of the major critiques of the application or lack thereof of disaster risk reduction in the context of critical discussions of contemporary understandings of risk and development.