Already an injustice: Death Note and the threshold problem in disaster risk ethics

Purpose This commentary argues that the absence of a clear ethical threshold for intervention in disaster and humanitarian contexts produces injustice. Design/methodology/approach Drawing on Death Note, the Japanese manga, as an analytical lens, this commentary presents a structural problem is presented in contemporary disaster risk governance, the polarisation between relative inaction and unchecked unilateral action. Findings It is contended that disaster risk researchers have an obligation to move beyond the accumulation of evidence and ideas about interventions toward the development of an ethical framework that is deeply embedded within society to compel collective, multilateral action proportional to the scale of the urgency facing the world. Originality/value It is the first time that Death Note is used in the context of disaster risk reduction to construct a framework for addressing the threshold problem in disaster risk ethics, outlining inaction as a form of injustice rather than an acceptable default.