The Changing Nature of Hazard and Disaster Risk in the Anthropocene

The concept of the Anthropocene provides the reflexive rubric for examining human alteration of the Earth’s basic natural systems and, in turn, how society responds to and adapts to such changes in its life support systems. Nowhere is this more evident than in natural hazards and disaster risk. This article examines the changing nature of hazard and disaster risk from local to global scales highlighting three thematic areas. The first is the redefinition of what constitutes extremes (lower probability, higher consequence events) and the movement away from characterizing hazards as extreme events to a focus on the chronic or everyday events, the cumulative impacts compounding to produce impacts often far greater than the periodic extreme event. The second theme examines the confluence and complexity in the production and reproduction of hazards and disaster risk. The intersection of natural systems, human systems, and technology produces a tightly coupled and complex array of potential failure modes and large-scale impacts, so much so that when a natural hazard occurs in one part of the world, the consequences extend well beyond the affected region, which in turn affects the global economic system. The third theme is the increasing social, procedural, and spatial inequalities in disaster risk. These three themes are explored using historic and recent examples from North America.