Natural and man-made disasters, which occur regularly and with increasing frequency, are known to have direct and indirect effects on demographic events. Until relatively recently, however, the demography of disasters has not received substantial attention from demographers. The 2021 collection entitled, The Demography of Disasters: Impacts for Population and Place, is an effort to contribute to the growing scholarly literature on this topic. The book represents a collaboration between the Geographical Institute of the Research Centre for Astronomy and Earth Sciences (Hungary), the Northern Institute of Charles Darwin University (Australia), and the Faculty of Life and Environmental Sciences (University of Iceland). The collection “seeks to advance both practical and theoretical insights into our understanding of the role of demography in planning for and mitigating impacts from disasters in developed nations.” The editors lay out an explicit goal of providing policy-relevant information, specifying that the aim of the collection is “to extend the nascent work to improve disaster policy and planning process through the growing knowledge about the demography–disaster nexus.” Most of the authors of the 13 chapters are geographers and demographers, with historians, urban planners, economists, and environmental scientists also contributing. Given the specialties and locations of the authors, most of the papers focus on migration as a response to disaster (mortality and health are explicitly not the focus) and many describe events in Australia. Still, the topics are wide ranging, including the impacts of the nuclear disasters in Chernobyl and Fukushima, heat waves in Australia, and wildfires in California and Russia. The papers are uniformly readable and engaging; many provide vivid details of the human cost of the disasters described. One example is the bullying of resettled junior and high school students evacuated from areas affected by the Fukushima nuclear disaster (p. 38). Chapter 1 provides a conceptual overview of the disaster–demography field, reviews its history of paradigm shifts, and considers the varying definitions of a “disaster.” An interesting tidbit offered in this chapter is that the first recognized disaster study was a Columbia University doctoral dissertation written by Samuel Prince in 1920 on the 1917 Halifax Explosion (when a cargo ship filled with explosives collided with another ship resulting in more than 1700 deaths). The field of disaster studies has evolved in many ways since that time. Disaster studies now examine the impact of a disaster according to its type, rapidity, and magnitude as well as the characteristics of the population both before and after. The authors provide a useful discussion of the idea that “hazards” become “disasters” only when they interact with humans; disasters can be predicted, prevented, and mitigated since their effects are rooted in social structures and vulnerabilities to those effects are influenced by social and demographic characteristics. Also, they note that the field has evolved to include ideas around social justice and inclusion in its consideration of the demographic consequences of disasters. Chapters 2–8 comprise the heart of the collection, bringing quantitative (and occasional qualitative) data to bear on case studies that advance our understanding of the demographic consequences of disasters. The case studies consistently display a meticulous attention to detail, deep knowledge of the subject matter, and an ability to manipulate and use data creatively. The results mostly examine the magnitude and direction of post-disaster migration and return but also address fertility, mortality, property loss, and other consequences. Chapters 9–11 are more general reflections on designing cities that account for gender differences, the impact of the failure of critical infrastructure, and community participation in disaster recovery, respectively. Chapter 12, which is a bit of an outlier, is a personal account of conducting long-term collaborative research in the disaster studies field. The final chapter (13) lays out seven “approaches” to the study of the disaster-demography nexus which seems to reflect subtopics (such as measuring vulnerability, climate change) more than approaches. The book accomplishes its goal of providing information that could be applied to planning and policy. Most of the chapters outline lessons learned and the policy decisions that mitigated or, in some cases, worsened the outcomes. Given the quantity and breadth of the material, as well as its ambition to be policy relevant, the book would have benefited from an executive summary. The volume is an open access publication available on the Springer Publishing website.
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Mar 30, 2022
Irina Sai 
Open Access