The Catastrophic Floods in Western Attica, in Greece, 2017: Traumatic Memories and Stories (2022) (original) (raw)

From Calamities to Disasters: Pitirim Aleksandrovič Sorokin’s Insights

Human Arenas, 2018

When Sorokin wrote the book Man and Society in Calamity, it was very clear what he meant by calamities—natural or man-made (war and revolution, famine, and pestilence)— and how these “monsters” transformed the normal flow of individuals’ lives. Indeed, since calamities occur in each and every age, they exert great influence on many aspects of everyday life: from forms of thought to acting, from social life to the cultural processes of society. Sorokin defines the “typical effects” that are repeated whenever disasters of the same type occur. The principle still holds today; after many years, the lexicon has changed, preferring the term disaster to calamity (now considered archaic, obsolete), but the effects of the events that we call disasters—on the thoughts, behavior, social organization, and cultural life of individuals— have not changed. And this is true despite the fact that scholars not always agree on which events should and/or could fall into this category. In contemporary society, we can hypothesize, even if briefly, the classification and the characteristics of disasters, since these elements differentiate the actions taken by the community affected and by those providing aid.

МЕТОДИ ЛІНГВІСТИЧНОГО АНАЛІЗУ КОНЦЕПТУ DISASTER В ОПИСІ СИТУАЦІЙ РИЗИКУ В ПУБЛІЦИСТИЧНОМУ ДИСКУРСІ

2024

Language shapes our perception of the world, and this study delves into how the concept of "DISASTER" is linguistically represented in public discourse, specifically focusing on risk situations reported in American and British newspapers. The research underscores the influence of vocabulary choices in news articles on how we understand and respond to potential threats. Employing a lexical-semantic approach, the study meticulously analyzes how the concept "DISASTER" is verbalized within two news article subtypes: weather forecasts and reportages. This analysis sheds light on the unique characteristics of newspaper text when communicating risk situations. By dissecting these texts, the research strives to achieve several key objectives: distinguishing features of risk-related newspaper text identifying characteristics that differentiate newspaper text specifically dedicated to reporting risk situations from other journalistic genres; linguistic representation of DISASTER that includes analysis the specific linguistic choices used to portray the concept of "DISASTER" within weather forecasts and reportages; emotive language and risk perception exploring how linguistic choices contribute to the emotional impact of the text, potentially influencing how readers perceive and react to risk situations. The methodology hinges on two key linguistic analysis methods: component analysis and contextological analysis. Component analysis deconstructs word meaning, revealing its constituent semantic components. Contextological analysis examines how context shapes the understanding of a word. By employing these methods, the research can identify relevant semantic elements associated with "DISASTER" and pinpoint how context influences its interpretation within news articles. This exploration contributes to the growing body of research on the linguistic portrayal of various phenomena. It highlights the intricate link between language and cultural perception of risk, offering valuable insights for crafting effective communication and response strategies in the face of potential disasters.

Orthodox Christian Bulgarians Coping with Natural Disasters in the Pre-Modern Ottoman Balkans

Religions, 2021

Premodern Ottoman society consisted of four major religious communities—Muslims, Orthodox Christians, Armenian Christians, and Jews; the Muslim and Christian communities also included various ethnic groups, as did Muslim Arabs and Turks, Orthodox Christian Bulgarians, Greeks, and Serbs who identified, in the first place, with their religious community and considered ethnic identity of secondary importance. Having lived together, albeit segregated within the borders of the Ottoman Empire, for centuries, Bulgarians and Turks to a large extent shared the same world view and moral value system and tended to react in a like manner to various events. The Bulgarian attitudes to natural disasters, on which this contribution focuses, apparently did not differ essentially from that of their Turkish neighbors. Both proceeded from the basic idea of God’s providence lying behind these disasters. In spite of the (overwhelmingly Western) perception of Muslims being passive and fatalistic, the prob...

Historical Disaster Research. State of Research, Concepts, Methods and Case Studies

»Historische Katastrophenforschung. Forschungsstand, Begriffe, Konzepte und Fallbeispiele«. Disasters have always accompanied human history. Historical research on disasters is, however, a recent trend. After a short review of the engagement with disasters in Europe since antiquity, an outline is given of research approaches, concepts, methods and theories from social sciences and cultural studies, along with recent historical research of primarily natural disasters. The present volume presents the research approach and papers of the DFG’s network of young academics “Historical disaster research with a view to comparative cultural study” (Historische Erforschung von Katastrophen in kulturvergleichender Perspektive), situating them in the history of this field of investigation. It deals with the findings, opportunities and future lines of research into historical disasters with a view to developing a cross-disciplinary and comparative cultural approach.

The Impact Of Natural And Human-Made Disasters In The Caucasus

2013

"Mommy! Mommy!"-a voice of a child was coming out of the opening-"let me out please, I've always been a good boy. . ." "Please, go to sleep, dear": what else could this desperate mother have said, mad with fear, while on her knees amidst the ruins of their former house?. .. One could observe such scenes on December 7, 1988, when one of the most devastating earthquakes pounded Armenia-the South Caucasus republic of the former Soviet Union. The center of this disaster was the village of Nalband; it disappeared entirely. The earthquake affected 40% of Armenia's territory and a million of its inhabitants; 31 cities and 342 villages suffered heavy damage, 18% of the country's dwellings were annihilated. .. This natural calamity came in the background of another disaster, this one created by the ethnocentric nationalists. The cruelties that occurred in the Caucasus, and in many other places of the world in the last couple of decades, remind us that humankind has the capacity to behave in very destructive ways.

Citizen Knowledge and Readiness for Disasters in the Balkans

Knowledge International Journal

With the beginning of the twenty-first century, further emphasis is placed on the global challenges in terms of security in the environment in which we live. All countries around the world are exposed to dangers which, in varying degrees and proportions, pose a threat to the individual country's physical security, wealth and interests. Such events, including natural and man-made disasters, usually create the need for large human capacities. The costs of disasters in terms of money, human suffering and effort, and lost resources can be devastating. Such threats are a diverse combination of natural forces and human actions. They can be direct and indirect. It’s not by chance that nature responds harshly to man’s activities. This includes unwise industrial, commercial, household and agricultural activities. As human beings, we build on flood plains or earthquake fault lines, make changes to riverbeds, construct sewage systems, create roads and buildings without urban planning, and ...

REMINISCENCES OF NATURAL DISASTERS

Abstract The French regime occupied Pondicherry, Karaikal, Mahe, Yanam and Chandranagore for about two hundred and eighty years. Built them as commercial centres had to face many hardship due to the natural calamities. The epidemics often visited swayed the live of the people had to be eradicated. The French administrators took up the remedial and relief measures as a challenge in order to protect the inhabitants not only for their economic benefits but proved their sense of dedication towards service of mankind. The following article throws the glimpses about the natural disasters and epidemics faced in the French region as reminiscences and the measures inflicted for the well-being of the population. Keywords: Kolainoi, vaccination, philanthropists,diarist,physicians.