Introduction: Disasters and Hazards in Socio-Legal Studies

Abstract

In view of the global warming that has increasingly been plaguing the earth, it should be no surprise that the world has been witnessing an unprecedented wave of natural disasters over the past decades. Among the most important of these natural calamities in recent years, mention can be made of the Indian Ocean earthquake and tsunami of 2004, hurricanes Katrina and Irene in the United States in 2005, cyclone Nargis in Burma in 2008, the Haiti earthquake of 2010, the Russian heat wave of 2010, the 2011 tornado in Joplin, Missouri, and the 2011 Tōhoku earthquake and tsunami in Japan. Ranging from earthquakes, volcanic eruptions, avalanches, and floods to heat waves, storms, and epidemics, the field of disaster research presents a myriad of questions for social-scientific exploration.

Citation

Deflem, M. (2012), "Introduction: Disasters and Hazards in Socio-Legal Studies", Deflem, M. (Ed.) Disasters, Hazards and Law (Sociology of Crime, Law and Deviance, Vol. 17), Emerald Group Publishing Limited, Leeds, pp. ix-xii. https://doi.org/10.1108/S1521-6136(2012)0000017003