How are disasters the product of social and economic inequity? essay

Because of the diverse characteristics and attitudes of the people making up the human society, several other disasters occur within the society. These disasters are most likely moved to occur because of the fact that the people’s inequality drives them to happen. The most eminent factor of difference that usually affects the ways by which the people in the society is the economic disparity of the different individuals living in the society. Moreover, this particular factor of difference has caused different social disasters especially in terms of health issues particularly in isolated areas where a population of low-income families live.

Their inability to purchase the medical assistance that they need makes it harder to equalize the supply to the different areas affected by the said health hazard. Most of the time, those who are given the chance to solve the health issue are those who have the ability to purchase the needed support to solve the problem. Hence, as a result, the health hazard, or the disaster on health issues only cease on the communities of those who are able manage their finances in getting access to the health treatments that they need.

On the other end, the inequalities also could cause disasters in terms of natural-caused calamities to the poorer communities. It is not new to hear about the fact that the poor ones are most likely the ones who are affected by the disasters because of the fact that they are the ones becoming the target of the disasters that are happening in the human communities. Again, the situation is pointed out to the fact that the poorer ones have lesser capabilities of handling the issues that needs financial funding.

On the other hand, those who have the capabilities could easily find ways to solve the issues and fix the different destructions that are implied to them by the calamitous situations that are supposed to be faced by the said societies. As for example, people who are living in areas that are in a danger zone are mostly those who are members of the poor communities. Poor as they are, they could not ensure themselves of a better place for shelter as they are living only by their means that are literally limited to where they are presently living at.

Hence, when natural disasters come, they are the ones that become the victims of the situation. There is obviously no sense of safety in the places that they are living in. Through the records of human-disaster’s history, the situation could not be denied to have an impact on the social development of those who belong to the poorer sections. Instead of progressing towards their lives’ betterment, they become less able to equally advance with the entire society’s progress as it is.

Certainly, the situation could be judged as a result of the inequality that exists between humans. Tue, as the human society advances towards the future, the situation simply becomes even harder-to-deal-with. Now that globalization movement is strongly pushed through by the international governments, the poor would certainly be more pressured in running after the progress that they ought to aim for in v=living with such an unfair system of things within the human society.

Reference:

Michael Reich. Toxic Politics and Pollution Victims in the Third World. Chapter Nine.