Work

Comments on the short communication: The number of natural disasters is zero: commentary to “Is the number of global natural disasters increasing?” by David Oliver Kasdan, Youngdal Son, and Hangul Lee Natural Hazards https://doi.org/10.1007/s11069-025-07245-9 (2025)

Year: 2025

Type: article

Abstract: In their recently published “short communication”, Kasdan et al. (Nat Hazards 2025) explain their strong negative reaction (“raises our hackles”) to an earlier article (Alimonti and Mariani in Environ Hazards 23(2):186–202, 2023) which questioned if the often-quoted increase in the number of entries (events) in a leading “natural disaster” database is real or a consequence of evolving reporting practices. According to the communication’s abstract, their objections are partly semantic, regarding the term “natural disaster”, and also methodological. They also question the “intentions” of the authors of the earlier study. As we explain below, we consider that the comments of Kasdan et al. 2025 are flawed in several ways, both regarding perspective and methodological aspects.

Source: Natural Hazards

DOI: 10.1007/s11069-025-07710-5

Authors: Roland Roberts, Gianluca Alimonti, Ari Tryggvason, Luigi Mariani

Institutions: Uppsala University, University of Milan, Istituto Nazionale di Fisica Nucleare, Sezione di Milano, University of Brescia

Language: English

Topic: Disaster Management and Resilience

Subfield: Sociology and Political Science

Field: Social Sciences

Domain: Social Sciences

Open Access status: hybrid

Estimated APC paid: $3,990

Funder: Uppsala Universitet