Comments on: “There is no such thing as a natural disaster”: crises, complexity and the role of theory

By: Raima

Raima — Wed, 28 Jul 2010 21:27:22 +0000

I’m so sorry that I am only now, in July (!), finding your excellent blog post. Thanks for linking to my own blog, Complexity Simplified, and for mentioning my attempt to explain the way complex systems science can help us understand and prepare for disasters. Your explanation is so much more thorough and I’m very excited to read some of the references you’ve provided here, as I’m still quite interested in this topic, but not as familiar with the disaster response literature as you are. My own expertise is more on the basic physical and mathematical principles involved in complex systems science, and I am not as conversant with the disaster literature as I would like to be. So, thank you for this great post! — Raima

By: Connecting the Local and the Global: Haiti and Ottawa « Green Living Ottawa

Connecting the Local and the Global: Haiti and Ottawa « Green Living Ottawa — Sat, 06 Feb 2010 18:03:55 +0000

[...] I came across a blog called Aid on the Edge of Chaos that brought it all together for me. Blogger Ben Ramalingam writes about seeing natural disasters [...]

By: Mwangi Wangu

Mwangi Wangu — Fri, 05 Feb 2010 16:27:26 +0000

This blog post by Ben Ramalingam (ALNAP) argues that with the devastating Haiti earthquake still fresh in our minds, this is the time to reflect on the underlying theories that shape the way “we think about disasters, how we understand the aftermath, and how we carry out international aid work.” He provides a facscinating overview of the complexity sciences and how they can inform our understanding about the dynamics of crises, a first step in framing appropriate and locally-relevant disaster response programmes.