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  1. Documents and publications

Enschede cries – Restoring ontological security after a fireworks disaster


Documents and publications
Author(s)
Warner, Jeroen
Source
International Journal of Disaster Risk Reduction (Elsevier)
Publication Year
2021
ISBN/ISSN/DOI
10.1016/j.ijdrr.2021.102171 (DOI)
Number of pages
11 p.

The article claims that to those affected, disaster is an existential experience. For them, it is an unexpected existential ‘event’ clearly separating a ‘before’ from an ‘after’. In the academic disaster domain however the ‘disaster as event’ is being eroded both by complexity approaches and critical approaches, which both, if for different reasons, consider disaster ‘normal’.

By the example of the Enschede, the Netherlands, urban fireworks explosion of 2000 I argue that we should not only celebrate community resilience but take much more seriously how disasters may paralyse and trau-matize individuals and communities. The application of Giddens’ ‘ontological security’ to urban disaster fore-grounds the importance for the disaster-affected population of regaining a sense of continuity and trust in the living and regulatory environment. Retaining (cultural) memory, also mediated through the arts, supports long- term rehabilitation.

In the case under scrutiny, the municipal government indeed proved responsive to a desire to preserve disaster memory rather than just look ahead, yet unresolved forensic puzzles and lack of accountability may have slowed psychological closure.

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Related links
Technological and biological hazard preparedness: Roadmap
Asia-Pacific Regional Framework for NATECH (natural hazards triggering technological disasters) risk management
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Keywords
Hazards
Technical Disaster
Themes
Recovery
Social Impacts & Social Resilience
Country & Region
Netherlands, the

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