Rob Fagan advocates for simplifying disaster categories into natural and human-caused. He warns that overcomplicating classifications can hinder budgeting and leadership communication. Instead, he promotes flexible thinking to manage the "cascading" nature of real-world, multi-hazard crises.
Description
In this video, emergency management professor Rob Fagan explains how disasters are commonly categorized—and why overcomplicating classifications can undermine planning, budgeting, and communication with senior leaders. He argues for two clear categories, natural and human-caused disasters, and shows how real-world crises are often cascading, multi-hazard events that demand simple, flexible thinking rather than rigid labels.
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Resilience Hub: How Disasters Are Classified. Why Simplicity Beats Overcategorization