ABSTRACT
DISASTERS HAVE BEEN STUDIED FROM A SOCIAL SCIENTIFIC PERSPECTIVE FOR roughly seven decades. During this span multiple conceptual and thematic foci emerged from a variety of origins, each contributing in different ways to the overall development of the field. Ranging from Prince's (1920) early study of a munitions explosion in Halifax harbor to studies of populations experiencing wartime bombardment to the social impacts of natural hazards and a myriad of operational definitions used in emergency assistance and reconstruction, there has been little consensus on the definition of disaster. In some circles, the lack of consensus has caused concern regarding the intellectual health of the field (Quarantelli 1985, 1995).
