ABSTRACT
This chapter investigates the first of the three main identified reasons behind the rare recognition of protection in the field of disaster displacement in the EU. This refers to the way in which disaster displacement is conceptualized together with its causes, dynamics, actors, and nature of harm. To begin with, the chapter introduces the salient features of disasters and related displacement in the different legal frameworks available at the international and EU levels, highlighting relevant gaps and limitations in their approach. In doing so, it particularly emphasizes EU institutions’ limited integration of disaster displacement considerations in key policy areas. It then engages with major misconceptions of disasters, which fail to consider their social, cultural, economic, and political inherent factors. The analysis argues that misleading interpretations of disasters, including of man-made hazards, have resulted in a limited and fallacious understanding of disaster displacement and of its consequences. On the contrary, looking at disasters and disaster displacement from a vulnerability perspective would contribute to advancing a more comprehensive interpretation of these phenomena and to better assessing international protection claims based on, or associated with, those grounds.
