It’s time to say goodbye to ‘natural’ disasters. That’s according to Mama Mizutori, Special Representative of the United Nations Secretary-General for Disaster Risk Reduction.

In a recent blog post, Mizutori argues that most of the risk in our society is a result of weak disaster risk governance, including a lack of risk-informed planning, poor public engagement and failure to respond to global threats.

A natural hazard becomes a disaster when it combines with exposure and vulnerability to cause loss of life, hurt and injury to people, along with economic loss.

Mami Mizutori

To learn more, we spoke with Kevin Blanchard, researcher and founder of the #NoNaturalDisasters twitter campaign. In the podcast this week, Kevin shares his experience and explains why there’s no such thing as a natural disaster.

Kevin recently authored a report: #NoNaturalDisasters in the workplace – Improving how we talk about disasters at work. Click here to download.

Nature doesn’t cause disasters. It’s our own failure as a species in terms of planning and policy that’s caused 99.999% of so-called ‘natural-disasters

Kevin Blanchard

You can get involved in the #NoNaturalDisasters campaign by posting on social media and sharing the message in your workplace. For more information, visit nonaturaldisasters.com.