![]() ![]() Catastrophe survivors are often joyous, even ebullient, because they’ve been liberated from the constraints of everyday life. Through this people’s history of five natural and man-made disasters-Katrina, earthquakes in San Francisco and Mexico City, a giant ship explosion in Halifax, Canada, and 9/11-Solnit shows that emergencies can bring out the best in us. In New Orleans, police infamously stopped residents trying to evacuate, and charged the poor with looting when they scavenged to survive their confinement in the drowning city. Hunker down or help thy neighbor? Send in food or federal troops? From the 1906 San Francisco earthquake to Hurricane Katrina, officials have often presumed that the survivors were dangerous, not endangered, doubling the damage by emphasizing a paramilitary response over a humanitarian one. ![]() This belief, fueled by sensational media coverage, shapes our reactions. Take panic, for instance: Most of us expect incivility after crises, and worry about rioting, rape, murder, and mayhem. ![]() “ Disasters,” writes Rebecca Solnit, “are, most basically, terrible, tragic, grievous…not to be desired.” Obviously, but don’t stop reading: Nearly every other sentence in A Paradise Built in Hell will challenge what you think you know about catastrophes, starting with the idea that they bring out the worst in people. Fight disinformation: Sign up for the free Mother Jones Daily newsletter and follow the news that matters. ![]()
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