Débat avec Sandrine Revet
Conference

Living a Natural Disaster

Sandrine
Revet

Research Fellow, Centre de Recherches Internationales (CERI), Sciences Po

Sandrine Revet works on political cultural and social dynamics of natural disasters. She holds a Ph.D. in Anthropology (2006) from the Institut des Hautes Etudes de l’Amérique latine, focusing on Venezuelian 1999's floods (Anthropologie d’une catastrophe, Presses de la Sorbonne Nouvelle, 2007). She joined CERI in 2009.
In 2010, she participated in a MSF-Crash conference entitled "Living a natural disaster". She is a member of the editorial boards of Critique internationale, Questions de recherche, Cahiers des Amériques latines, Papeles del CEIC (Universidad del Pais Vasco, Bilbao) and Disaster Prevention and Management. Co-founder of the Association pour la recherche sur les catastrophes et les risques en anthropologie (ARCRA).

The study of natural disasters from an anthropological viewpoint reveal a reality that differs markedly from the clichés we see in the media. This reality is uncovered in the work by Sandrine Revet on the mudslides that destroyed the cost of Venezuela in December 1999. By looking at this event in the local context, she describes how survival, aid and reconstruction activities are organised.

Table of contents

1. Introduction
2. Historical background
3. Ethnography of a disaster
4. Reconstruction
5. Ethnography of private international organisations
6. With hindsight, how do you view your work as head of mission?
7. Have new social categories emerged after the disaster?
8. Difference between figures; certainty or estimate?
9. Emergency burials : in which conditions?
10. Are statistics about casualties systematically inflated?
11. Statistics as a lever for international mobilisation and fundraising?
12. Are there any efficient prevention programmes?

To cite this content :
Sandrine Revet, “Living a Natural Disaster”, 3 novembre 2010, URL : https://msf-crash.org/en/conferences-debates/living-natural-disaster

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