The Uses Of Disaster

The Uses of Disaster

The article named, "The Uses of Disaster" was written by Rebecca Solnit. This article is about the connection with disasters, authority, and our understanding of human nature. Solnit refers back to the past devastating disaster moments of the world and produce opinions on the peoples' state of mind. She explains how disasters force individuals to show compassion for one another and pull together. "Ð'... Eric Temple Bell, who witnessed the 1906 San Francisco earthquake and fire, saw no running around the streets, or shrieking, or anything of that sort but instead people who walked calmly from place to place and watched the fire with almost indifference and then with jokesÐ'..." This shows how the people were not in complete mayhem as were expected but were acting like civilized individuals at a time like this. Most people assume that human beings are automatically going to panic but that is not always the scenario.

Solnit writes about how the acts of September 11th opened a door to the country. She states that the Bush Administration responded desperately to the attacks and hastened to slam the door shut on the destruction with their power. She also refers back to Mexico City in 1985 when an earthquake tore apart the city and killed about 10,000 people and left millions without home. It was made clear that the government cared about the businesses and buildings than the people. She stated that no effort was made to search for survivors or retrieval of the corpses from the night. Money was spent on unnecessary items rather than on this devastated population. "Ð'...the brigades and aid workers, in the midst of rubble and desolation, felt themselves in charge of their own behavior and responsible for the other city that rose into view". This shows how the citizens started to demand justice and how they fought to keep their city organized