Desastres naturais: convivência com o risco

Abstract

Studies on the risks of natural disasters have improved from a physicalist approach to a social and environmental perspective. However, planning and management still follow the anthropocentric paradigm of human superiority and the unlimited power of science and technology, evincing a cognitive, cultural and action inability on the part of experts, scientists and decision makers (or, rather, claim makers) to identify and act upon the social causes of risk production. In view of the Cartesian and Positivist science used to solve problems, based on security and on control over the natural world, a post-normal science has been proposed that considers the risks and uncertainties of scientific knowledge and environmental issues. This new approach encompasses participation and dialogue among stakeholders as a means to increase the quality of scientific knowledge and acknowledge the complexity of environmental issues. This article discusses the need for an epistemological leap on how we think and produce knowledge, as well as for implementing the management of disaster risk. Its objects of study are communication processes and education for disaster prevention.