Capital and coasts in cyclonic Asia: a century of learning

Disasters caused by severe tropical storms claimed hundreds of thousands of lives in 20^th century Asia. They occurred where humans exposed themselves to natural hazards. Such exposure increased dramatically due to capitalist expansion in the century of the Anthropocene.

Why were these death tolls so high? What did people wish to do about them? My paper examines a century of social learning about these disasters, as revealed in national newspaper discourses in India and Japan. It responds to the call for systematic comparative research on societal responses to disaster “in social formations dominated by different modes of production” (Ben Wisner, 1978). It does this by adopting a critical, future-oriented “disaster ethics” perspective.

Indians created new agricultural land in ecologically dynamic low-lying river deltas; Japanese expanded industrial export harbour cities on low-lying coasts. Public discourse in both countries supported these projects, and in the face of repeated disasters urged prioritizing public investment to preserve them. In Japan, “hard” engineering protected industrial infrastructure. This protected people as well, but at an environmental cost. In India, with fewer engineering options, “soft” warning technologies mainly protected shipping and (later) aviation, while leaving the care of impacted rural populations largely to private charity. Neither approach is ultimately sustainable.

Meanwhile, in both countries, alternative voices appealing to indigenous (Hindu, Buddhist) ethics of treading lightly on Mother Earth, have grown more audible in recent years, but remain marginal.