The relationship between social experience and action in the context of recurrent disasters is often thought of in terms of adaptation. This study problematises this assumption from an anthropological perspective by analysing the memoryscape that mediates past experiences of disasters. The inquiry is based on translocal and transtemporal ethnographic fieldwork conducted in 2004-2011 in the flood-prone city of Santa Fe in Argentina. The study examines how past flooding is remembered by flood victims in the middle- and low-income districts and by activists of the protest movement that emerged in the wake of the 2003 flood. It deals with flood memory in the local bureaucracy, in local historiography, myths and popular culture. The analysis reveals that the Santafesinian flood memoryscape is dynamically configured by evocative, reminiscent and commemorative modes of remembering, which are expressed in multiple forms, ranging from memorials and rituals to bureaucratic documents, infrastructure and everyday practices. The study addresses the relationship between memory, morality and social inequality and discusses the implications for questions regarding vulnerability, resilience and adaptation.

There are three main purposes for this thesis; the first is to distinguish the possible violations that can occur in time of natural disasters. The second is to analyze if there is a correlation between political systems and how the effected country handles the aftermath of a natural disaster. The third purpose is to determine the role of the global community and what responsibility lies with them. The issue is often that the aid becomes the main object for discussion and analysis, but the focus rarely shifts to the effected State. Therefore the focus in this essay is the political system and how they cope with the human rights violations that can occur in a time of natural disaster. The questions are; what human rights are at risk of being violated during a natural disaster? What general impact do the different political systems have on how they handle the human rights violations that arises? In which ways can other countries assist in a natural disaster and what responsibility do the global communities have?To be able to discuss human rights, it is necessary to know one perspective of how they came to be. For this purpose, this thesis will explain human rights from the perspectives of Jack Donnelly and Ronald Dworkin. They speak about rights and obligations; Donnelly means to say that all rights are universal and Dworkin put rights in a perspective of equal respect and concern. Some of the rights violated in the aftermath of the natural disaster were the right to a family life, the right to personal security and the right to ones property. When analyzing the political systems and the responsibility of the world in the consequences of a natural disaster, I applied Ulla Erikson-Zeterqvists explanation of early institutional theory that implies tree conditions that make an organization successful. The first condition is where the administrative control lays, second the commitment of grassroots organizations and third, the participation of the local community. In this analysis the conclusion is that the political system is not the main factor in upholding human rights. The main factor is the stability of the State and what the State is willing to do for its citizens. The stability of the States determines the standard for what human rights mean and how the aid is structured. If the State is corrupted it makes it harder for the global community to assist. The countries history affects their behavior and in a time of crisis, the States true commitment is shown.

Purpose: The purpose of this study is to increase the knowledge of the complexity of a crisis team consisting of multiple government. Furthermore, the consequences of the complexity on the sensemaking and sensegiving processes, regarding the crisis team in a natural disaster. Method: To be able to answer the questions regarding this study, the empirical data has been collected through six (6) interviews. The researchers for this study have applied a case study on the floodings of Mälaren December 2019. Therefore, the interviews have been done with the persons within this crisis team. Empiricism and Analysis: The theoretical framework that has been applied for the analysis of this study consists of three main topics, complexity, sensemaking and sensegiving. Conclusions: The final conclusions of this study identify that there are multiple factors of complexity that affect the sensemaking and sensegiving process. These complexity factors are: routines, preexperiences, excellence in specific field, terminology, missions, mandate and hierarchy. These complexity factors create frictions and possibilities for the crisis team in regard of the consequences of the complexity factors on the sensemaking and sensegiving processes. / Syfte: Syftet med studien är att skapa en ökad förståelse för komplexitetens påverkan på den meningsskapande och meningsgivande processen. Samt hur detta påverkar en krisgrupp bestående av flertalet myndigheter i en hantering av en naturkatastrof. Metod: För att besvara studiens frågeställningar har det empiriska materialet samlats in genom en kvalitativ metod, i form av sex semistrukturerade intervjuer. Då forskarna för denna studie har tillämpat en fallstudie grundar sig studien på översvämningskriserna i december 2019. Därmed genomfördes intervjuerna på respondenter som representerade olika myndigheter som samverkat i detta fall. Empiri och analys: Det underlag som använts till studiens analys är den teoretiska referensramen som omfattar litteratur om komplexitet, meningsskapande och meningsgivande. Slutsatser: De slutsatser som identifierades var att komplexa faktorer hade en påverkan på meningsskapande och meningsgivande processerna. Dessa huvudsakliga faktorer identifierades som: rutiner, tidigare erfarenheter, spetskompetenser, terminologier, uppdrag, mandat och hierarki. Dessa komplexa faktorer gör att meningsskapande och meningsgivande processerna skapar friktioner och möjligheter för krisgruppen.

Objective: Our purpose with this study is to demonstrate the impact of natural disasters on banks' share prices. Method: Quantitative survey method, an event study. Conclusion: There is no association or a very weak correlation in this study between natural disasters and the Swedish banks' share prices.

This study deals with the distinct difference in media attention the earthquake-disaster in Haiti and the flood-disaster in Pakistan got in 2010. There may be many reasons to this divergence, but this study focuses on how news articles can create compassion.    This study, with its critical perspective, examines how two daily papers in Sweden portray the suffering of the victims of the catastrophes in Haiti and Pakistan, and create compassion for them. Furthermore it asks the question who benefits from the newspaper’s description of human suffering in the third world.    The result shows that the manner of which Swedish daily newspapers report from the catastrophe in Haiti creates an emotional involvement, which most likely leads to compassion. Furthermore it shows potential to lead the readers to identify with the suffering people in Haiti.    The Swedish daily newspapers report of the catastrophe in Pakistan on the other hand, does not involve the reader on an emotional level, but gives them the role of a spectator. However the result also indicates that the distance between the victim and the reader is reducing. In that remark the report have potential to create compassion for the victims in Pakistan, although it is more likely that this does not occur.    In conclusion the study shows that the Swedish daily newspapers report of the catastrophes in Haiti and Pakistan is embedded in an ideology, which reproduces a global hierarchy of suffering by reproducing the construction of an Us and Them. In addition this study reveals a social conception of the West as more worthy compassion than the third world, and therefore the Swedish daily newspapers report of the catastrophes reproduces the West’s dominance and power in the society.

The tsunami in Thailand in 2004, 9/11 and hurricane Katrina in New Orleans 2005 are all reminders that no organization is immune to crises, which also means that all organizations should be prepared and know how to handle a crisis if one was to occur.   A case study has been conducted, on a crisis regarding a fire that occurred on the 31st of July 2014 in Västmanland, Sweden. Through Qualitative interviews empirical data was gathered and then analyzed together with our theories and previous research. The purpose of the study is to analyze how the municipalities affected and the County Administrative Board of Sweden handled and communicated with/to the public during the fire that spread in Västmanland 2014.   Our study shows that a risk analysis and analysis of surroundings is crucial in anticipating a crisis event and that it is essential for organizations to undergo training to prepare organization members on how to handle a crisis. Another conclusion is that the need for information is large during a crisis event and grows throughout the entire course of the crisis. The crisis that we studied had a lack of information, but at the same time the public’s need for information is a need that can’t be satisfied during a crisis. And if the organizations concerned do not satisfy the public’s need for information, rumors will start to disseminate to cater to the public’s needs. Rumors have always been a part of crisis communication but has with today’s technologies assumed a digital form which means that they can spread to a wider group of people. The digital and social media constituted of an essential tool for the affected stakeholders crisis communication and the local radio played an important role in managing the crisis.

The environment has become the center of attention in recent years. The world is at the brink of several interrelated ‘green’ crises: environmental degradation, climate change, peak oil, food crisis, and various natural disasters. Hence, there is a viable threat to society. This essay aims to explore the significance of the environment for societal collapse—with a Western world city focus. The method of choice is a literature-based critical instance case study. In this thesis, the environmentally focused collapse theories of Jared Diamond and Clive Ponting are tested on the empirical example of the city of New Orleans, USA. In 2005, New Orleans was wrecked by Hurricane Katrina. As a result, 80% of New Orleans was flooded, almost 1,800 people lost their lives, and the infrastructural systems suffered lengthy breakdowns. Consequently, the supply of basic services such as water, food, sewage, electricity, heating, communications, transportation and shelter was severely compromised.   The study shows that in the specific case of New Orleans, the underlying reasons for collapse cannot be explained by ‘green’ collapse theories alone. In fact, poor wetlands management was the only environmental issue of importance. Contributing causes were various managerial flaws (including lack of financing) on all levels in terms of emergency prevention, preparedness and response, as well as long-term structural implications for social justice. Thus, the environmentally related theories of Diamond and Ponting do not prove a perfect match. Instead, the collapse of New Orleans had better been explained by a ‘root cause mix’ theory, which takes political, economic, social and environmental aspects into consideration. / Miljöfrågor har hamnat allt mer i fokus de senaste åren. Världen står på tröskeln till ett flertal miljörelaterade kriser: miljöförstöring, klimatförändring, peak oil (oljeproduktionstoppen), global matkris samt diverse naturkatastrofer. Detta medför sammantaget ett allvarligt hot mot samhället. Examensarbetet syftar till att belysa miljöns betydelse för samhällskollaps – med fokus på den västerländska staden. Den metod som tillämpas är en litteraturbaserad fallstudie. I uppsatsen testas Jared Diamonds och Clive Pontings miljöinriktade teorier om samhällskollaps på det empiriska exemplet New Orleans, USA. År 2005 ödelades New Orleans av orkanen Katrina. Så mycket som 80 % av staden drabbades av översvämning, 1 800 invånare omkom och hela infrastrukturen bröt samman. Katastrofen fick därmed allvarliga konsekvenser för grundläggande samhällsfunktioner som försörjningen av vatten, livsmedel, avlopp, elektricitet, värme, kommunikationer, transporter samt boende.   Studien visar att miljöorienterade teorier om samhällskollaps inte fullt ut kan förklara grundorsakerna till det sammanbrott som skedde i New Orleans. Den enda miljörelaterade orsaken av betydelse var inadekvat skötsel av våtmarkerna. Bidragande faktorer var istället bristande politisk styrning (inklusive otillräcklig finansiering) på alla nivåer vad gäller förebyggande, beredskap och hantering av kriser, samt långvariga strukturella hinder för social rättvisa. Slutsatsen blir därför att varken Diamonds eller Pontings miljöinriktade teorier träffar helt rätt. För större träffsäkerhet, borde New Orleans’ sammanbrott förklaras med en teori som förutom miljöfaktorer även innefattar politiska, ekonomiska och sociala aspekter.

Klimatförändringar och global uppvärmning kan ses som bidragande faktorer kring hur naturkatastrofer blir allt mer frekventa. Naturkatastrofer kan skapa obalans mellan utbud och efterfrågan och ha en inverkan på aktiemarknaden. Syftet med denna studie är att undersöka naturkatastrofers, närmare bestämt orkanen Ians, inverkan på läkemedelsföretags aktiepriser. Studien antar en kvantitativ ansats och hämtar sin empiri från databasen Factiva. Genom att använda teorierna effektiva marknadshypotesen (EMH) samt behavioral finance studeras 61 stycken av de största börsnoterade läkemedelsföretagen i USA med en eventstudie. Läkemedelsföretagen delas in i storleksbaserade portföljer inom de tre läkemedelsföretags-kategorierna “Medical Equipment/Supplies”, “Pharmaceuticals” och “Healthcare Provision” där de undersöks och jämförs. Studien har även inkluderat en branschspecifik variabel i form av godkända läkemedelsprodukter för “Pharmaceuticals”. Läkemedelsföretagen observeras fem dagar före eventdagen, under själva eventdagen (28 september), och fem dagar efter eventdagen. Enligt resultaten går det att tyda att endast ett signifikant samband av elva hypotesprövningar kunde observeras, vilket var för mindre stora läkemedelsföretag inom kategorin Healthcare Provision med en negativ CAAR på -4,15 procent. Tidigare forskning visar blandade reaktioner hos branscher till följd av naturkatastrofer, däribland fann Malik och Faff (2022) ett liknande negativt signifikant samband för små läkemedelsföretag inom Healthcare Provision. Resultatet indikerar att mindre stora läkemedelsföretag inte är lika motståndskraftiga vid naturkatastrofer som stora läkemedelsföretag. Vidare indikerar även resultatet att aktieprisförändringarna i eventstudien agerat likartat med aktieindexet S&P 500 och det är därmed troligt att studiens resultat till stor del beror på effekterna av S&P 500. / Climate change and global warming can be seen as contributing factors to the increasing frequency of natural disasters. Natural disasters can create imbalances in supply and demand and have an impact on the stock market. The purpose of this study is to investigate the impact of natural disasters, specifically Hurricane Ian, on pharmaceutical company stock prices. The study adopts a quantitative approach and draws its empirical data from the Factiva database. Using the theories of the Efficient Market Hypothesis (EMH) and behavioral finance, 61 of the largest publicly traded pharmaceutical companies in the United States are studied using an event study. The pharmaceutical companies are divided into size-based portfolios within the three pharmaceutical company categories: "Medical Equipment/Supplies", "Pharmaceuticals", and "Healthcare Provision", where they are examined and compared. The study also includes an industry-specific variable in the form of approved pharmaceutical products for the "Pharmaceuticals" category. The pharmaceutical companies are observed five days before the event day, on the event day itself (September 28), and five days after the event day. According to the results, only one significant relationship out of eleven hypothesis tests could be observed, which was for smaller Healthcare Provision companies with a negative CAAR of -4.15 percent. Previous research shows mixed reactions among industries following natural disasters, including Malik and Faff (2022) finding a similar negative significant relationship for small Healthcare Provision pharmaceutical companies. The result indicates that smaller Healthcare Provision companies are not as resilient to natural disasters as larger pharmaceutical companies. Furthermore, the result also suggests that the stock price changes in the event study have acted similarly to the S&P 500 stock index, indicating that the study's results are largely influenced by the effects of the S&P 500.

<p>En undersökning av vinnarbilderna i World Press Photo of the Year mellan 1999-2008. World Press Photo är världens största fototävling och är prestigefylld att vinna för pressfotografer. Syftet var att undersöka vad de senaste årens bildjournalistik förmedlar till sina betraktare genom nyhetsbilderna som vunnit World Press Photo of the Year under 2000-talet. Syftet har förgrenat sig i frågeställningarna:</p><p>Vilka teman har vinnarbilderna i World Press Photo of the Year mellan 1999-2008?</p><p>Vad förmedlar innehållet i bilderna?</p><p>Vad finns det för likheter och skillnader mellan bilderna?</p><p>Studien är en kvalitativ undersökning där vi gjort bildanalyser av vinnarbilderna i World Press Photo of the Year mellan 1999-2008. Vi har använt oss av semiotisk och retorisk bildanalys. Resultaten visar att vinnarbilderna som representerar det bästa inom bildjournalistiken visar ett begränsat antal teman, krig, sociala problem och fattigdom samt naturkatastrofer. De flesta bilderna är från Asien och framförallt Mellanöstern. Bilderna är negativt laddade och människorna på bilderna visar oftast sorg och lidande.</p>

En undersökning av vinnarbilderna i World Press Photo of the Year mellan 1999-2008. World Press Photo är världens största fototävling och är prestigefylld att vinna för pressfotografer. Syftet var att undersöka vad de senaste årens bildjournalistik förmedlar till sina betraktare genom nyhetsbilderna som vunnit World Press Photo of the Year under 2000-talet. Syftet har förgrenat sig i frågeställningarna: Vilka teman har vinnarbilderna i World Press Photo of the Year mellan 1999-2008? Vad förmedlar innehållet i bilderna? Vad finns det för likheter och skillnader mellan bilderna? Studien är en kvalitativ undersökning där vi gjort bildanalyser av vinnarbilderna i World Press Photo of the Year mellan 1999-2008. Vi har använt oss av semiotisk och retorisk bildanalys. Resultaten visar att vinnarbilderna som representerar det bästa inom bildjournalistiken visar ett begränsat antal teman, krig, sociala problem och fattigdom samt naturkatastrofer. De flesta bilderna är från Asien och framförallt Mellanöstern. Bilderna är negativt laddade och människorna på bilderna visar oftast sorg och lidande.