Citation

Nathan F. Disasters 2008; 32(3): 337-357.

Affiliation

Graduate Institute of Development Studies (IUED), Geneva, Switzerland. Fabien.Nathan@iued.unige.ch

Copyright

(Copyright © 2008, John Wiley and Sons)

DOI

unavailable

PMID

18958908

Abstract

The article begins by describing the difficult living conditions of many people in the hill slopes (laderas) of La Paz, Bolivia, demonstrating that they are exposed to a combination of natural and social hazards. It shows that residents, community leaders and city planners tend to underestimate or deny risk, with important consequences for risk management, such as a failure to raise risk awareness. The article then proposes some hypotheses to explain risk perceptions in La Paz, discarding the usual single-approach interpretations and suggesting instead more nuanced theoretical explanations to account for why people build their homes in such hazardous environments.

Language: en