Disasterology: Dispatches from the Frontlines of the Climate Crisis—A Memoir and Expert Analysis of Our World's Growing Vulnerability to Natural Disasters

by Samantha Montano

Dr. Thomas Birkland has studied how some disasters lead to the implementation of mitigation or other policy changes. These disasters, known as “focusing events,” must capture the attention of both the public and policymakers, be sudden and dramatic, relatively uncommon, and affect a concentrated geographic area.149