Flooding in the U.K. the politics of a...disaster?

Hey all, this will be the post for the “Earthquakes” group for the 2/28 class. I recently came across an article from CNN about the recent weather the U.K. has been experiencing. For this time of year, such a report seems so commonplace it approaches irrelevance considering the United Kingdom experiences some of the more torrential and temperamental weather in the Northern Hemisphere. That being said, I think a more critical analysis of the piece reveals some of the topics that we’ve touched upon in class.

Basically, the Thames River Valley area has been experiencing century-breaking record rainfall in the last two months. This has caused areas such as Berkshire and Surrey to become doused by floods from the overflowing Thames River, affecting nearly 6,000 homes. Additionally, this has been compounded by the storming that has paralyzed western Wales, northwestern England, and parts of Ireland with some 450,000 power outages. All of this weather has severely impacted local transportation and industry along with triggering 18 severe flood warnings mainly around southeast England. Even Queen Elizabeth’s cottage in the upper class communities of Maidenhead and Windsor has been disturbed.

First off, the reason that the public, media, and most importantly the involved people of the U.K. were made aware of the specifics was because of the work of two disaster weather-related organizations in Britain, The Environment Agency and The Met Office. As discussed in a previous post, these institutions are making information to prepare, react, and remedy natural disasters accessible to the people in the U.K. who need it most. The rise of the internet age and a more interconnected and information driven society has birthed these non-governmental associations that act to facilitate organization, disseminate information, and catalyze action surrounding disasters. England’s Met Office, the national weather service, and Environment Agency, a congress of people committed to providing preparation and relief to flooding in the U.K. Both of these groups exemplify the growing number of non-governmental actors rushing into the natural disaster scene.

Secondly, another aspect of this article highlights an intriguing component of the politics surrounding disasters. Both Princes Harry and William made appearances to assist flood defense in the Thames River Valley area. Traditionally, the theories of Realism and Liberalism confined the politics of natural disaster reaction to the actors such as the state or intergovernmental organizations (like the E.U.) geared toward bargaining toward mutual benefit. However, the emergence of the Princes in the face of environmental crisis underscores a growing facet of disaster politics, the private sector. Although the Princes aren’t personally bankrolling aid to the flooded areas around the Thames, their appearance is a key symbol of other characters, such as Fortune 500 companies or celebrities. These corporations and individuals are investing and amplifying philanthropic ventures in order to provide another driver to conduct the vehicle of disaster relief. To me, this development of the private sector into the political arena of environmental relief, in a way legitimizes the constructivist philosophy.

Lastly, I think that the environmental events occurring in England are also a stellar example of another topic discussed in class. Because a nation’s wealth effects how it will be impacted by a disaster, along with the storming in the U.K. being mostly a domestic occurrence, I contend that the flooding is a crisis, not a disaster. I believe that due to financial situation of England along with the duration of the storming, the international community has branded this event a crisis and not a disaster. This is an important categorization because without recognition by the non-governmental and intergovernmental organizations as serious, an environmental episode will not receive the aid that a disaster would garner.
Here's the link for the CNN article previously mentioned: http://www.cnn.com/2014/02/14/world/europe/uk-weather-flooding/index.html