Anthropological Approach to Vulnerability and Major Hazards - Vulnerability of Coastal Ecosystems and Adaptation - page 279

volcanic hazard that exceeded their capacity to act (they could do
nothing). The Ambrymais took their customs for granted (they should
not be modified), but they assume a role in the behavior of the volcano
(they believe that they are able to trigger its eruption, notably through
magical practices). The hazards are therefore predicted depending on
the schemes of actions adopted by the human milieux under
consideration. Whatever the milieux, they appear as systemically
“natural” (in the sense that they are not modifiable).
Beyond this case study, which presents two radically different
populations from a cultural point of view, such asymetries in
perception can be encountered within a single society. Religious
persons, who understand disasters in their lives by thinking of them as
divine signs (e.g. as punishments), create a model for resilience (and
correlatively a model for vulnerability) asymmetrical to that of
someone who makes scientific models the basis of his/her reasoning.
It is important to note that the so-called “cultural” variability does not
indicate differences in culture, but ways of making sense of the world
which, although they are influenced by social environments, depend
ultimately on individuals. The following case shows this variation.
7.4. Edo, 1855
In the second year of the Ansei era, the second day of the 10th
moon, at the hour of the boar - being, in the Gregorian calendar, the
11 November 1855 around 22:00 - the city of Edo (the former name
of Tokyo) was shaken by a strong earthquake. Its intensity was not
exceptional - 6.9 on the Richter scale - but the epicenter, not very
deep and situated just under the Japanese capital, caused considerable
damage. More than 10,000 inhabitants of the imperial capital, the seat
of power for the Tokugawa, were killed. Around 20,000 homes were
reduced to heaps of rubble and ashes. Moreover, numerous copies - of
the archives relating more than 50 accounts of it - would contribute to
durably maintaining the post-seismic state of tension and worry. The
damage was not uniform: certain quarters were untouched, some were
completely devastated, certain types of buildings resisted the quake
and others systematically collapsed. The distribution of damage
influenced - and this is a very normal attitude in the face of disasters -