Keep the curtains drawn! Event, process and disaster in international law

This chapter unpacks the definition of disaster as set out in the 2016 International Law Commission Draft Articles on the Protection of Persons in the event of Disaster, and in particular the requirements of a ‘calamitous event or series of events’ and ‘a serious disruption of the functioning of society’, with the latter criteria being contrasted with global sanitation crisis. It is argued that the focus on disasters as ‘events’, rather than complex processes, significantly limits the scope of enquiries into the relationship between international law and disasters, and skews attention away from the root causes of disaster risk. Observing how the definition of disaster in the Draft Articles tells a story about the ongoing journey within international law and scholarship in this area, the chapter calls for a more comprehensive approach to disaster risk in international law.