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for weather- related catastrophes in 1998 alone seeking these rewards retire, build, buy, and topped that of the entire decade of the 1980s. advertise. Each action is rational and carries no Humans may not cause the wind to blow or the negative consequences for the actor. In combi- ground to shake or the rain to fall (though even nation, however, they are deadly. Like the rocks that is increasingly being called into question), cascading down Babbitf s mountainside, they but they do unquestionably shape the results are individually benign, but in combination they that follow whenever the wind blows or the put people in severe danger. ground shakes or the rain falls. The last step in making a hurricane or any other Next the question is how does all of that stuff get natural disaster is the distribution of its effects. into vulnerable places? The answer is: through Women and children die in greater numbers countless ordinary decisions and actions un- than adult men in Third World earthquakes be- dertaken entirely innocently of their impact on cause they are disproportionately likely to be in hurricane vulnerability. When couples from the homes and other poorly constructed buildings; frigid upper Midwest dream of retirement on adult men are more likely to find themselves in the Gulf Coast, the hurricane risk goes up a little. workplaces, government buildings, and other When the federal government makes home loans more solid structures or finances highway k construction in South Florida to promote economic growth or reward political sup- port or whatever, the hurricane risk goes up. When coastal boost- ers advertise sunshine, boating, and golf but neglect to mention the periodic evacuations, the hurricane risk goes up. The truth is there is a system in place, a system that has no designer or control- ler but plenty of par- ticipants. It is a system that rewards people for putting themselves and their property (and other people and their property) in dangerous places. These rewards are short -term but significant —return on investment, a nice vaca- tion, insurance policies, a monthly paycheck, a govermnent contract, a home loan, re -elec- tion. Most of the time it works safely, as people 22 when the ground sha es. Poor people have a harder time evacuating in the cases of floods and hurricanes because they lack good access to trans- portation and the ex- tended social networks that allow them some- where else to go. Even in something as simple as a heat wave, elderly people living alone invisibly roast to death in unairconditioned apartments and public housing units, cut off from family, friends, and neighbors, sometimes having locked the doors and windows for fear of danger from their crime - infested surroundings. None of this is to deny the real and widespread suffering of middle- and upper -class people in the aftermath of disasters. Nor is it to suggest that anyone deliberately dis- criminates against these least among us such dire times. But it is inescap- able that disasters are