Abstract
A taxonomy of disasters is presented in which the two major axes of causes and elements are considered adequate for plotting on one grid the different kinds of disaster that occur. Then the disaster victims are differentiated into six groups according to the type of their involvement, their function, their culpability, their self control and certain extraneous factors. The purpose is to integrate different studies of disaster, to elicit common concerns, to offer common remedies, and to generate further research.
