Pre - and Post-Disaster Instability and Contentious Supporters: A Case Study of Political Ferment

Recent statistical confirmation of the link between disasters and political instability has increased interest in exactly how disasters impact political regimes. This case study of the 1992 Guadalajara sewer explosions contributes to this discussion by analyzing political and economic pressures which predisposed a militant response to the 1992 disaster. A new set of political activists aided the disaster victims in their political struggle by contributing resources and by helping to construct the disaster as a political event.