Disaster tourism
[1] Another population of visitors hope to aid in providing relief to the affected areas—some directly through volunteer work and some indirectly through donations.
A common example of this is tourists who come to Italy to sightsee in Rome and end up visiting Pompeii and its neighboring cities without initially intending to do so.
Critics label it as voyeuristic and profiting off of loss, while advocates argue that tourism stimulates the recovering economy and brings awareness to local culture.
It is generally accepted that if the tours comprise public events organized by volunteers, then there are consistent but small increases to charity donations.
Unorganized visits, for example, can often raise empathy by forcing the visitors to see suffering up close and prompting them to consider how to interact with victims.
[5] In the immediate aftermath of a disaster, rescue efforts are often hampered by people who come to see and photograph the site, rather than take part in it.
During the 10 minute video, Zuckerberg explains how Facebook partnered with Red Cross to build population map from satellite imagery and better allocate the relief effort.
Although Pompeii was initially rediscovered in 1599, tourism was undesirable until Spanish engineer Rocque Joaquin de Alcubierre performed a much larger excavation in 1748, which revealed many noteworthy structures, such as a fully intact Roman theatre.
Today, Pompeii belongs to the much larger Vesuvius National Park and is one of Italy’s most popular tourist sites, attracting approximately 2.5 million visitors annually.
With the cause of the fire unknown and a death toll of thirty-seven passengers, the Hindenburg disaster became one of the biggest news stories of its time.
[17] On the morning of April 26, 1986, the number four reactor of the Chernobyl nuclear power plant exploded, producing airborne radioactive materials and a fire that burned for ten days.
[17] These tours are met with some controversy because although SoloEast Travel claims that publicly accessible areas surrounding the power plant contain low levels of radiation and are deemed safe, a number of third-party scientists disagree.
Having been among the first responders, the family-run Stan Stephens Cruises operates glacier tours out of Prince William Sound that highlight the history surrounding the Exxon Valdez spill and its aftermath.
Some have suggested that curious tourists should instead go on bike tours in order to restrict the disruption to residents trying to get their lives back on track.
[20][21] At this time, about 500 farmers and their families from the areas of Fljótshlíð, Eyjafjöll, and Landeyjar were evacuated overnight, but allowed to return to their farms and homes after Civil Protection Department risk assessment.
