Wikipedia talk:WikiProject Australian history/Criminal act and massacre disasters

Classifying a crime as a disaster
How does a crime become a disaster? What is the definition of a disaster in this context? Does it need
 * a body count
 * a damage bill
 * an area of impact

or some other criteria to become a disaster? There are some "mass shootings" on that list with 1 or 3 dead... sorry, I know that's a catastrophe for those involved but it's not (in a world-view encyclopaedic sense) a disaster.

Personally, I see the EMA "Disasters Database" as being more a database of Emergencies and I think quite a few of them aren't actually disasters. When I went to the linked page and hit Criminal Act all I got were the Bali Bombings and London Transport Bombings - to me a terrorist attack isn't a disaster, it's a terrorist attack which is related but different. Garrie 03:08, 23 January 2007 (UTC)


 * I had the same thought as I compiled the page (is a massacre a disaster?). In an attempt to extract completely the full gamut of article possibilities (from the EMA source), the crime disasters page was compiled. I fully expect that many of the redlinks here will eventually be deleted, or their subjects made mention of in other appropriate articles. Without research, I was not about to arbitrarily claim an event was NOT notable. There is no doubt that many of the criminal acts/massacres are significant in Australia's history ie the Port Arthur massacre while not only being significant in and of itself, precipitated the move to gun control which we have today. Can you call it a disaster? In some ways it is. The page at this point is merely a starting point for editors interested in a subject area to organise themselves. In being the creator of the page, I do not feel in any way as if it is sacred. Please go ahead and make the changes to the page you feel need to be made (ie strikeout any you find that simply do not pass a noteworthiness 'test'). Ultimately if anything useful is to be made of the page, it should reside in the WP: Australian Crime. Cheers. SauliH 05:46, 23 January 2007 (UTC)