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The article argues that disasters are not simply natural events, but are also the result of society's vulnerability. Vulnerability is the result of social and political processes that include elements of power and governance. Structural inequalities are often deliberately created and embedded in social and political structures. The paper suggests that a discourse in which the role of human activity in disasters is clearly communicated will be more conducive to a proactive, equitable and ultimately effective approach to reducing the impacts of disasters. The paper also highlights the need to place vulnerability and equity at the heart of proactive and engaging disaster laws and policies. The authors suggest that blaming nature or climate for disasters is a diversion of responsibility and creates a politically convenient crisis narrative that is used to justify reactive disaster laws and policies. The paper also stresses the importance of assessing hazards at temporal and spatial scales relevant to risk and vulnerability. Finally, the paper suggests that climate science and attribution have an important role to play in disentangling the areas in which human-induced climate change is one of the main drivers of risk.