Many disasters are approached as if they have a clear beginning, middle and end, but the experience of being in a disaster is often very different. For many victims or survivors, part of what makes particular events so harrowing is a sense that the past, the present and the future are all implicated or affected by what has happened. This book offers ways of thinking about disasters that are non-linear and non-prescriptive. Focusing on the UK Foot and Mouth Disease Disaster of 2001, and drawing on international case studies, this fascinating study explores the lived experience of disasters, looking at how daily lives intersect with dramatic events. Exploring the intersection between 'natural' and 'technological' disaster, and individual and collective trauma, this book views disaster in its local specificities as well as the wider context of control, risk and debates surrounding the relationship between nature and culture.