Disasters are destructive of livelihoods and well-being and compel affected people to adapt to new environments, lifeways, and subsistence efforts. They also draw together social actors, social groups, and state and nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) in novel relationships. With changes in the environment and economy, aberrations, departures, and dialectic tensions emerge in both practice and representation as these new relationships are negotiated. As aspects of culture appear to shift or adapt in these contexts, we are compelled to ask whether these apparent changes are fleeting or enduring and whether calamity truly changes cultural practice or reveals new aspects of culture (Hoffman 1999, 302-310).