Not all findings about looting reported by disaster researchers have been correctly understood. Important distinctions and qualifications about the phenomena have sometimes been ignored. Thus some demythologization of the looting myth is necessary.rnThe word "looting," which comes from Sanskrit (lut, to rob) entered into European languages centuries ago to refer to the plundering undertaken by invading armies. But until recently, contemporary and historical accounts of disasters have not used the term. The first systematic professional use of the word appears to have been in a well-known National Opinion Research Center (NORC) study of the 1952 Arkansas tornado.
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