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A life-altering natural disaster has influenced an astrophysicist to run for the Green Party in riding of Burnaby North-Seymour but she doesn’t want that tragedy to define her entry into federal politics.

Amita Kuttner was a teenager when a wall of mud crashed into their family home and killed her mother Eliza Kuttner on Jan. 19, 2005. Her father Michael survived but sustained brain injuries which still affect him.

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Kuttner said she can’t deny the destruction of her family and their home 14 years ago has influenced how she views the world and why she’s running in the federal election Oct. 21.

“Having lost everything to a natural disaster, I just want to put people first,” she said.

While she acknowledges the impact her personal story has had on her life, she doesn’t want to single it out and campaign on it either.

“I don’t want to use it for gain — that would be horrible,” she said from Ottawa.

Kuttner, 28, said the mudslide was an extreme weather event but not one likely linked to climate change. But she does know that as the planet warms due to the release of carbon into the atmosphere, there will be more extreme weather events.