Environmental Protection And Disaster Risks

This book presents research findings and conclusions that has been developed as algorithms or intelligent new methods solving problems in the fields of air pollution, climate and health, natural hazards and risks, water resources, human activities and management and informatics, remote sensing, high-performance computing and GIS for environmental monitoring and management. Environmental protection and disaster risk topics are challenging fields, that scientific world is trying to address as much as it can. Earthquakes, floods, fires, droughts, blizzards, dust storms, natural releases of toxic gases and liquids, diseases and other environmental variations affect hundreds of millions of people each year. Many disaster events are triggered by human activities. Dealing with these problems will require systems thinking and integrating multidisciplinary science. Actions in these directions are taken more and more in the recent years by political bodies, NGOs and scientific groups trying to find sustainable solutions for the future generations. Every point of view matter when it comes to our global home – The Planet Earth.

This book presents topics that are challenging fields that scientific world is trying to address as much as it can. Earthquakes, floods, fires, droughts, blizzards, dust storms, natural releases of toxic gases and liquids, diseases, and other environmental variations affect hundreds of millions of people each year. Many disaster events are triggered by human activities. Dealing with these problems will require systems thinking and integrating multidisciplinary science. Actions in these directions are taken more and more in the recent years by political bodies, NGOs, and scientific groups trying to find sustainable solutions for the future generations. Every point of view matters when it comes to our global home—The Planet Earth. The book presents research findings and conclusions that have been developed as algorithms or new methods solving problems in the fields of disaster management, natural hazards, risk reduction and building resilience, climate change challenges and security implications, air pollution and health, water resources and management and informatics, remote sensing, GIS, and high-performance computing. The 2nd International Conference on Environmental Protection and Disaster Risks in combination with the 10th Annual CMDR COE Conference on Crisis Management and Disaster Response brought together in the period June 06-09, 2022, in Sofia, Bulgaria scientists who presented their findings in the fast developing environmental management and disaster risk reduction field.

Topics include : risk assessment, disaster management, adjustment to the hazard (accepting, sharing, reducing loss), earthquakes, volcanoes, landslides, snow avalances, storms, biophysical hazards (extreme temperatures, epidemics, frost, wildlifires), floods, droughts, technological hazards (i.e. Bhopal and Chernobyl), etc.

The seventh edition of Environmental Hazards provides a much expanded and fully up-to-date overview of all the extreme environmental events that threaten people and what they value in the 21st century globally. It integrates cutting-edge materials to provide an interdisciplinary approach to environmental hazards and their management, illustrating how natural and human systems interact to place communities of all sizes, and at all stages of economic development, at risk. Part 1 defines basic concepts of hazard, risk, vulnerability and disaster and explores the evolution of hazards theory. Part 2 employs a consistent chapter structure to demonstrate how individual hazards occur, their impacts and how the risks can be assessed and managed. This extensively revised edition includes: Fresh perspectives on the reliability of disaster data, disaster risk reduction, risk and disaster perception and communication, and new technologies available to assist with environmental hazard management The addition of several new environmental hazards including landslide and avalanches, cryospheric hazards, karst and subsidence hazards, and hazards of the Anthropocene More boxed sections with a focus on both generic issues and the lessons to be learned from a carefully selected range of up-to-date extreme events An annotated list of key resources, including further reading and relevant websites, for all chapters More colour diagrams and photographs, and more than 1,000 references to some of the most significant and recent published material New exercises to assist teaching in the classroom, or self-learning This carefully structured and balanced textbook captures the complexity and dynamism of environmental hazards and is essential reading for students across many disciplines including geography, environmental science, environmental studies and natural resources.

The much expanded sixth edition of Environmental Hazards provides a fully up-to-date overview of all the extreme events that threaten people and what they value in the 21st century. It integrates cutting-edge material from the physical and social sciences to illustrate how natural and human systems interact to place communities of all sizes, and at all stages of economic development, at risk. It also explains in detail the various measures available to reduce the ongoing losses to life and property. Part One of this established textbook defines basic concepts of hazard, risk, vulnerability and disaster. Attention is given to the evolution of theory, to the scales and patterns of disaster impact and to the optimum management strategies needed to minimize the future impact of damaging events. Part Two employs a consistent chapter structure to demonstrate how individual hazards, such as earthquakes, severe storms, floods and droughts, plus biophysical and technological processes, create distinctive impacts and challenges throughout the world. The ways in which different societies can make positive responses to these threats are placed firmly in the context of sustainable development and global environmental change. This extensively revised edition includes: A new concluding chapter that summarizes the globalization of hazard and critically examines the latest perspectives on climate-related disasters Fresh perspectives on the reliability of disaster data, disaster risk reduction, severe storms, droughts and technological hazards More boxed sections with a focus on both generic issues and the lessons to be learned from a carefully selected range of recent extreme events An annotated list of key resources, including further reading and relevant websites, for all chapters 183 diagrams, now in full colour, and available to download on: www.routledge.com/9780415681063/ Over 30 colour photographs and more than 1,000 references to some of the most significant and recent published material. Environmental Hazards is a clearly-written, authoritative account of the causes and consequences of the extreme natural and technological processes that cause death and destruction across the globe. It draws on the latest research findings to guide the reader from common problems, theories and policies to explore practical, real-world situations and solutions. This carefully structured and balanced book captures the complexity and dynamism of environmental hazards and has become essential reading for students of every kind seeking to understand this most important contemporary issue.

Located at the intersection of international environmental and disaster law, this edited volume explores how environmental law approaches might be employed to reduce disaster risk, and how evolving policy tools for natural disasters influence environmental regimes focused on manmade risks.

As Hurricane Katrina vividly revealed, disaster policy in the United States is broken and needs reform. What can we learn from past disastersÑstorms, floods, earthquakes, tsunamis, landslides, and wildfiresÑabout preparing for and responding to future catastrophes? How can these lessons be applied in a future threatened by climate change? In this bold contribution to environmental law, Robert Verchick argues for a new perspective on disaster law that is based on the principles of environmental protection. His prescription boils down to three simple commands: Go Green, Be Fair, and Keep Safe. ÒGoing greenÓ means minimizing exposure to hazards by preserving natural buffers and integrating those buffers into artificial systems like levees or seawalls. ÒBeing fairÓ means looking after public health, safety, and the environment without increasing personal and social vulnerabilities. ÒKeeping safeÓ means a more cautionary approach when confronting disaster risks. Verchick argues that government must assume a stronger regulatory role in managing natural infrastructure, distributional fairness, and public risk. He proposes changes to the federal statutes governing environmental impact assessments, wetlands development, air emissions, and flood control, among others. Making a strong case for more transparent governmental decision-making, Verchick offers a new vision of disaster law for the next generation.

"Preface A disaster is a natural or man-made hazard resulting in an event of substantial magnitude causing significant physical damage or destruction, loss of life, or drastic change to the environment. It can be defined as any tragic event stemming from events such as earthquakes, floods, catastrophic accidents, fires, or explosions. It is a phenomenon that can cause damage to life and property and destroy the economic, social, and cultural life of people. When disaster strikes a vulnerable population, the incident evokes a combination of horror and empathy among a country's population. Similarly, unless a response is carefully planned and successfully carried out, a government can appear impotent or nonresponsive to the dangers facing its citizens. Often disasters result from mismanagement of the risks involved. The risks involved are a product of both hazards and vulnerability. Hazards that strike areas with low vulnerability never become disasters. Similarly, developing countries suffer the most when it comes to disasters, since they lack the tools and coping capacity to effectively deal with a disaster. However, industrialized nations are more resilient and capable in dealing with disasters. In this book I have attempted to assemble a guide through the disaster management process including prevention, mitigation, preparedness, response, and recovery for individuals interested in this field of study. The handbook guides the reader through the various phases of disaster management. Chapter 1 is an introduction to the emergency management process, which includes sections on hazard analysis, emergency planning, effective communication, leadership, and management of volunteers. Chapter 2 discusses threats assessment including an all-hazard approach to threat assessments, "--