The Disasters

Offers the first comprehensive overview of research into hazards and disasters from a historical perspective. This title is also available as Open Access on Cambridge Core.

Japan was shaken by the 'double disaster' of earthquake and sarin gas attack in 1995, and in 2011 it was hit once again by the 'triple disaster' of earthquake, tsunami, and nuclear meltdown. This international, multi-disciplinary group of scholars examines the state and societal responses to the disasters and social crisis.

This is the first concise introduction to emergency management, the emerging profession that deals with disasters from floods and earthquakes to terrorist attacks. Coverage includes: --The history of emergency management and its evolution from volunteer effort to trained intervention; --Organization of emergency management systems -- local, state, regional, national, international; governmental, for-profit, and nonprofit; --Managing natural disasters -- floods, earthquakes, hurricanes, wildfires, tornadoes, avalanches, etc.; --Managing manmade disasters -- civil defense, terrorism, hazardous materials accidents, fires, structural failures, nuclear accidents, transportation disasters; --Policy issues in the management of risk, emergencies, and disasters; --Disaster management in the Twenty-first Century-- technological and political challenges. Twenty case studies illustrate the handling of actual disasters including the Northridge Earthquake and the Oklahoma City Bombing. Discussion questions and guides to on-line information sources facilitate use of the book in the classroom and professional training programs.

Research Paper (postgraduate) from the year 2016 in the subject Geography / Earth Science - Demographics, Urban Management, Planning, University College London, language: English, abstract: This research seeks to enhance the disaster resilience of cities within the EAC by: (a) developing a data base of acute disasters that are common and likely to occur in cities within the EAC, (b) measuring the resilience of major cities within the EAC to these disasters, and (c) developing a framework for enhancing their resilience to potential hazards. It is important to conduct this study now because the present and projected demographic and geographic changes point to a future of continued: (a) rapid urbanization in developing countries – like the EAC - and (b) escalation in the number of urban disasters. Document review and descriptive research will be used in the study with a sample size of 104 participants being selected from the cities of Dar es Salaam, Nairobi, Kampala, Kigali, and Mombasa. The collected data will be tested for inter-rater reliability, triangulated and instruments checked for content validity. Both measures of central tendency and measures of variability about the mean will be performed on the collected data.

This book examines the history of disaster management in South Africa, showing how experts, professionals and policymakers have crafted and implemented disaster policies from the mid-twentieth century to the present day. It assesses the ways in which states become concerned with disasters, the extent to which disaster management contributes toward state formation, and who and what disaster management protects. It also considers the ways in which the politics of protection continuously shift as political regimes change. In telling the story of how policies surrounding disaster protection have evolved in South Africa, the book demonstrates how the security apparatus that shaped disaster management was re-oriented in the twenty-first century towards development, alongside bureaucratic reforms that aimed to democratize the state. By examining the wider context of the globalization of disaster management, it also highlights the often unrecognised role of experts from Africa, Latin America and Asia in shaping global disaster policies. The book will appeal to scholars and students of disaster governance, public policy, state formation, and African politics.

When disaster strikes, our instinctive response is to make things better, not only as individuals but also as groups, organisations, communities and major institutions within society. With increasing climate-related disasters and the potential for future global pandemics, philanthropy will continue to play an essential role. Yet our knowledge of how philanthropic responses to disasters are motivated, organised and received is fragmented. This book is a step toward curating our existing knowledge in the emerging field of ‘disaster philanthropy’ and to building a robust base for future research, practice and public policy. The authors highlight unknowns and ambiguities, extensions and unexplored spaces, and challenges and paradoxes. Above all, they recognise that philanthropic responses to disasters are complex, conditional and subject to change.

Environmental Hazards and Disasters: Contexts, Perspectives and Management focuses on manifested threats to humans and their welfare as a result of natural disasters. The book uses an integrative approach to address socio-cultural, political and physical components of the disaster process. Human and social vulnerability as well as risk to environmental hazards are explored within the comprehensive context of diverse natural hazards and disasters. In addition to scientific explanations of disastrous occurrences, people and governments of hazard-prone countries often have their own interpretations for why natural disasters occur. In such interpretations they often either blame others, in order to conceal their inability to protect themselves, or they blame themselves, attributing the events to either real or imagined misdeeds. The book contains a chapter devoted to the neglected topic of such reactions and explanations. Includes chapters on key topics such as the application of GIS in hazard studies; resiliency; disasters and poverty; climate change and sustainability and development. This book is designed as a primary text for an interdisciplinary course on hazards for upper-level undergraduate and Graduate students. Although not targeted for an introductory hazards course, students in such a course may find it very useful as well. Additionally, emergency managers, planners, and both public and private organizations involved in disaster response, and mitigation could benefit from this book along with hazard researchers. It not only includes traditional and popular hazard topics (e.g., disaster cycles, disaster relief, and risk and vulnerability), it also includes neglected topics, such as the positive impacts of disasters, disaster myths and different accounts of disasters, and disasters and gender.