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Books > Earth & environment > The environment > Environmental impact of natural disasters & phenomena
Urban Emergency Management: Planning and Response for the 21st
Century takes the concepts and practices of emergency management
and places them in the context of the complex challenges faced by
the contemporary city. Cities provide unique challenges to
emergency managers. The concentrated population and often dense
layering of infrastructure can be particularly susceptible to
disasters-both natural and human-caused. The book provides guidance
across all phases of emergency management, including prevention and
all-hazards approaches.
This volume applies the science of complexity to study coupled
human-environment systems (CHES) and integrates ideas from the
social sciences of climate change into a study of rural development
amid flooding and urbanization in the Poyang Lake Region (PLR) of
China. Author Qing Tian operationalizes the concept of
sustainability and provides useful scientific analyses for
sustainable development in less developed rural areas that are
vulnerable to climatic hazards. The book uses a new sustainability
framework that is centered on the concept of well-being to study
rural development in PLR. The PLR study includes three major
analyses: (1) a regional assessment of human well-being; (2) an
empirical analysis of rural livelihoods; and (3) an agent-based
computer model used to explore future rural development. These
analyses provide a meaningful view of human development in the
Poyang Lake Region and illustrate some of the complex local- and
macro-level processes that shape the livelihoods of rural
households in the dynamic process of urbanization. They generate
useful insights about how government policy might effectively
improve the well-being of rural households and promote sustainable
development amid social, economic, and environmental changes. This
case study has broader implications. Rural populations in the
developing world are disproportionally affected by extreme climate
events and climate change. Furthermore, the livelihoods of rural
households in the developing world are increasingly under the
influences of macro-level forces amid urbanization and
globalization. This case study demonstrates that rural development
policies must consider broader development dynamics at the national
(and even global) level, as well as specific local social and
environmental contexts. By treating climate as one of many factors
that affect development in such places, we can provide policy
recommendations that synergistically promote development and reduce
climatic impacts and therefore facilitate mainstreaming climate
adaptation into development.
This edited book examines the contemporary regional security
concerns in the Asia-Pacific recognizing the 'Butterfly effect',
the concept that small causes can have large effects: 'the flap of
a butterfly's wings can cause a typhoon halfway around the world'.
For many Asia-Pacific states, domestic security challenges are at
least as important as external security considerations. Recent
events (both natural disasters and man-made disasters) have pointed
to the inherent physical, economic, social and political
vulnerabilities that exist in the region. Both black swan events
and persistent threats to security characterize the challenges
within the Asia-Pacific region. Transnational security challenges
such as global climate change, environmental degradation,
pandemics, energy security, supply chain security, resource
scarcity, terrorism and organized crime are shaping the security
landscape regionally and globally. The significance of emerging
transnational security challenges in the Asia-Pacific Region impact
globally and conversely, security developments in those other
regions affect the Asia-Pacific region.
This volume presents the history of marine fog research and
applications, and discusses the physical processes leading to fog's
formation, evolution, and dissipation. A special emphasis is on the
challenges and advancements of fog observation and modeling as well
as on efforts toward operational fog forecasting and linkages and
feedbacks between marine fog and the environment.
This book introduces a methodology for solving the seismic inverse
problem using purely numerical solutions built on 3D wave equations
and which is free of the approximations or simplifications that are
common in classical seismic inversion methodologies and therefore
applicable to arbitrary 3D geological media and seismic source
models. Source codes provided allow readers to experiment with the
calculations demonstrated and also explore their own applications.
This book examines old and new data on some of the 18th and 19th
century earthquakes that either occurred or were clearly felt in
southern regions of Poland. Particular emphasis is put on a
detailed study and reinterpretation of the unusually severe Outer
Western Carpathians earthquake on December 3, 1786 (7 I0, 5.3 Mw,
35 km depth), which was the last in a series of seismic events in
the years 1785 and 1786. An assessment is also made of what we
presently know about the seismicity of the Western Carpathians in
Poland based on to instrumental data. The book also presents
material relating to earthquakes of 6-9 I0 that affected south
Poland and the surrounding regions: Zilina in Slovakia (1858), Gera
in Thuringia (1872), the Sudetes on the Czech-Polish border (1883,
1901), and Lower Silesia, Poland (1895). These are analyzed and
illustrated by 17 contemporary macroseismic intensity maps, some of
which are considered to be remarkable for those times. A new
seismic catalog for Poland is provided with amendments and updates
up to the end of 2014. Noteworthy is the data on two unforeseen
events: one about 60 km NE of the Polish border in 2004 and one in
central Poland in 2012. It shows how important it is, not least for
practical engineering purposes, to perform seismic monitoring even
in seemingly aseismic regions.
This book presents strategies for managing disasters and reducing
risks in Asian countries. Given the dynamic changes in the natural
environment as well as the patterns of land use and management, the
growing populations of the developing nations in Asia, migration
patterns, and other social-cultural aspects, the impacts of
disasters have increased manifold in Asian countries. Against this
backdrop, the book examines disaster management issues such as
disaster preparedness, post-disaster reconstruction, peace,
development and corruption. The views of different groups of
stakeholders are incorporated in the discussion to ensure a
comprehensive analysis of and findings on the governance process,
as well as best practices in pre- and post-disaster management. The
book also includes chapters focusing on aspects often overlooked in
the context of disaster management, such as the need to invest in
public education to improve public awareness, and approaches to
supporting the disabled, the vulnerable and the elderly from
disaster risks. In closing, the book presents research on disaster
management methods employed by different countries in the Asian
region. Acknowledgement: The editors acknowledge the role of the
Network of Asia Pacific Schools and Institutes of Public
Administration and Governance (NAPSIPAG), which is the largest
governance research network in the Asia Pacific region,in bringing
out this book. NAPSIPAG has been regularly organizing international
meetings of administrators, academia and non-state bodies to
provide a forum to the regional scholars to deliberate with the
international governance experts. It has also helped the
international policy organizations to have a better understanding
about the region through a local lens of Asiatic anthropology,
ethnography and culture of administration.
Disasters can happen without warning and cause detrimental damage
to society. By planning and conducting research beforehand,
businesses can more effectively aid in relief efforts. The
Developing Role of Public Libraries in Emergency Management:
Emerging Research and Opportunities is an essential reference
source for the latest scholarly information on library engagement
in official emergency response and how these institutions can offer
community aid in disaster situations. Featuring extensive coverage
on a number of topics such as hazard analysis, mitigation planning,
and local command structure, this publication is ideally designed
for academicians, researchers, and practitioners seeking current
research on the role local businesses play in emergency response
situations.
This book begins with the dynamic characteristics of the covering
layerbedrock type slope, containing monitoring data of the seismic
array, shaking table tests, numerical analysis and theoretical
derivation. Then it focuses on the landslide mechanism and
assessment method. It also proposes a model that assessing the
hazard area based on the field investigations. Many questions,
exercises and solutions are given. Researchers and engineers in the
field of Geotechnical Engineering and Anti-seismic Engineering can
benefit from it.
Why aren't we investing more in disaster resilience, despite the
rising costs of disaster events? This book argues that
decision-makers in governments, businesses, households, and
development agencies tend to focus on avoiding losses from
disasters, and perceive the return on investment as uncertain -
only realised if a somewhat unlikely disaster event actually
happens. This book develops a new business case for investment
based on the multiple dividends of resilience. This looks beyond
only avoided losses (the first dividend) to the wider benefits
gained independently of whether or not the disaster event occurs.
These include unleashing entrepreneurial activities and productive
investments by lowering the looming threat of losses from disasters
and enabling businesses, farmers and homeowners to take positive
risks (the second dividend); and co-benefits of resilience measures
beyond just disaster risk (the third dividend), such as flood
embankments in Bangladesh that double as roads, or wetlands in
Colombo that reduce urban heat extremes.
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