Teide Volcano has many different meanings: For the Guanche aborigines, who endured several of its eruptions, it was Echeide (Hell). Early navigators had in Teide, a lifesaving widely visible landmark that was towering over the clouds. For the first explorers, Teide was a challenging and dangerous climb, since it was thought that Teide's peak was so high that from its summit the sun was too close and far too hot to survive. Teide was considered the highest mountain in the world at that time and measuring its height precisely was a great undertaking and at the time of global scientific significance. For von Buch, von Humboldt, Lyell and other great 18th and19th century naturalists, Teide helped to shape a new and now increasingly 'volcanic' picture, where the origin of volcanic rocks (from solidified magma) slowly casted aside Neptunism and removed some of the last barriers for the development of modern Geology and Volcanology as the sciences we know today. For the present day population of Tenerife, living on top of the world's third tallest volcanic structure on the planet, Teide has actually become "Padre Teide", a fatherly protector and an emblematic icon of Tenerife, not to say of the Canaries as a whole. The UNESCO acknowledged this iconic and complex volcano, as "of global importance in providing evidence of the geological processes that underpin the evolution of oceanic islands". Today, 'Teide National Park' boasts 4 Million annual visitors including many 'volcano spotters' and is a spectacular natural environment which most keep as an impression to treasure and to never forget. For us, the editors of this book, Teide is all of the above; a 'hell of a job', a navigation point on cloudy days, a challenge beyond imagination, a breakthrough in our understanding of oceanic volcanism that has shaped our way of thinking about volcanoes, and lastly, Teide provides us with a reference point from where to start exploring other oceanic volcanoes in the Canaries and beyond. Here we have compiled the different aspects and the current understanding of this natural wonder.

This book gathers the most recent scientific research on the geological, geotechnical and geophysical aspects of slope failure in sensitive clays. Gathering contributions by international experts, it focuses on understanding the complete and practical spectrum of challenges presented by landslides in such complex materials. Based on sound and validated research results, the book also presents several recommendations that could be implemented in the guidelines or code-of-practice. These recommendations cover topics including the characterization and behavior of sensitive clays; the pre-failure, failure and post-failure stages of sensitive clays; mapping and identification methods; climate change; hazard assessment; and risk management. Sensitive clays are known for their potential for causing large landslides, which pose a serious risk to human lives, infrastructure, and surrounding ecosystems within their reach. This has been demonstrated by the recent catastrophic landslides in e.g. Sorum (2016), Skjeggestad (2015), Statland (2014), Byneset (2012), St-Jude (2010), Lyngen (2010) and Kattmarka (2009). The 2015 collapse of the Skjeggestad Bridge in Norway - which was due to a landslide in sensitive clay - alone costs millions of dollars in repairs. Recently, efforts are being made to increase society's ability to cope with such landslide hazards. Geoscientists are now expected to provide input to the agencies responsible for landslide-risk preparedness. In other words, geoscientists' role is not only to act as technologists to establish new theories, but also to go the extra mile to implement them in practice, so as to find meaningful solutions to geotechnical problems.

This book focuses on land and disaster governance in Asian countries. The Asian region has become increasingly vulnerable to natural disasters, including floods, cyclones, storms, earthquakes, drought, typhoons and tsunamis. Further, as a result of unsustainable changes being made in patterns of land use, catchment and coastal zones, increasing population density, migration patterns, and the spread of consumer culture across countries, the impact of natural disasters has increased manifold. The book addresses two major concerns in this field. Firstly, it discusses topics intended to raise awareness among all stakeholders of the critical aspects of disaster management in the context of Asia. Secondly, it calls upon policymakers, researchers, academics, practitioners, private enterprises and civil society organizations, as well as all those who have been, are and will be affected by natural disasters to search for innovative and novel approaches to reducing risk and managing disasters.

The goal of this book is to explore disaster risk reduction (DRR), migration, climate change adaptation (CCA) and sustainable development linkages from a number of different geographical, social and natural science angles. Well-known scientists and practitioners present different perspectives regarding these inter-linkages from around the world, with theoretical discussions as well as field observations. This publication contributes in particular to the discussion on the Sendai Framework for Disaster Risk Reduction (SFDRR) 2015-2030 and the debate about how to improve DRR, including CCA, policies and practices, taking into account migration processes from a large perspective where both natural and social factors are crucial and mutually "alloyed". Some authors see the SFDRR as a positive step forward in terms of embracing a multitude of issues, others doubting that the agreement will lead to much concrete action toward real action on the ground. This book is a timely contribution for researchers, students and policy makers in the fields of environment, human geography, migration, disaster and climate change studies who seek a more comprehensive grasp of contemporary development issues.

The book is mainly addressed to young graduate students in engineering and natural sciences who start to face numerical simulation, either at a research level or in the field of industrial applications. The main subjects covered are: Biomechanics, Stochastic Calculus, Geophysical flow simulation and Shock-Capturing numerical methods for Hyperbolic Systems of Partial Differential Equations. The book can also be useful to researchers or even technicians working at an industrial environment, who are interested in the state-of-the-art numerical techniques in these fields. Moreover, it gives an overview of the research developed at the French and Spanish universities and in some European scientific institutions. This book can be also useful as a textbook at master courses in Mathematics, Physics or Engineering.

It is a comprehensive and well illustrated textbook on all aspects of tsunami. I don't think there is any other book on the topic published. As one bookseller said after the Indian Ocean tsunami event, "I would have just filled my front window with copies and they would have walked out the store." This statement was just as relevant after the Japanese tsunami of 2011 and will be as relevant when the next large tsunami event happens, sooner rather than later. The book can be used by a student or layperson to gain encyclopedic knowledge about tsunami.

​The classical field dealing with earthquakes is called “earthquake engineering� and considered to be a branch of structural engineering. In projects dealing with strategies for earthquake risk mitigation, urban planning approaches are often neglected. Today interventions are needed on a city, rather than a building, scale. This work deals with the impact of earthquakes, including also a broader view on multihazards in urban areas. Uniquely among other works in the field, particular importance is given to urban planning issues, in conservation of heritage and emergency management. Multicriteria decision making and broad participation of those affected by disasters are included.

This pioneering book addresses the entirety of river flooding issues in the Upper Vistula Basin, where considerable flood generation potential exists. It analyses the factors influencing flood risk, investigates variations in observation records and discusses projections for the future and adaptation to changing risk. It serves the general interest in understanding the floods that cause massive destruction in Europe, with dozens of fatalities and tremendous material damages. This interdisciplinary book, which covers aspects of climatology, geomorphology, hydrology, and water and flood risk management, unveils the complexity of the current situation. Access to reliable and accurate information can help solve important practical problems related to flood risk reduction strategies, and is at the core of the EU Floods Directive. As such, the book offers a valuable resource for scientists, educators and practitioners involved in water management, natural disaster reduction and adaptation to climate change.

The major challenges of the 21st century faced by human beings are how to achieve water security, food security, energy security and environmental security. Owing to enhanced natural/anthropogenic disasters worldwide, these challenges become much more complicated and daunting especially for developing countries. Therefore, it is important to highlight the risk of different disasters as well as the modern tools and techniques for minimizing disaster incidence and losses. Disaster management being highly multidisciplinary in nature, a comprehensive book dealing with different aspects of disaster management, and encompassing important disasters faced by humankind is presently not available. This book is an attempt to fulfill this gap. It provides clear, comprehensive, and up-to-date information about different facets of disaster management along with salient case studies. The book highlights the current status of disaster management focusing on developing nations, discusses vital issues such as climate change and sustainable development, modern approaches and tools/techniques, and the challenges of and future R&D needs for sustainable disaster management.

In this edited volume on advances in forensic geotechnical engineering, a number of technical contributions by experts and professionals in this area are included. The work is the outcome of deliberations at various conferences in the area conducted by Prof. G.L. Sivakumar Babu and Dr. V.V.S. Rao as secretary and Chairman of Technical Committee on Forensic Geotechnical Engineering of International Society for Soil Mechanics and Foundation Engineering (ISSMGE). This volume contains papers on topics such as guidelines, evidence/data collection, distress characterization, use of diagnostic tests (laboratory and field tests), back analysis, failure hypothesis formulation, role of instrumentation and sensor-based technologies, risk analysis, technical shortcomings. This volume will prove useful to researchers and practitioners alike.

The book is expressly written for the young minds because they are our best hope for a safer tomorrow. The book is profusely illustrated, as it offers a joyride to the world of the whole range of hazards through simplified teaching-learning process, with less of teaching and more of learning. This is because most readers would love to learn without actually being taught. The book is designed to take advantage of distilled wisdom of centuries to inspire and enlighten the common man to turn them into prime movers of safer societies. Senior citizens, community leaders, self-trained disaster managers, social workers, media personnel, bureaucrats and those averse to the very thought of reading will also find the book useful as it is illustrative and inviting.

Sustainability of rural communities is threatened by a plethora of factors including climate change and disasters which interact in an intricate manner in making rural people vulnerable and poor. This book is the output of empirical research on communities and livelihood strategies in developing countries. It reveals how rural communities are functioning and earning their livelihoods by making the best use of the resources, local/internal or external/new and the combination of the two to counteract the various challenges they face, with the ultimate goal of becoming resilient to local or global shocks and sustaining that resilience. Local governance is identified as crucial in ensuring sustainable livelihoods as it ensures healthy collaboration between communities, on the one hand and civil society and those communities, on the other hand, in promoting self-sustaining development trajectories. Similarly, the role of social capital is not ignored as it brings in community drive and a sense of purpose, direction and solidarity among community members which facilitates problem solving in periods of crises and disasters.

The March 11 disaster in 2011, known as the Great East Japan Earthquake and Tsunami, caused extensive damage in various sectors. Through the recovery process, special lessons are being learned and applied in the affected region. This book attempts to draw lessons from different issues and sectors such as policy perspectives (both national and local), the role of international NGOs, fishing industries and other livelihoods, temporary housing, health, heritage, and lesson sharing. The book outlines the need and approach for sharing the lessons with wider communities in developing those lessons. Based on intensive field research, the book also provides some key lessons from community-based recovery in the affected regions of Iwate, Miyagi, and Fukushima prefectures. This book has 13 chapters in two parts. The first part of the book, with seven chapters, provides a set of lessons from diverse sectors. The second part, with six chapters, provides case studies from different areas of Tohoku. Six specific issues are addressed in part 1: the role of international agencies, livelihood (namely, fisheries) recovery, temporary housing, health, heritage, and lesson sharing. Part 2 has six case studies from different areas of the Tohoku region, including Fukushima. The primary target groups for this book are students and researchers in the fields of environment, disaster risk reduction, and recovery studies. The book provides them with a good idea of the current research trends in the field and furnishes basic knowledge about these vital topics. Another target group comprises practitioners and policy makers, who will be able to apply the knowledge collected here to policy and decision-making.

This volume synthesizes critical environmental challenges of dynamic earth and human environment systems in South Asia emphasizing geographical dimensions. It deals with spaceborne monitoring, climate, ecohydrology, forests and biodiversity, land-use and land-cover change (LUCC), natural hazards, and disasters in order to contribute towards a sustainable future. The contributions range from traditional field techniques to the use of remote sensing and geographic information systems. The book integrates environmental attributes relating the past, present, and future of South Asia broadly based on biophysical and human dimensions in spatio-temporal perspectives. The monitoring of natural hazards and climate issues is considered a vital component in the context of environmental geography, especially in observation and understanding of climate and water-induced disasters. It is important to communicate the advances in geoscience techniques to increase the resilience of the vulnerable society of South Asia and to promote livelihood security. The sustainability of South Asia depends strongly on the earth environment, and thus the development of geo-environmental monitoring is critical for a better understanding of our living environment. The aim of the book is to present dynamic aspects of environmental geography to contribute to future earth initiatives in South Asia.

The Asia-Pacific region is one of the most vulnerable to a variety of natural and manmade hazards. This edited book productively brings together scholars and senior public officials having direct experience in dealing with or researching on recent major natural disasters in the Asia-Pacific. The chapters focus on disaster preparedness and management, including pre-event planning and mitigation, crisis leadership and emergency response, and disaster recovery. Specific events discussed in this book include a broad spectrum of disasters such as tropical storms and typhoons in the Philippines; earthquakes in China; tsunamis in Indonesia, Japan, and Maldives; and bushfires in Australia. The book aims to generate discussions about improved risk reduction strategies throughout the region. It seeks to provide a comparative perspective across countries to draw lessons from three perspectives: public policy, humanitarian systems, and community engagement.

Civil society organizations (CSOs) have played important roles over the years in the disaster field. Starting from the traditional approach of response and relief, the emphasis has gradually shifted to disaster risk reduction. From international nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) to national and local NGOs, all stakeholders have recognized the significance of and need for community-based risk reduction. In their different capacities they have endeavored to establish links to the policy options at the local and national levels. There still are many issues that remain untouched by CSOs, however, and local CSOs face special challenges in resources in terms of human, financial, and technical issues. Drawing examples from Asia, this book is structured on the roles of CSOs according to the Hyogo Framework for Action priority areas: policy making, risk assessment, education and training, underlying risk factors, and response-recovery. The primary target groups for this book are students and researchers in the fields of environment, disaster risk reduction, and climate change studies. The book provides a clear view of the current trends of research in the field and furnishes basic knowledge on these important topics. Another target group comprises practitioners and policy makers, who will be able to apply the knowledge collected here to policy and decision making.

This book presents key lessons from community-based risk-reduction practices in Japan, a country that is often hit by disasters and that also has shown strong resilience in coping with those disasters. Japan has a strong governance system for disaster risk reduction. However, the Kobe earthquake of 1995 showed the importance of community involvement in disaster response as well as recovery. With several examples from different parts of Japan, the book elaborates on the importance of community-based risk reduction and the innovations required for sustaining some of the community approaches. The book has 13 chapters and is divided into three parts: (1) Evolution of community-based risk reduction in Japan; (2) Community-based risk-reduction issues; and (3) Case studies. The primary target groups for this book are students and researchers in the fields of environment, disaster risk reduction, and climate change studies. The book provides them with a good idea of the current research trends in the field and furnishes basic knowledge about these vital topics. Another target group comprises practitioners and policy makers, who will be able to apply the knowledge collected here to policy and decision-making.

This book presents the latest research developments in geoinformation science, which includes all the sub-disciplines of the subject, such as: geomatic engineering, GIS, remote sensing, digital photogrammetry, digital cartography, etc.

The book outlines the regulatory environment for disaster prevention and management in broad social, economic and political context. The first half of the book focuses mainly on Japan, especially the '3-11' events: the earthquake and tsunami that devastated the Tohoku area on 11 March 2011 and the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant radiation leaks. The second half focuses on the USA (the only other Asia-Pacific country to have experienced a serious nuclear emergency), Indonesia, China, New Zealand, Australia and international law. One question explored is whether socio-legal norms play different roles in preventing and managing responses to natural disasters compared to 'man-made' disasters. Another is how 'disaster law' interacts with society across very diverse societies in the disaster-prone Asia-Pacific region. The book also addresses the increasingly important roles played by international law and regional regimes for cross-border cooperation in disaster prevention and relief, including the functions played by military forces. Erudite, pragmatic, and charged with detailed, substantive knowledge of an astonishing range of contexts and research fields, this timely collection of important essays on the law and society of disaster management stands as an exemplary international academic response to the disasters of 11 March 2011. (Annelise Riles)

This thesis is remarkable for the wide range of the techniques and observations used and for its insights, which cross several disciplines. It begins by solving a famous puzzle of the ancient world, which is what was responsible for the tsunami that destroyed settlements in the eastern Mediterranean in 365 AD. By radiocarbon dating of preserved marine organisms, Shaw demonstrates that the whole of western Crete was lifted out of the sea by up to 10 meters in a massive earthquake at that time, which occured on a previously unknown fault. The author shows that the resulting tsunami would have the characteristics described by ancient writers, and uses modern GPS measurements and coastline geomorphology to show that the strain build-up near Crete requires such a tsunami-earthquake about every 6.000 years - a major insight into Mediterranean tsunami hazard. A detailed seismological study of earthquakes in the Cretan arc over the last 50 years reveals other important features of its behaviour that were previously unknown. Finally, she provides fundamental insights into the limitations of radiocarbon dating marine organisms, relating to how they secrete carbon into their skeletons. The thesis resulted in three major papers in top journals.

This book includes the recent 10-year achievement of geo-disaster mitigation by leading Asian scientists from Japan, China, Indonesia, Korea, Iran and Far East of Russia. Case studies on recent occurred geo-disasters in Asian region have been presented. The forming mechanics of hazards such as earthquake and landslide are deeply discussed, and the disaster mitigation technology for building and pipeline safety, landslide hazard assessment and risk management are introduced.

This book introduces a new way of analyzing, measuring and thinking about mega-risks, a "paradigm shift" that moves from single-solutions to multiple competitive solutions and strategies. "Robust simulation" is a statistical approach that demonstrates future risk through simulation of a suite of possible answers. To arrive at this point, the book systematically walks through the historical statistical methods for evaluating risks. The first chapters deal with three theories of probability and statistics that have been dominant in the 20th century, along with key mathematical issues and dilemmas. The book then introduces "robust simulation" which solves the problem of measuring the stability of simulated losses, incorporates outliers, and simulates future risk through a suite of possible answers and stochastic modeling of unknown variables. This book discusses various analytical methods for utilizing divergent solutions in making pragmatic financial and risk-mitigation decisions. The book emphasizes the importance of flexibility and attempts to demonstrate that alternative credible approaches are helpful and required in understanding a great many phenomena.