Succeed in your course with NATURAL HAZARDS AND DISASTERS, 5e. The authors provide easy-to-understand coverage of the geological processes that underlie disasters, explore the impact these processes have on humans and vice versa, and analyze strategies for mitigating these hazards' physical and financial harm. From timely information on recent natural disasters in the United States and around the world to insights on earthquakes associated with fracking, this fascinating book provides the up-to-date information you need to analyze potential hazards and take the steps necessary to survive a natural disaster.

This book focuses on exploring the linkages between natural disasters and sustainable development at the global, regional, and national levels. Disasters and development are closely related, yet the disciplinary silos prevail and there is little communication and cooperation between the disaster management, environment, and development communities. One catastrophic event, such as an earthquake, tsunami, or cyclone, can destroy infrastructure, people's lives and livelihoods, and set back development. Similarly, slow onset disasters-often associated with global climate change-pose threats to development, livelihoods, food security, and long-term sustainable development. This book is uniquely aimed at bridging the gaps between the environmental, development, and disaster management communities. It traces the evolution of concepts and practice and highlights the linkages between natural disasters and sustainable development in key sectors, including food security, health, and water. The book includes case studies from the field highlighting the complex issues that challenge sustainable development and disaster risk management in practice. It draws policy conclusions for the global community based on state-of-the art knowledge from research and practice. The primary target groups for the book are researchers, including graduate students, in the fields of environment and sustainable development, geography, disaster risk reduction, and climate change studies. The second target group comprises practitioners and policymakers working in national and international organizations, the private sector, and civil society.

This book comprises the main results of the Scenario (Support on Common European Strategy for sustainable natural and induced technological hazards mitigation) project, funded as a Specific Support Action under the VI FP. This book addresses three main needs: first, it constitutes an assessment of the situation of Europe as far as natural na-tech risks are considered; second, it suggests future research themes to be opened of widened so as to tackle new and emerging threats as well as changes in the potential response to risk governance, in order to improve the way scientific and technical expertise informs decision making regarding all fields of mitigation, ranging from structural to non structural measures, such as training, education and land use planning.

This volume contains peer-reviewed papers from the Third World Landslide Forum organized by the International Consortium on Landslides (ICL) in June 2014. The complete collection of papers from the Forumis published in three full-color volumes and one mono-color volume. "

This book is a resource for understanding why Lightning continues to be a major health hazard, especially in the developing world, and equips researchers, governments, and public health advocates with the knowledge and techniques needed to reduce lightning casualties worldwide.

During the Vietnam era, conscientious objectors received both sympathy and admiration from many Americans. It was not so during World War II. The pacifists who chose to sit out that war - some 72,000 men - were publicly derided as ""yellowbellies"" or extreme cowards. After all, why would anyone refuse to fight against fascism in ""the good war""?This book tells the story of one important group of World War II conscientious objectors: the men who volunteered for Civilian Public Service as U.S. Forest Service smoke jumpers. Based in Missoula, Montana, the experimental smoke-jumping program began in 1939, but before the project could expand, the war effort drained available manpower. In 1942, the Civilian Public Service volunteers stepped in. Smoke jumping soon became the Forest Service's first line of defense against wildfires in the West. Drawing on extensive interviews with World War II conscientious objectors and original documents from the period, Matthews vividly recreates the individual stories of Civilian Public Service smoke jumpers. He also assesses their collective contribution to the development of western wildfire management. By revealing an unknown dimension of American pacifism, Smoke Jumping on the Western Fire Line fills a gap in World War II history and restores the reputation of the brave men who, even in the face of public ostracism, held true to their beliefs and served their country with honor.

This interactive book presents comprehensive information on the fundamentals of landslide types and dynamics, while also providing a set of PPT, PDF, and text tools for education and capacity development. As the core activity of the Sendai Partnerships, the International Consortium of Landslides has created this two-volume work, which will be regularly updated and improved over the coming years, based on responses from users and lessons learned during its application.

The diverse cultures of the Caribbean have been shaped as much by hurricanes as they have by diplomacy, commerce, or the legacy of colonial rule. In this panoramic work of social history, Stuart Schwartz examines how Caribbean societies have responded to the dangers of hurricanes, and how these destructive storms have influenced the region's history, from the rise of plantations, to slavery and its abolition, to migrations, racial conflict, and war.

Taking readers from the voyages of Columbus to the devastation of Hurricane Katrina, Schwartz looks at the ethical, political, and economic challenges that hurricanes posed to the Caribbean's indigenous populations and the different European peoples who ventured to the New World to exploit its riches. He describes how the United States provided the model for responding to environmental threats when it emerged as a major power and began to exert its influence over the Caribbean in the nineteenth century, and how the region's governments came to assume greater responsibilities for prevention and relief, efforts that by the end of the twentieth century were being questioned by free-market neoliberals. Schwartz sheds light on catastrophes like Katrina by framing them within a long and contentious history of human interaction with the natural world.

Spanning more than five centuries and drawing on extensive archival research in Europe and the Americas, "Sea of Storms" emphasizes the continuing role of race, social inequality, and economic ideology in the shaping of our responses to natural disaster.

This book provides valuable data on the outbreak, aggravation, treatment and prevention of respiratory diseases based on prior experiences of natural disasters such as earthquakes and tsunamis. Poor hygiene and air pollution can lead to the onset of pneumonia and other respiratory disease, while a lack of medical supplies aggravates existing pulmonary diseases such as chronic obstructive pulmonary disease and asthma. Furthermore, there are cases where those forced to live in cramped conditions, such as cars, following a disaster have developed pulmonary thromboembolism as a result of deep vein thrombosis. The large numbers of patients diagnosed with respiratory diseases make understanding the links between natural disasters and pulmonary disease vital. Disaster and Respiratory Diseases is a valuable resource for all medical staff, including physicians involved in primary care, respiratory medicine and infection control and emergency medicine, as well as respiratory surgeons. It is also useful to national and regional governments concerned about anti-disaster measures.

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.

This book proposes a methodology for the identification of flooding in urban areas, by the denomination of 1) urban hydrographic basin; and 2) polygon of flood risk. This work will enable readers to elaborate a preventive program in Latin America and analogous regions. The authorities could use it as a basis to create urban planning strategies or preventive programs to reduce or eliminate the flooding hazard. The growth of an urban area implies that the natural terrain is covered by an asphalt folder, which results in an Urban Hydrographic Basin where rainwater drains down its streets filtering through sewers towards rainwater drains or wastewater. Initially, the drainages are calculated according to the population in a specific urban area, however, the population growth causes the growth of the urban area, where the old drainages and new roads are linked, causing their saturation and chaos. More water runs down the streets and is accumulated in the lower areas, causing flooding.

CONTENTS: Disaster Management: Use of Technologies; Early Warnings for Natural Disasters; Disaster Management: The Challenges for a National Geographic Information Provider; Hurricanes & Global Warming; Digital Typhoon: The Way for Disaster Mitigation; Managing Information in the Disaster Coordination Centre: Lessons & Opportunities; Disaster Response Using Distributed Geospatial Web Services; Remote Sensing & GIS for Monitoring Coastal Hazards & Disasters; Science & Technology Trends in Fire Protection & Disaster Management: A Consideration of Characteristics & Directions in Science & Technology for Safety & Peace of Mind; Remote Sensing & Geographical Information System for Natural Disaster Management; Recent Trends in Earthquake Disaster Management in Japan; Role of Earth System Sciences in Disaster Management; Disaster Forensics: Leveraging Crisis Information Systems for Social Science; Application of GIS & Remote Sensing Technologies in Disaster Management in Algeria.

This open access book discusses socio-environmental interactions in the middle to late Holocene, covering specific areas along the ancient Silk Road regions. Over twenty chapters provide insight into this topic from various disciplinary angles and perspectives, ranging from archaeology, paleoclimatology, antiquity, historical geography, agriculture, carving art and literacy. The Silk Road is a modern concept for an ancient network of trade routes that for centuries facilitated and intensified processes of cultural interaction and goods exchange between West China, Central Asia, the Middle East, and the Mediterranean. Coherent patterns and synchronous events in history suggest possible links between social upheaval, resource utilization and climate or environment forces along the Silk Road and in a broader area. Post-graduates in studying will benefit from this work, as well as it will stimulate young researchers to further explore the role played by the environment in long-term socio-cultural changes.

An investigation into our complicated 7-decade-long relationship with nuclear technology, from the bomb to nuclear accidents to nuclear waste.

From Hiroshima to Chernobyl, Fukushima to the growing legacy of lethal radioactive waste, humanity's struggle to conquer atomic energy is rife with secrecy, deceit, human error, blatant disregard for life, short-sighted politics, and fear. Fallout is an eye-opening odyssey through the first eight decades of this struggle and the radioactive landscapes it has left behind. We are, he finds, forever torn between technological hubris and all-too-human terror about what we have created.

At first, Pearce reminds us, America loved the bomb. Las Vegas, only seventy miles from the Nevada site of some hundred atmospheric tests, crowned four Miss Atomic Bombs in 1950s. Later, communities downwind of these tests suffered high cancer rates. The fate of a group of Japanese fishermen, who suffered high radiation doses from the first hydrogen bomb test in Bikini atoll, was worse. The United States Atomic Energy Commission accused them of being Red spies and ignored requests from the doctors desperately trying to treat them.

Pearce moves on to explore the closed cities of the Soviet Union, where plutonium was refined and nuclear bombs tested throughout the '50s and '60s, and where the full extent of environmental and human damage is only now coming to light. Exploring the radioactive badlands created by nuclear accidents--not only the well-known examples of Chernobyl and Fukushima, but also the little known area around Satlykovo in the Russian Ural Mountains and the Windscale fire in the UK--Pearce describes the compulsive secrecy, deviousness, and lack of accountability that have persisted even as the technology has morphed from military to civilian uses.

Finally, Pearce turns to the toxic legacies of nuclear technology: the emerging dilemmas over handling its waste and decommissioning of the great radioactive structures of the nuclear age, and the fearful doublethink over the world's growing stockpiles of plutonium, the most lethal and ubiquitous product of nuclear technologies.

For any reader who craves a clear-headed examination of the tangled relationship between a powerful technology and human politics, foibles, fears, and arrogance, Fallout is the definitive look at humanity's nuclear adventure.

This open access book addresses the various disciplinary aspects of nature-based solutions in flood risk management on private land. In recent decades, water management has been moving towards nature-based solutions. These are assumed to be much more multi-purpose than traditional "grey infrastructures" and seem to be regarded as a panacea for many environmental issues. At the same time, such measures require more - and mostly privately owned - land and more diverse stakeholder involvement than traditional (grey) engineering approaches. They also present challenges related to different disciplines. Nature-based solutions for flood risk management not only require technical expertise, but also call for interdisciplinary insights from land-use planning, economics, property rights, sociology, landscape planning, ecology, hydrology, agriculture and other disciplines to address the challenges of implementing them. Ultimately, nature-based flood risk management is a multi-disciplinary endeavor. Featuring numerous case studies of nature-based flood risk management accompanied by commentaries, this book presents brief academic reflections from two different disciplinary perspectives that critically highlight which specific aspects are of significance, and as such, underscore the multi-disciplinary nature of the challenges faced.

The Encyclopaedias on Natural Disasters are unparalleled in their own right. These encyclopaedias on Hurricanes, Tornadoes, Floods, Earthquakes and Volcanoes will not only give the young readers knowledge but also make them worldly wise!

Hurricane Sandy struck the United States in October 2012, causing an estimated $65 billion in damages. FEMA provides assistance to survivors through IHP and other programs. Part of its mission is to provide assistance quickly, but the United States Government Accountability Office (GAO) previously identified weaknesses in FEMA's ability to do so while protecting government resources. Moreover, GAO's 2006 reports on Hurricane Katrina and Rita showed that FEMA did not consistently validate the identity of applicants or inspect damaged properties. This book discusses the extent to which FEMA implemented controls to help prevent IHP payments that are at risk of being improper or potentially fraudulent; and challenges FEMA and states faced obtaining information to help prevent IHP payments from duplicating or overlapping with other sources in its response to Hurricane Sandy. This book also discusses the timeliness of SBA's disaster assistance to small businesses; the loan approval rates for small businesses and reasons for decline for Hurricane Sandy and previous disasters; the extent to which SBA has implemented programs mandated by the Small Business Disaster Response and Loan Improvements Act of 2008; the progress DOT has made allocating, obligating, and disbursing DRAA surface transportation funds; how FTA's new Public Transportation Emergency Relief program compares to FEMA's and FHWA's emergency relief programs; and the extent to which FTA and FEMA have implemented their memorandum of agreement to coordinate their roles and responsibilities when providing assistance to transit agencies.

Despite a century of study by ecologists, recovery following disturbances (succession) is not fully understood. This book provides the first global synthesis that compares plant succession in all major terrestrial biomes and after all major terrestrial disturbances. It asks critical questions such as: Does succession follow general patterns across biomes and disturbance types? Do factors that control succession differ from biome to biome? If common drivers exist, what are they? Are they abiotic or biotic, or both? The authors provide insights on broad, generalizable patterns that go beyond site-specific studies, and present discussions on factors such as varying temporal dynamics, latitudinal differences, human-caused vs. natural disturbances, and the role of invasive alien species. This book is a must-read for researchers and students in ecology, plant ecology, restoration ecology and conservation biology. It also provides a valuable framework to aid land managers attempting to manipulate successional recovery following increasingly intense and widespread human-made disturbances.

The devastating impacts of natural disasters not only directly affect humans and infrastructure, but also animals, which may be crucial to the livelihoods of many people. This book considers the needs of animals in the aftermath of disasters and explains the importance of looking to their welfare in extreme events. The authors explore how animals are affected by specific disaster types, what their emergency and subsequent welfare needs are and the appropriate interventions. They describe the key benefits of management of animals to populations and discuss preventative measures that can be taken to reduce risk and build resilience. They also include a summary of recent debates and public policy advances on animals in disasters. The book covers livestock, companion and wild animals, with case studies to show how the concepts can be put into practice. It provides a standalone text for students of disaster studies and management as well as professionals and NGOs who require an entry-level introduction to the subject.

Education is regarded as a cross-cutting issue for disaster risk reduction (DRR) through reviewing the Sendai Framework for DRR (SFDRR) 2015-2030. Mainstreaming Disaster Risk Reduction (DRR) in the education sector is one of the important efforts to enhance resilience in a community. DRR in the education sector not only focuses on provision of disaster education, but also includes securing a safe school environment, developing school disaster management plans, and building the capacity of school teachers and local educational officers. Japan, with its wealth of experience in DRR, has developed a good resilient system in its education sector, which has been tested and revised through experiences of past disasters. This book reviews the evolution of DRR in the education sector in Japan, including some of the recent developments after the 2011 Great East Japan Earthquake, focusing on DRR governance and practices in national policies, curriculum development and teacher training, community linkage, and international cooperation, to enhance resilience in the education sector. The primary target groups for this book are students and researchers in the fields of disaster management and DRR studies. Another target group comprises practitioners and policy makers, who will be able to apply the collective knowledge from this work to policy and decision making. The book provides an overview of the current research trends and furnishes basic knowledge on this important topic.

Rebounding after disasters like tsunamis, hurricanes, earthquakes, and floods can be daunting. Communities must have residents who can not only gain access to the resources that they need to rebuild but who can also overcome the collective action problem that characterizes post-disaster relief efforts. Community Revival in the Wake of Disaster argues that entrepreneurs, conceived broadly as individuals who recognize and act on opportunities to promote social change, fill this critical role. Using examples of recovery efforts following Hurricane Katrina in New Orleans, Louisiana, and Hurricane Sandy on the Rockaway Peninsula in New York, the authors demonstrate how entrepreneurs promote community recovery by providing necessary goods and services, restoring and replacing disrupted social networks, and signaling that community rebound is likely and, in fact, underway. They argue that creating space for entrepreneurs to act after disasters is essential for promoting recovery and fostering resilient communities.

The magnitude 9.0 Great East Japan Earthquake occurred on March 11, 2011, claiming over 20,000 lives. It crippled the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant, whose hydrogen-air explosions contaminated wide areas around Fukushima with radionuclides. The number of evacuees initially totaled 328,903, but has been reduced to 263,392 as of February 13, 2014. More than half of the evacuees (132,500) consist of Fukushima residents, and 67% of whom have experienced mental or physical disorders. Indeed, refugee life is so difficult that many Fukushima families have been affected by suicide, divorce, separation of family members, migration and settlement to other places, mental illness, etc. The difficulty is caused by the fear of low-dose radiation induced by the LNT model which claims that radiation cancer risk is linearly proportional to dose without any threshold. Careful scrutiny of the model, however, clearly indicates that the linearity is invalid; low dose radiation is not hazardous, but is even beneficial or hormetic because of the adaptive response to radiation. This book provides ample evidence to negate the LNT model. This book is primarily compiled to get rid of the spell of the LNT model and release Fukushima people from undue torture. The book would also be useful to the public in general who have CT scans and have concerns. In addition, the people who use radiation world-wide such as nuclear power plant workers, radiation researchers, radiologists, and X-ray operators would be relieved to learn from reading this book that the alleged risk of low-dose radiation is illusionary and that the low-dose radiation is even beneficial. Policy makers of nuclear energy and radiation who are working for governmental and/or regulatory agencies are also recommended to read this book. Severe guidelines from a safety standpoint sometimes entrap people into a fear-stricken situation rather than save them, as no one was killed by radiation directly, but more than 1,000 people have been killed by the fear of radiation secondarily in Fukushima. By the same token, this book is recommended to civil activists and journalists who emphasise dangers of low-dose radiation and raise fear of low-dose radiation. It is the time to shed new scientific light on the outdated LNT model.

Tsunami science has evolved significantly since the occurrence of two of the most destructive natural disasters in recent times: the 26 December 2004 Sumatra tsunami that killed about 230,000 people along the coasts of 14 countries in the Indian Ocean and the 11 March 2011 Tohoku (Great East Japan) tsunami that killed almost 20,000 people and destroyed the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant. As a result of these and many other destructive tsunamis that have occurred over just the last decade, scientists from around the world have come together to engage in tsunami research. The global community of researchers has also expanded by discipline, adapting advances in other sciences to study all aspects of tsunami hydrodynamics, detection, generation, and probability of occurrence. The papers presented in this third of three topical volumes of Pure and Applied Geophysics reflect the state of tsunami science during this time. Five papers from diverse geographic regions, ranging from off South Africa to northern Kamchatka, demonstrate the global nature of tsunami hazards. Six papers on tsunami hydrodynamic analysis and modeling form the core of this volume, similar to the previous two volumes of Global Tsunami Science. As a forefront of tsunami research, five papers discuss prehistoric tsunamis and tsunami generation by phenomena other than earthquakes. Finally, tsunami warning and real-time forecasting are important outcomes of tsunami science and are represented in this volume by four papers. Collectively, this volume highlights contemporary trends in global tsunami science, both fundamental and applied toward hazard assessment and mitigation. The volume is of interest to scientists and practitioners involved in all aspects of tsunamis from source processes to coastal impacts. Postgraduate students in geophysics, oceanography and coastal engineering - as well as students in the broader geosciences, civil and environmental engineering - will also find the book to be a valuable resource, as it combines recent case studies with advances in tsunami science and natural hazards mitigation.