This book reviews and assesses the various methodologies for site characterization and site effect estimation to carry out seismic zonation at micro and macro levels. Readers will learn about the suitability of these methodologies for each level of zoning that needs to be assessed in order to optimize the resources for carrying out seismic zonation. The Indian sub-continent is highly vulnerable to earthquake hazards, and past studies have focused primarily on the Himalayan region (inter-plate zone) and the northeast region (subduction zone). The book improves understanding of the Peninsular India that also has significantly high seismicity and is prone to earthquakes of sizeable magnitude. Particular attention is given to the various methodologies for assessing seismic hazards, the scales at which site characterizations are carried out, and optimal methods for zonation practices using site data and hazard indexes. Aimed at students, this book will be of use to post-graduates and doctoral students researching seismic zonation, hazard assessment and mitigation, and spatial data in earth sciences.

Colossal trees snap like matchsticks. A gigantic orange fireball explodes in the funnel's black core. Horses are sucked up and spit out alive by 200-mile-per-hour winds. These were just a few of the scenes that unfolded on June 8, 1966, when a massive EF-5 tornado cut a 22-mile swath across eastern Kansas and straight through Topeka Kansas's capital city. When it was over, 16 people were dead, more than 500 were injured, and property damage had reached $100 million, making the tornado the most destructive in U.S. history up to that time.

That fateful day comes back to life in And Hell Followed With It: Life and Death in a Kansas Tornado. Author Bonar Menninger has interviewed dozens of survivors to construct a tightly woven narrative that conveys in gut-wrenching detail what it's like when nature careens out of control and ordinary people face extraordinary, life-threatening situations.

This edited volume is an up-to-date guide for students, policy makers and engineers on earthquake engineering, including methods and technologies for seismic hazard detection and mitigation. The book was written in honour of the late Professor Jai Krishna, who was a pioneer in teaching and research in the field of earthquake engineering in India during his decades-long work at the University of Roorkee (now the Indian Institute of Technology Roorkee). The book comprehensively covers the historical development of earthquake engineering in India, and uses this background knowledge to address the need for current advances in earthquake engineering, especially in developing countries. After discussing the history and growth of earthquake engineering in India from the past 50 years, the book addresses the present status of earthquake engineering in regards to the seismic resistant designs of bridges, buildings, railways, and other infrastructures. Specific topics include response spectrum superposition methods, design philosophy, system identification approaches, retaining walls, and shallow foundations. Readers will learn about developments in earthquake engineering over the past 50 years, and how new methods and technologies can be applied towards seismic risk and hazard identification and mitigation.

The natural disasters are the killer agents which can/can't be predicted even though we have modern technology. Every year, in one place or another, disasters striking which is devastating the area and surroundings, leading to ecological disruption besides huge loss of life and property. India is vulnerable to cyclones, landslides/avalanches, earthquakes, floods, droughts, forest fires, epidemics, etc. The 5700-km long coast of India, with its dense population is vulnerable to cyclones/low depressions, tsunamis, etc. The 2400-km long rugged Himalayan terrain is vulnerable to landslides, avalanches and earthquakes. India is not only vulnerable to natural disasters, it is also experiencing industrial accidents. The Bhopal Gas tragedy is one of the major man-made disasters in the world. The state of Andhra Pradesh has 970-km long coastline with two major rivers, etc. The conference is conducted in Visakhapatnam, is famous for industries and tourism. Recently, several industrial accidents took place, besides major natural disasters like Hud-Hud, etc. Disaster management shall be implemented from the grass root level in vulnerable areas to improve the capacity building, so as to minimize the losses. The capacity building coupled with technology results in reduction of loss of life and property.

This book analyses the state of the natural environment and the causes of its degradation using the biosphere approach. Further, those issues that must be resolved immediately on the global level are identified following the ideas defined by V.I. Vernadsky, and new principles of Man-Nature interaction are pursued. The modern world currently faces three global trends inducing biosphere degradation and the aggravation of ecological hazards, namely: a) rapid and uncontrolled growth of human population on the Earth and insufficient natural resources to sustain it; (b) technogenesis development; and (c) global climate change and the aggravation of natural disasters. Ecological safety and military security are becoming the crucial conditions for the survival of modern civilization. To mitigate the ecological strain on the Earth, the technogenesis strategy should be changed and many other pressing issues must be resolved. These problems should be addressed using the biosphere approach, because the individual human being is the biosphere constituent, and his or her safety cannot be provided without maintaining the entire natural system on our planet.

This work provides an introduction to the range of potential disaster scenarios, covering the issues and organizational relationships of importance to the student of consequence management. These include the roles, responsibilities, and coordination requirements of first responders, the Department of Homeland Security, the Department of Defense, and the military.

New Media in Times of Crisis provides an interdisciplinary look at research focused around how people organize during crises. Contributors examine the latest practices for communicating during crises, including evacuation practices, workplace safety challenges, crisis social media usage, and strategies for making emergency alerts on U.S. mobile phones constructive and helpful. The book is grounded in the practices of first responders, crisis communicators, people experiencing tragic events, and communities who organize on- and offline to make sense of their experiences. The authors draw upon a wide range of theories and frameworks with the goal of establishing new directions for research and practice. The text is suitable for advanced students and researchers in crisis, disaster, and emergency communication.

This book explores the benefits of using risk analysis techniques in the evaluation of flood protection structures, and examines the results of the environmental impact assessment for selected planned flood protection projects. The objective of the book is to propose a methodology for environmental impact assessment in water management. In more detail, flood mitigation measures are investigated with the aim of selecting the best option for the approval process. This methodology is intended to streamline the process of environmental impact assessment for structures in the field of the water management. The book's environmental impact assessment system for water management structures analyzes the respective risks for different options. The results are intended to support the selection of future projects that pose minimum risks to the environment. Comparison of alternatives and designation of the optimal variant are implemented on the basis of selected criteria that objectively describe the characteristics of the planned alternatives and their respective impacts on the environment. The proposed Guideline for environmental impact assessment of flood protection objects employs multi-parametric risk analysis, a method intended to not only enhance the transparency and sensitivity of the evaluation process, but also successfully addresses the requirements of environmental impact assessment systems in the European Union. These modifications are intended to improve the outcomes of the environmental impact assessment, but may also be applied to other infrastructure projects. The case study proves that the primary aim - to improve transparency and minimize subjectivity in the environmental impact assessment process specific to flood protection structure projects - is met for the planned project in Kruzlov, Slovakia.

This book examines how Geographic Information Technologies (GIT) are being implemented to improve our understanding of a variety of hazard and disaster situations. The volume is a compilation of recent research using Geographic Information Systems (GIS), Remote Sensing (RS) and other technologies such as Global Positioning Systems (GPS) to examine urban hazard and disaster issues. The goal is to improve and advance the use of such technologies during four classic phases of hazard and disaster research: response, recovery, preparation and mitigation. The focus is on urban areas, broadly defined in order to encompass rapidly growing and densely populated areas.

The material presented is multidisciplinary, with contributions from scholars in Africa, Asia, Europe, Latin America and North America, and is presented in five key sections:

• sea level rise and flood analysis
• earthquakes and tsunamis and international applications
• hurricane response/recovery
• metropolitan case studies
• evacuation studies

This volume contributes to our understanding of extreme events in urban environments with the use of GIT and expanding its role at the local, regional, state and federal levels. The book is a valuable reference for academic researchers and professionals and practitioners working in hazard management and mitigation.

The largest earthquake ever recorded in Haiti devastated parts of the country, including the capital, on January 12, 2010. The quake, centred about 15 miles south-west of Port-au-Prince, was a magnitude of 7.0, followed by a series of severe aftershocks. It is estimated that 3 million people, approximately one third of the overall population, have been affected by the earthquake. The Government of Haiti is reporting an estimated 112,000 deaths and 194,000 injured. This book explores the Haitian earthquake and global response as immediate needs are met and the humanitarian relief operation continues. The government is struggling to restore the institutions needed for it to function, ensure political stability, and address long-term reconstruction and development planning.

Le catastrofi sono classificate in base agli elementi della tradizione filosofica ellenica e la loro ragione fisica e alla base dell'intera trattazione. Il libro e diviso in due volumi, indipendenti ma correlati allo stesso tempo. Nel primo, dopo una breve introduzione alle catastrofi naturali, si affrontano le catastrofi della terra e quelle del fuoco: terremoti, frane, eruzioni vulcaniche. Vengono fornite alcune informazioni sull'interno della Terra, necessarie per comprendere l'origine delle catastrofi. L'autore si cimenta in un vero e proprio esperimento letterario, combinando problematiche diverse all'interno della stessa opera. Cosi, per esempio, dopo uno studio sulle cause delle frane, si analizza la visione medioevale delle catastrofi, per poi ritornare agli argomenti principali del libro, il tutto arricchito da numerosi esempi e racconti che rendono la trattazione vivace e coinvolgente."

Questo secondo volume prosegue la breve trattazione sulle catastrofi naturali. E la volta delle catastrofi dell acqua e dell aria, spesso sui giornali quando un uragano o un inondazione colpiscono il nostro pianeta. E anche delle minacce cosmiche, rare ma in grado di annientare la nostra civilta.

Vedremo quegli straordinari eventi di cui conosciamo l esistenza dallo studio degli strati geologici e dei fossili, ma la cui causa e ancora avvolta nel mistero. Si tratta delle estinzioni di massa, episodi in cui la biosfera e cambiata in maniera improvvisa e drammatica a causa di una catastrofe globale.

Tra un aneddoto e una digressione sulle basi scientifiche dei fenomeni e passando attraverso qualche caso di studio, si incuriosisce il lettore su un tema importante e coinvolgente.

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Each year more than 130 million people are affected by natural hazards such as floods, earthquakes, droughts, and cyclones. Nearly all of these disaster victims live in the poorer countries of the world, where each year more and more people become vulnerable to hazards because of changes in their social, economic, cultural, and political environment. In recent years, researchers and development agencies have begun to investigate why certain groups of people are more vulnerable to disasters than others. However, relatively little work has been done on vulnerability in South Asia where more than half the world's disaster victims live. Understanding Vulnerability breaks new ground by exploring these issues from a South Asian standpoint, presented in the form of case studies and essays by experts from India, Nepal, and Sri Lanka. Ela Bhatt writes about poor women in the towns and countryside of the Indian State of Gujarat who face a wide range of hazards, both natural and man-made. Ngamindra Dahal studies Nepali villagers who live under the permanent threat of mountain floods and landslides. R. B. Senaka Arachchi looks at a village society in Sri Lanka's Dry Zone which endures drought as a persistent hazard to its agricultural way of life. The final essay, by Mihir Bhatt, is a thought-provoking discussion of ways of understanding vulnerability by learning from vulnerable people: it is a spur to operational agencies and field workers to improve their ways of working. The lessons in Understanding Vulnerability will be of value to development and disaster planners and managers not only in South Asia but in many other regions where vulnerable people are confronted by hazards.

This edited book investigates the interrelations of disaster impacts, resilience and security in an urban context. Urban as a term captures megacities, cities, and generally, human settlements, that are characterised by concentration of quantifiable and non-quantifiable subjects, objects and value attributions to them. The scope is to narrow down resilience from an all-encompassing concept to applied ways of scientifically attempting to 'measure' this type of disaster related resilience. 28 chapters in this book reflect opportunities and doubts of the disaster risk science community regarding this 'measurability'. Therefore, examples utilising both quantitative and qualitative approaches are juxtaposed. This book concentrates on features that are distinct characteristics of resilience, how they can be measured and in what sense they are different to vulnerability and risk parameters. Case studies in 11 countries either use a hypothetical pre-event estimation of resilience or are addressing a 'revealed resilience' evident and documented after an event. Such information can be helpful to identify benchmarks or margins of impact magnitudes and related recovery times, volumes and qualities of affected populations and infrastructure.

In text and photographs, Reinhart examines the 1988 Yellowstone fires and their aftermath: smoke-shrouded skies, flaming forests, and fireballs that have been replaced by wildflowers, aspen stands, and rare Bicknell's geraniums. Reinhart also explores what the answers are to the burning questions of 1988: Would fire kill Yellowstone's forests? Would wildlife populations recover? Would Yellowstone itself recover?

This is a unique, timely and engaging text with wide ranging geographical coverage. The text brings together, for the first time, information about a vast array of hazards associated with ice and snow, spanning both well known phenomenon (e.g. avalanches) and the less familiar (e.g. river ice jams and ice storms) using, in many cases, material which is rarely seen outside advanced academic research books and journals. The range of ice-related hazards will be introduced and the significance of the current global warming context discussed. Broad physical models of glacial, periglacial and atmospheric cold environments are presented to provide a scientific context for discussion of the human issues of risk, vulnerability impact and mitigation. Key Features: * Wide ranging geographical coverage (the Americas, Asia, Australasia, Antarctic & Europe) * Localised hazards (avalanches, life storms, landslides) contrasted to those with wider reaching effects (arctic ice loss, ice sheet retreat and wide spread permafrost decay) * Includes the latest developments in the field * Each chapter includes hazards overview, summery, conclusions, potential projects exercise and key references * Includes a supplementary website with figures from the text and further references * Each chapter includes a hazards overview, summary, conclusions, potential projects exercise and key references

Governing Disaster in Urban Environments: Climate Change Preparation and Adaption after Hurricane Sandy is a comprehensive account of relevant debates, conceptualizations, and practical considerations for the governance of disaster at multiple scales. In this interdisciplinary work, Julia Nevarez uses the example of Hurricane Sandy to analyze the complex phenomenon of climate change and its effects on flood-prone areas. Drawing on the notion of the anthropocene and discourse on resiliency, Nevarez discusses alternative methods of recovery after climate-induced disasters. Nevarez analyzes international climate agreements and neoliberal policies based on austerity measures to highlight the need to secure cooperation from the international community in order to ensure environmental security on a global scale, including communities of solidarity.

This book is an overview of the National Response Framework (NRF) and how the nation conducts an all-hazards response. It is built upon scalable, flexible, and adaptable co-ordinating structures to align key roles and responsibilities across the nation. It describes specific authorities and best practices for managing incidents that range from the serious but purely local, to large-scale terrorist attacks or catastrophic natural disasters. This book explains the common discipline and structures that have been exercised and matured at the local, tribal, state and national levels over time. It describes key lessons learned from Hurricanes Katrina and Rita, focusing particularly on how the Federal Government is organised to support communities and states in catastrophic incidents. Most importantly, it builds upon the National Incident Management System (NIMS), which provides a consistent template for managing incidents. The term "response" as used in this book includes immediate actions to save lives, protect property and the environment, and meet basic human needs. Response also includes the execution of emergency plans and actions to support short-term recovery. This book is written especially for government executives, private-sector and non-governmental organisation (NGO) leaders, and emergency management practitioners.

In recent years, much attention has been focused on the roles that the private sector and federal government play in providing insurance and financial aid before and after catastrophic events. In this context, the authors examined (1) the rationale for and resources of federal and state programs that provide natural catastrophe insurance; (2) the extent to which Americans living in catastrophe-prone areas of the United States are uninsured and underinsured, and the types and amounts of federal payments to such individuals since the 2005 hurricanes; and (3) public policy options for revising the federal role in natural catastrophe insurance markets.

This book, with contributions from international landslide experts, presents in-depth knowledge of theories, practices, and modern numerical techniques for landslide analysis. Landslides are a reoccurring problem across the world and need to be properly studied for their mitigation and control. Due to increased natural and anthropogenic activities, chances of landslide occurrence and associated hazards have increased. The book focuses on landslide dynamics, mechanisms and processes along with hazard mitigation using geo-engineering, structural, geophysical and numerical tools. The book contains a wealth of the latest information on all aspects of theory, practices and modelling tools and techniques involved in prediction, prevention, monitoring, mitigation and risk analysis of landslide hazards. This book will bring the reader up to date on the latest trends in landslide studies and will help planners, engineers, scientists and researchers working on landslide engineering.

The recent explosion of global and regional seismicity data in the world requires new methods of investigation of microseismicity and development of their modelling to understand the nature of whole earth mechanics. In this book, the author proposes a powerful tool to reveal the characteristic features of global and regional microseismicity big data accumulated in the databases of the world. The method proposed in this monograph is based on (1) transformation of stored big data to seismicity density data archives, (2) linear transformation of microseismicity density data matrixes to correlated seismicity matrixes by means of the singular value decomposition method, (3) time series analyses of globally and regionally correlated seismicity rates, and (4) the minimal non-linear equations approximation of their correlated seismicity rate dynamics. Minimal non-linear modelling is the manifestation for strongly correlated seismicity time series controlled by Langevin-type stochastic dynamic equations involving deterministic terms and random Gaussian noises. A deterministic term is composed minimally with correlated seismicity rate vectors of a linear term and of a term with a third exponent. Thus, the dynamics of correlated seismicity in the world contains linearly changing stable nodes and rapid transitions between them with transient states. This book contains discussions of future possibilities of stochastic extrapolations of global and regional seismicity in order to reduce earthquake disasters worldwide. The dataset files are available online and can be downloaded at springer.com.

This book furnishes state-of-the-art knowledge about how earthquake faulting is coupled with fluid flow. The authors describe the theoretical background of modeling of faulting coupled with fluid flow in detail. Field and laboratory evidence to suggest the fluid involvement in earthquake faulting is also carefully explained. All of the provided information constitutes together a basic framework of the fault modeling for a comprehensive understanding of the involvement of fluids in earthquake ruptures. Earthquake generation is now widely believed to be significantly affected by high-pressure fluid existing at depths. Consequently, modeling study of earthquake faulting coupled with fluid flow is becoming increasingly active as a field of research. This work is aimed at a wide range of readers, and is especially relevant for graduate students and solid-earth researchers who wish to become more familiar with the field.

A collection of articles that showcases the diversity of tsunami science. This is truly an interdisciplinary field that brings together seismologists, engineers, social scientists, emergency managers, geologists, and geophysicists, to name a few. The title reflects this diversity of tsunami research, ranging from understanding the source mechanism, working towards the fast detection of tsunamis in order to take prompt action, and predicting impacts so those affected are better prepared to respond, reduce losses and recover in a reasonable amount of time. The chapters are arranged such that they follow in some virtual way the tsunami from the source to propagation, inundation and impacts on the social, natural or built environment. The book therefore naturally begins with a chapter on the Nankai Trough, a source of great earthquakes and potentially destructive tsunamis. Chapter Two presents a methodology on detecting and identifying tsunamigenic events, followed by Chapter Three, which uses a popular seismological technique to understand tsunami propagation and potential impact on shores. Chapter Four presents an application of tsunami modeling on evacuation planning. Chapters Five and Six look into the impact of tsunamis on structures such as bridges, utilizing valuable data collected after the 2011 Tohoku tsunami in Japan. Chapter Seven is a risk assessment study that predicts the financial cost of a 1960 Chile type of earthquake if it were to happen today. Chapters Eight and Nine look into the social aspect of disasters by interviewing survivors and presenting how geospatial techniques can be used to reveal potential risks in our environment that could potentially hinder the recovery of communities after a disaster. All of the chapters have been written by specialists in their respective fields, representing a vast range of sciences and research that covers nearly the entire globe, stretching from the US to Japan, Taiwan and New Zealand.

Uncertainties are pervasive in natural hazards, and it is crucial to develop robust and meaningful approaches to characterize and communicate uncertainties to inform modeling efforts. In this monograph we provide a broad, cross-disciplinary overview of issues relating to uncertainties faced in natural hazard and risk assessment. We introduce some basic tenets of uncertainty analysis, discuss issues related to communication and decision support, and offer numerous examples of analyses and modeling approaches that vary by context and scope. Contributors include scientists from across the full breath of the natural hazard scientific community, from those in real-time analysis of natural hazards to those in the research community from academia and government. Key themes and highlights include: * Substantial breadth and depth of analysis in terms of the types of natural hazards addressed, the disciplinary perspectives represented, and the number of studies included * Targeted, application-centered analyses with a focus on development and use of modeling techniques to address various sources of uncertainty * Emphasis on the impacts of climate change on natural hazard processes and outcomes * Recommendations for cross-disciplinary and science transfer across natural hazard sciences This volume will be an excellent resource for those interested in the current work on uncertainty classification/quantification and will document common and emergent research themes to allow all to learn from each other and build a more connected but still diverse and ever growing community of scientists.