Two years after Hurricane Maria hit, Puerto Ricans are still reeling from its effects and aftereffects. Aftershocks collects poems, essays and photos from survivors of Hurricane Maria detailing their determination to persevere. The concept of "aftershocks" is used in the context of earthquakes to describe the jolts felt after the initial quake, but no disaster is a singular event. Aftershocks of Disaster examines the lasting effects of hurricane Maria, not just the effects of the wind or the rain, but delving into what followed: state failure, social abandonment, capitalization on human misery, and the collective trauma produced by the botched response.

Educating for Sustainable Development (ESD) approaches are holistic and interdisciplinary, values-driven, participatory, multi-method, locally relevant and emphasize critical thinking and problem-solving. This book explains how ESD approaches work in the Japanese context; their effects on different stakeholders; and their ultimate potential contribution to society in Japan. It considers ESD in both formal and informal education sectors, recognizing that even when classroom learning takes place it must be place-based and predicated on a specific community context. The book explores not only 'Why ESD', but why and how ESD in Japan has gained importance in the past decade and more recently in the wake of the triple disaster of March 2011. It considers how ESD can help Japan recover and adapt to disasters and take initiative in building more resilient and sustainable communities. This volume asks the questions: What are some examples of positive contributions by ESD to sustainability in Japan? What is the role of ESD in Japan in activating people to demand and work towards change? How can schools, universities and non-governmental organizations link with communities to strengthen civic awareness and community action? After an introduction that elucidates the roots and recent promotion of ESD in Japan, part one of this volume looks at the formal education sector in Japan, while part two examines community-based education and sustainability initiatives. The latter revisits the Tohoku region five years on from the events of March 2011, to explore recovery and revitalization efforts by schools, NGOs and residents. This is an invaluable book for postgraduate students, researchers, teachers and policy makers working on ESD.

CHOICE Recommended Title, March 2019 This book brings together diverse new perspectives on current and emerging themes in space risk, covering both the threats to Earth-based activities arising from space events (natural and man-made), and those inherent in space activity itself. Drawing on the latest research, the opening chapters explore the dangers from asteroids and comets; the impact of space weather on critical technological infrastructure on the ground and in space; and the more uncertain threats posed by rare hazards further afield in the Milky Way. Contributors from a wide range of disciplines explore the nature of these risks and the appropriate engineering, financial, legal, and policy solutions to mitigate them. The coverage also includes an overview of the space insurance market; engineering and policy perspectives on space debris and the sustainability of the space environment. The discussion then examines the emerging threats from terrorist activity in space, a recognition that space is a domain of war, and the challenges to international cooperation in space governance from the nascent asteroid mining industry. Features: Discusses developments and risks relevant to the public and private sectors as access to the space environment expands Offers an interdisciplinary approach blending science, technology, and policy Presents a high-level international focus, with contributions from academics, policy makers, and commercial space consultants

As a relatively young field, emergency management has already undergone considerable evolution and change. And now that Web 2.0 technologies and social media sites such as Facebook and Twitter have become inherently ingrained in all facets of our lives, emergency managers must once again re-evaluate best practices and standardized approaches. Providing a roadmap for twenty-first century emergency management best practices, Leadership in the Open: A New Paradigm in Emergency Management examines public expectations relative to the use of communication and Web 2.0 technologies for emergency management activities. It covers current technologies along with the public's demand for transparency and ever-increasing need for instant information and updates. The book is divided into three sections that focus on the fundamentals of social media, the potential effects of its strategic use in disaster management, and the attitude of engagement that is effective for community commitment. Coverage includes efficiency, magnification, humility, creativity, ethics, the tension of changing public expectations, and long-standing best practices within the emergency management community. This book builds on the author's bestseller, Disasters 2.0: The Application of Social Media Systems for Modern Emergency Management, by looking at an emergency manager's role not simply by job function, but on what the public demands. Filled with extensive real-world examples, this is an ideal guide for leaders in emergency management, first-response, and business continuity-as well as advanced level students preparing to enter the field.

FINALIST FOR THE 2020 HILARY WESTON WRITERS' TRUST PRIZE FOR NONFICTION * A New York Times New & Noteworthy Book * A CBC Best Nonfiction Book of 2020 * A Globe and Mail Top 100 Book for 2020 "Combining his poetic sensibilities and storytelling skills with a documentarian's eye, [Heighton] has created a wrenching narrative."-2020 Hilary Weston Writers' Trust Prize for Nonfiction Jury In the fall of 2015, Steven Heighton made an overnight decision to travel to the frontlines of the Syrian refugee crisis in Greece and enlist as a volunteer. He arrived on the isle of Lesvos with a duffel bag and a dubious grasp of Greek, his mother's native tongue, and worked on the landing beaches and in OXY--a jerrybuilt, ad hoc transit camp providing simple meals, dry clothes, and a brief rest to refugees after their crossing from Turkey. In a town deserted by the tourists that had been its lifeblood, Heighton--alongside the exhausted locals and under-equipped international aid workers--found himself thrown into emergency roles for which he was woefully unqualified. From the brief reprieves of volunteer-refugee soccer matches to the riots of Camp Moria, Reaching Mithymna is a firsthand account of the crisis and an engaged exploration of the borders that divide us and the ties that bind.

On March 28, 1979, the worst nuclear reactor accident in U.S. history occurred at the Three Mile Island power plant in Central Pennsylvania. Radiation Nation tells the story of what happened that day and in the months and years that followed, as local residents tried to make sense of the emergency. The near-meltdown occurred at a pivotal moment when the New Deal coalition was unraveling, trust in government was eroding, conservatives were consolidating their power, and the political left was becoming marginalized. Using the accident to explore this turning point, Natasha Zaretsky provides a fresh interpretation of the era by disclosing how atomic and ecological imaginaries shaped the conservative ascendancy. Drawing on the testimony of the men and women who lived in the shadow of the reactor, Radiation Nation shows that the region's citizens, especially its mothers, grew convinced that they had sustained radiological injuries that threatened their reproductive futures. Taking inspiration from the antiwar, environmental, and feminist movements, women at Three Mile Island crafted a homegrown ecological politics that wove together concerns over radiological threats to the body, the struggle over abortion and reproductive rights, and eroding trust in authority. This politics was shaped above all by what Zaretsky calls "biotic nationalism," a new body-centered nationalism that imagined the nation as a living, mortal being and portrayed sickened Americans as evidence of betrayal. The first cultural history of the accident, Radiation Nation reveals the surprising ecological dimensions of post-Vietnam conservatism while showing how growing anxieties surrounding bodily illness infused the political realignment of the 1970s in ways that blurred any easy distinction between left and right.

Growing concerns about climate change and the increasing occurrence of ever more devastating natural disasters in some parts of the world and their consequences for human life, not only in the immediately affected regions, but for all of us, have increased our desire to learn more about disaster experiences in the past. How did disaster experiences impact on the development of modern sciences in the early modern era? Why did religion continue to play such an important role in the encounter with disasters, despite the strong trend towards secularization in the modern world? What was the political role of disasters? Historical Disasters in Context illustrates how past societies coped with a threatening environment, how societies changed in response to disaster experiences, and how disaster experiences were processed and communicated, both locally and globally. Particular emphasis is put on the realms of science, religion, and politics. International case studies demonstrate that while there are huge differences across cultures in the way people and societies responded to disasters, there are also many commonalities and interactions between different cultures that have the potential to alter the ways people prepare for and react to disasters in future. To explain these relationships and highlight their significance is the purpose of this volume.

Social inequality is widely recognized as an important cause of conflict and the social determinants of health in conflict settings reflect and reinforce these inequalities. This publication explores the impact of conflict and occupation on the health of people in six countries of the region, identifying loss of human rights, breaches of medical neutrality and psychosocial distress as key determinants that affect people s health in crisis settings. The publication also identifies some examples of activities and interventions that may help to mitigate the impact of these conflicts on the health and well-being of affected populations, as well as policy implications for all concerned parties."

The Handbook provides a comprehensive statement and reference point for hazard and disaster research, policy making, and practice in an international and multi-disciplinary context. It offers critical reviews and appraisals of current state of the art and future development of conceptual, theoretical and practical approaches as well as empirical knowledge and available tools. Organised into five inter-related sections, this Handbook contains sixty-five contributions from leading scholars. Section One situates hazards and disasters in their broad political, cultural, economic, and environmental context. Section Two contains treatments of potentially damaging natural events/phenomena organized by major earth system. Section Three critically reviews progress in responding to disasters including warning, relief and recovery. Section Four addresses mitigation of potential loss and prevention of disasters under two sub-headings: governance, advocacy and self-help, and communication and participation. Section Five ends with a concluding chapter by the editors. The engaging international contributions reflect upon the politics and policy of how we think about and practice applied hazard research and disaster risk reduction. This Handbook provides a wealth of interdisciplinary information and will appeal to students and practitioners interested in Geography, Environment Studies and Development Studies.

'A virtuoso feat ... a book of panoramic breadth' New York Times Book Review 'A devastating analysis ... Wright is a master of knitting together complex narratives' The Observer Just as Lawrence Wright's The Looming Tower became the defining account of our century's first devastating event, 9/11, so The Plague Year will become the defining account of the second. The story starts with the initial moments of Covid's appearance in Wuhan and ends with Joseph Biden's inauguration in an America ravaged by well over 400,000 deaths - a mortality already some ten times worse than US combat deaths in the entire Vietnam War. This is an anguished, furious memorial to a year in which all of America's great strengths - its scientific knowledge, its great civic and intellectual institutions, its spirit of voluntarism and community - were brought low, not by a terrifying new illness alone, but by political incompetence and cynicism on a scale for which there has been no precedent. With insight, sympathy, clarity and rage, The Plague Year allows the reader to see the unfolding of this great tragedy, talking with individuals on the front line, bringing together many moving and surprising stories and painting a devastating picture of a country literally and fatally misled. 'Maddening and sobering - as comprehensive an account of the first year of the pandemic as we've yet seen' Kirkus

A groundbreaking history of how the decades-long war on terror changed virtually every aspect of American life, from the erosion of citizenship down to the cars we bought and TV we watched.

For twenty years after September 11, the war on terror was simultaneously everywhere and nowhere. With all of the military violence occurring overseas even as the threat of sudden mass death permeated life at home, Americans found themselves living in two worlds at the same time. In one of them, soldiers fought overseas so that nothing at home would have to change at all. In the other, life in the United States took on all kinds of unfamiliar shapes, changing people’s sense of themselves, their neighbors, and the strangers they sat next to on airplanes. In Homeland, Richard Beck delivers a gripping exploration of how much the war changed life in the United States and explains why there is no going back.

Though much has been made of the damage that Donald Trump did to the American political system, Beck argues that it was the war on terror that made Trump’s presidency possible, fueling and exacerbating a series of crises that all came to a head with his rise to power. Homeland brilliantly isolates and explores four key issues: the militarism that swept through American politics and culture; the racism and xenophobia that boiled over in much of the country; an economic crisis that, Beck convincingly argues, connects the endurance of the war on terror to at least the end of the Second World War; and a lack of accountability that produced our “impunity culture”—the government-wide inability or refusal to face consequences that has transformed how the U.S. government relates to the people it governs.

To see American life through the lens of Homeland’s sweeping argument is to understand the roots of our current condition. In its startling analysis of how the war on terror hollowed out the very idea of citizenship in the United States, Beck gives the most compelling explanation yet offered for the ongoing disintegration of America’s social, political, and cultural fabric.

Chaos Organization and Disaster Management offers a scholarly survey of disaster response behavior and management in the face of natural and manmade catastrophe. The author provides a methodological and empirical platform from which to initiate a critical analysis of disaster management. Sparked by a unique field study of the Israeli experience during the Gulf War, this book demonstrates the massive divide between individual responses to disaster and the actual functioning of disaster management organizations. It exposes the fundamental flaws of disaster management agencies, analyzing disasters from the perspectives of both agencies and potential victims. Formulating an alternative approach to disaster management that draws upon the advantages of privatization, this volume appraises methods of measuring disaster agency effectiveness, emphasizing the citizen vantage point and stakeholder evaluations. It outlines the intrinsic bureaucratic constraints that impede the efficacy of government agencies, and reveals the disconnect between organizational and victim perceptions of disaster. By highlighting a new empirically based understanding of disaster behavior, the book recommends moving the focus of disaster management to a social process model that will save lives.

The New Orleans Flood, U.S. Corruption, and Disasters "Rosenthal employs the surgical precision of an investigative journalist and the craft of a memoirist to expose the flaws, natural and human, behind the devastation caused by Hurricane Katrina." -The Eric Hoffer Award Program 2020 Nautilus Silver Winner #1 New Release in Civil Engineering & Environmental, Urban & City Planning, Development, and Disaster Relief In the aftermath of one of the worst disasters in U.S. history, Words Whispered in Water tells the story of one woman's fight-against all odds-to expose a mammoth federal agency-and win. It's a horror story, a mystery, and David and Goliath story all in one. In 2005, the entire world watched as a major U.S. city was nearly wiped off the map. The levees ruptured and New Orleans drowned. But while newscasters attributed the New Orleans flood to "natural catastrophes" and other types of disasters, citizen investigator Sandy Rosenthal set out to expose the true culprit and compel the media and government to tell the truth. This is her story. When the protective steel flood-walls broke, the Army Corps of Engineers-with cooperation from big media-turned the blame on natural types of disasters. In the chaotic aftermath, Rosenthal uncovers the U.S. corruption, and big media at root. Follow this New Orleans hero as she exposes the federal agency's egregious design errors and eventually changes the narrative surrounding the New Orleans flood. In this engaging and revealing tale of man versus nature and man versus man, Words Whispered in Water proves that the power of a single individual is alive and well. If you enjoyed books like The Johnstown Flood, Breach of Faith, or The Great Deluge, then Words Whispered in Water is your next read!

Labyrinths explores the origins of thirteen books I have written in the past few decades, texts that have helped to define the emerging parameters of relief operations that inevitably follow armed conflicts or natural disasters. Widely used in international training programs, these books provide practical, specific approaches and solutions-to complex problems in a multidisciplinary field. But how, and why, and even when certain editorial decisions were made required a deeper probe, and Labyrinths looks back at the formative influences of childhood, adolescence, education, and early professional experiences. Many of the pieces in this volume predate the Fordham University Press Humanitarian Book series. They were written in a library in our beach home, overlooking sand dunes and the Atlantic Ocean, with the rhythmic sound of waves and bird song as background music. In the quiet isolation of a seaside town I find respite from a busy life devoted to clinical medicine, public health, teaching, travel, and a global network of international humanitarian assistance projects. This book is dedicated "For the People of Point Lookout," who have respected my privacy while I develop initiatives that have spread from this tiny hamlet to reach millions of vulnerable people around the world.

Vulnerable populations such as children, older adults, and people with disabilities are disproportionately affected by large-scale disasters. This book is a valuable resource for students and professionals in the fields of social work, counseling, nursing, and mental health who need information on the best evidence-based interventions for disaster preparedness and response with these groups. The authors review disaster theory, preparedness checklists, and best practices for crisis intervention with each population. They also discuss where to find the latest assessment tools and other resources offered by national disaster relief organizations.

A devastating loss of life and a community's response.March 4, 1908, was an ordinary morning in Collinwood, Ohio, a village about ten miles outside of Cleveland. Children at Lakeview Elementary School were at work on their lessons when fifth-grader Emma Neibert noticed wisps of smoke, a discovery that led to a panicked stampede inside the school-the chaos of nine teachers trying to control and then save pupils in overcrowded classrooms. Outside, desperate parents and would-be rescuers fought to save as many children as possible, while Collinwood's inadequate volunteer fire department-joined by members of the Cleveland fire department-fought a losing battle with the rapidly spreading blaze. While some inside jumped from the building to safety, most were trapped. Ultimately, 172 children, two teachers, and one rescue worker were killed, and the Collinwood community was irrevocably changed. The fire's staggering death toll shocked the entire country and resulted in impassioned official inquiries about the fire's cause, the building's structure, and overall safety considerations. Regionally, and eventually nationwide, changes were implemented in school structures and construction materials. The Collinwood Tragedy: The Story of the Worst School Fire in American History describes not only the events of that fateful day but also their lingering effects. James Jessen Badal's extensive research reveals how the citizens of Collinwood were desperate to find someone to blame for the tragedy. Rumor and suspicion splintered the grieving community. And yet they also rose to the challenge of healing: officials reached out to immigrant families unsure of their rights; city charities, churches, and relief agencies responded immediately with medical help, comfort for the bereaved, and financial support; and fundraising efforts to assist families totaled more than $50,000-more than $1 million in today's terms.

The Children of Atlantis is a collection of statements by a hundred young people who have fled various parts of the former Yugoslavia in the face of war and destruction, nationalism, hatred and ethnic cleansing, the pressure to take sides, and the draft. As refugees, they are seeking to continue or complete their education at universities around the world, all the while confronting the task of making something of their lives amid the catastrophe that has overwhelmed them, their families, and their homeland. Gathered here are extracts from essays written by the students describing the circumstances that drove them to leave their homes, and the different ways (both optimistic and bleak) they envision their futures. It offers a snapshot of virtually a whole generation of young people on the threshold of their working lives, uprooted from the world they grew up in. Their voices are varied, expressing pain, anger, uncertainty, hope, and the positive energy of youth. What they have in common is a sense of disbelief and bewilderment at the forces unleashed in what was their country.
In a way this is a war-report, though not prepared by foreign war-reporters or covered from the frontlines. Rather, it is a diverse chronicle revealing the unseen psychological aspects of war, written by the victims from the depths of their souls.

'This book is brilliant. Utterly, utterly brilliant. Apart from the epilogue, which is idiotic' Jeremy Clarkson 'F*cking brilliant' Sarah Knight AN EXHILARATING JOURNEY THROUGH THE MOST CREATIVE AND CATASTROPHIC F*CK-UPS OF HUMAN HISTORY In the seventy thousand years that modern human beings have walked this earth, we've come a long way. Art, science, culture, trade - on the evolutionary food chain, we're real winners. But, frankly, it's not exactly been plain sailing, and sometimes - just occasionally - we've managed to really, truly, quite unbelievably f*ck things up. From Chairman Mao's Four Pests Campaign, to the American Dustbowl; from the Austrian army attacking itself one drunken night, to the world's leading superpower electing a reality TV mogul as President... it's pretty safe to say that, as a species, we haven't exactly grown wiser with age. So, next time you think you've really f*cked up, this book will remind you: it could be so much worse... FURTHER PRAISE FOR HUMANS: 'Very funny' Mark Watson 'A light-touch history of moments when humans have got it spectacularly wrong... Both readable and entertaining' The Telegraph 'Chronicles humanity's myriad follies down the ages with malicious glee and much wit ... a rib-tickling page-turner' Business Standard 'A timely, irreverent gallop through thousands of years of human stupidity' Nicholas Griffin, Ping-Pong Diplomacy: The Secret History Behind the Game That Changed the World

Is any disaster really forgotten? It is never forgotten by the survivors who lived through the trauma. It is never forgotten by the emergency services who tried to save the day. It is never forgotten by the relatives of those who never came home. Britain's Lost Tragedies Uncovered is a look at the tragedies and disasters that may not have stayed in public memory, but are no less terrible than their more famous counterparts. From a late-nineteenth-century family massacre in London to two separate fatal crashes at Dibbles Bridge in Yorkshire, and the worst-ever aviation show crash in post-war Farnborough to the horrifying Barnsley Public Hall disaster - here are twenty-three accounts of true devastation and stunning bravery. They are tales that deserve to be remembered.

The book highlights the root cause of human trafficking and analyses how factors of vulnerability affect the marginalized, especially during and after a disaster. Human trafficking like other studies on disaster research, needs to be tackled from various perspectives such as empowering the vulnerable people, creating awareness, strengthening the disaster risk reduction measures and creating a common platform to fight the vicious circle by breaking its continuity and making strategies victim centric and people friendly. The book adapts a multidisciplinary approach embedding concepts from political, social, economic and anthropological perceptions. The discourse in the book revolves around the emotional and psycho-social stress factors including weak implementation of laws and policies at various levels. The content weaves around three themes -- magnitude and interlinks between disaster and human trafficking; policies and protocols on disaster risk reduction and human trafficking and community participation and institutional support. Through these themes, the volume works on identification of the vulnerable areas which are not in compliance with the Sendai Framework of Action, 2015 in the backdrop of the Disaster Management Act of India, 2005. The volume will be of immense interest to a wide range of practitioners, researchers, academicians, policy makers, political leaders, gender experts, international organizations, disaster management authorities, civil society organisations, and scholars working in the area of human rights in general and trafficking in particular. Note: This research was funded by Indian Council of Social Science Research (ICSSR). Human Trafficking is complex, layered and lies at the intersections of multiple vulnerabilities, gender being among the most significant ones. This gets exacerbated during both natural and human made disasters. Any attempt to either understand or address it will be fraught with challenges if women and girls' unique vulnerabilities, as well as their needs, voice, choice, agency and safety is not centre-staged in any effort. Mondira's book does exactly that...it succinctly and in simple words explores the compounding discriminations, including structural inequalities, that cause and result in women and girls differential gendered vulnerabilities to being trafficked during disasters. Once this is understood, the solutions can be specific, gender responsive, and sustainable. - Anju Dubey Pandey, Gender Responsive Governance and Ending Violence against Women Specialist, UN Women, New Delhi, India

In this moment of unprecedented humanitarian crises, the representations of global disasters are increasingly common media themes around the world. The Routledge Companion to Media and Humanitarian Action explores the interconnections between media, old and new, and the humanitarian challenges that have come to define the twenty-first century. Contributors, including media professionals and experts in humanitarian affairs, grapple with what kinds of media language, discourse, terms, and campaigns can offer enough context and background knowledge to nurture informed global citizens. Case studies of media practices, content analysis and evaluation of media coverage, and representations of humanitarian emergencies and affairs offer further insight into the ways in which strategic communications are designed and implemented in field of humanitarian action.

South Asia is one of the most vulnerable areas of an increasingly disaster-impacted world, with cyclones, earthquakes, floods and droughts causing several casualties and disrupting lives and livelihoods every year. Yet the impacts of disasters are not equally distributed across the peoples of the region.Women and men experience disaster differently, and their needs in the aftermath of disaster often differ. Bringing together perspectives from academics, emergency response specialists and development practitioners, the volume investigates to what extent and in what ways gender affects the course of post-disaster reconstruction. Conversely, it also explores in what ways gender politics may be altered by disaster and post-disaster reconstruction. The study includes: a comprehensive overview of key issues facing women and men, as gendered beings, in reconstruction and development; a targeted observation of specific South Asian disaster contexts; and a sustained discussion of case studies and their implications and lessons. This book will interest scholars and researchers of disaster management, rehabilitation studies, gender, environment, ecology and sociology. It will also be useful to institutions dealing with natural and man-made disasters, non-governmental organisations and disaster recovery professionals.