This book provides a global view of the social effects of disaster in developed and developing countries. It focuses on the 1994 Northridge Earthquake in the US and other recent disasters to examine vulnerability and post-disaster recovery strategies. The authors also explore the ways state policy can reduce vulnerability in the future.

Disasters of the 21st century differ substantially from other kinds of hazards that previous societies have had to cope with because of the twin forces of globalization and the communications revolution. But what makes today's disasters-industrial, technological, environmental, and socio-cultural-so different in scope and impact? What are the possible disasters of the future? And how can we, as collective humanity, best manage and respond to the globalization of disasters? The Consequences of Global Disasters makes a distinctive contribution to the ever-expanding field of disaster research by developing a multi-contextual, multi-disciplinary and multi-methodological approach to the social analysis of disasters. Anthony Elliott and Eric L. Hsu have brought together a highly distinguished group of international contributors to focus on how people react to the unsettling effects of disasters, which come in a multitude of forms. Numerous contributors concentrate on the cultural, political and psychological ramifications of the 2011 Great East Japan earthquake and tsunami, but disasters in other contexts, such as Australia, China and Haiti, are considered as well. By offering unique empirical, methodological and theoretical insights, The Consequences of Global Disasters sets an agenda for future developments in the field of disaster research and will be a key resource for students and scholars working in social science disciplines such as sociology, cultural studies, international relations, psycho-social studies, social work, Japanese studies and social theory.

This book contains the proceeding of the conferences on Disasters and the Small Dwelling, held at Oxford in September 1990. The 26 papers cover recent experiences of post-disaster shelter and housing provision, review what has been achieved, what needs disseminating and implementing, and assesses what needs further development. The volume thus defines an international agenda to achieve safer low-income dwellings in the course of the 1990s, designated International Decade for Natural Disaster Reduction by the UN. It will be essential reading for anyone - whether governmental or non-governmental agency officials, academic researchers, representatives of private industry or consultants - whose work involves analysis, shelter, mitigation and reconstruction programmes for low-income dwellings in disaster-prone areas.

Natural disasters make dramatic reading. Every year, some area of the world is devastated by a disaster, with enormous consequent loss of life and disruption to livelihoods. What can be done to alleviate this? Why are such disasters so lethal? Why do people expose themselves to such hazards? Do mitigation programmes help? What effect does aid really have on the areas that receive it? By examining one particular cyclone-prone area of Southern India in great detail over a 10-year period Peter Winchester has come up with some perceptive answers to the questions. In particular, he formulates a set of five 'golden rules' for disaster management. The book will provide valuable and thought-provoking reading for anyone involved with disaster management, and will be essential for all those whose work involves aid or development in disaster-prone areas.

Some urgent new thinking is needed if any lessons are to be learnt from the recent disasters. This book brings together the experience of a number of writers who have worked on, or studied, poverty alleviation programmes in Asia and Africa.

GIS for Critical Infrastructure Protection highlights the GIS-based technologies that can be used to support critical infrastructure protection and emergency management. The book bridges the gap between theory and practice using real-world applications, real-world case studies, and the authors' real-world experience. Geared toward infrastructure owners and first responders and their agencies, it addresses gaps in the response, recovery, preparedness planning, and emergency management of large-scale disasters. It also explains the first principles of CIP, introduces the basic components of GIS, and focuses on the application of GIS analysis to identify and mitigate risk and facilitate remediation. In addition, it offers suggestions on how geospatial and emergency response communities can come together-and with combined knowledge-work toward viable solutions for future improvements. Provides a narrative of critical lessons learned through personal experience during the response to Hurricane Katrina Contains examples demonstrating how geospatial technologies may be applied to fire service Summarizes lessons learned from ten community collaboration studies GIS for Critical Infrastructure Protection serves as a reference for infrastructure owner's police, fire, paramedics, and other government agencies responsible for crisis and emergency response, and critical infrastructure protection. The book benefits first responders and infrastructure owners working to ensure the continued safety and operability of the nation's infrastructure.

Of all the huge natural disasters that claimed the lives of thousands in Asia, the Indian Ocean tsunami in 2004 was the largest, estimated to have killed more than 230,000 people. The scope of damage brought about by this natural disaster urges focus on recovery and post-disaster reconstruction from several perspectives. Here we find an in-depth ethnography of Thailand and the role of culture and religion as an underpinning issue in post-disaster recovery. Following the post-tsunami recovery over five years, the book provides knowledge on socio-cultural responses from affected local communities after natural hazards, and is based on original material collected in Thailand after the 2004 tsunami. With a focus on how culture and religion interplay in the processes of building resilience and decreasing vulnerability, it gives a deeper understanding of how disasters are experienced and dealt with on a local level. It examines survivors' experiences of rituals and ceremonies that became a part of the survivors' lives in new ways after the tsunami, offering psychological reassurance and religious efficaciousness as well as communication links between themselves and the deceased. Using observations, narratives and material from in-depth interviews with survivors, relatives, relief workers, officials and Buddhist monks and nuns, this book contributes to the research on anthropology of disaster and to the development of research on cultural resilience and religion in post-disaster recovery. It will be of interest to scholars of Disaster Studies, Buddhist Studies and Asian Studies.

Best-selling author Cass R. Sunstein examines how to avoid worst-case scenarios The world is increasingly confronted with new challenges related to climate change, globalization, disease, and technology. Governments are faced with having to decide how much risk is worth taking, how much destruction and death can be tolerated, and how much money should be invested in the hopes of avoiding catastrophe. Lacking full information, should decision-makers focus on avoiding the most catastrophic outcomes? When should extreme measures be taken to prevent as much destruction as possible? Averting Catastrophe explores how governments ought to make decisions in times of imminent disaster. Cass R. Sunstein argues that using the "maximin rule," which calls for choosing the approach that eliminates the worst of the worst-case scenarios, may be necessary when public officials lack important information, and when the worst-case scenario is too disastrous to contemplate. He underscores this argument by emphasizing the reality of "Knightian uncertainty," found in circumstances in which it is not possible to assign probabilities to various outcomes. Sunstein brings foundational issues in decision theory in close contact with real problems in regulation, law, and daily life, and considers other potential future risks. At once an approachable introduction to decision-theory and a provocative argument for how governments ought to handle risk, Averting Catastrophe offers a definitive path forward in a world rife with uncertainty.

This book deals with both actual and potential terrorist attacks on the United States as well as natural disaster preparedness and management in the current era of global climate change. The topics of preparedness, critical infrastructure investments, and risk assessment are covered in detail. The author takes the reader beyond counterterrorism statistics, better first responder equipment, and a fixation on FEMA grant proposals to a holistic analysis and implementation of mitigation, response, and recovery efforts. The recent Oklahoma tornadoes and West Texas storage tank explosion show the unpredictability of disaster patterns, and the Boston Marathon bombings expose the difficulty in predicting and preventing attacks. Egli makes a compelling case for a culture of resilience by asserting a new focus on interagency collaboration, public-private partnerships, and collective action. Building upon the lessons of the 9/11 attacks, hurricane Katrina, and the Deepwater Horizon oil spill, the basic findings are supported by a creative mix of case studies, which include superstorm Sandy, cascading power outages, GPS and other system vulnerabilities, and Japan's Fukushima disaster with its sobering aftermath. This book will help a new generation of leaders understand the need for smart resilience.

Surgical care is increasingly recognized as a critical component of global health, and strong surgical skills, teamwork, and poise under pressure become even more imperative during conflict or disaster. When faced with hospital bombings or devastating earthquakes, healthcare personnel must develop special techniques and abilities to ably care for patients despite limited resources and a disrupted health system. In Operation Crisis, Dr. Adam L. Kushner brings together 22 medical experts from around the world to recount their experiences in the field when disaster struck. These candid firsthand accounts from both local and international aid surgeons provide clinicians and public health practitioners with insightful lessons for effectively treating surgical patients under the most grueling of circumstances. Moving from conflict settings that include war zones in Afghanistan, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Syria, and South Sudan, Operation Crisis also touches on post-earthquake Haiti and Nepal and post-tsunami Indonesia. Individual themed chapters cover mass casualty training, burn care, obstetric care, sexual violence, and landmine injuries. Combining personal stories with lessons learned and possible interventions, these vivid and affecting essays detail the immediate aftermath of conflict and disaster while pointing the way to improving care for future victims of crisis. Intended to spark further discussion and function as an advocacy tool while highlighting situations where surgical care can save lives and reduce disability, this book is a valuable resource for medical professionals, students, policy makers, international aid organizations, and philanthropic donors. Contributors: Kapendra Shekhar Amatya, Samer Attar, Jeffrey A. Bailey, Lucas C. Carlson, James C. Cobey, Dattesh R. Dave, Dan L. Deckelbaum, Richard A. Gosselin, Shailvi Gupta, Edna Adan Ismail, Thaim B. Kamara, T. Peter Kingham, Adam L. Kushner, Judy M. Lee, Maria "Tane" Pilar Luna, Brijesh Mishra, Kyle N. Remick, Lauri J. Romanzi, Michael Sinclair, Barclay T. Stewart, Marten van Wijhe, Evan G. Wong

With COVID-19 comes a heightened sense of everyday risk. How should a society manage, distribute, and conceive of it? As we cope with the lengthening effects of the global COVID-19 pandemic, considerations of everyday risk have been more pressing, and inescapable. In the past, everyone engaged in some degree of risky behaviour, from mundane realities like taking a shower or getting into a car to purposely thrill-seeking activities like rock-climbing or BASE jumping. Many activities that seemed high-risk, such as flying, were claimed basically safe. But risk was, and always has been, a fact of life. With new focus on the risks of even leaving the safety of our homes, it's time for a deeper consideration of risk itself. How do we manage and distribute risks? How do we predict uncertain outcomes? If risk can never be completely eliminated, can it perhaps be controlled? At the heart of these questions-which govern everything from waking up each day to the abstract mathematics of actuarial science-lie philosophical issues of life, death, and danger. Mortality is the event-horizon of daily risk. How should we conceive of it?

In this age of near-perpetual disaster, from the Coronavirus epidemic and mass incarceration to hurricanes and earthquakes, spiritual care has become an essential component of the disaster-response toolkit. In Experts in the Age of Anxiety, Joshua Moses chronicles the rise of disaster-related spiritual expertise in the years following the attacks of 9/11. What emerges are approaches to trauma that encompass everything from meditation and acupuncture to trauma therapy and restorative justice. In this way, the ascent of spiritual expertise in response to post-9/11 disasters represents an extension of historical tensions between secular health practice and proponents of religious and spiritual care. The book also provides a lens through which to understand the historical dimensions of disaster-related trauma, its treatment, and the ways that therapeutic and spiritual practices imply politics. By studying the intersection of mental health and spirituality in the context of disaster, we gain essential insight into apocalyptic and dystopic beliefs that are prevalent today throughout the United States-and beyond. We learn not only about the role of particular forms of expertise in defining meaning but also the consequences this concept of meaning may have for how we imagine our relations to other humans and nonhumans, the climate crisis-and ultimately the kind of future we might imagine. This variety of therapeutic and spiritual practices, now deployed in the face of disaster, will be tested as humanity faces growing threats from the climate crisis and other cascading disasters. But it is not at all clear whether the particular kinds of knowledge we have managed to patch together will provide the resources we require to instill the capacities to face the repercussions of future disasters.

This volume addresses the imperative need for recognizing, exploring, and developing the role of multilingual communication in crisis settings. It is recognized that 'communication is aid' and that access to communication is an undeniable human right in crises. Even where effective and accurate information is available to be distributed, circulated, and broadcast in different ways through an ever-growing array of technologies, too often the language barrier remains in place. From the Philippines to Lebanon via Spain, Italy, Columbia, and the UK, crisis situations occur worldwide, with different cultural reactions and needs everywhere. The contributors of this volume represent a geographical mixture of regions, language combinations, and disciplines, because crisis situations need to be studied in their locale with different methods. Drawing on disaster studies research, this book aims to stimulate a broad, multidisciplinary debate on how complex communication is in cascading crises and on the role translation can play to facilitate communication. Translation in Cascading Crises is a key resource for students and researchers of Translation and Interpreting Studies, Humanitarian Studies, and Disaster Studies.

Successful recovery following a disaster depends upon transcending the disciplinary divides of architecture, engineering, and planning and emphasizing the importance of community perspectives in the post-disaster reconstruction process. Effective results in community recovery mandate that we holistically examine the complex interrelationship between physical and social dimensions. Through a series of case studies, Post-Disaster Reconstruction and Change: Communities' Perspectives explores community viewpoints on post-disaster aid provided by external agencies and demonstrates how equity and effectiveness are affected by community social organization, power structures, and leadership capacities. The book further focuses on how external aid in turn affects community livelihoods, cultures, and social organizations. Each chapter serves as a real-world case study based on several months of ethnographic fieldwork conducted in India, Nicaragua, Indonesia, Sri Lanka, and Argentina. Post-disaster community recovery depends on informed decisions that build on lessons learned from past experiences. This book shows how different communities have coped with and responded to various external interventions. Focusing on housing reconstruction and the restoration of livelihood, the authors demonstrate that changes in settlement location, morphology, housing materials, and design produce multiple cascading consequences for the inhabitants of reconstructed settlements. Ultimately, the book establishes the importance of integrating community perspectives in policies and programs for sustainable post-disaster reconstruction-enabling greater resiliency as well as future disaster risk reduction.

One of the "New York Times"'s Best Ten Books of the Year
Winner of the National Book Critics Circle Award for Nonfiction
Winner of the 2014 J. Anthony Lukas Book Prize, the "Los Angeles Times" Book Prize, and the Ridenhour Book Prize
An ALA Notable Book, finalist for the NYPL 2014 Helen Bernstein Award, finalist for the SIBA Book Award, and shortlisted for ALA Andrew Carnegie Medal
An NPR "Great Reads" Book, a "Chicago Tribune" Best Book, a "Seattle Times "Best Book, a "Time "Magazine Best Book, "Entertainment Weekly"'s #1 Nonfiction Book, a "Christian Science Monitor "Best Book, and a "Kansas City Star" Best Book
Pulitzer Prize winner Sheri Fink's landmark investigation of patient deaths at a New Orleans hospital ravaged by Hurricane Katrina - and her suspenseful portrayal of the quest for truth and justice.
In the tradition of the best investigative journalism, physician and reporter Sheri Fink reconstructs 5 days at Memorial Medical Center and draws the reader into the lives of those who struggled mightily to survive and to maintain life amid chaos.
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"After Katrina struck and the floodwaters rose, the power failed, and the heat climbed, exhausted caregivers chose to designate certain patients last for rescue. Months later, several health professionals faced criminal allegations that they deliberately injected numerous patients with drugs to hasten their deaths.
"Five Days at Memorial," the culmination of six years of reporting, unspools the mystery of what happened in those days, bringing the reader into a hospital fighting for its life and into a conversation about the most terrifying form of health care rationing.
In a voice at once involving and fair, masterful and intimate, Fink exposes the hidden dilemmas of end-of-life care and reveals just how ill-prepared we are in America for the impact of large-scale disasters--and how we can do better. A remarkable book, engrossing from start to finish, "Five Days at Memorial" radically transforms your understanding of human nature in crisis.

"From the Hardcover edition."

Wars cannot be fought and sustained without food and this unique collection explores the impact of war on food production, allocation and consumption in Europe in the twentieth century. A comparative perspective which incorporates belligerent, occupied and neutral countries provides new insights into the relationship between food and war. The analysis ranges from military provisioning and systems of food rationing to civilians' survival strategies and the role of war in stimulating innovation and modernization.

Includes Case Studies from a Range of Event Sites Introduction to Crowd Science examines the growing rate of crowd-related accidents and incidents around the world. Using tools, methods, and worked examples gleaned from over 20 years of experience, this text provides an understanding of crowd safety. It establishes how crowd accidents and incidents (specifically mass fatalities in crowded spaces) can occur. The author explores the underlying causes and implements techniques for crowd risk analysis and crowd safety engineering that can help minimize and even eliminate occurrences altogether. Understand Overall Crowd Dynamics and Levels of Complex Structure The book outlines a simple modeling approach to crowd risk analysis and crowds safety in places of public assembly. With consideration for major events, and large-scale urban environments, the material focuses on the practical elements of developing the crowd risk analysis and crowd safety aspects of an event plan. It outlines a range of modeling techniques, including line diagrams that represent crowd flow, calculations of the speed at which a space can fill, and the time it takes for that space to reach critical and crush density. It also determines what to consider during the event planning and approval (licensing/permitting) phases of the event process. Introduction to Crowd Science addresses key questions and presents a systematic approach to managing crowd risks in complex sites. It provides an understanding of the complexity of a site, that helps you plan for crowds in public places.

There is overwhelming evidence that the climate is changing. It is the poorest countries and people who are the most vulnerable to this threat and who will suffer the most. This book shows how increasing urbanization and growing poverty levels mean that it is imperative to ask how climate change might impact on asset accumulation and food security for the urban poor. It demonstrates how these three, often separate foci, can be brought together to frame a holistic urban adaptation approach. Furthermore, although much has been written about climate change, limited evidence exists in southern Africa of how climate change has been integrated in urban planning. The authors explore the urban climate change nexus linking asset adaptation, climate change science and food security through several case study cities. These include Cape Town, George and Khara Hais (South Africa), Lusaka (Zambia), Maputo (Mozambique), Mombasa (Kenya) and Harare (Zimbabwe). The results shed light on how this nexus might be explored from different perspectives, both theoretical and practical, in order to plan for a more resilient future. Climate Change, Assets and Food Security in Southern African Cities comprises ten chapters which focus on southern African cities, with each chapter written by highly experienced academics, research-focused practitioners and professional planners. Although the book concentrates on southern African cities, the insights which are presented can be used to understand other urban centres in low and middle-income countries outside of this region and around the world.

A riveting indictment of a government that fails to help citizens in need of aid, protection, and humanity The Shaming State argues that Americans have been abandoned by a government that has relinquished its duties of care toward its citizens. Sara Salman describes a government that withholds care in times of need and instead shames the very citizens it claims to serve, both poor and middle class. She argues that the state does so by emphasizing personal responsibility, thus tacitly blaming the needy for relying on state programs. This blame is pervasive in the American cultural imagination, existing in political discourse and internalized by Americans. This book explores how shaming is exhibited by state and political institutions by showing the ways in which the state withholds care, and how people who need that care are humiliated for failing to be self-sufficient. The Shaming State investigates the vanishing horizon of social rights in the United States and the dwindling of government support to both lower- and middle-class people. Focusing on Iraqi refugees and white home-owning New Yorkers, Salman demonstrates how both groups were faced with immense difficulty and humiliation when searching for access to assistance programs maintained by the government. Looking at the long-range trends, she argues that the last forty years have made the United States a market fundamentalist country, where the government does not offer unified aid and increasingly asks citizens to assume personal responsibility in the face of uncontrollable disasters. Whether it was Hurricane Katrina almost two decades ago or the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, the indifferent and stagnant response by the American government not only amplified the consequences of these disasters but also increased hostility towards the vulnerable groups who needed help. Ultimately, The Shaming State tells stories of abandonment, loss, shame, and rage experienced by Americans and how the government has let them down time and time again.

OUR PLANET IS A DYNAMIC PLACE There are numerous recent geological occurrences of life-changing events: earthquakes in Japan and the southwestern Pacific Ocean, the tsunami in South Asia, hurricanes in the Atlantic Ocean and typhoons in the Pacific, widespread flooding in the Midwest, as well as wildfires in California to name a few. Earth's Natural Hazards: Understanding Natural Disasters & Catastrophes will help students understand the geologic background of these life-changing events and the dynamic and sometimes interrelated nature, of the Earth's geologic processes. This book goes beyond the geologic aspect of the disasters and discusses the human impact, climate change, and biological hazards that often result from major life-changing events. Earth's Natural Hazards features: a full-color text with photos, graphs, and maps to help illustrate the broad range of natural disasters that are discussed. Questions for Thought at the end of each chapter. several web sites that serve as additional resources. brief lists of selected references and reading material. a discussion of objects from outer space which provides information about hazards that are extraterrestrial.

For those who could read between the lines, the censored news out of China was terrifying. But the president insisted there was nothing to worry about. Fortunately, we are still a nation of skeptics. Fortunately, there are those among us who study pandemics and are willing to look unflinchingly at worst-case scenarios.

Michael Lewis’s taut and brilliant nonfiction thriller pits a band of medical visionaries against the wall of ignorance that was the official response of the Trump administration to the outbreak of COVID-19. The characters you will meet in these pages are as fascinating as they are unexpected.

A thirteen-year-old girl’s science project on transmission of an airborne pathogen develops into a very grown-up model of disease control. A local public-health officer uses her worm’s-eye view to see what the CDC misses, and reveals great truths about American society. A secret team of dissenting doctors, nicknamed the Wolverines, has everything necessary to fight the pandemic: brilliant backgrounds, world-class labs, prior experience with the pandemic scares of bird flu and swine flu…everything, that is, except official permission to implement their work.

Michael Lewis is not shy about calling these people heroes for their refusal to follow directives that they know to be based on misinformation and bad science. Even the internet, as crucial as it is to their exchange of ideas, poses a risk to them. They never know for sure who else might be listening in.

While history has identified a need for improved coordination during emergencies, it has also demonstrated that community volunteers positively impact their neighborhoods during times of crisis. Laying out the rationale and process by which emergency managers, community leaders, and non-governmental aid organizations can effectively collaborate and integrate citizen response, Spontaneous Community Volunteers in Disasters explains how to engage, train, and utilize spontaneous unaffiliated community volunteers (SUCV). The book prepares leaders to integrate local volunteers into any scale emergency response. Protocols and flexible management solutions are outlined to ensure safe and effective planning and execution. Work templates provided can be modified to suit the needs of any community. This accessible manual provides the tools to: Assess your agency's role, tasks, and challenges to meet community needs in a disaster Build a plan for managing SUCVs by developing internal and external protocols Develop effective spot screening and selection methods Engage community members in information-sharing and outreach campaigns Consider policies and procedures that create relevant roles for volunteers and community groups to build a resilient team for disaster recovery Provide National Incident Management System (NIMS) compliant answers to address common barriers to using SUCVs Combining field experience and psychosocial research, the book makes a strong case as to why community involvement in disaster response will have a positive impact on a community's resilient recovery. Praise for Spontaneous Community Volunteers in Disasters: All emergency management coordinators can benefit from this book. -Howard Butt, New Jersey State Police, State CERT Coordinator Lisa Orloff has done an excellent job in both identifying a significant opportunity in emergency response and meticulously outlining how that opportunity can best be leveraged. -Dr. Michael Chumer, New Jersey Institute of Technology The Alliance for Nonprofit Management has nominated the book for the Terry McAdam Award. This award is bestowed upon the Committee's choice for the most inspirational and useful new book published for the nonprofit sector.

This book offers a theory of disaster in modern and contemporary society and its impact on the construction of social and political life. The theory is premised upon what the authors call "the sign continuum," where disaster spreads across society through efforts to evade social responsibility for its causes and consequences. Phenomena generated by such efforts include the social manifestation of monstrosity (disastrous people and other forms of living things) and an emerging antipolitics in an effort to assert rule and order. A crucial development is the attack on speech, a fundamental feature of political life, as manifested by the increased expectations of categories of people whose containment calls for shunning and silence.

Landmines, cluster-bombs, chemical pollutants, and other remnants of war continue to cause death to humans and damage to the environment long after the guns have fallen silent. From the jungles of Vietnam to the arctic tundra of Russia, no region has escaped the legacy of warfare.

To understand the legacy of modern militarism, this book presents an overview of post-conflict societies, with an emphasis on the human toll exacted by modern warfare.