The 2010 Haiti and Chili earthquakes, the 2010 BP oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico, and the 2011 Fukushima earthquake and tsunami in Japan are but a few examples of recent catastrophic events that continue to reveal how social structure and roles produce extensive human suffering and differential impacts on individuals and communities. These events bring social vulnerability to the forefront in considering how disasters unfold, clearly revealing that disasters are not created from the physical event alone. Equally important, people-even those considered vulnerable-respond in innovative and resilient ways that unveil the strength of human ingenuity and spirit. It is not a foregone conclusion that a hazard event, even a large one, will result in catastrophic loss. This updated second edition of Social Vulnerability to Disasters focuses on the social construction of disasters, demonstrating how the characteristics of an event are not the only reason that tragedies unfurl. By carefully examining and documenting social vulnerabilities throughout the disaster management cycle, the book remains essential to emergency management professionals, the independent volunteer sector, homeland security, and related social science fields, including public policy, sociology, geography, political science, urban and regional planning, and public health. The new edition is fully updated, more international in scope, and incorporates significant recent disaster events. It also includes new case studies to illustrate important concepts. By understanding the nuances of social vulnerability and how these vulnerabilities compound one another, we can take steps to reduce the danger to at-risk populations and strengthen community resilience overall. Features and Highlights from the Second Edition: Contains contributions from leading scholars, professionals, and academics, who draw on their areas of expertise to examine vulnerable populations Incorporates disaster case studies to illustrate concepts, relevant and seminal literature, and the most recent data available In addition to highlighting the U.S. context, integrates a global approach and includes numerous international case studies Highlights recent policy changes and current disaster management approaches Infuses the concept of community resilience and building capacity throughout the text Includes new chapters that incorporate additional perspectives on social vulnerability Instructor's guide, PowerPoint (R) slides, and test bank available with qualifying course adoption

Winner, Betty and Alfred McClung Lee Book Award, Association for Humanist Sociology, 2016 Outstanding Scholarly Contribution Award of the Section on Children and Youth, American Sociological Association, 2016 Honorable Mention, Leo Goodman Award, Methodology Section, American Sociological Association, 2016 When children experience upheaval and trauma, adults often view them as either vulnerable and helpless or as resilient and able to easily “bounce back.” But the reality is far more complex for the children and youth whose lives are suddenly upended by disaster. How are children actually affected by catastrophic events and how do they cope with the damage and disruption? Children of Katrina offers one of the only long-term, multiyear studies of young people following disaster. Sociologists Alice Fothergill and Lori Peek spent seven years after Hurricane Katrina interviewing and observing several hundred children and their family members, friends, neighbors, teachers, and other caregivers. In this book, they focus intimately on seven children between the ages of three and eighteen, selected because they exemplify the varied experiences of the larger group. They find that children followed three different post-disaster trajectories—declining, finding equilibrium, and fluctuating—as they tried to regain stability. The children’s moving stories illuminate how a devastating disaster affects individual health and well-being, family situations, housing and neighborhood contexts, schooling, peer relationships, and extracurricular activities. This work also demonstrates how outcomes were often worse for children who were vulnerable and living in crisis before the storm. Fothergill and Peek clarify what kinds of assistance children need during emergency response and recovery periods, as well as the individual, familial, social, and structural factors that aid or hinder children in getting that support.

Heads above Water tells the stories of women and their families who survived the Grand Forks, North Dakota, flood of 1997, one of the worst natural disaster in U.S. history. This book describes the challenges women faced and explores the importance of class, race, gender, sexual orientation, and disability in their disaster recovery. The women found themselves face-to-face with social and familial upheaval, emotional and physical trauma, precarious economic and social status, and feelings of loss and violation. By exploring the experiences of these women, author Alice Fothergill contributes to broader sociological discussions about women's changing roles, the stigma of needing and receiving assistance, family relationships under stress, domestic violence, downward mobility, and the importance of "home" to one's identity and sense of self. Heads above Water offers poignant insight into women's everyday lives in an extraordinary time.