This theoretical contribution argues that the domination of Western knowledge in disaster scholarship has allowed normative policies and practices of disaster risk reduction to be imposed all over the world. It takes a postcolonial approach to unpack why scholars claim that disasters are social constructs while offering little but theories, concepts and methods supposed to be universal in understanding the unique and diverse experiences of millions of people across very different cultures. It further challenges forms of governments inherited from the Enlightenment that have been rolled out as standard and ultimate solutions to reduce the risk of disaster. Ultimately, the book encourages the emergence of a more diverse set of world views/senses and ways of knowing for both studying disasters and informing policy and practice of disaster risk reduction. Such pluralism is essential to better reflect local realities of what disasters actually are around the world. This book is an essential read for scholars and postgraduate students interested in disaster studies as well as policy-makers and practitioners of disaster risk reduction.

The Routledge Handbook of Disaster Risk Reduction Including Climate Change Adaptation aims to provide an overview and critique of the current state of knowledge, policy, and practice, encouraging engagement, and reflection on bringing the two sectors together. This long-awaited and welcomed volume makes a compelling case that a common research agenda and a series of practical policies and policy recommendations can and should be put in place. Over 40 contributions explore DRR including CCA in five parts. The first part presents and interrogates much of the typical vocabulary seen in DRR including CCA, not only pointing out the useful and not-so-useful dimensions, but also providing alternatives and positive examples. The second part explains how to move forward creating and supporting positive crossovers and connections, while the third one explores some aspects of multi-dimensional approaches to knowing and understanding. The fourth part argues for a balanced approach to governance, taking both governmental and non-governmental governance, as well as different scales of governance, into consideration. The final part of the Handbook emphasises DRR including CCA as an investment, rather than a cost, and connects its further implementation with livelihoods of people around the world. This handbook highlights the connections amongst the processes of dealing with disasters and dealing with climate change. It demonstrates how little climate change brings which is new and emphasises the strengths of placing climate change within wider contexts in order to draw on all our strengths while overcoming limitations with specialities. It will prove to be a valuable guide for graduate and advanced undergraduate students, academics, policy makers, and practitioners with an interest in disaster risk reduction and climate change.

The text offers a comprehensive and unique perspective on disaster risk associated with natural hazards. It covers a wide range of topics, reflecting the most recent debates but also older and pioneering discussions in the academic field of disaster studies as well as in the policy and practical areas of disaster risk reduction (DRR). This book will be of particular interest to undergraduate students studying geography and environmental studies/science. It will also be of relevance to students/professionals from a wide range of social and physical science disciplines, including public health and public policy, sociology, anthropology, political science and geology.

Especially in an era of rapid global environmental change, questions and issues about and around natural hazards and disasters are dizzying in their complexity-and urgency. Answering the need for an authoritative reference work to make sense of this fast-moving area, and its vast and multidisciplinary corpus of scholarly literature, Disaster Risk is a new title from the acclaimed Routledge series, Critical Concepts in the Environment. Edited by a trio of expert researchers, this new collection of major works embraces a wide variety of methodological traditions to bring together in four volumes the foundational and the very best cutting-edge scholarship. The collection enables users to access-and to make sense of-the most important research and practice. It provides a synoptic view of all the key issues, current debates, and controversies. Disaster Risk is fully indexed and includes comprehensive introductions, newly written by the editors, which place the collected materials in their historical and intellectual context. It is an essential reference collection and is destined to be valued by scholars and students-as well as policy-makers and practitioners-as a vital one-stop research and pedagogic resource. oe oe oe Disaster Risk is edited by three leading scholars in the field: Ben Wisner, formerly Director of International Studies at California State University at Long Beach, with a long career before that in research and teaching. He is presently engaged in full-time research and writing and has recently completed a four-year project for the United Nations University on defining and managing urban social vulnerability to disasters in six megacities (Johannesburg, Tokyo, Manila, Mumbai, Mexico City, and Los Angeles). The other co-editors of this Routledge Major Works collection are J. C. Gaillard of the University of Auckland, New Zealand; and Ilan Kelman, based at the Center for International Climate and Environmental Research, Oslo, Norway.

This theoretical contribution argues that the domination of Western knowledge in disaster scholarship has allowed normative policies and practices of disaster risk reduction to be imposed all over the world. It takes a postcolonial approach to unpack why scholars claim that disasters are social constructs while offering little but theories, concepts and methods supposed to be universal in understanding the unique and diverse experiences of millions of people across very different cultures. It further challenges forms of governments inherited from the Enlightenment that have been rolled out as standard and ultimate solutions to reduce the risk of disaster. Ultimately, the book encourages the emergence of a more diverse set of world views/senses and ways of knowing for both studying disasters and informing policy and practice of disaster risk reduction. Such pluralism is essential to better reflect local realities of what disasters actually are around the world. This book is an essential read for scholars and postgraduate students interested in disaster studies as well as policy-makers and practitioners of disaster risk reduction.

The text offers a comprehensive and unique perspective on disaster risk associated with natural hazards. It covers a wide range of topics, reflecting the most recent debates but also older and pioneering discussions in the academic field of disaster studies as well as in the policy and practical areas of disaster risk reduction (DRR). This book will be of particular interest to undergraduate students studying geography and environmental studies/science. It will also be of relevance to students/professionals from a wide range of social and physical science disciplines, including public health and public policy, sociology, anthropology, political science and geology.

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.

The goal of this book is to explore disaster risk reduction (DRR), migration, climate change adaptation (CCA) and sustainable development linkages from a number of different geographical, social and natural science angles. Well-known scientists and practitioners present different perspectives regarding these inter-linkages from around the world, with theoretical discussions as well as field observations. This publication contributes in particular to the discussion on the Sendai Framework for Disaster Risk Reduction (SFDRR) 2015-2030 and the debate about how to improve DRR, including CCA, policies and practices, taking into account migration processes from a large perspective where both natural and social factors are crucial and mutually "alloyed". Some authors see the SFDRR as a positive step forward in terms of embracing a multitude of issues, others doubting that the agreement will lead to much concrete action toward real action on the ground. This book is a timely contribution for researchers, students and policy makers in the fields of environment, human geography, migration, disaster and climate change studies who seek a more comprehensive grasp of contemporary development issues.

The goal of this book is to explore disaster risk reduction (DRR), migration, climate change adaptation (CCA) and sustainable development linkages from a number of different geographical, social and natural science angles. Well-known scientists and practitioners present different perspectives regarding these inter-linkages from around the world, with theoretical discussions as well as field observations. This publication contributes in particular to the discussion on the Sendai Framework for Disaster Risk Reduction (SFDRR) 2015-2030 and the debate about how to improve DRR, including CCA, policies and practices, taking into account migration processes from a large perspective where both natural and social factors are crucial and mutually "alloyed". Some authors see the SFDRR as a positive step forward in terms of embracing a multitude of issues, others doubting that the agreement will lead to much concrete action toward real action on the ground. This book is a timely contribution for researchers, students and policy makers in the fields of environment, human geography, migration, disaster and climate change studies who seek a more comprehensive grasp of contemporary development issues.

There is a perennial gap between theory and practice, between academia and active professionals in the field of disaster management. This gap means that valuable lessons are not learned and people die or suffer as a result. This book opens a dialogue between theory and practice. It offers vital lessons to practitioners from scholarship on natural hazards, disaster risk management and reduction and developments studies, opening up new insights in accessible language with practical applications. It also offers to academics the insights of the enormous experience practitioners have accumulated, highlighting gaps in research and challenging assumptions and theories against the reality of experience. Disaster Management covers issues in all phases of the disaster cycle: preparedness, prevention, response and recovery. It also addresses cross-cutting issues including political, economic and social factors that influence differential vulnerability, and key areas of practice such as vulnerability mapping, early warning, infrastructure protection, emergency management, reconstruction, health care and education, and gender issues. The team of international authors combine their years of experience in research and the field to offer vital lessons for practitioners, academics and students alike.

There is a perennial gap between theory and practice, between academia and active professionals in the field of disaster management. This gap means that valuable lessons are not learned and people die or suffer as a result. This book opens a dialogue between theory and practice. It offers vital lessons to practitioners from scholarship on natural hazards, disaster risk management and reduction and developments studies, opening up new insights in accessible language with practical applications. It also offers to academics the insights of the enormous experience practitioners have accumulated, highlighting gaps in research and challenging assumptions and theories against the reality of experience. Disaster Management covers issues in all phases of the disaster cycle: preparedness, prevention, response and recovery. It also addresses cross-cutting issues including political, economic and social factors that influence differential vulnerability, and key areas of practice such as vulnerability mapping, early warning, infrastructure protection, emergency management, reconstruction, health care and education, and gender issues. The team of international authors combine their years of experience in research and the field to offer vital lessons for practitioners, academics and students alike.

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. Organized 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.

The Routledge Handbook of Disaster Risk Reduction Including Climate Change Adaptation aims to provide an overview and critique of the current state of knowledge, policy, and practice, encouraging engagement, and reflection on bringing the two sectors together. This long-awaited and welcomed volume makes a compelling case that a common research agenda and a series of practical policies and policy recommendations can and should be put in place. Over 40 contributions explore DRR including CCA in five parts. The first part presents and interrogates much of the typical vocabulary seen in DRR including CCA, not only pointing out the useful and not-so-useful dimensions, but also providing alternatives and positive examples. The second part explains how to move forward creating and supporting positive crossovers and connections, while the third one explores some aspects of multi-dimensional approaches to knowing and understanding. The fourth part argues for a balanced approach to governance, taking both governmental and non-governmental governance, as well as different scales of governance, into consideration. The final part of the Handbook emphasises DRR including CCA as an investment, rather than a cost, and connects its further implementation with livelihoods of people around the world. This handbook highlights the connections amongst the processes of dealing with disasters and dealing with climate change. It demonstrates how little climate change brings which is new and emphasises the strengths of placing climate change within wider contexts in order to draw on all our strengths while overcoming limitations with specialities. It will prove to be a valuable guide for graduate and advanced undergraduate students, academics, policy makers, and practitioners with an interest in disaster risk reduction and climate change.