This book focuses on centrifugal disasters that impact a group of seemingly unconnected people congregated temporarily often by chance, unlike centripetal disasters that strike an extant community of people. In India as well as in South Asia, centrifugal disasters have increased significantly in the last few decades, however the research remains limited as they are often categorized as accidents. The book documents three such major disaster events––26/11 terror attacks and 13/7 blasts in Mumbai, and hospital fire in Kolkata–– and analyses the lived and felt experiences of the survivors and their families. Drawing on the authors’ experience of working with survivors, first responders (police, health workers), as well as policy makers, the book suggests a model of disaster intervention that bridges academia and praxis expertise. Besides providing a rights framework for disaster interventions, it also explores the moral and ethical considerations around disaster interventions. This important book will be of interest to students and practitioners of disaster management including first responders and those working in public management, risk management, hazards and disasters, emergency response, terrorism and political violence. It will also be useful to mental health professionals, social workers, psychologists, civil society organizations, as well as bureaucrats and policy makers.

Global processes have an increasing influence on local contexts and the nature and distribution of opportunities among populations across the globe. While capital and population mobility, advances in information and communications technology, and economic liberalization have fostered economic development, industrialization, and wealth for some, they have also engendered growing inequalities in income, prosperity, well-being, and access. Those left behind by these global transformations often experience not only material deprivation, but broader dislocation from the contexts, institutions, and capabilities that provide access to social and economic opportunity. The concept of "social exclusion" has been widely adopted to describe the conditions of economic, social, political, and/or cultural marginalization experienced by particular groups of people due to extreme poverty, discrimination, dislocation, and disenfranchisement. This book explores the dynamics of social exclusion within the context of globalization across four countries-China, India, South Korea, and the United States. In particular, it examines how social exclusion is defined, manifested, and responded to with regard to diverse social arenas and processes, varying mechanisms and scales, and a range of impacted populations. Based on collaborative research activities and in-depth deliberation among leading scholars from major academic institutions in each of the four aforementioned countries, the volume provides a rich account of the interplay between globalization and social exclusion, while highlighting the ways in which responses may be more or less effective in different contexts. Its insights will be of particular interest to academics, researchers, and students across diverse social science disciplines.