Disaster Hits Home

Disaster Hits Home
Author: Mary C. Comerio
Publisher: Univ of California Press
Total Pages: 313
Release: 2023-12-22
Genre: Social Science
ISBN: 052091872X

Whenever a major earthquake strikes or a hurricane unleashes its fury, the devastating results fill our television screens and newspapers. Mary C. Comerio is interested in what happens in the weeks and months after such disasters, particularly in the recovery of damaged housing. Through case studies of six recent urban disasters—Hurricane Hugo in South Carolina, Hurricane Andrew in Florida, the Loma Prieta and Northridge earthquakes in California, as well as earthquakes in Mexico City and Kobe, Japan—Comerio demonstrates that several fundamental factors have changed in contemporary urban disasters. The foremost change is in scale, and as more Americans move to the two coasts, future losses will continue to be formidable because of increased development in these high-hazard areas. Moreover, the visibility of disasters in the news media will assure that response efforts remain highly politicized. And finally, the federal government is now expected to be on the scene with personnel, programs, and financial assistance even as private insurance companies are withdrawing disaster coverage from homeowners in earthquake- and hurricane-prone regions. Demonstrating ways that existing recovery systems are inadequate, Comerio proposes a rethinking of what recovery means, a comprehensive revision of the government's role, and more equitable programs for construction financing. She offers new criteria for a housing recovery policy as well as real financial incentives for preparedness, for limiting damage before disasters occur, and for providing a climate where private insurance can work. Her careful analysis makes this book important reading for policymakers, property owners, and anyone involved in disaster mitigation.

Hurricane Hugo One Year Later

Hurricane Hugo One Year Later
Author: Ben L. Sill
Publisher:
Total Pages: 308
Release: 1991
Genre: Nature
ISBN:

Hurricane Hugo, which made landfall on September 21, 1989, was the first serious storm to cross the South Carolina coast. This book contains papers on topics chosen to give a picture of the overall storm and its impact. It discusses about the size and severity of Hugo, as well as its effect on buildings, marinas, utilities, and other facilities.

Hurricane Katrina and the Forgotten Coast of Mississippi

Hurricane Katrina and the Forgotten Coast of Mississippi
Author: Susan L. Cutter
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Total Pages: 221
Release: 2014-04-07
Genre: Business & Economics
ISBN: 1107023947

An interdisciplinary volume on impacts of and recovery from Hurricane Katrina in southern Mississippi, for natural hazard researchers, students and policy makers.

Dealing with Disaster

Dealing with Disaster
Author: Saundra K. Schneider
Publisher: Routledge
Total Pages: 321
Release: 2014-12-18
Genre: Business & Economics
ISBN: 1317473361

Now updated with examples through 2010, this classic study examines the disruptive effects of disasters on patterns of human behavior and the operations of government, and the conditions under which even relatively minor crises can lead to system breakdown.

Disaster Assistance

Disaster Assistance
Author:
Publisher: DIANE Publishing
Total Pages: 108
Release: 1993-05
Genre:
ISBN: 1568063369

Examines the Federal government's, particularly the Federal Emergency Management Agency's (FEMA), performance in responding to Hurricane Hugo and the Loma Prieta earthquake in 1989. Also reviews state and local governments' and voluntary relief agencies' activities in California, North Carolina, Puerto Rico, South Carolina, and the U.S. Virgin Islands. Recommends improvements in disaster management. Includes Congressional testimony. Graphs and charts.

Sea of Storms

Sea of Storms
Author: Stuart B. Schwartz
Publisher: Princeton University Press
Total Pages: 473
Release: 2015-01-18
Genre: History
ISBN: 1400852080

A panoramic social history of hurricanes in the Caribbean The diverse cultures of the Caribbean have been shaped as much by hurricanes as they have by diplomacy, commerce, or the legacy of colonial rule. In this panoramic work of social history, Stuart Schwartz examines how Caribbean societies have responded to the dangers of hurricanes, and how these destructive storms have influenced the region's history, from the rise of plantations, to slavery and its abolition, to migrations, racial conflict, and war. Taking readers from the voyages of Columbus to the devastation of Hurricane Katrina, Schwartz looks at the ethical, political, and economic challenges that hurricanes posed to the Caribbean’s indigenous populations and the different European peoples who ventured to the New World to exploit its riches. He describes how the United States provided the model for responding to environmental threats when it emerged as a major power and began to exert its influence over the Caribbean in the nineteenth century, and how the region’s governments came to assume greater responsibilities for prevention and relief, efforts that by the end of the twentieth century were being questioned by free-market neoliberals. Schwartz sheds light on catastrophes like Katrina by framing them within a long and contentious history of human interaction with the natural world. Spanning more than five centuries and drawing on extensive archival research in Europe and the Americas, Sea of Storms emphasizes the continuing role of race, social inequality, and economic ideology in the shaping of our responses to natural disaster. Some images inside the book are unavailable due to digital copyright restrictions.

Modeling Spatial and Economic Impacts of Disasters

Modeling Spatial and Economic Impacts of Disasters
Author: Yasuhide Okuyama
Publisher: Springer Science & Business Media
Total Pages: 324
Release: 2013-06-29
Genre: Business & Economics
ISBN: 3540247874

This volume is dedicated to the memory of Barclay G. Jones, Professor of City and Regional Planning and Regional Science at Cornell University. Over a decade ago, Barclay took on a fledgling area of study - economic modeling of disasters - and nurtured its early development. He served as the social science program director at the National Center for Earthquake Engineering Research (NCEER), a university consortium sponsored by the National Science Foundation and the Federal Emergency Management Agency of the United States. In this capacity, Barclay shepherded and attracted a number of regional scientists to the study of disasters. He organized a conference, held in the ill-fated World Trade Center in September 1995, on "The Economic Consequences of Earthquakes: Preparing for the Unexpected. " He persistently advocated the importance of social science research in an establishment dominated by less-than-sympathetic natural scientists and engineers. In 1993, Barclay organized the first of a series of sessions on "Measuring Regional Economic Effects of Unscheduled Events" at the North American Meetings of the Regional Science Association International (RSAI). This unusual nomenclature brought attention to the challenge that disasters -largely unanticipated, often sudden, and always disorderly - pose to the regional science modeling tradition. The sessions provided an annual forum for a growing coalition of researchers, where previously the literature had been fragmentary, scattered, and episodic. Since Barclay's unexpected passing in 1997, we have continued this effort in his tradition.

The Routledge Handbook of Urban Disaster Resilience

The Routledge Handbook of Urban Disaster Resilience
Author: Michael Lindell
Publisher: Routledge
Total Pages: 912
Release: 2019-07-30
Genre: Architecture
ISBN: 1317501071

The Routledge Handbook of Urban Disaster Resilience emphasizes the intersection of urban planning and hazard mitigation as critical for community resilience, considering the interaction of social, environmental, and physical systems with disasters. The Handbook introduces and discusses the phases of disaster – mitigation, preparedness/response, and recovery – as well as each of the federal, state, and local players that address these phases from a planning and policy perspective. Part I provides an overview of hazard vulnerability that begins with an explanation of what it means to be vulnerable to hazards, especially for socially vulnerable population segments. Part II discusses the politics of hazard mitigation; the failures of smart growth placed in hazardous areas; the wide range of land development policies and their associated risk; the connection between hazards and climate adaptation; and the role of structural and non-structural mitigation in planning for disasters. Part III covers emergency preparedness and response planning, the unmet needs people experience and community service planning; evacuation planning; and increasing community capacity and emergency response in developing countries. Part IV addresses recovery from and adaption to disasters, with topics such as the National Disaster Recovery Framework, long-term housing recovery; population displacement; business recovery; and designs in disasters. Finally, Part V demonstrates how disaster research is interpreted in practice – how to incorporate mitigation into the comprehensive planning process; how states respond to recovery; how cities undertake recovery planning; and how to effectively engage the whole community in disaster planning. The Routledge Handbook of Urban Disaster Resilience offers the most authoritative and comprehensive coverage of cutting-edge research at the intersection of urban planning and disasters from a U.S. perspective. This book serves as an invaluable guide for undergraduate and postgraduate students, future professionals, and practitioners interested in urban planning, sustainability, development response planning, emergency planning, recovery planning, hazard mitigation planning, land use planning, housing and community development as well as urban sociology, sociology of the community, public administration, homeland security, climate change, and related fields.