Fighting to Survive Natural Disasters

Fighting to Survive Natural Disasters
Author: Michael Burgan
Publisher: Compass Point Books
Total Pages: 65
Release: 2020
Genre: Juvenile Nonfiction
ISBN: 0756564298

"Deadly tornadoes. Devastating earthquakes. Killer tsunamis. When it comes to nature's fury, people can do little more than hold on tight and hope to live through it. Learn the true stories of Carmen Chévere Ortiz, Evans Monsignac, William and Dennie Spann, and others as they fought to survive through terrifying natural disasters." -- Page [4] cover.

A Paradise Built in Hell

A Paradise Built in Hell
Author: Rebecca Solnit
Publisher: Penguin
Total Pages: 369
Release: 2010-08-31
Genre: Social Science
ISBN: 1101459018

The author of Men Explain Things to Me explores the moments of altruism and generosity that arise in the aftermath of disaster Why is it that in the aftermath of a disaster? whether manmade or natural?people suddenly become altruistic, resourceful, and brave? What makes the newfound communities and purpose many find in the ruins and crises after disaster so joyous? And what does this joy reveal about ordinarily unmet social desires and possibilities? In A Paradise Built in Hell, award-winning author Rebecca Solnit explores these phenomena, looking at major calamities from the 1906 earthquake in San Francisco through the 1917 explosion that tore up Halifax, Nova Scotia, the 1985 Mexico City earthquake, 9/11, and Hurricane Katrina in New Orleans. She examines how disaster throws people into a temporary utopia of changed states of mind and social possibilities, as well as looking at the cost of the widespread myths and rarer real cases of social deterioration during crisis. This is a timely and important book from an acclaimed author whose work consistently locates unseen patterns and meanings in broad cultural histories.

The Cure for Catastrophe

The Cure for Catastrophe
Author: Robert Muir-Wood
Publisher: Basic Books
Total Pages: 370
Release: 2016-09-06
Genre: Nature
ISBN: 0465096476

We can't stop natural disasters but we can stop them being disastrous. One of the world's foremost risk experts tells us how. Year after year, floods wreck people's homes and livelihoods, earthquakes tear communities apart, and tornadoes uproot whole towns. Natural disasters cause destruction and despair. But does it have to be this way? In The Cure for Catastrophe, global risk expert Robert Muir-Wood argues that our natural disasters are in fact human ones: We build in the wrong places and in the wrong way, putting brick buildings in earthquake country, timber ones in fire zones, and coastal cities in the paths of hurricanes. We then blindly trust our flood walls and disaster preparations, and when they fail, catastrophes become even more deadly. No society is immune to the twin dangers of complacency and heedless development. Recognizing how disasters are manufactured gives us the power to act. From the Great Lisbon Earthquake of 1755 to Hurricane Katrina, The Cure for Catastrophe recounts the ingenious ways in which people have fought back against disaster. Muir-Wood shows the power and promise of new predictive technologies, and envisions a future where information and action come together to end the pain and destruction wrought by natural catastrophes. The decisions we make now can save millions of lives in the future. Buzzing with political plots, newfound technologies, and stories of surprising resilience, The Cure for Catastrophe will revolutionize the way we conceive of catastrophes: though natural disasters are inevitable, the death and destruction are optional. As we brace ourselves for deadlier cataclysms, the cure for catastrophe is in our hands.

Last Man Off

Last Man Off
Author: Matt Lewis
Publisher: Penguin
Total Pages: 258
Release: 2015-05-12
Genre: Biography & Autobiography
ISBN: 0147515343

“A sinister version of The Perfect Storm. Thrilling.”—Sunday Times (UK) For readers of The Perfect Storm, Between a Rock and a Hard Place, and Into the Wild There’s nothing that armchair adventure lovers relish more than a gripping true story of disaster and heroism, and Last Man Off delivers all that against a breathtaking backdrop of icebergs and killer whales. On June 6, 1998, twenty-three-year-old Matt Lewis had just started his dream job as a scientific observer aboard a deep-sea fishing boat in the waters off Antarctica. As the crew haul in the line for the day, a storm begins to brew. When the captain vanishes and they are forced to abandon ship, Lewis leads the escape onto three life rafts, where the battle for survival begins.

Learning From the Octopus

Learning From the Octopus
Author: Rafe Sagarin
Publisher: Hachette UK
Total Pages: 320
Release: 2012-03-27
Genre: Science
ISBN: 0465029817

Despite the billions of dollars we've poured into foreign wars, homeland security, and disaster response, we are fundamentally no better prepared for the next terrorist attack or unprecedented flood than we were in 2001. Our response to catastrophe remains unchanged: add another step to airport security, another meter to the levee wall. This approach has proved totally ineffective: reacting to past threats and trying to predict future risks will only waste resources in our increasingly unpredictable world.In Learning from the Octopus, ecologist and security expert Rafe Sagarin rethinks the seemingly intractable problem of security by drawing inspiration from a surprising source: nature. Biological organisms have been living -- and thriving -- on a risk-filled planet for billions of years. Remarkably, they have done it without planning, predicting, or trying to perfect their responses to complex threats. Rather, they simply adapt to solve the challenges they continually face.Military leaders, public health officials, and business professionals would all like to be more adaptable, but few have figured out how. Sagarinargues that we can learn from observing how nature is organized, how organisms learn, how they create partnerships, and how life continually diversifies on this unpredictable planet.As soon as we dip our toes into a cold Pacific tidepool and watch what we thought was a rock turn into an octopus, jetting away in a cloud of ink, we can begin to see the how human adaptability can mimic natural adaptation. The same mechanisms that enabled the octopus's escape also allow our immune system to ward off new infectious diseases, helped soldiers in Iraq to recognize the threat of IEDs, and aided Google in developing faster ways to detect flu outbreaks. While we will never be able to predict the next earthquake, terrorist attack, or market fluctuation, nature can guide us in developing security systems that are not purely reactive but proactive, holistic, and adaptable. From the tidepools of Monterey to the mountains of Kazakhstan, Sagarin takes us on an eye-opening tour of the security challenges we face, and shows us how we might learn to respond more effectively to the unknown threats lurking in our future.

A Safer Future

A Safer Future
Author: National Research Council
Publisher: National Academies Press
Total Pages: 85
Release: 1991-02-01
Genre: Science
ISBN: 0309045460

Initial priorities for U.S. participation in the International Decade for Natural Disaster Reduction, declared by the United Nations, are contained in this volume. It focuses on seven issues: hazard and risk assessment; awareness and education; mitigation; preparedness for emergency response; recovery and reconstruction; prediction and warning; learning from disasters; and U.S. participation internationally. The committee presents its philosophy of calls for broad public and private participation to reduce the toll of disasters.

Fighting to Survive Airplane Crashes

Fighting to Survive Airplane Crashes
Author: Sean McCollum
Publisher: Compass Point Books
Total Pages: 65
Release: 2019-08
Genre: Juvenile Nonfiction
ISBN: 0756562309

"When a pilots sends a "mayday" message, it means there is serious trouble. Discover the fascinating, true tales of Sully Sullenberger, the passengers of United Airlines Flight 232, and other survivors who experienced terrifying airplane disasters and made it out alive." --

The Big Ones

The Big Ones
Author: Dr. Lucy Jones
Publisher: Anchor
Total Pages: 258
Release: 2019-03-19
Genre: Nature
ISBN: 0525434283

By the world-renowned seismologist, a riveting history of natural disasters, their impact on our culture, and new ways of thinking about the ones to come Earthquakes, floods, tsunamis, hurricanes, volcanoes--they stem from the same forces that give our planet life. Earthquakes give us natural springs; volcanoes produce fertile soil. It is only when these forces exceed our ability to withstand them that they become disasters. Together they have shaped our cities and their architecture; elevated leaders and toppled governments; influenced the way we think, feel, fight, unite, and pray. The history of natural disasters is a history of ourselves. In The Big Ones, leading seismologist Dr. Lucy Jones offers a bracing look at some of the world's greatest natural disasters, whose reverberations we continue to feel today. At Pompeii, Jones explores how a volcanic eruption in the first century AD challenged prevailing views of religion. She examines the California floods of 1862 and the limits of human memory. And she probes more recent events--such as the Indian Ocean tsunami of 2004 and the American hurricanes of 2017--to illustrate the potential for globalization to humanize and heal. With population in hazardous regions growing and temperatures around the world rising, the impacts of natural disasters are greater than ever before. The Big Ones is more than just a work of history or science; it is a call to action. Natural hazards are inevitable; human catastrophes are not. With this energizing and exhaustively researched book, Dr. Jones offers a look at our past, readying us to face down the Big Ones in our future.

There is No Such Thing as a Natural Disaster

There is No Such Thing as a Natural Disaster
Author: Gregory Squires
Publisher: Routledge
Total Pages: 324
Release: 2013-01-11
Genre: Political Science
ISBN: 1136084827

There is No Such Thing as a Natural Disaster is the first comprehensive critical book on the catastrophic impact of Hurricane Katrina on New Orleans. The disaster will go down on record as one of the worst in American history, not least because of the government’s inept and cavalier response. But it is also a huge story for other reasons; the impact of the hurricane was uneven, and race and class were deeply implicated in the unevenness. Hartman and. Squires assemble two dozen critical scholars and activists who present a multifaceted portrait of the social implications of the disaster. The book covers the response to the disaster and the roles that race and class played, its impact on housing and redevelopment, the historical context of urban disasters in America and the future of economic development in the region. It offers strategic guidance for key actors - government agencies, financial institutions, neighbourhood organizations - in efforts to rebuild shattered communities.

No Mercy

No Mercy
Author: Eleanor Learmonth
Publisher: Text Publishing
Total Pages: 357
Release: 2013-07-24
Genre: History
ISBN: 192214830X

Disaster strikes. A ship goes down, a plane crashes, a party of travellers is cut off. But when the panic and confusion subside and the dead are counted, the survivors must find a way to keep surviving. And in desperation, unconstrained by law or conventional authority, the tactics they resort to can be both horrifying and ultimately self-destructive. Learmonth and Tabakoff outline the physical and neurological changes that typically affect the victims of disaster. Then, using true stories from history as case studies, they investigate the scenario famously imagined by William Golding in Lord of the Flies and borne out by the extraordinary Robbers Cave experiments of the 1950s. As this fascinating book unfolds the awful truth becomes clear. In extremis, humans are capable of a swift descent into murderous savagery that is both hard to believe - and impossible to forget. Eleanor Learmonth has worked as a teacher and freelance journalist in Japan and Australia. She has a reputation as a magnet for natural disasters. Jenny Tabakoff has been a senior journalist in Australia and Britain for The Times, the Sydney Morning Herald and AAP. She is the co-author of Australian Style. Eleanor and Jenny live in Sydney with their husbands and children. They met at the school gate. 'Succinct yet considered, accessible yet authoritative, Learmonth and Tabakoff strike a happy balance between scholarliness and readability throughout...cogent presentation of some truly harrowing subject matter, which less responsible hands might have milked for vulgar sensationalism.' Bookseller and Publisher 'Well researched and well argued, lively and energetic, No Mercy is full of insights into leadership, loyalty, sacrifice and compassion that will challenge readers to wonder what they might do if similarly tested.' Booktopia Buzz 'Sometimes adversity brings out the best in people, at other times it does the opposite. This is about those other times...excellent reading when you’re safely at home.' Weekend Herald 'A fascinating post-mortem of how certain groups manage to survive while others flailed about in drunken, murderous chaos.' Daily Telegraph 'This fascinating book shines light on an awful truth.' Get Reading