The Economic Impacts of Natural Disasters

The Economic Impacts of Natural Disasters
Author: Debarati Guha-Sapir
Publisher: Oxford University Press
Total Pages: 341
Release: 2013-05-23
Genre: Business & Economics
ISBN: 0199841934

This work combines research and empirical evidence on the economic costs of disasters with theoretical approaches. It provides new insights on how to assess and manage the costs and impacts of disaster prevention, mitigation, recovery and adaption, and much more.

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.

At Risk

At Risk
Author: Piers Blaikie
Publisher: Routledge
Total Pages: 492
Release: 2014-01-21
Genre: Science
ISBN: 1134528612

The term 'natural disaster' is often used to refer to natural events such as earthquakes, hurricanes or floods. However, the phrase 'natural disaster' suggests an uncritical acceptance of a deeply engrained ideological and cultural myth. At Risk questions this myth and argues that extreme natural events are not disasters until a vulnerable group of people is exposed. The updated new edition confronts a further ten years of ever more expensive and deadly disasters and discusses disaster not as an aberration, but as a signal failure of mainstream 'development'. Two analytical models are provided as tools for understanding vulnerability. One links remote and distant 'root causes' to 'unsafe conditions' in a 'progression of vulnerability'. The other uses the concepts of 'access' and 'livelihood' to understand why some households are more vulnerable than others. Examining key natural events and incorporating strategies to create a safer world, this revised edition is an important resource for those involved in the fields of environment and development studies.

Encyclopedia of Earthquake Engineering

Encyclopedia of Earthquake Engineering
Author: Michael Beer
Publisher: Springer
Total Pages: 3953
Release: 2016-01-30
Genre: Technology & Engineering
ISBN: 9783642353437

The Encyclopedia of Earthquake Engineering is designed to be the authoritative and comprehensive reference covering all major aspects of the science of earthquake engineering, specifically focusing on the interaction between earthquakes and infrastructure. The encyclopedia comprises approximately 300 contributions. Since earthquake engineering deals with the interaction between earthquake disturbances and the built infrastructure, the emphasis is on basic design processes important to both non-specialists and engineers so that readers become suitably well informed without needing to deal with the details of specialist understanding. The encyclopedia’s content provides technically-inclined and informed readers about the ways in which earthquakes can affect our infrastructure and how engineers would go about designing against, mitigating and remediating these effects. The coverage ranges from buildings, foundations, underground construction, lifelines and bridges, roads, embankments and slopes. The encyclopedia also aims to provide cross-disciplinary and cross-domain information to domain-experts. This is the first single reference encyclopedia of this breadth and scope that brings together the science, engineering and technological aspects of earthquakes and structures.

At Risk

At Risk
Author: Piers M. Blaikie
Publisher: Psychology Press
Total Pages: 308
Release: 1994
Genre: Health & Fitness
ISBN: 9780415084772

Examines the significance of the human factor which is as much of a cause of disasters as the natural environment. Practical and policy conclusions are drawn with a view to disaster reduction and the promotion of safer environments.

Practical Lessons from the Loma Prieta Earthquake

Practical Lessons from the Loma Prieta Earthquake
Author: National Research Council
Publisher: National Academies Press
Total Pages: 288
Release: 1994-02-01
Genre: Science
ISBN: 0309050308

The Loma Prieta earthquake struck the San Francisco area on October 17, 1989, causing 63 deaths and $10 billion worth of damage. This book reviews existing research on the Loma Prieta quake and draws from it practical lessons that could be applied to other earthquake-prone areas of the country. The volume contains seven keynote papers presented at a symposium on the earthquake and includes an overview written by the committee offering recommendations to improve seismic safety and earthquake awareness in parts of the country susceptible to earthquakes.

Disaster and Reconstruction

Disaster and Reconstruction
Author: R Geipel
Publisher: Taylor & Francis
Total Pages: 223
Release: 2024-04-01
Genre: Science
ISBN: 1040021034

Originally published in 1982 and based on empirical research into the aftermath of the Friuli earthquake in Italy, the book reflects the perspective gained over a period of four years on the event itself and the subsequent response of the local population and national government. Unique insights were gained through one of the largest questionnaire surveys ever undertaken in a disaster situation and important questions are posed concerning the policies of reconstruction. Is a disaster ‘the great equalizer’ and does regional society emerge from it with redistributed power relationships, or are established structures reinforced? Who gets hurt and who benefits? What effects do poverty, regional remoteness from central government and the ethnic and cultural dimensions have on the situation? As a substantial treatment of a major catastrophe in all its aspects, this book will be of interest to students and researchers concerned with the impact of and response to natural hazards. It is based on a unique event, but the findings it reveals are relevant to all major catastrophes.