Denial of Disaster

Denial of Disaster
Author: Gladys C. Hansen
Publisher: Cameron Books
Total Pages: 0
Release: 1989
Genre: Earthquakes
ISBN: 9780918684332

With beautiful laser scanner duotones and 365 previously unpublished photographs, this is a fascinating study of the great quake in San Francisco in 1906--and of the likelihood of a similar quake today.

Denial

Denial
Author: Richard S. Tedlow
Publisher: Penguin
Total Pages: 275
Release: 2010-03-04
Genre: Business & Economics
ISBN: 1101196262

An astute diagnosis of one of the biggest problems in business Denial is the unconscious determination that a certain reality is too terrible to contemplate, so therefore it cannot be true. We see it everywhere, from the alcoholic who swears he's just a social drinker to the president who declares "mission accomplished" when it isn't. In the business world, countless companies get stuck in denial while their challenges escalate into crises. Harvard Business School professor Richard S. Tedlow tackles two essential questions: Why do sane, smart leaders often refuse to accept the facts that threaten their companies and careers? And how do we find the courage to resist denial when facing new trends, changing markets, and tough new competitors? Tedlow looks at numerous examples of organiza­tions crippled by denial, including Ford in the era of the Model T and Coca-Cola with its abortive attempt to change its formula. He also explores other companies, such as Intel, Johnson & Johnson, and DuPont, that avoided catastrophe by dealing with harsh realities head-on. Tedlow identifies the leadership skills that are essential to spotting the early signs of denial and taking the actions required to overcome it.

States of Denial

States of Denial
Author: Stanley Cohen
Publisher: John Wiley & Sons
Total Pages: 573
Release: 2013-08-29
Genre: Social Science
ISBN: 0745656781

Blocking out, turning a blind eye, shutting off, not wanting to know, wearing blinkers, seeing what we want to see ... these are all expressions of 'denial'. Alcoholics who refuse to recognize their condition, people who brush aside suspicions of their partner's infidelity, the wife who doesn't notice that her husband is abusing their daughter - are supposedly 'in denial'. Governments deny their responsibility for atrocities, and plan them to achieve 'maximum deniability'. Truth Commissions try to overcome the suppression and denial of past horrors. Bystander nations deny their responsibility to intervene. Do these phenomena have anything in common? When we deny, are we aware of what we are doing or is this an unconscious defence mechanism to protect us from unwelcome truths? Can there be cultures of denial? How do organizations like Amnesty and Oxfam try to overcome the public's apparent indifference to distant suffering and cruelty? Is denial always so bad - or do we need positive illusions to retain our sanity? States of Denial is the first comprehensive study of both the personal and political ways in which uncomfortable realities are avoided and evaded. It ranges from clinical studies of depression, to media images of suffering, to explanations of the 'passive bystander' and 'compassion fatigue'. The book shows how organized atrocities - the Holocaust and other genocides, torture, and political massacres - are denied by perpetrators and by bystanders, those who stand by and do nothing.

The Unthinkable

The Unthinkable
Author: Amanda Ripley
Publisher: Harmony
Total Pages: 290
Release: 2009-06-16
Genre: Self-Help
ISBN: 0307352900

Discover how human beings react to danger–and what makes the difference between life and death Today, nine out of ten Americans live in places at significant risk of earthquakes, hurricanes, tornadoes, terrorism, or other disasters. Tomorrow, some of us will have to make split-second choices to save ourselves and our families. How will we react? What will it feel like? Will we be heroes or victims? In her quest to answer these questions, award-winning journalist Amanda Ripley traces human responses to some of recent history’s epic disasters, from the explosion of the Mont Blanc munitions ship in 1917–one of the biggest explosions before the invention of the atomic bomb–to the journeys of the 15,000 people who found their way out of the World Trade Center on September 11, 2001. To understand the science behind the stories, Ripley turns to leading brain scientists, trauma psychologists, and other disaster experts. She even has her own brain examined by military researchers and experiences, through realistic simulations, what it might be like to survive a plane crash into the ocean or to escape a raging fire. Ripley comes back with precious wisdom about the surprising humanity of crowds, the elegance of the brain’s fear circuits, and the stunning inadequacy of many of our evolutionary responses. Most unexpectedly, she discovers the brain’s ability to do much, much better–with just a little help.

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.

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.

1906

1906
Author: James Dalessandro
Publisher: Chronicle Books
Total Pages: 370
Release: 2004-04-08
Genre: Fiction
ISBN: 9780811843133

Set during the great San Francisco earthquake and fire, this page-turning tale of political corruption, vendettas, romance, rescue--and murder--is based on recently uncovered facts that will forever change the public's understanding of what really happened.

Living Your Dying

Living Your Dying
Author: Stanley Keleman
Publisher:
Total Pages: 184
Release: 1975
Genre: Social Science
ISBN: 9780394487878

"This book is about dying, not about death. We are always dying a big, always giving things up, always having things taken away. Is there a person alive who isn't really curious about what dying is for them? Is there a person alive who wouldn't like to go to their dying full of excitement, without fear and without morbidity? This books tells you how." -- Front cover.

Denying Disaster

Denying Disaster
Author: Blake Hudson
Publisher:
Total Pages: 0
Release: 2019
Genre:
ISBN:

While climate change denial is pervasive throughout the United States, it is more acute in some regions than others. One such region is the Southeastern U.S., which is also an area projected to suffer the most direct harms from climate change over the near term. This article makes a modest -- though unconventional -- suggestion for how to chip away at climate change denial culture in the Southeastern U.S.: using mass media (television commercials) to convey to Southeastern citizens the ways in which entities that they tend to trust accept the science of climate change and/or are taking climate action. The article first discusses the effects of climate change on the Southeast, then summarizes a recent study demonstrating the disproportionate climate change related economic and health impacts on the Southeast relative to other regions of the United States. Next, the article diagnoses some of the cultural and sociopolitical causes for climate denial in the Southeast, before proposing “associational messaging” through mass media as an avenue for addressing the disconnect between southern political culture and climate change. This proposal is related to the “vouchers” theory of risk communication, whereby trusted members of an individual's cultural group help convince the group that information conforms with the group's pre-existing worldviews. What we call associational messaging, however, is not a pure voucher, but rather conveyance of information about the climate views and actions of entities that southern climate skeptics are more likely to identify with and trust, in an effort to assuage their skepticism. These media messages highlight the climate action positions and policies of (1) the United States' military, (2) specific Fortune 500 companies (as representative of “the private sector/free market” that southerners generally support), (3) the insurance industry (also representative of the “private sector/free market”), and (4) sports and recreation groups and related industries (both outdoor sports and recreation groups and college and professional sports teams). Identification of mechanisms for influencing southern culture to embrace climate action -- without simply relying on obliteration of the culture or hoping to outnumber current anti-climate voters with voters already inclined to support climate action -- is an important step toward ushering in substantial and long-lasting policies to address climate change in the United States.

Leading People Through Disasters

Leading People Through Disasters
Author: Kathryn McKee
Publisher: Berrett-Koehler Publishers
Total Pages: 201
Release: 2006-07-13
Genre: Business & Economics
ISBN: 1605092533

Flood, fire, hurricane, earthquake, workplace violence, bombings, even the arrest or sudden death of the CEO—sooner or later, most organizations will face some sort of disaster. Leading People Through Disasters breaks new ground in disaster-recovery by focusing on supporting the people who keep the business running in times of crisis. Kathryn McKee and Liz Guthridge show how to ensure that your business continuity plan addresses human as well as business issues and they offer detailed advice on what to do when disaster actually strikes—how to keep people safe, calm, and informed; help managers care for employees; and deal with employees' immediate and ongoing emotional and psychological needs while getting the organization back on its feet. This comprehensive guide features a wealth of examples, checklists, forms, and other practical tools that will help you take action when you need it most.