Poverty and Development: Disasters

This encyclopedia covers response to disasters around the world, from governments to NGOs, from charities to politics, from refugees to health, and from economics to international relations, covering issues in both historical and contemporary context. The volumes include information relevant to students of sociology, national security, economics, health sciences, political science, emergency preparedness, history, agriculture, and many other subjects. The goal is to help readers appreciate the importance of the effects, responsibilities, and ethics of disaster relief, and to initiate educational discussion brought forth by the specific cultural, scientific, and topical articles contained within the work. Including 425 signed entries in a two-volume set presented in A-to-Z format, and drawing contributors from varied academic disciplines, this encyclopedia also features a preface by Thomas H. Kean and Lee H. Hamilton of the 9/11 Commission. This reference resource examines disaster response and relief in a manner that is authoritative yet accessible, jargon-free, and balanced to help readers better understand issues from varied perspectives. Key Themes - Geography - Government and International Agencies - History - Human-induced Disasters - Infrastructure - Local Response - Major Disasters (Relief Case Studies) - Medicine and Psychology - Methods and Practices - Mitigation - Natural Disasters (Overviews) - Politics and Funding - Preparedness - Recovery - Response - Science and Prediction - Sociology - U.S. Geographical Response

A wide spectrum of events are covered ranging from floods, the tsunami of 2004, earthquakes and landslides to such long-term processes as the decline of pastures or coastlines. The diversity of the case studies opens up questions on method and the conceptualization of terms. Many authors, among them anthropologists, sociologists, geographers and cultural psychologists engage in definition of crisis, disaster and catastrophe in order to differentiate emic and etic perceptions. They discuss topics like the politics of disaster, developments of boom economies, memory, rituals of mourning and culture change to name but a few. Concepts like risk, vulnerability and resilience are given ample theoretical consideration and are linked to local meanings and interpretation. This book reflects earlier research results and compares them with new theoretical and empirical findings.

Why communities and institutions need to work together to reduce disaster risk.