Global Disasters : Vulnerability and Precautionary

Contents: Preface. 1. Vulnerability to natural disaster. 2. Disasters: vulnerability, equity, and global environmental change. 3. Vulnerability to global environmental change. 4. Risk analysis and risk management. 5. Precautionary principle. 6. Applications of the precautionary principle. Glossary of terms. Bibliography. Index.

"The entire globe is vulnerable to disastersman--made or natural. Recent earthquake is Pakistan and India (2005); tsunami in Indonesia, Malaysia, India and Sri Lanka; Katerina in USA etc., have been frequently reminding us that we are vulnerable to disasters every time, everywhere. Going to back, hurricane Mitch wrought fearful damage across Central American states in just 48 hours.

World Disasters Report explores the ways environmental change and human short-sightedness have combined to trigger disaster. Earthquakes and hurricanes have sparked instant media interest and quick humanitarian reactions. But more worrying is the chronic and rapidly increasing vulnerability of poorer countries to extreme and recurrent weather events. In Russia, the harsh but normally manageable winter has become a catalyst for disaster, as institutional and economic collapse destroy social safety-nets and the very basis upon which people make a living. In Ecuador, recovery from the latest EI Nino may take a decade--but two more could strike in that time. This book provides highly useful material on the subject global disasters vulnerability and precautionary." (jacket)