Natural Disasters : Policy Issues and Mitigation Strategies
Contents: Foreword. Preface. Introduction. 1.ICSU ROA’s Science Plan to Address Natural and Human-Induced Environmental Hazards and Disasters in Sub-Saharan Africa/Genene Mulugeta, Ray Durrheim, Samuel Ayonghe, Deolall Daby, Opha Paulline Dube, Francis Gudyanga and Filipe Lucio. 2. Early Warning systems for natural disasters in the republic of Mauritius/S.N. Sok Appadu. 3. Policy Issues and Mitigation Strategies of Natural Disasters Management in Bangladesh/Munir Ahmed. 4. Recent Developments in disaster management in India/Vinod K. Sharma. 5. Policy issues and mitigation strategies of natural disasters in Malaysia/Paun Hajah Che Gayah Binti Ismail. 6. Country Report on Earthquake Hazard Assessment of Syria/Mohamad Daoud. 7. Risks Posed by large seismic events in the gold mining districts of south Africa/R.J. Durrheim, R.L. Anderson, A. Cichowicz, R. Ebrahim-Trollope, G. Hubert, a. Kijko, A. McGarr, W.D. Ortlepp and N. Van Der Merwe. 8. Cyclone and wind disaster mitigation/N. Lakshmanan. 9. Improving climate prediction schemes with intraseasonal variability: Akey Tool Toward Hydrometeorological disaster reduction in tropical America/Jose Daniel Pabon. 10. Lightning safety awareness programme especially in South Asia to minimize loss of human lives and properties/Munir Ahmed and Chandima Gomes. 11. Capacity development: Supporting disaster mitigation activity in Indonesia/Andi Eka Sakya. 12. The disaster experience and disaster management system of Brunei Darussalam/Pg Sabli Bin Pg Damit and Sallehuddin Bin Haji Ibrahim. 13. Country Report on Natural and man-made hazards encountered in Sri Lanka/S.M. Mohamed. 14. The Development of National Early Warning systems at BMG Indonesia/Sri Woro B. Harijono. 15. Disasters and solution for mitigating natural disasters in Vietnam/Phung Van Thanh. 16. Progress in implementation of disaster management programme in the Union of Myanmar/Aye Ni Aung.
A disaster can be a natural or a man-made hazard that results in large scale physical destruction, human suffering and loss of life. It can be a tragic event resulting from events such as tsunami, earthquakes, floods, catastrophic accidents, fires, explosions, etc. in general, developing countries suffer the most when a disaster hits, primarily because of the lack of management and unpreparedness to meet such eventualities as compared to the developed countries. The capabilities for risk assessment, forecasting, monitoring and early warning system, emergency management, prevention strategies, improving awareness, political will and a need to involve the professionals, scientific bodies and public private partnerships are some of the key elements that need urgent attention particularly in the context of the developing countries. In this direction, the strategic thinking is required to unfold scenarios before they really occur so that road map to human safety could be updated, game plan could be revised and strategic sense could be sharpened to fight natural disasters. It is essential to build joint programmes and win-win partnerships on natural disasters management among the developing countries to prevent human sufferings and the loss of life, to the maximum extent.
The present publication is a follow up of the international roundtable on lessons form Natural disasters, policy issues and Mitigation Strategies organized at Vellore, India during 8-12 January 2007 by the NAMS &T Centre and the Centre for Disaster Mitigation and Management (CDMM) of the VIT University. It includes 16 research papers including country status reports from 12 developing countries of Asian, African and Latin American regions. The book presents significant insights on various kinds of natural disasters and concerned management strategies for the developing countries and is expected to be of great value for the researchers and professionals engaged with the disaster management issues.
