Download or read book At War with the Weather written by Howard C. Kunreuther and published by MIT Press. This book was released on 2011-08-19 with total page 439 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Innovative, long-term strategies for reducing vulnerability to large-scale natural disasters and for providing financial support for disaster victims. The United States and other nations are facing large-scale risks at an accelerating rhythm. In 2005, three major hurricanes—Katrina, Rita, and Wilma—made landfall along the U.S. Gulf Coast within a six-week period. The damage caused by these storms led to insurance reimbursements and federal disaster relief of more than $180 billion—a record sum. Today we are more vulnerable to catastrophic losses because of the increasing concentration of population and activities in high-risk coastal regions of the country. The question is not whether but when, and how frequently, future catastrophes will strike and the extent of damages they will cause. Who should pay the costs associated with catastrophic losses suffered by homeowners in hazard-prone areas? In At War with the Weather, Howard Kunreuther and Erwann Michel-Kerjan with their colleagues deliver a groundbreaking analysis of how we currently mitigate, insure against, and finance recovery from natural disasters in the United States. They offer innovative, long-term solutions for reducing losses and providing financial support for disaster victims that define a coherent strategy to assure sustainable recovery from future large-scale disasters. The amount of data collected and analyzed and innovations proposed make this the most comprehensive book written on these critical issues in the past thirty years.
Download or read book Managing Large scale Risks in a New Era of Catastrophes written by Neil A. Doherty and published by . This book was released on 2008 with total page 387 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
Download or read book Managing Large scale Risks in a New Era of Catastrophes written by and published by . This book was released on 2007 with total page 195 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
Download or read book At War with the Weather written by Howard Kunreuther and published by Mit Press. This book was released on 2009 with total page 416 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Innovative, long-term strategies for reducing vulnerability to large-scale natural disasters and for providing financial support for disaster victims.
Download or read book Managing the Risks of Extreme Events and Disasters to Advance Climate Change Adaptation written by Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change and published by Cambridge University Press. This book was released on 2012-05-28 with total page 593 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Extreme weather and climate events, interacting with exposed and vulnerable human and natural systems, can lead to disasters. This Special Report explores the social as well as physical dimensions of weather- and climate-related disasters, considering opportunities for managing risks at local to international scales. SREX was approved and accepted by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) on 18 November 2011 in Kampala, Uganda.
Download or read book Learning from Catastrophes written by Howard Kunreuther and published by Pearson Prentice Hall. This book was released on 2009-11-16 with total page 351 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Events ranging from Hurricane Katrina to the global economic crisis have taught businesspeople an unforgettable lesson: if you don’t plan for “extreme risk,” you endanger your organization’s very survival. But how can you plan for events that go far beyond anything that occurs in normal day-to-day business? In Learning from Catastrophes, two renowned experts present the first comprehensive strategic framework for assessing, responding to, and managing extreme risk. Howard Kunreuther and Michael Useem build on their own breakthrough work on mitigating natural disasters, extending it to the challenges faced by real-world enterprises. Along with the contributions of leading experts in risk management, heuristics, and disaster recovery, they identify the behavioral biases and faulty heuristics that mislead decision makers about the likelihood of catastrophe. They go on to identify the hidden links associated with extreme risks, and present techniques for systematically building greater resilience into the organization. The global best-seller The Black Swan told executives that “once in a lifetime” events are far more common and dangerous than they ever realized. Learning from Catastropheshows them exactly what to do about it.
Download or read book Catastrophe Modeling written by Patricia Grossi and published by Springer Science & Business Media. This book was released on 2005 with total page 270 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Based on the research that has been conducted at Wharton Risk Management Center over the past five years on catastrophic risk. Covers a hot topic in the light of recent terroristic activities and nature catastrophes. Develops risk management strategies for reducing and spreading the losses from future disasters. Provides glossary of definitions and terms used throughout the book.
Download or read book Governing Disasters written by A. Alemanno and published by Edward Elgar Publishing. This book was released on 2011-01-01 with total page 309 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: 'The challenges posed by risky decisions are well documented. These decisions become even more daunting when they must be made in a midst of a crisis. Using the European volcanic risk crisis as the principal case study, Alberto Alemanno and the other contributors to this thought provoking volume derive valuable lessons for how policy makers can cope with the attendant time pressures, uncertainties, coordination issues, and risk communication problems. Once the next emergency risk situation occurs, it may be too late to learn about how to respond. Governing Disasters should be required reading for all policy makers and risk analysts in advance of the next international risk crisis.' – W. Kip Viscusi, Vanderbilt University, US and Editor, Journal of Risk and Uncertainty 'Catastrophes present us with a paradox. Many people don't think they will happen, so before a catastrophe, regulations are typically viewed as unnecessarily invasive. But in the aftermath of a disaster everybody suddenly blames the government for not having been strict enough. Overregulation often follows. In light of the unprecedented series of catastrophes in recent years, more than ever, top leaders in government and business must understand and overcome this regulatory challenge. Alberto Alemanno's innovative book tells you how.' – Erwann Michel-Kerjan, The Wharton School's Center for Risk Management, US 'Even the best-laid policy plans go awry. What do we do when, despite our best preventive efforts, a surprise crisis occurs? How do we regulate a disaster while it is unfolding? From volcanoes to tornadoes, and tsunamis to terrorists, extreme events test our resilience. In this illuminating volume, regulatory scholar Alberto Alemanno and his colleagues diagnose the complex combination of natural disasters and flawed institutions that make these crises so difficult to manage. They offer a set of insights and remedies that must be read by anyone concerned to deal with disasters in the future.' – Jonathan B. Wiener, Duke University, US 'This comprehensive edited volume makes an important and much needed contribution to an increasingly important dimension of risk assessment and management, namely emergency risk regulation. Drawing upon the responses of government, businesses, and the public to the 2010 volcanic eruption in Iceland – which disrupted European air travel, it offers important lessons for policy-makers who are likely to confront similar unanticipated global risks. The recent nuclear power disaster in Japan makes this volume both timely and prescient.' – David Vogel, University of California, Berkeley, US Emergency crises have always tested our ability to organise and swiftly execute a coordinated response. Both natural and unnatural disasters pose new questions to which previous experience provides only limited answers. These challenges are arguably greater than ever, in a more globalised world confronted by a truly transnational hazard. This is the first volume that addresses the complexities of the volcanic ash cloud that overshadowed Europe in April 2011, but has subsequently struck again in Australia, Chile and Europe. It does so from a multidisciplinary perspective, drawing upon research from economics, law, sociology and other fields, as well as volcanology and leading expertise in jet engineering. Whilst our knowledge base is wide-ranging, there is a common focus on the practical lessons of the ash cloud crisis both for subsequent eruptions and for emergency risk regulation more generally. Among many other insights Governing Disasters explains why it was that industry and regulators were largely unprepared for a phenomenon about which we were not scientifically ignorant. It concludes that the toolbox of risk regulation should not be expected to provide ready-made solutions but applied flexibly, creatively and with some humility. This unique and timely resource will be useful to policymakers, scholars, officials of international organizations, research institutions and consumer groups who want to acquire or further develop their capacities for risk regulation. For teaching purposes it is ideal for courses on risk regulation, disaster law and policy, and crisis management or as a supplement in courses on environmental law, transport law, space law or land use.
Download or read book The Future of Risk Management written by Howard Kunreuther and published by University of Pennsylvania Press. This book was released on 2019-06-28 with total page 415 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Whether man-made or naturally occurring, large-scale disasters can cause fatalities and injuries, devastate property and communities, savage the environment, impose significant financial burdens on individuals and firms, and test political leadership. Moreover, global challenges such as climate change and terrorism reveal the interdependent and interconnected nature of our current moment: what occurs in one nation or geographical region is likely to have effects across the globe. Our information age creates new and more integrated forms of communication that incur risks that are difficult to evaluate, let alone anticipate. All of this makes clear that innovative approaches to assessing and managing risk are urgently required. When catastrophic risk management was in its inception thirty years ago, scientists and engineers would provide estimates of the probability of specific types of accidents and their potential consequences. Economists would then propose risk management policies based on those experts' estimates with little thought as to how this data would be used by interested parties. Today, however, the disciplines of finance, geography, history, insurance, marketing, political science, sociology, and the decision sciences combine scientific knowledge on risk assessment with a better appreciation for the importance of improving individual and collective decision-making processes. The essays in this volume highlight past research, recent discoveries, and open questions written by leading thinkers in risk management and behavioral sciences. The Future of Risk Management provides scholars, businesses, civil servants, and the concerned public tools for making more informed decisions and developing long-term strategies for reducing future losses from potentially catastrophic events. Contributors: Mona Ahmadiani, Joshua D. Baker, W. J. Wouter Botzen, Cary Coglianese, Gregory Colson, Jeffrey Czajkowski, Nate Dieckmann, Robin Dillon, Baruch Fischhoff, Jeffrey A. Friedman, Robin Gregory, Robert W. Klein, Carolyn Kousky, Howard Kunreuther, Craig E. Landry, Barbara Mellers, Robert J. Meyer, Erwann Michel-Kerjan, Robert Muir-Wood, Mark Pauly, Lisa Robinson, Adam Rose, Paul J. H. Schoemaker, Paul Slovic, Phil Tetlock, Daniel Västfjäll, W. Kip Viscusi, Elke U. Weber, Richard Zeckhauser.
Download or read book Catastrophe Risk Management written by John D. Pollner and published by World Bank Publications. This book was released on 2001 with total page 130 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In providing support for disaster-prone areas such as the Caribbean, the development community has begun to progress from disaster reconstruction assistance to funding for investment in mitigation as an explicit tool for sustainable development. Now it must enter a new phase, applying risk transfer mechanisms to address the financial risk of exposure to catastrophic events that require funding beyond what can be controlled solely through mitigation and physical measures.
Download or read book The Irrational Economist written by Erwann Michel-Kerjan and published by PublicAffairs. This book was released on 2010-01-05 with total page 338 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Of the twenty most costly catastrophes since 1970, more than half have occurred since 2001. Is this an omen of what the 21st century will be? How might we behave in this new, uncertain and more dangerous environment? Will our actions be rational or irrational? A select group of scholars, innovators, and Nobel Laureates was asked to address challenges to rational decision making both in our day-to-day life and in the face of catastrophic threats such as climate changes, natural disasters, technological hazards, and human malevolence. At the crossroads of decision sciences, behavioral and neuro-economics, psychology, management, insurance, and finance, their contributions aim to introduce readers to the latest thinking and discoveries. The Irrational Economist challenges the conventional wisdom about how to make the right decisions in the new era we have entered. It reveals a profound revolution in thinking as understood by some of the greatest minds in our day, and underscores the growing role and impact of economists and other social scientists as they guide our most important personal and societal decisions.
Download or read book Dull Disasters written by Daniel Jonathan Clarke and published by Oxford University Press. This book was released on 2016 with total page 154 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This is an open access title available under the terms of a CC BY 3.0 IGO licence. It is free to read at Oxford Scholarship Online and offered as a free PDF download from OUP and selected open access locations. Dull Disasters? shows how countries and their partners can better prepare for natural disasters such as typhoons, earthquakes, floods, and drought. By harnessing lessons from finance, political science, economics, psychology, and the naturalsciences, it is possible for governments, civil society, private firms, and international organizations to work together to achieve better preparedness, thereby reducing the risks to people and economies and enablingquicker recoveries. In this way, responses to disasters become less emotional, less political, less headline-grabbing, and more business as usual and effective.
Download or read book Making a Market for Acts of God written by Paula Jarzabkowski and published by OUP Oxford. This book was released on 2015-03-19 with total page 257 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Reinsurance is a financial market that trades in the risk of unpredictable and devastating disasters - such as Hurricane Katrina, the Tohoku earthquake and tsunami, and the terrorist attacks on the World Trade Centre. Such disasters are increasing in both frequency and severity, with the cost of their losses mounting rapidly. Reinsurance insures insurance companies, enabling them to pay claims arising from these losses. It is thus a market mechanism that is a critical part of the social and economic safety net, helping to pick up the pieces after disasters. Yet, how is the risk of such disasters calculated and traded in a global market? This book brings to life the reinsurance market through vivid real-life tales that draw from an ethnographic, "fly-on-the-wall" study of the global reinsurance industry over three annual cycles. The authors shadowed underwriters around the world as they traded risks through multiple disasters. For instance, this book takes readers into the desperate hours of pricing Japanese risks during March 2011, while the devastating aftermath of the Tohoku earthquake is unfolding. To show how the market works, the book offers authentic tales gathered from observations of reinsurers in Bermuda, Lloyd's of London, Continental Europe and SE Asia as they evaluate, price and compete for different risks as part of their everyday practice. Understanding how this market for disasters works has never been more critical given the impact of climate change and increased global connectivity, where a flood in one country can trigger losses to supply chains around the world. The authors develop a novel concept of how global markets work, which advances scholarship and challenges current thinking about how financial markets trade in intangible assets such as risk. This book will be useful to readers interested in markets for disasters, insurance, reinsurance and financial markets, and academics interested in the practice of financial markets specifically or the practice of strategy and organizations generally.
Download or read book Sustainable Development in Africa written by Masafumi Nagao and published by Spears Media Press. This book was released on 2019-07-27 with total page 172 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Consisting of nine original chapters, this volume on theory and methods on sustainable development in Africa are crafted from a series of Sustainable Development Workshops organized by eight partner universities in Africa. The book responds to the call for concepts and methods suited to explaining and understanding sustainable development challenges on the African continent. Contributors are African faculty and graduates of the three master’s programmes in Sustainable Urban Development, Sustainable Integrated Rural Development and Mining and Mineral Resources, coordinated by the eight partner African universities who make up the Education for Sustainable Development in Africa (ESDA) initiative.
Download or read book Managing the Risks of Extreme Events and Disasters to Advance Climate Change Adaptation written by Christopher B. Field and published by Cambridge University Press. This book was released on 2012-05-28 with total page 593 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change Special Report (IPCC-SREX) explores the challenge of understanding and managing the risks of climate extremes to advance climate change adaptation. Extreme weather and climate events, interacting with exposed and vulnerable human and natural systems, can lead to disasters. Changes in the frequency and severity of the physical events affect disaster risk, but so do the spatially diverse and temporally dynamic patterns of exposure and vulnerability. Some types of extreme weather and climate events have increased in frequency or magnitude, but populations and assets at risk have also increased, with consequences for disaster risk. Opportunities for managing risks of weather- and climate-related disasters exist or can be developed at any scale, local to international. Prepared following strict IPCC procedures, SREX is an invaluable assessment for anyone interested in climate extremes, environmental disasters and adaptation to climate change, including policymakers, the private sector and academic researchers.
Download or read book Climate Adaptation and Flood Risk in Coastal Cities written by Jeroen Aerts and published by Routledge. This book was released on 2013-12-04 with total page 404 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This book presents climate adaptation and flood risk problems and solutions in coastal cities including an independent investigation of adaptation paths and problems in Rotterdam, New York and Jakarta. The comparison draws out lessons that each city can learn from the others. While the main focus is on coastal flooding, cities are also affected by climate change in other ways, including impacts that occur away from the coast. The New York City Water Supply System, for example, stretches as far as 120 miles upstate, and the New York City Department of Environmental Protection has undertaken extensive climate assessment not only for its coastal facilities, but also for its upstate facilities, which will be affected by rising temperatures, droughts, inland flooding and water quality changes. The authors examine key questions, such as: Are current city plans climate proof or do we need to finetune our ongoing investments? Can we develop a flood proof subway system? Can we develop new infrastructure in such a way that it serves flood protection, housing and natural values?
Download or read book The Social Roots of Risk written by Kathleen Tierney and published by Stanford University Press. This book was released on 2014-07-23 with total page 318 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: “This book about risk and disaster—and how they get amplified—is fascinating and hugely important as we face an ever-more-turbulent world.” —Rebecca Solnit, award-winning author of A Field Guide to Getting Lost The first decade of the twenty-first century saw a remarkable number of large-scale disasters. Earthquakes in Haiti and Sumatra underscored the serious economic consequences that catastrophic events can have on developing countries, while 9/11 and Hurricane Katrina showed that first world nations remain vulnerable. The Social Roots of Risk argues against the widespread notion that cataclysmic occurrences are singular events, driven by forces beyond our control. Instead, Kathleen Tierney contends that disasters of all types—be they natural, technological, or economic—are rooted in common social and institutional sources. Put another way, risks and disasters are produced by the social order itself—by governing bodies, organizations, and groups that push for economic growth, oppose risk-reducing regulation, and escape responsibility for tremendous losses when they occur. Considering a wide range of historical and looming events—from a potential mega-earthquake in Tokyo that would cause devastation far greater than what we saw in 2011, to BP’s accident history prior to the 2010 blowout—Tierney illustrates trends in our behavior, connecting what seem like one-off events to illuminate historical patterns. Like risk, human resilience also emerges from the social order, and this book makes a powerful case that we already have a significant capacity to reduce the losses that disasters produce. A provocative rethinking of the way that we approach and remedy disasters, The Social Roots of Risk leaves readers with a better understanding of how our own actions make us vulnerable to the next big crisis—and what we can do to prevent it. “Brilliant . . . Drawing on a trove of timely case studies, Tierney analyses how factors such as speculative finance and rampant development allow natural and economic blips to tip more easily into catastrophe.” —Nature
