Download or read book Preventable Disasters written by Frederick L. Shiels and published by Rowman & Littlefield. This book was released on 1991 with total page 228 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Preventable Disasters explores the age old question of why government leaders and organizations of high calibre fail. This book questions why well-informed governments, staffed by competent and often brilliant personnel, allow problems to germinate, worsen and then seemingly go out of control, when at various points along the way, the problem could have been checked or at least more effectively confronted. Preventable Disasters draws on a wide variety of examples and past case studies. It examines the concerns generated by these disasters and what these concerns have in common. The author examines the patterns that can be discerned in various "egregious" failures that might be used as guidelines for building "risk reduction" models and devices, for all government disasters including the fear of nuclear war. This book will be of interest to political and social scientists, historians, policy makers and educated laymen.
Download or read book There is No Such Thing as a Natural Disaster written by Gregory Squires and published by Routledge. This book was released on 2013-01-11 with total page 324 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: 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.
Download or read book The Cure for Catastrophe written by Robert Muir-Wood and published by Basic Books. This book was released on 2016-09-06 with total page 370 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: 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.
Download or read book A Safer Future written by National Research Council and published by National Academies Press. This book was released on 1991-02-01 with total page 85 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Initial priorities for U.S. participation in the International Decade for Natural Disaster Reduction, declared by the United Nations, are contained in this volume. It focuses on seven issues: hazard and risk assessment; awareness and education; mitigation; preparedness for emergency response; recovery and reconstruction; prediction and warning; learning from disasters; and U.S. participation internationally. The committee presents its philosophy of calls for broad public and private participation to reduce the toll of disasters.
Download or read book Warnings of Preventable Disasters written by Fellowship of Engineering and published by . This book was released on 1990 with total page pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
Download or read book Warnings of Preventable Disasters written by Fellowship of Engineering, London (GB) and published by . This book was released on 1990 with total page 115 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
Download or read book Before Disaster Strikes written by Tearfund and published by . This book was released on 200? with total page 20 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
Download or read book There Are No Accidents written by Jessie Singer and published by Simon and Schuster. This book was released on 2023-02-28 with total page 352 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A journalist recounts the surprising history of accidents and reveals how they’ve come to define all that’s wrong with America. We hear it all the time: “Sorry, it was just an accident.” And we’ve been deeply conditioned to just accept that explanation and move on. But as Jessie Singer argues convincingly: There are no such things as accidents. The vast majority of mishaps are not random but predictable and preventable. Singer uncovers just how the term “accident” itself protects those in power and leaves the most vulnerable in harm’s way, preventing investigations, pushing off debts, blaming the victims, diluting anger, and even sparking empathy for the perpetrators. As the rate of accidental death skyrockets in America, the poor and people of color end up bearing the brunt of the violence and blame, while the powerful use the excuse of the “accident” to avoid consequences for their actions. Born of the death of her best friend, and the killer who insisted it was an accident, this book is a moving investigation of the sort of tragedies that are all too common, and all too commonly ignored. In this revelatory book, Singer tracks accidental death in America from turn of the century factories and coal mines to today’s urban highways, rural hospitals, and Superfund sites. Drawing connections between traffic accidents, accidental opioid overdoses, and accidental oil spills, Singer proves that what we call accidents are hardly random. Rather, who lives and dies by an accident in America is defined by money and power. She also presents a variety of actions we can take as individuals and as a society to stem the tide of “accidents”—saving lives and holding the guilty to account.
Download or read book At Risk written by Piers Blaikie and published by Routledge. This book was released on 2014-01-21 with total page 492 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The term 'natural disaster' is often used to refer to natural events such as earthquakes, hurricanes or floods. However, the phrase 'natural disaster' suggests an uncritical acceptance of a deeply engrained ideological and cultural myth. At Risk questions this myth and argues that extreme natural events are not disasters until a vulnerable group of people is exposed. The updated new edition confronts a further ten years of ever more expensive and deadly disasters and discusses disaster not as an aberration, but as a signal failure of mainstream 'development'. Two analytical models are provided as tools for understanding vulnerability. One links remote and distant 'root causes' to 'unsafe conditions' in a 'progression of vulnerability'. The other uses the concepts of 'access' and 'livelihood' to understand why some households are more vulnerable than others. Examining key natural events and incorporating strategies to create a safer world, this revised edition is an important resource for those involved in the fields of environment and development studies.
Download or read book Preventable written by Andy Slavitt and published by St. Martin's Press. This book was released on 2021-06-15 with total page 199 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: * NATIONAL BESTSELLER * “Painfully good. The book could have been called, ‘Outrageous.’ The story Andy Slavitt tells is not just about Trump’s monumental failures but also about the deeper ones that started long before, with our health system, our politics, and more.” --Atul Gawande, author of Being Mortal The definitive, behind-the-scenes look at the U.S. Coronavirus crisis from one of the most recognizable and influential voices in healthcare From former Biden Senior Advisor Andy Slavitt, Preventable is the definitive inside account of the United States' failed response to the Coronavirus pandemic. Slavitt chronicles what he saw and how much could have been prevented -- an unflinching investigation of the cultural, political, and economic drivers that led to unnecessary loss of life. With unparalleled access to the key players throughout the government on both sides of the aisle, the principal public figures, as well as the people working on the frontline involved in fighting the virus, Slavitt brings you into the room as fateful decisions are made and focuses on the people at the center of the political system, health care system, patients, and caregivers. The story that emerges is one of a country in which -- despite the heroics of many -- bad leadership, political and cultural fractures, and an unwillingness to sustain sacrifice light a fuse that is difficult to extinguish. Written in the tradition of The Big Short, Preventable continues Andy Slavitt’s important work of addressing the uncomfortable realities that brought America to this place. And, he puts forth the solutions that will prevent us from being here again, ensuring a better, stronger country for everyone.
Download or read book Healthy Resilient and Sustainable Communities After Disasters written by Institute of Medicine and published by National Academies Press. This book was released on 2015-09-10 with total page 535 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In the devastation that follows a major disaster, there is a need for multiple sectors to unite and devote new resources to support the rebuilding of infrastructure, the provision of health and social services, the restoration of care delivery systems, and other critical recovery needs. In some cases, billions of dollars from public, private and charitable sources are invested to help communities recover. National rhetoric often characterizes these efforts as a "return to normal." But for many American communities, pre-disaster conditions are far from optimal. Large segments of the U.S. population suffer from preventable health problems, experience inequitable access to services, and rely on overburdened health systems. A return to pre-event conditions in such cases may be short-sighted given the high costs - both economic and social - of poor health. Instead, it is important to understand that the disaster recovery process offers a series of unique and valuable opportunities to improve on the status quo. Capitalizing on these opportunities can advance the long-term health, resilience, and sustainability of communities - thereby better preparing them for future challenges. Healthy, Resilient, and Sustainable Communities After Disasters identifies and recommends recovery practices and novel programs most likely to impact overall community public health and contribute to resiliency for future incidents. This book makes the case that disaster recovery should be guided by a healthy community vision, where health considerations are integrated into all aspects of recovery planning before and after a disaster, and funding streams are leveraged in a coordinated manner and applied to health improvement priorities in order to meet human recovery needs and create healthy built and natural environments. The conceptual framework presented in Healthy, Resilient, and Sustainable Communities After Disasters lays the groundwork to achieve this goal and provides operational guidance for multiple sectors involved in community planning and disaster recovery. Healthy, Resilient, and Sustainable Communities After Disasters calls for actions at multiple levels to facilitate recovery strategies that optimize community health. With a shared healthy community vision, strategic planning that prioritizes health, and coordinated implementation, disaster recovery can result in a communities that are healthier, more livable places for current and future generations to grow and thrive - communities that are better prepared for future adversities.
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 Identifying Emerging Issues in Disaster Risk Reduction Migration Climate Change and Sustainable Development written by Karen Sudmeier-Rieux and published by Springer. This book was released on 2016-08-29 with total page 293 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The goal of this book is to explore disaster risk reduction (DRR), migration, climate change adaptation (CCA) and sustainable development linkages from a number of different geographical, social and natural science angles. Well-known scientists and practitioners present different perspectives regarding these inter-linkages from around the world, with theoretical discussions as well as field observations. This publication contributes in particular to the discussion on the Sendai Framework for Disaster Risk Reduction (SFDRR) 2015-2030 and the debate about how to improve DRR, including CCA, policies and practices, taking into account migration processes from a large perspective where both natural and social factors are crucial and mutually “alloyed”. Some authors see the SFDRR as a positive step forward in terms of embracing a multitude of issues, others doubting that the agreement will lead to much concrete action toward real action on the ground. This book is a timely contribution for researchers, students and policy makers in the fields of environment, human geography, migration, disaster and climate change studies who seek a more comprehensive grasp of contemporary development issues.
Download or read book Handbook of Hazards and Disaster Risk Reduction written by Ben Wisner and published by Routledge. This book was released on 2012-03-29 with total page 1191 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The Handbook provides a comprehensive statement and reference point for hazard and disaster research, policy making, and practice in an international and multi-disciplinary context. It offers critical reviews and appraisals of current state of the art and future development of conceptual, theoretical and practical approaches as well as empirical knowledge and available tools. Organized into five inter-related sections, this Handbook contains sixty-five contributions from leading scholars. Section one situates hazards and disasters in their broad political, cultural, economic, and environmental context. Section two contains treatments of potentially damaging natural events/phenomena organized by major earth system. Section three critically reviews progress in responding to disasters including warning, relief and recovery. Section four addresses mitigation of potential loss and prevention of disasters under two sub-headings: governance, advocacy and self-help, and communication and participation. Section five ends with a concluding chapter by the editors. The engaging international contributions reflect upon the politics and policy of how we think about and practice applied hazard research and disaster risk reduction. This Handbook provides a wealth of interdisciplinary information and will appeal to students and practitioners interested in Geography, Environment Studies and Development Studies.
Download or read book Crisis written by Lee Ann Hoff and published by Oxford University Press. This book was released on 2014-08-29 with total page 256 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Unlike books focusing on a single crisis topic, Crisis helps recognize common signs of endangerment across a range of life challenges by showing the interconnections between various harmful events. Through media coverage of school shootings, suicides, domestic abuse, workplace violence, and more, we've become accustomed to hearing about violence and trauma-almost invariably followed by reports that show all of the warning signs that were missed. While it is impossible to predict when, where, and with whom a crisis will occur, we do have the means to be better equipped to intervene in stressful situations before they tip over into a crisis. Important preventative information is readily available, and this book better prepares us to take appropriate responsive action. Often a crisis is the result of a critical life event; whether or not a life-changing event turns into a crisis depends on the type, timing, and interpretation of the event, the person's life cycle development phase, history of healthy coping, and available timely support. In sum, Lee Ann Hoff illustrates how to recognize crisis as both danger and opportunity. The more we know about how to spot a potential crisis and what to do, the more likely distressed persons will get the help they need.
Download or read book Disaster Education written by Rajib Shaw and published by Emerald Group Publishing. This book was released on 2011-07-01 with total page 179 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Offers an informative introduction to the subject of disaster risk reduction education and highlights key places of education such as family, community, school, and higher education. This book describes and demonstrates different aspects of education in an easy-to-understand form with academic research and practical field experiences.
Download or read book Emergency and Disaster Management Concepts Methodologies Tools and Applications written by Management Association, Information Resources and published by IGI Global. This book was released on 2018-07-06 with total page 1758 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In a world of earthquakes, tsunamis, and terrorist attacks, emergency response plans are crucial to solving problems, overcoming challenges, and restoring and improving communities that have been affected by these catastrophic events. Although the necessity for quick and efficient aid is understood, researchers and professionals continue to strive for the best practices and methodologies to properly handle such significant events. Emergency and Disaster Management: Concepts, Methodologies, Tools, and Applications is an innovative reference source for the latest research on the theoretical and practical components of initiating crisis management and emergency response. Highlighting a range of topics such as preparedness and assessment, aid and relief, and the integration of smart technologies, this multi-volume book is designed for emergency professionals, policy makers, practitioners, academicians, and researchers interested in all aspects of disaster, crisis, and emergency studies.
