Managing disasters precipitated by natural hazards

At Risk: Natural Hazards, People’s Vulnerability, and Disasters

Presently in its second edition, “At Risk” stands as a primary text in risk and vulnerability studies. The authors focus on the political and economic causes of disaster, arguing that vulnerability is at the foundation of risks and recovery practices. Through focusing on natural hazards, such as floods, earthquakes, and volcanoes, ”At Risk” demonstrates how social groups with little economic or...

Hazards without disasters.

natural hazard need not become a human disaster if society learns and applies lessons in preparation and resilience. Earthquake history speaks well to this—engineered structures need to stand up to strong shaking. Chile learned this lesson before its 2010 earthquake of magnitude 8.8. Because it had already enforced seismic provisions of building codes, there was little loss of life due to damag...

India’s Key Hazards/ Disasters

The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) came to the conclusion that, worldwide the frequency and magnitude of all types of natural disasters are on the rise. Discernible changes in weather with a general increase in temperature (or a decrease in the number of cold days) have been observed in nearly all the land masses. There is also an increase in the frequency of heavy precipitati...

Managing Impact of Natural Disasters : Some Mental Health Issues

The earthquake and tsunami waves that caused widespread death and destruction in much of Asia and other parts of the World on the tragic Sunday (26.12.04) has highlighted the immense human suffering that goes with massive disasters. This editorial is penned as a grim remainder for us to look at the disasters from the mental health perspective and device short and long term plans to understand, ...

Natural Disasters