1.

Record Nr.

UNINA9910451556603321

Titolo

Measuring vulnerability to natural hazards [[electronic resource] ] : towards disaster resilient societies / / edited by Jörn Birkmann

Pubbl/distr/stampa

New York, : United Nations University, 2006

ISBN

1-4294-5024-X

92-808-7104-8

Descrizione fisica

1 online resource (575 p.)

Altri autori (Persone)

BirkmannJörn

Disciplina

363.34

Soggetti

Natural disasters

Natural disaster warning systems

Electronic books.

Lingua di pubblicazione

Inglese

Formato

Materiale a stampa

Livello bibliografico

Monografia

Note generali

Includes index.

Nota di contenuto

Measuring Vulnerability to Natural Hazards: Towards Disaster Resilient Societies; Contents; List of tables and figures; List of colour figures; List of acronyms; Foreword; Preface; Acknowledgements; Introduction; Part I: Basic principles and theoretical basis; Part II: Vulnerability and environment; Part III: Global, national and sub-national index approaches; Part IV: Local vulnerability assessment; Part V: Institutional vulnerability, coping and lessons learned; List of Contributors; Index

Sommario/riassunto

A seemingly non-stop series of disasters has shown that societies worldwide seem unprepared for the threats posed by natural hazards: Hurricane Katrina, drought in Africa; flooding in China and Germany; earthquakes in Pakistan and India; a tsunami in South-East Asia; and forest fires in Portugal, Australia and North America.     The tragic impacts of these events drew short-term attention from policy makers, the media and the general public, but their response was too late to prevent serious harm. Societies need to measure their vulnerabilities in advance, and make adequate provisions. To do s