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Natural Hazards Center Publications Descriptions and links to publications of the Natural Hazards Center are provided below. In most cases, downloadable versions of the publications are available, along with archives of past publications. An updated PDF file listing all of the Natural Hazards Center Publications is available. For information on ordering hard copies of any publications, visit our publications purchasing page. Natural Hazards Observer The Natural Hazards Observer is the bimonthly periodical of the Natural Hazards Center. It covers current disaster issues; new international, national, and local disaster management, mitigation, and education programs; hazards research; political and policy developments; new information sources and Web sites; upcoming conferences; and recent publications. Disaster Research Disaster Research (DR) is a biweekly e-newsletter that includes some news items that also appear in the Natural Hazards Observer as well as other timely articles about new developments, policies, conference announcements, job vacancies, Web resources, and information sources in the field of hazards management. Quick Response Reports With funds contributed by the National Science Foundation, the Natural Hazards Center Quick Response program offers social scientists small grants to travel to the site of a disaster soon after it occurs to gather valuable information concerning immediate impact and response. Scholars participating in the program submit reports, which the Center makes available for free online. Research Digest Research Digest is a quarterly online publication that compiles recent research into an easily accessible format for the hazards and disasters community. It provides complete references and abstracts (when available) for current research in the field. The issues include more than 35 peer reviewed publications. Natural Hazards Review The Natural Hazards Review is a joint publication of the Natural Hazards Center and the American Societ

NHESS - Special Issues Year Special Issues 2011 "Progress in research on earthquake precursors" Eds. K. Eftaxias, T. Maggipinto, and C.-V. Meister 2010 "Extreme and rogue waves" Eds. E. Pelinovsky and C. Kharif "New developments in tsunami science: from hazard to risk" Eds. I. Didenkulova, S. Monserrat , and S. Tinti "Geo-hydrological risk and town and country planning" Eds. F. Luino and D. Castaldini "11th Plinius Conference on Mediterranean Storms" Eds. M.-C. Llasat, A. Mugnai, G. Boni, R. Deidda, and Jordi Salat "Understanding dynamics and current developments of climate extremes in the Mediterranean region" Eds. R. García-Herrera, P. Lionello, and U. Ulbrich "Approaches to hazard evaluation, mapping, and mitigation" Eds. G. R. Iovine, J. Huebl, M. Pastor, and M. Sheridan "Radon, health and natural hazards" Eds. G. Gillmore, R. Crockett, T. Przylibski, and F. Guzzetti 2009 "Applying ensemble climate change projections for assessing risks of impacts in Europe" Eds. T. Carter, G. Leckebusch, and J. E. Olesen "Ground and satellite based observations during the time of the Abruzzo earthquake" Eds. M. E. Contadakis, P. F. Biagi, and M. Hayakawa "The GITEWS Project (German-Indonesian Tsunami Early Warning System)" Eds. A. Rudloff, J. Lauterjung, and U. Münch "Documentation and monitoring of landslides and debris flows" Eds. L. Franzi, M. Arattano, M. Arai, P. Allasia, and D. Giordan "Models, theory, and empirical studies in wildfire hazard" Eds. R. Lasaponara "Assessment of different dimensions of vulnerability to natural hazards and climate change" Eds. T. Glade and J. Birkmann "The RISKMED Project (Weather Risk Reduction in the Central and Eastern Mediterranean)" Eds. A. Mugnai and A. Bartzokas "Extreme events induced by weather and climate change: evaluation, forecasting and proactive planning" Eds. A. Loukas, M.-C. Llasat, and U. Ulbrich "Rockfall protection - from hazard identification to mitigation measures" Eds. A. Volkwein, V

A History of Moral Hazard David Rowell and Luke Connelly (University of Queensland)d.rowell@uq.edu.au The term 'moral hazard' was initially developed 150 years ago within the insurance-industry literature, to describe a positive relationship between insurance and a claim. It has been asserted that the concept of moral hazard spontaneously evolved with insurance. However, the earliest insurance contracts predate the first recorded use of the term moral hazard by almost 500 years. When interpreted literately, the phrase moral hazard can evoke a strong rhetorical tone, which has readily been used by a variety of stakeholders, most notably insurers, to influence public attitudes to claimers and claiming. In contrast, the discipline of economics has treated moral hazard as an idiom which 'in fact, has little to do with morality' to analyse the role that incentives play in a broad range of principal-agent relationships. This paper seeks to explore the underlying historical reasons for this impasse by reviewing four distinct and disparate literatures: theological, probabilistic, insurance and economic. The theological literature contains a rich discussion of the liceity of insurance that reveals a medieval concept of providence, which had profound implications for the conceptual development of moral hazard. The emergence of a probability literature from the field of mathematics also contributed to the theory of risk, (e.g. Bernoulli's resolution of the St Petersburg paradox) which were precursors for conceptual development of moral hazard. The eventual genesis of moral hazard in The Practice of Fire Underwriting in 1865 was followed by some ambiguity in the interpretation of this term. A careful inspection of the early insurance literature suggests that the term moral hazard was used pejoratively to also describe the related actuarial process of adverse selection, i.e., morally suspect people were observed to purchase insurance with a view to committing fraud. The insuranc

Natural Hazards Analysis: Reducing the Impact of Disasters John Pine 0 Resenhas Taylor and Francis, 2008 - 304 páginas With an emphasis on hazard analysis, this volume assesses critical preparedness issues that emergency personnel must face in the event of a disaster of any kind. The author discusses the nature and consequences of such hazards and examines strategies at the individual, organization, community, and regional levels. He presents a systematic process for hazards identification, vulnerability determination, and consequence assessment for natural, built, and human environments. Covering every step, from planning and preparedness to mitigation, response, and recovery, the book provides information on hazard identification, modeling, loss estimation, risk perception and definition, and sustainability.

Hazard mitigation and preparedness: building resilient communities Anna K. Schwab, David J. Brower, Katherine Eschelbach 0 Resenhas Wiley, 2006 - 568 páginas With this book, readers will learn how to apply their knowledge and skills in order to create communities that are more resilient to the impacts of hazards. It clearly presents the major principles involved in preparing for and mitigating the impacts of hazards in emergency management. This resource also provides real-world examples of different tools and techniques that emergency managers can use to reduce the impact of different types of hazards.

Superfund and Retroactive Liability: Is It Really Fair? by Adam J. Smargon Part I -- Introduction The United States produces close to 300 million tons of hazardous waste every year. Nineteen years ago, Congress wanted to improve the management and disposal of hazardous waste, and it therefore enacted the Resource Conservation and Recovery Act (RCRA). But that act failed in the area of previously existing hazardous waste sites which threatened nearby residents by leaking into the water supply. In 1976, the nation awoke to find that Love Canal families had to move due to the neighborhood being built over an abandoned hazardous waste site. The end result in the wake of this public outcry was the passing of the Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act (CERCLA), more commonly known as Superfund. It gave more authority to the federal government to react to threatened or actual releases of hazardous materials, and "it allows the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to compel parties to clean up their properties, or alternatively, to reimburse [the] EPA for the government's cost of doing the cleanup."[1] CERCLA was amended and reauthorized six years later, as the obviously-named Superfund Amendments and Reauthorization Act (SARA).

Natural disaster hotspots: a global risk analysis, Parte 611 Maxx Dilley 1 Resenha World Bank Publications, 2005 - 132 páginas This report presents a global view of major natural disaster risk hotspots - areas at relatively high risk of loss from one or more natural hazards. It summarizes the results of an interdisciplinary analysis of the location and characteristics of hotspots for six natural hazards - earthquakes, volcanoes, landslides, floods, drought, and cyclones. Data on these hazards are combined with state-of-the-art data on the subnational distribution of population and economic output and past disaster losses to identify areas at relatively high risk from one or more hazards.

Principles of emergency planning and management David E. Alexander 0 Resenhas Oxford University Press US, 2002 - 340 páginas As interest in planning for emergencies and disasters burgeons, and educational and training programs proliferate, Principles of emergency planning and management is the first book to meet the need for a concise yet comprehensive and systematic primer on how to prepare for a disaster. Providing readers with a comprehensive, systematic, yet concise introduction to effective preparation for disasters, it provides a unified starting point encompassing the scattered and parochial literature in this nascent field of academic enquiry and practical endeavor. The book provides a general introduction to the methods, procedures, protocols and strategies of emergency planning, with emphasis on situations in industrialized countries and the local level of organization (i.e. cities, municipalities, metropolitan areas and small regions), though with ample reference to national and international levels. Rather than concentrating on the practices of any one country or state, the author focuses on general principles. Principles of emergency planning and management is designed to be a reference source and manual from which emergency managers can extract ideas, suggestions and pro-forma methodologies to help them design and implement emergency plans. A comprehensive all-hazards approach is adopted, with frequent reference to the most important individual hazards and the planning and management needs that they create. Twelve examples of actual emergency planning and management problems are analyzed in detail. Principles of emergency planning and management is written especially for the new generation of emergency planners and managers that is emerging as a result of intensified governmental interest in disaster preparedness. Many of them will occupy positions in government or other organizations that require emergency plans. The book will also be of value to

Flood hazards and health: responding to present and future risks Roger Few, Franziska Matthies 0 Resenhas Earthscan, 2006 - 219 páginas With the tragedy of New Orleans still the focus of the world's media, this highly topical book combines rigorous analysis of the human health impacts of flooding with an appraisal of how individuals and society respond to those risks. The first detailed discussion of the global health implications of flooding and future flood risk, the book sets these findings in light of potential future increases in flood hazard as a result of climate change. The volume brings together findings from epidemiological, environmental, social, and institutional studies, with analysis rooted in an approach that emphasizes the developmental as well as environmental causes of flood risk and the socially differentiated nature of vulnerability and coping capacity. The first part of the book sets out the scope of the issues and provides a detailed discussion of the global health impacts of floods and how humans respond to the health risks posed. The second part presents new research evidence on specific health aspects of floods covering mental health, water and sanitation, local level responses, and the responses of health systems--drawing on case study material from North America, Europe, Asia, and Africa. The conclusion synthesizes insights from the previous chapters and discusses priorities for policy, practice, and research. It draws out implications for present and future adaptation to flooding, and emphasizes the need to integrate action on health with the broader agenda of long-term risk reduction.

Were mining and manufacturing companies, as they claimed, the victims of imperfect science and inadequate state regulation? Since the 1930s growing evidence of the health risks was often suppressed by companies and the South African government. Is enough being done to clean up the environmental damage caused by the mines? Large areas of the northern Cape have been made permanently hazardous by asbestos mining. Windborne fibre continues to spread that hazard in an ever widening circle of risk. During 2001 the South African government allocated R100 million to clean up un-reclaimed mines, but far more will be necessary to make the landscape itself safe. Should British companies be held responsible for the behaviour of their South African subsidiaries? The prosperity of the asbestos industry in South Africa depended on apartheid. Company profits and the dividends paid to British shareholders were fuelled by the lowly paid and hazardous work of women and juveniles in South African mines. JOCK MCCULLOCH is a Lecturer in the Faculty of the Constructed Environment, RMIT University, Australia North America: Indiana University Press; South Africa: Juta

The sister cities of El Paso, Texas and Ciudad Juárez, Chihuahua form one of the largest manufacturing complexes in the world, and provide a unique context in which to examine transnational patterns of environmental injustice. In this paper, we explore residential patterns of environmental injustice related to the location of industrial facilities (ie maquiladoras and facilities regulated by the Toxics Release Inventory) in the El Paso - Juárez metropolis, taking a comparative approach. Our results indicate a striking injustice in the raw level of industrial hazard confronted by residents on the Mexican side of the border compared with those on the US side-a direct result of location within the global economy. In terms of multivariate spatial regression results, patterns of exposure to residential hazards diverged between the two cities. In Mexico, generally marginal neighborhoods (based on low social class and higher proportions of migrants to the city) were located farther away from industry, whereas they were located closer in the US. We explain these findings on the basis of sociospatial differences in urbanization, social marginality, and industrial development between El Paso and Juárez, which reflect the two cities' juxtaposition vis-à-vis global political - economic dynamics. Future research is needed to test relationships between social marginality and industrial hazards in transnational and Southern contexts to determine if similar or divergent patterns exist.

The sustainability of megacities and the ecosystems they influence are critical for ensuring quality of life and environment throughout the world. This sustainability requires infrastructure systems that provide a good and equitable quality of life, and a balance between consumption, disposal, and environmental capacity. Megacities must be strengthened and prepared to resist all hazards that may threaten them. Megacities function as a mega-system made up of many independent subsystems that have been developed in silos. However, the operations of each system depend upon other subsystems within the mega-system, under both extreme and usual circumstances. Lifeline systems are the basic infrastructure that supports all other systems needed for a megacity to function properly. The resiliency of lifeline systems is critical to the sustainability of megacities. Future directions in lifeline systems require improved interactions between the interdependent systems and improved inter-agency coordination. Megacities are extremely vulnerable to risks from natural and man made hazards. Transformative research is needed to better understand how interdependent systems interact and to develop decision support tools that help to understand the performances of complex systems under normal and extreme events. Examples from the Los Angeles megacity region are presented to show the makeup of megacities and mega-systems, and to illustrate their vulnerabilities to extreme events. The simulated performance of water supply and distribution systems in Southern California during a great earthquake scenario are summarized to show how advanced decision support tools may be used for improving the functionality of critical infrastructure systems under normal and extreme circumstances. This study indicates that resilience can be enhanced through multi-system integration and the risks and vulnerabilities to hazards can be overcome through integration of existing infrastructure.

Global warming, natural hazards, and emergency management Jane A. Bullock, George D. Haddow, Kim Haddow 0 Resenhas CRC Press, 2008 - 282 páginas Due to the damage caused by global warming, scientists predict that the frequency and severity of weather-related disaster events will increase dramatically. This book provides a clear procedural roadmap for emergency managers, policy makers, and community officials, demonstrating how to reduce the impacts of future disaster events intensified by the effects of global warming. Case studies describe past and present real-world experiences in community-based hazard mitigation and illustrate how efforts should be designed and implemented. The authors explain in detail how to develop community partnerships that include all stakeholders and identify staffing and resource requirements for successful programs.

Governing Disasters The Challenges of Emergency Risk Regulation Alberto Alemanno Edited by Alberto Alemanno, Jean Monnet Professor of EU Law and Risk Regulation, HEC Paris, France 2011 320 pp Hardback 978 0 85793 572 4 Hardback £75.00 on-line price £67.50 Qty This book is also available as an ebook  978 0 85793 573 1 from - www.EBSCOhost.com www.myilibrary www.ebooks.com www.ebookscorporation.com www.dawsonera.com www.ebrary.com/corp/ www.books.google.com/ebooks Description '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 Contents Contributors: A. Alemanno, N. Bernard, V. Brannigan, C.M. Briggs, M. Broberg, A. Burgess, G.G. Castellano, S. Chakraborty, A. Fioritto, F. Hansstein, L. Jachia, A. Jeunemaitre, C. Johnson, C. Lawless, F.B. López-Jurado, D. Macrae, M. Mazzocchi, V. Nikonov, M. Ragona, M. Simoncini, A.M. Viens Further information '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 re

Models, theory, and empirical studies in wildfire hazard

Hazards of nature, risks to development: an IEG evaluation of World Bank assistance for natural disasters World Bank. Independent Evaluation Group 0 Resenhas World Bank Publications, 2006 - 181 páginas The World Bank's Independent Evaluation Group examined the World Bank's experience in disaster prevention and response over the past 20 years and found that the scale of Bank operations has grown over the period. The report found that the Bank has demonstrated considerable flexibility in its approach, but actions have tended to be more reactive than proactive, with disaster response taking more of the focus that preventative measures. « Menos

At risk: natural hazards, people's vulnerability and disasters Benjamin Wisner 0 Resenhas Routledge, 2004 - 471 páginas The term "natural disaster" is often used to refer to natural events such as earthquakes, hurricanes, or floods. However, the phrase suggests an uncritical acceptance of a deeply engrained ideological and cultural myth.At Riskquestions this myth and argues that extreme natural events are not disasters until a vulnerable group of people is exposed. This new edition ofAt Riskconfronts a further ten years of ever more expensive and deadly disasters since it was first published, 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. The book then concludes with strategies to create a safer world

10 MAY 2010: ANALYSIS The Gulf of Mexico Oil Spill: An Accident Waiting to Happen The oil slick spreading across the Gulf of Mexico has shattered the notion that offshore drilling had become safe. A close look at the accident shows that lax federal oversight, complacency by BP and the other companies involved, and the complexities of drilling a mile deep all combined to create the perfect environmental storm. by john mcquaid It's hard to believe now, as oil from the wrecked Deepwater Horizon well encroaches on the Louisiana marshes. But it was only six weeks ago that President Obama announced a major push to expand offshore oil and gas drilling. Obama's commitment to lift a moratorium on offshore drilling reflected the widely-held belief that offshore oil operations, once perceived as dirty and dangerous, were now so safe and technologically advanced that the risks of a major disaster were infinitesimal, and managing them a matter of technocratic skill. But in the space of two weeks, both the politics and the practice of offshore drilling have been turned upside down. Today, the notion that offshore drilling is safe seems absurd. The Gulf spill harks back to drilling disasters from decades past - including one off the coast of Santa Barbara, Calif. in 1969 that dumped three million gallons into coastal waters and led to the current moratorium. The Deepwater Horizon disaster is a classic "low probability, high impact event" - the kind we've seen more than our share of recently, including space shuttle disasters, 9/11, and Hurricane Katrina. And if there's a single lesson from those disparate catastrophes, it's that pre-disaster assumptions tend to be dramatically off-base, and the worst-case scenarios downplayed or ignored. The Gulf spill is no exception. Getty Images/U.S. Coast Guard Fire boats battle the fire on the oil rig Deepwater Horizon after the April 21 explosion. The post-mortems are only beginning, so the precise causes of the initial

The precautionary principle in the law of the sea: modern decision making in international law Simon Marr 1 Resenha Martinus Nijhoff Publishers, 2003 - 253 páginas The content and status of the precautionary principle remains highly debated and various questions arise, such as its status as a rule of customary international law, including its scope, addressee, triggering threshold, precautionary action measures, and eventually limits of the principle. Thus, this book examines the present state of affairs regarding the implementation of the principle in the law of the sea in different sectors, e.g. pollution of the marine environment, conservation and management of living marine resources, and transboundary transports of radioactive and hazardous wastes. In addition, it extracts evidence of its acceptance as part of customary international law, and indicates that below this level there is also an emerging practice of international law of applying the precautionary principle in a common way.

Social Vulnerability to Disasters Brenda Phillips, Cheryl Childers, Alice Fothergill, Deborah Thomas 0 Resenhas CRC PR INC, 2009 - 406 páginas Standard emergency management training programs prepare for the effects of a disaster on a community. However, factors beyond logistics, such as understanding at-risk populations, can be critical in ensuring that a disaster does not become a catastrophe. Based on materials developed for the FEMA Higher Education Project, this book, designed for classroom use, explores how vulnerable social groups cope with hazardous events. The authors examine historical, geographical, social, and cultural factors that put people at risk, before, during, and after disasters. The text also offers strategies for community-based mitigation programs that engage those people most at risk.