Full Description
Comprising a selection of articles dedicated to disaster management this volume focuses on the challenges arising from extreme natural phenomena and descriptions of methods for assessing their occurrence probability and of measures for mitigating their intensity and detrimental effects.The first group of articles describes general strategies for risk assessment and mitigation, providing examples in the context of various kinds of natural disasters. The economic impact of mitigation measures, communities' differing coping capabilities, human attitudes towards relocation and possible links to climate change are among the topics considered. Natural strategies are outlined in the contexts of Turkey, Brazil and United Arab Emirates.The second part of the book is concerned with disasters from specific natural causes starting with a group of ten articles on floods.The corresponding contributions address flood frequency, vulnerability and resilience of communities, response of small and medium enterprises, risk in terms of financial losses, private investment participation to mitigation measures, assessment of design solutions against flood hazard, sleeper dykes as a means of reducing risk, preparedness of hospitals, causes of highway flooding and their relative importance, and impact of floods on poor communities.
The third set of articles are related to earthquake-related hazards describing, in particular, an analysis tool providing integrated risk, coping capacity and management output, a method for assessing vulnerability considering key contributing factors, a technique for urban aftershock management and damage assessment, and neural network modelling to estimate tsunami damage.Finally, a group of three articles address issues related to landslides, namely, slope management as a means of reducing risk and losses, early warning based on rainfall data, and hazard prediction using favourability function modelling and spatial target mapping software.Providing a unique global perspective this volume focuses on recent developments over a wide range of topics that cannot be found in similar, currently available, publications in this field.This is a valuable addition to the relevant literature available to researchers and engineers working on risk assessment and mitigation of natural disaster intensity and consequences. It will appeal of those working in academic and research environments as well as governmental, professional, national and international organisations.
Contents
ContentsAssessing the economic impacts of crises: a decision-support approach to long-term strategic planning; A disaster severity assessment decision support tool for reducing the risk of failure in response operations; Just and safe housing for informal settlers in the developing world; Hydrometeorological effects of climate change on the habitat in Southern Mexico; The preparation and integration of Turkey's national disaster response plan; The evolution of the protection systems against natural disasters in Brazil: laws, agencies, information and knowledge; Towards an integrated early warning system and disaster management in the United Arab Emirates; Analysis of annual flood peak records in Mexico; A preliminary flood-risk assessment of municipalities located in headwater basins of Slovakia based on an integrated approach; SESAME: improving small and medium enterprises' operational response and preparedness to flood events; Analysis of the loss probability relation on a community level: a contribution to a comprehensive flood risk assessment; Flood hazard: planning approach to risk mitigation and periphery rehabilitation; Flood risk assessment and management: a case study in Rio de Janeiro; Case study: flood impact reduction; Assessment of the flood disaster management plans for the medical services in Tokyo and Fukuoka, Japan; Determination of the weighting factors of criteria influencing highway flooding using multi criteria analysis based on an analytic hierarchy process; The impact of flood on the socio-economic status of residents of Wadata and Gado-villa communities in the Makurdi metropolitan area of Benue State, Nigeria; The megacity indicator system for disaster risk management: integrated assessment of physical risks in Istanbul; Seismic vulnerability assessment of health facilities in Mexico City, Mexico; Advances in urban planning and territorial management in the city of Lorca after the earthquake of May 11, 2011; Tsunami flood risk prediction using a neural network; Landslide risk management in Malaysia; Early warning about regional landslides using rainfall characteristics; On spatial uncertainty in hazard and risk assessmentAuthor index
