Ian Burton

Disaster Theory: An Interdisciplinary Approach to Concepts and Causes offers the theoretical background needed to understand what disasters are and why they occur. Drawing on related disciplines, including sociology, risk theory, and seminal research on disasters and emergency management, Disaster Theory clearly lays out the conceptual framework of the emerging field of disaster studies. Tailored to the needs of advanced undergraduates and graduate students, this unique text also provides an ideal capstone for students who have already been introduced to the fundamentals of emergency management. Disaster Theory emphasizes the application of critical thinking in understanding disasters and their causes by synthesizing a wide range of information on theory and practice, including input from leading scholars in the field.

Adaptation is a process by which individuals, communities and countries seek to cope with the consequences of climate change. The process of adaptation is not new; the idea of incorporating future climate risk into policy-making is. While our understanding of climate change and its potential impacts has become clearer, the availability of practical guidance on adaptation has not kept pace. The development of the Adaptation Policy Framework (APF) is intended to help provide the rapidly evolving process of adaptation policy-making with a much-needed roadmap. Ultimately, the purpose of the APF is to support adaptation processes to protect - and enhance - human well-being in the face of climate change. This volume will be invaluable for everyone working on climate change adaptation and policy-making.

The disastrous effects of natural hazards such as earthquakes, floods, and hurricanes are often called “Acts of God.”' Challenging that view, this work depicts natural hazards as extreme events in nature that are made even more dangerous by the acts or the neglect of people. Since the beginning of the 20th century, the toll on society resulting from such environmental episodes has changed significantly in several ways--while fatalities from major events have decreased, the number of reported events causing 100 or more deaths, as well as the extent of property damage, has risen steadily. Providing a framework for examining these trends, this volume offers an understanding of how people around the world deal with fluctuations in the local natural systems of air, water, and terrain.