Publisher's Synopsis
Disasters, whether natural or man-made, inflict dramatic impacts in terms of loss of life, disruption to livelihoods and destruction to the built environment. This is specially so in the case of many developing countries, where the impacts of disaster are exacerbated by the lack of adequate relief and emergency plans, lack of resources and by inappropriate reconstruction programmes. So, what can be done to alleviate the suffering of the victims? How could future disaster be prevented? How could the tragedy turn into an opportunity for development? This book tackles these key questions by providing an understanding of the different phases of disaster management and planning including emergency, preparedness, rehabilitation, mitigation and reconstruction. The emphasis is on understanding the complexity of the subject by identifying a framework in which the important issues of each phase are highlighted and their interaction considered.
