Table Of ContentInternational Perspectives on Natural Disasters: Occurrence,
Mitigation, and Consequences
Advances in Natural and Technological Hazards Research
VOLUME21
The titles published in this series are listed at the end of this volume.
International Perspectives
on Natural Disasters:
Occurrence, Mitigation, and
Consequences
Edited by
JOSEPH P.STOLTMAN
Western Michigan University,
Kalamazoo, MI, U.S.A.
JOHN LIDSTONE
Queensland University of Technology,
Brisbane, QLD,Australia
and
LISA M.DECHANO
Western Michigan University,
Kalamazoo, MI, U.S.A.
A C.I.P.Catalogue record for this book is available from the Library of Congress.
ISBN 978-1-4020-2850-2 (HB)
ISBN 978-1-4020-2851-9 (e-book)
Published by Springer
P.O.Box 17, 3300 AADordrecht, The Netherlands.
www.springer.com
Reprinted with corrections 2007
Printed on acid-free paper
All Rights Reserved
©2004, 2007 Springer
No part of this work may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted
in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, microfilming, recording
or otherwise, without written permission from the Publisher, with the exception
of any material supplied specifically for the purpose of being entered
and executed on a computer system, for exclusive use by the purchaser of the work.
DEDICATION
This book is dedicated to . . .
Gilbert F. White
Philip W. Hemily
Herman Th. Verstappen
. . . scholars who have devoted their scientific research and professional lives to
exploring questions and issues of public concern in order to further international civic
engagement regarding natural hazards/disasters and environmental resources policies.
TABLE OF CONTENTS
Preface ix
Acknowledgments xi
Introduction 1
Joseph P. Stoltman, John Lidstone, and Lisa M. DeChano
Chapter 1: Earthquakes 11
Walter Hays
Chapter 2: Volcanoes 37
Raymundo S. Punongbayan
Chapter 3: Windstorms 63
Tony Gibbs
Chapter 4: Global Flooding 87
John Handmer
Chapter 5: Wildfires 107
Stephen Yool
Chapter 6: Mass Movement 131
Lisa M. DeChano
Chapter 7: Drought 147
D.A. Wilhite
Chapter 8: Natural Hazards in Japan 163
Hiroshi Sasaki and Shuji Yamakawa
Chapter 9: Natural Disasters in China 181
Yang Hua Ting
Chapter 10: Natural Disasters in Oceania 193
George Pararas-Carayannis
Chapter 11: Hazard Mitigation in South and Southeast Asia 211
Nehal Karim
Chapter 12: Natural Disasters in Africa 231
Belinda Dodson
Chapter 13: Natural Disasters in Russia 247
V.M. Kotlyakov
Chapter 14: Natural Disasters in Europe 263
Lea Houtsonen and Arvo Peltonen
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Chapter 15: Natural Disasters and Their Impact in Latin America 281
James J. Biles and Daniel Cobos
Chapter 16: Disaster Impacts on the Caribbean 303
Jeremy Collymore
Chapter 17: A Perspective on North American Natural Disasters 323
Joseph Scanlon
Chapter 18: Teaching and Learning to Live with the Environment 341
Kath Murdoch
Chapter 19: Educational Aims and the Question of Priorities 359
Graham Haydon
Chapter 20: The Experience of Natural Disasters:
Psychological Perspectives and Understandings 369
Joseph P. Reser
Chapter 21: Curriculum Innovation for Natural Disaster Reduction:
Lessons from the Commonwealth Caribbean 385
Michael Morrissey
Chapter 22: Curriculum Adaptation and Disaster Prevention in Colombia 397
Omar D. Cardona
Chapter 23: Current Curriculum Initiatives and Perspectives
in Education for Natural Disaster Reduction in India 409
R.B. Singh
Chapter 24: Disaster Education in New Zealand 417
John Macaulay
Chapter 25: Natural Disasters and the Role of Women 429
Jacqueline Sims
Chapter 26: Natural Hazards and Disaster Information on the Internet 445
John A. Cross and Yasuyo Makido
Chapter 27: Capacity Building, Education, and Technical Training 457
Joseph P. Stoltman, John Lidstone, and Lisa M. DeChano
Index 463
ListofFiguresonCD-ROM 467
CD-ROM of All Figuresby Chapter: Inside Back Cover
PREFACE
Reports of natural disasters fill the media with regularity. Places in the world are
affected by natural disaster events every day. Such events include earthquakes,
cyclones, tsunamis, wildfires – the list could go on for considerable length. In the 1990s
there was a concentrated focus on natural disaster information and mitigation during the
International Decade for Natural Disasters Reduction (IDNDR). The information was
technical and provided the basis for major initiatives in building structures designed for
seismic safety, slope stability, severe storm warning systems, and global monitoring
and reporting. Mitigation, or planning in the event that natural hazards prevalent in a
region would suddenly become natural disasters, was a major goal of the decade-long
program.
During the IDNDR, this book was conceptualized, and planning for its
completion began. The editors saw the need for a book that would reach a broad range
of readers who were not actively or directly engaged in natural disasters relief or
mitigation planning, but who were in decision-making positions that provided an open
window for addressing natural disaster issues. Those people were largely elected public
officials, teachers, non-governmental organization staff, and staff of faith-based
organizations. Those people, for the most part, come to know very well the human and
physical characteristics of the place in which they are based. With that local outreach in
mind, the editors intended the book to encourage readers to:
1. Recognize the dangers that natural hazards present in a location or region;
2. Become familiar with the patterns of natural disaster events that occur globally
and realize that, while each event is reported as a unique occurrence in the
media, events may be associated in global patterns and may offer local to
global disaster mitigation opportunities; and
3. Interact with information about natural disasters in the book that ranges from
accounts of events to analysis of the psychological and social consequences.
The readership we had in mind was important in our decisions about design and content
for the book. First, we believe that people in the educational community have a great
influence over young people who will make future scientific, economic, political, and
social policies about natural disasters and the efforts to mitigate their effects. Those
individuals engaged in education go far beyond the classroom teacher and include
curriculum experts, adult and community education personnel, evaluation and
assessment specialists, and leaders of faith-based organizations. Young people in school
are a critical audience. Conveying knowledge about natural hazards, the mitigation
steps possible, and responses to natural disaster events is an investment in the future.
A second intended audience consists of policy makers. People residing within
a policy maker’s jurisdiction are likely to be confronted by a particular set of natural
hazards or disaster events. In order to address policy in various contexts, the attention to
natural disasters is international. Natural disasters in a worldwide context are addressed
to provide a global perspective. Affected segments of the population, such as women
and people in developing countries, may respond differently to different types of
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disasters. Different types of mitigation strategies may be required to address similar
hazards in different regions of the world. The mitigation of effects proposed by policy
makers has been presented by examining one of the most basic of institutions, the
school. Examples from New Zealand and Colombia demonstrate the role that young
people can play as disseminators of information to the local population. This includes
enhancing the knowledge of policy makers at the local and regional levels regarding
their responsibilities for hazard mitigation efforts by the affected community and its
citizens.
Finally, we wanted the book to do more than report current natural disaster
events. We believed it should reflect temporal as well as spatial information. When
events are reported, they are in the context of a history of natural disasters and patterns
of occurrences. Natural disasters are largely expected, but not predictable specifically to
a particular time or place. Therefore, this book is intended to develop a “habit of mind”
that results in accessing information about a local area, reviewing the patterns of natural
disasters that have occurred, and planning on how to mitigate the effects on a personal
scale, while urging policy makers to initiate mitigation strategies at regional and
national scales.
An author with a particular perspective and involvement in natural disasters
research, mitigation, and response has written each chapter. The chapters were drafted
during the IDNDR period and reflect much of the enthusiasm that pervaded the
scientific community. The editors thank the authors for sustaining their commitment to
a book focused on natural disasters during several rounds of manuscript reviews.
Joseph P. Stoltman
John Lidstone
Lisa M. DeChano
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
The editors thank the authors of the chapters for their contributions and patience in the
preparation and publication of the manuscripts. International contributions require a
special type of interaction between the editors and chapter authors in order to maintain
dedication to an idea and pursue a completed book. The editors appreciated the
cooperation in completing the book project.
The editors would like to recognize the baccalaureate and graduate students at
Western Michigan University who assisted with the preparation of the draft manuscript.
The book has been a memorable part of their education and impressed upon them that a
book does not appear suddenly. It requires hard work and persistence from everyone
who has a part in its publication. The students were: Fitria Wahid, Vinodh
Venugopalan, Olena Smith, Peter Kimosop, Jennifer Klaeren, Kelly Lockey, and Matt
Pasztor.
The translation of an original chapter from Spanish was completed by María
Elena Soler.
Laurel Singleton and Cindy Cook completed the copy editing and formatting
of the manuscript. Their expertise was greatly appreciated.
The following colleagues served as external reviewers and provided
suggestions regarding the content of the chapters while in the final draft stage. The
editors thank them for specificity, clarity of suggestions, and the time they devoted to
the review process. These reviewers were: Joby Bass, James Biles, Paul Blank, David
R. Butler, Lex Chalmers, Eric Fournier, Eve Gruntfest, Joseph Kerski, Tom Martinson,
Barbara McDade, Chris Merrett, Philip Micklin, William Monfredo, Janice Monk,
Michael Naish, Jose Nuñez, Linda Prosperie, Savita Sinha, Philip Stimpson, and
Michael Williams.
The editorial staff at Kluwer Academic Publishers was consistently helpful in
providing suggestions and responding to questions during the preparation of the
manuscript.
Support for this project was provided by the Committee on International
Organizations and Programs, Office of International Affairs, National Research
Council; the International Decade for Natural Disasters Reduction Committee; the
International Council for Science (ICSU); The International Geographical Union
(IGU); the Commission on Geographical Education (CGE-IGU); Western Michigan
University; and Queensland University of Technology. The responsibility for opinions
expressed in each chapter rests solely with the editors and authors and does not
constitute an endorsement by any of the above listed organizations.
The editors have exercised editorial license with the manuscripts. Any errors
of commission or omission in the manuscripts are the responsibility of the editors.
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