Education is the key to risk reduction, be it environmental management or disaster risk reduction, and is a process which needs to be embedded at different levels of management and practices to collectively reduce the risk. While school education forms the foundations of the knowledge cycle, for...

Local communities play a key role in preparing for disastrous events such as the Great East Japan Earthquake (GEJE), and are normally the first responders to take action. On March 11, 2011, Community-Based Organizations (CBOs) were active in the disaster response and saved countless human lives....

This book presents papers on several events organized by the World Bank's Disaster Management Fund (DMF). The DMF's objectives are to help the Bank provide a more strategic and rapid response to disaster emergencies and to integrate disaster prevention and mitigation measures in all Bank...

Earthquakes, floods, drought, and other natural hazards cause tens of thousands of deaths, hundreds of thousands of injuries, and billions of dollars in economic losses each year around the world. Many billions of dollars in humanitarian assistance, emergency loans, and development aid are...

Community evacuation measures should be the centerpiece of Disaster Risk Management (DRM) systems. Because the Sanriku region has suffered from frequent tsunamis, its local communities have passed their knowledge from generation to generation, mainly by constructing commemorative monuments and...