One of the emerging reasons for the current trend of increasing impacts of disasters is the unpredictability of natural hazard events coupled with the tendency of human settlements to move to vulnerable locations including coastal areas in search of economic gains. Urban areas are most affected...

Drought is a slow-onset disaster. The impacts are invisible and are often reflected as a complex socio-economic phenomenon. Due to changes in the climatic conditions droughts are increasingly occurring in non-traditional drought prone areas. The Asian monsoon region is one of these areas where...

Disaster management has historically focused on reactive approaches, but a shift to proactive approaches is crucial for addressing concerns raised by the changing environment. A prime reason for the absence of proactive approaches in disaster/hazard management is the uncertainty or ambiguity...

Communities are at the core of disaster risk reduction (DRR), and community based approaches are getting increasing focus in national DRR plans. In the case of past disasters, communities were always the first responders, and took leading roles in the post disaster recovery. The roles of...

Ecosystems are often examined from an ecological perspective because of the importance of biodiversity and ecosystem services. Ecosystems of different types and scales are under increasing pressure due to natural and human induced changes. Climate change and the disasters it causes, are a major...

Climate Change Adaptation (CCA) and Disaster Risk Reduction (DRR) are closely associated. After the Bali Conference of Parties (COP) 2007, there has been significant awareness in global and national level to make collective focus on CCA and DRR. There exists some literature on CCA, however, the...

It has been estimated that globally, 1.2 billion people live with acute shortage of water. Water scarcity, particularly in south and south-east Asian countries, is well known. However, the social dilemmas and insecurities related to water issues are often less discussed. In the case of south and...

Disasters cause economic as well as human losses. Indeed, economic losses associated directly with disasters have continued at increasing proportions worldwide since the 1970s, as the 2011 Global assessment report on disaster risk reduction conducted by the United Nations International Strategy...

We live in a world which continues to experience dramatic suffering and loss of life due to natural hazards. The disaster paradigm has accelerated efforts towards resilience building, particularly since the adoption of the Hyogo Framework for Action (HFA), a ten year plan to build the resilience...

How do urban communities in Asian cities experience the impacts of urbanisation and climate change? This key issue forms the discussion point for this book. Particular reference is made to cities in India, and the capability of such urban communities of responding to climate-related disasters.