At present, the intensification of global climate and environmental change has led to frequent occurrence of natural hazards. Various types of natural hazards always overlap and interact, or occur in a chain reaction, with a wide range of impacts and a long period of time, resulting in serious disaster losses. Typically, major earthquakes and geological hazards, extreme meteorological hazards, large-scale floods and droughts, marine disasters, and forest and grassland fires, as well as their compound and chained hazards are among the key factors affecting human life safety and world economic development. To better our understanding of disaster prevention, mitigation, and relief, it is thus pivotal to facilitate advanced perception, intelligent early warning, accurate prevention, and efficient rescue of natural hazards. This Research Topic aims to collect both Original Research and Review articles addressing the state-of-the-art advances of theories and methodologies in all types of natural hazards. Studies underlining the compound and chained relationship between different hazards are in particular welcomed. Potential themes include, but are not limited to: • Mechanisms of formation, evolution, and disaster process of multiple natural hazards as well as their compound and chained natural hazards • Model and scenario development regarding whole process control, chain breaking of key nodes, and precise prevention of major natural hazard chains • Methods and applications on detection, identification, database establishment, and spatiotemporal evolution law analysis of natural hazard sources • Technologies on intelligent early warning and refined risk assessment of compound and chained natural hazards. • Rescue equipment and investigation of post-disaster community reconstruction

The term 'natural disaster' is often used to refer to natural events such as earthquakes, hurricanes or floods. However, the phrase 'natural disaster' suggests an uncritical acceptance of a deeply engrained ideological and cultural myth. At Risk questions this myth and argues that extreme natural events are not disasters until a vulnerable group of people is exposed. The updated new edition confronts a further ten years of ever more expensive and deadly disasters and discusses disaster not as an aberration, but as a signal failure of mainstream 'development'. Two analytical models are provided as tools for understanding vulnerability. One links remote and distant 'root causes' to 'unsafe conditions' in a 'progression of vulnerability'. The other uses the concepts of 'access' and 'livelihood' to understand why some households are more vulnerable than others. Examining key natural events and incorporating strategies to create a safer world, this revised edition is an important resource for those involved in the fields of environment and development studies.

This is the first English language book to systematically introduce basic theories, methods and applications of disaster risk science from the angle of different subjects including disaster science, emergency technology and risk management. Viewed from basic theories, disaster risk science consists of disaster system, formation mechanism and process, covering 3 chapters in this book. From the perspective of technical methods, disaster risk science includes measurement and assessment of disasters, mapping and zoning of disaster risk, covering 4 chapters in this book. From the angle of application practices, disaster risk science contains disaster management, emergency response and integrated disaster risk paradigm, covering 3 chapters in the book. The book can be a good reference for researchers, students, and practitioners in the field of disaster risk science and natural disaster risk management for more actively participating in and supporting the development of "disaster risk science".

Includes statistics.

Natural and engineered slopes are widely distributed worldwide, including mountain slopes, highway slopes, mine slopes, reservoir dams, etc. These slopes could become unstable due to natural factors or human activities, causing catastrophic loss of life and infrastructure destruction. Therefore, these slopes require constant monitoring to provide early warning and enable mitigation. Advanced monitoring equipment, information technology, and multidisciplinary interaction theories have created new opportunities and challenges in this discipline. Recently, advanced monitoring devices, information technologies, and multidisciplinary intersection theories have contributed to the monitoring, early warning and mitigation of natural and engineered slopes. However, effective and efficient monitoring, precise early warning, low-cost and low-time-consuming remediation, and reliable risk assessment remain obstacles. This Research Topic aims to present the most recent innovative advancements and state-of-the-art natural and engineered slope monitoring, early warning, mitigation, and risk assessment.

Measuring Vulnerability to Natural Hazards presents a broad range of current approaches to measuring vulnerability. It provides a comprehensive overview of different concepts at the global, regional, national, and local levels, and explores various schools of thought. More than 40 distinguished academics and practitioners analyse quantitative and qualitative approaches, and examine their strengths and limitations. This book contains concrete experiences and examples from Africa, Asia, the Americas and Europe to illustrate the theoretical analyses.The authors provide answers to some of the key questions on how to measure vulnerability and they draw attention to issues with insufficient coverage, such as the environmental and institutional dimensions of vulnerability and methods to combine different methodologies.This book is a unique compilation of state-of-the-art vulnerability assessment and is essential reading for academics, students, policy makers, practitioners, and anybody else interested in understanding the fundamentals of measuring vulnerability. It is a critical review that provides important conclusions which can serve as an orientation for future research towards more disaster resilient communities.

The start of the new millennium will be remembered for deadly climate-related disasters—the great floods in Thailand in 2011, Super Storm Sandy in the United States in 2012, and Typhoon Haiyan in the Philippines in 2013, to name a few. In 2014, 17.5 million people were displaced by climate-related disasters, ten times more than the 1.7 million displaced by geophysical hazards. What is causing the increase in natural disasters and what effect does it have on the economy? Climate Change and Natural Disasters sends three messages: human-made factors exert a growing influence on climate-related disasters; because of the link to anthropogenic factors, there is a pressing need for climate mitigation; and prevention, including climate adaptation, ought not to be viewed as a cost to economic growth but as an investment. Ultimately, attention to climate-related disasters, arguably the most tangible manifestation of global warming, may help mobilize broader climate action. It can also be instrumental in transitioning to a path of low-carbon, green growth, improving disaster resilience, improving natural resource use, and caring for the urban environment. Vinod Thomas proposes that economic growth will become sustainable only if governments, political actors, and local communities combine natural disaster prevention and controlling climate change into national growth strategies. When considering all types of capital, particularly human capital, climate action can drive economic growth, rather than hinder it.

Pharmaceuticals and Personal Care Products Waste Management and Treatment Technology: Emerging Contaminants and Micro Pollutants provides the tools and techniques for identifying these contaminates and applying the most effective technology for their remediation, recovery and treatment. The consumption of pharmaceuticals and personal care products (PPCPs) has grown significantly over the last 35 years, thus increasing their potential risk to the environment. As PPCPs are very difficult to detect and remove using conventional wastewater treatment methods, this book provides solutions to a growing problem. - Includes sampling, analytical and characterization methods and technology for detecting PPCPs in the environment - Provides advanced treatment and disposal technologies for the removal of PPCPs from wastewater, surface water, landfills and septic systems - Examines the pathways of PPCPs into the environment

Natech Risk Assessment and Management: Reducing the Risk of Natural-Hazard Impact on Hazardous Installations covers the entire spectrum of issues pertinent to Natech risk assessment and management. After a thorough introduction of the topic that includes definitions of terms, authors Krausmann, Cruz, and Salzano discuss various examples of international frameworks and provide a detailed view of the implementation of Natech Risk Management in the EU and OECD. There is a dedicated chapter on natural-hazard prediction and measurement from an engineering perspective, as well as a consideration of the impact of climate change on Natech risk. The authors also discuss selected Natech accidents, including recent examples, and provide specific 'lessons learned' from each, as well as an analysis of all essential elements of Natech risk assessment, such as plant layout, substance hazards, and equipment vulnerability. The final section of the book is dedicated to the reduction of Natech risk, including structural and organizational prevention and mitigation measures, as well as early warning issues and emergency foreword planning. - Teaches chemical engineers and safety managers how to safeguard chemical processing plants and pipelines against natural disasters - Includes international regulations and explains how to conduct a natural hazards risk assessment, both of which are supported by examples and case studies - Discusses a broad range of hazards and the multidisciplinary aspects of risk assessment in a detailed and accessible style

Extreme weather and climate events, interacting with exposed and vulnerable human and natural systems, can lead to disasters. This Special Report explores the social as well as physical dimensions of weather- and climate-related disasters, considering opportunities for managing risks at local to international scales. SREX was approved and accepted by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) on 18 November 2011 in Kampala, Uganda.