Disaster Relief Aid: Changes and Challenges provides a comprehensive analysis of disaster relief efforts undertaken globally during the last several decades, and examines the changes and challenges that have emerged over time. The book evaluates the current state of disaster relief and discusses how it may be improved. The author examines salient features of disaster relief operations and provides an overview of the development of global humanitarian assistance programs. The book also explores how disaster aid is channelled from non-affected areas to affected areas. Using five major natural and man-made disasters as case studies, the book analyses the nature and extent of emergency relief efforts undertaken for each. The final chapter covers the post-disaster convergence phenomenon; outlines the major challenges of international disaster relief operation and finally, posits recommendations on how to improve future disaster relief efforts. This is an essential interdisciplinary text on disaster response for both undergraduate and graduate students as well as an invaluable resource for disaster researchers, managers, and numerous international and national non-governmental organizations (NGOs) and international agencies.

Provides an overview of the various types of disasters that may occur, the myriad of actors that are involved in emergency management, and the diverse theoretical frameworks from which post-disaster activities may be approached. • Includes updated chapters keeping the material fresh and accessible while incorporating recent changes in policy and new research • Highlights lessons learned from such incidents and catastrophes as: Hurricane Katrina, Earthquake in Haiti, Parking lot collapse in Miami, West Texas industrial explosion, Train wreck in Spain, Aurora movie shooting, Times Square bombing, etc. • Examines typical challenges to be expected during response efforts along with tools and techniques to enhance the ability to protect lives, reduce property damage and minimize disruption • Includes an instructor package which contains: Sample Syllabus, Teaching Suggestions, Test bank, and PowerPoints

Drawing on a variety of materials, including newspapers, legal briefs, political speeches, the art and literature of the time, and letters from thousands of ordinary Americans, Dauber shows that while this long history of government disaster relief has faded from our memory today, it was extremely well known to advocates for an expanded role for the national government in the 1930s, including the Social Security Act. Making this connection required framing the Great Depression as a disaster afflicting citizens though no fault of their own. Dauber argues that the disaster paradigm, though successful in defending the New Deal, would ultimately come back to haunt advocates for social welfare. By not making a more radical case for relief, proponents of the New Deal helped create the weak, uniquely American welfare state we have today - one torn between the desire to come to the aid of those suffering and the deeply rooted suspicion that those in need are responsible for their own deprivation.

Libraries have always played a special role in times of disaster by continuing to provide crucial information and services. The Stafford Act of 2011, a federal government directive, designates libraries as among the temporary facilities delivering essential services, making a Continuity of Operations Plan imperative for libraries. Peppered with informative first-person narratives from librarians recounting emergency situations, Halsted, Clifton, and Wilson cover such topics as: An eight-step approach to developing a risk assessment planHow to draft a one-page service continuity planInformation on how to use mobile devices and social media effectively in times of disasterSample disaster plans, along with model exercises, manuals and customizable communicationsPublished in cooperation with the Medical Library Association (MLA), this nuts-and-bolts resource will enable libraries of all kinds to do their best while planning for the worst.

Who is responsible for the failures? African generals and politicians are the prime culprits for creating famines in Sudan, Somalia and Zaire, but western donors abet their authoritarianism, partly through imposing structural adjustment programmes.

This encyclopedia covers response to disasters around the world, from governments to NGOs, from charities to politics, from refugees to health, and from economics to international relations, covering issues in both historical and contemporary context. The volumes include information relevant to students of sociology, national security, economics, health sciences, political science, emergency preparedness, history, agriculture, and many other subjects. The goal is to help readers appreciate the importance of the effects, responsibilities, and ethics of disaster relief, and to initiate educational discussion brought forth by the specific cultural, scientific, and topical articles contained within the work. Including 425 signed entries in a two-volume set presented in A-to-Z format, and drawing contributors from varied academic disciplines, this encyclopedia also features a preface by Thomas H. Kean and Lee H. Hamilton of the 9/11 Commission. This reference resource examines disaster response and relief in a manner that is authoritative yet accessible, jargon-free, and balanced to help readers better understand issues from varied perspectives. Key Themes - Geography - Government and International Agencies - History - Human-induced Disasters - Infrastructure - Local Response - Major Disasters (Relief Case Studies) - Medicine and Psychology - Methods and Practices - Mitigation - Natural Disasters (Overviews) - Politics and Funding - Preparedness - Recovery - Response - Science and Prediction - Sociology - U.S. Geographical Response

In the devastation that follows a major disaster, there is a need for multiple sectors to unite and devote new resources to support the rebuilding of infrastructure, the provision of health and social services, the restoration of care delivery systems, and other critical recovery needs. In some cases, billions of dollars from public, private and charitable sources are invested to help communities recover. National rhetoric often characterizes these efforts as a "return to normal." But for many American communities, pre-disaster conditions are far from optimal. Large segments of the U.S. population suffer from preventable health problems, experience inequitable access to services, and rely on overburdened health systems. A return to pre-event conditions in such cases may be short-sighted given the high costs - both economic and social - of poor health. Instead, it is important to understand that the disaster recovery process offers a series of unique and valuable opportunities to improve on the status quo. Capitalizing on these opportunities can advance the long-term health, resilience, and sustainability of communities - thereby better preparing them for future challenges. Healthy, Resilient, and Sustainable Communities After Disasters identifies and recommends recovery practices and novel programs most likely to impact overall community public health and contribute to resiliency for future incidents. This book makes the case that disaster recovery should be guided by a healthy community vision, where health considerations are integrated into all aspects of recovery planning before and after a disaster, and funding streams are leveraged in a coordinated manner and applied to health improvement priorities in order to meet human recovery needs and create healthy built and natural environments. The conceptual framework presented in Healthy, Resilient, and Sustainable Communities After Disasters lays the groundwork to achieve this goal and provides operational guidance for multiple sectors involved in community planning and disaster recovery. Healthy, Resilient, and Sustainable Communities After Disasters calls for actions at multiple levels to facilitate recovery strategies that optimize community health. With a shared healthy community vision, strategic planning that prioritizes health, and coordinated implementation, disaster recovery can result in a communities that are healthier, more livable places for current and future generations to grow and thrive - communities that are better prepared for future adversities.

This study examines the response of national, state and local government to three disasters experienced in New York State since 1974. This study attempts to discover in three particular circumstances how governments responded to the problems of disaster and how these governments responded to one another. A review of the governmental response offers an opportunity to examine the design and the development of disaster policy in the U.S.

A third-generation disaster researcher challenges what he sees as a myth perpetrated since the genesis of the field in the 1950s that faced with an emergency, most people will panic and flee, become helplessly impassive, or loot. He sets out the empirical evidence in statistics and case studies. He agrees with colleagues that the mass media are a primary factor in spreading the myth, but goes beyond them to address what emergency agencies can do despite it. Graduate and undergraduate students interested in social response to disasters, the disaster research community, and people responsible for responding to disaster might find the treatment interesting. Annotation copyrighted by Book News, Inc., Portland, OR

A UN report recently found that the Asia Pacific is the world’s most disaster-prone region. Indeed, considering that the region accounts for more than half of the total number of disasters in the world, building capacity and resilience to mitigate the devastating impact of disasters is a pressing task for local actors. This book takes a regional, multidisciplinary and multi-actor approach to improve understandings of how various actors respond to natural and human-induced disasters in the Asia-Pacific region. It examines the ideas and activities of four different categories of agents: civil society; military and state institutions; local cultural knowledge and the media; and economic initiatives, and these themes are approached from various academic disciplines, ranging from anthropology and cultural studies to economics, human geography and political science. The contributors draw their findings from a variety of countries in the region, including China, Fiji, India, Indonesia, Japan, Myanmar and Samoa, and importantly, focus on the interconnection between vulnerability and resilience. In turn, the book highlights how the nature and magnitude of disasters are influenced by social conditions, and aims to contribute to policies that prioritize development opportunities to enhance resilience. Further, it explores the complicated and multifaceted role of agency in building resilience, and presents a comparative framework for analysis and key findings from the Asia-Pacific region. The focus of this book on recent and ongoing disasters makes it a topical and timely contribution to the growing field of disaster management, and as such it will appeal to students and scholars of environmental studies, development studies and Asian politics.