International Perspectives on Natural Disasters: Occurrence, Mitigation, and Consequences PDF
Preview International Perspectives on Natural Disasters: Occurrence, Mitigation, and Consequences
International 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 viii Table of Contents 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 ix x Preface 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. xi
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