War in Iran
The headlines are built on long histories and debates.
Posted on in Hot Topic
Disaster Planning and Relief
With hurricanes continuing to batter the southern US, the issues of disaster preparedness and relief are ever more pressing.
Posted on October 17, 2024 in Hot Topic
Aldrich, Daniel P. Building resilience: social capital in post-disaster recovery. Chicago, 2012. 232p ISBN 9780226012872, $80.00; ISBN 9780226012889 pbk, $27.50.
Reviewed in CHOICE March 2013
Aldrich (political science, Purdue) has written a fine book on the importance of social capital for disaster recovery–defined as the resources available through survivors’ social networks. The book’s strength lies in its comparative nature and use of quantitative analysis to support the argument. Aldrich analyzes recovery efforts after the 1923 Tokyo earthquake, the 1995 Kobe earthquake, the 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami, and 2005’s Hurricane Katrina, using proxy measures of social capital and repopulation as the primary measure of recovery. He successfully argues that previous theories emphasizing the importance of quality of governance, extent of disaster damage or aid, and various socioeconomic and demographic conditions are less important determinants of recovery than the strength and extent of resource-laden social networks. A fascinating book on an important topic. Summing Up: Highly recommended. Graduate students/faculty. —E. L. Hirsch, Providence College
Coastal disaster surveys and assessment for risk mitigation, ed. by Tomoya Shibayama and Miguel Esteban. CRC Press, 2023. 396p bibl index ISBN 9780367741280, $105.00; ISBN 9781003156161 ebook, $64.95.
Reviewed in CHOICE October 2023
This work by 46 contributing authors from 14 countries covers every region of the world except Antarctica. Editors Shibayama and Esteban (both, Waseda Univ., Tokyo) together contribute more than 55 years of scientific and engineering experience, including work in field survey methodologies, hydraulic laboratory experiments, and numerical simulations of tsunamis and storm surges. Their research and that of the other contributors focuses on coastal disaster risk management, adaptation to climate change, and sea-level rise. The book’s nine chapters go well beyond reporting the technical data of earthquake-generated tsunamis, high-wave attacks, destruction of infrastructure, coastal flooding hydrodynamics, and other mechanics of disasters. Methods of mitigating disasters and improving future predictions as well as accounts of lives already lost and communities destroyed are presented. Strong community leadership and community cohesiveness are cited as important factors for safely evacuating and relocating communities in peril—policy makers should take note. Numerous photographs illustrate the destructive power of oceans and the urgent need to “expand knowledge on how to protect against natural hazards to enhance the resilience of coastal settlements” (p. viii). Hundreds of references lead to full results of field surveys, simulations, and pertinent formulas. This thoroughly indexed volume is an important addition to engineering and geoscience collections. Summing Up: Highly recommended. Upper-division undergraduates. Graduate students, faculty, and professionals. —A. S. Ricker, Oberlin College
Crow, Deserai A. Community disaster recovery: moving from vulnerability to resilience, by Deserai A. Crow and Elizabeth A. Albright. Cambridge, 2021. 225p bibl index ISBN 9781316511640, $110.00; ISBN 9781009053457 ebook, $88.00.
Reviewed in CHOICE December 2022
Timely, rigorous, and applicable to multiple disciplines, this case study of communities experiencing disastrous floods in Colorado incorporates processes for community learning after floods and the results of that learning. Part 1 reviews US floods overall, federal government responses, and community-level learning concepts. The narrative then focuses on the specifics of the 2013 Colorado floods and the seven communities included in the authors’ study. Part 2 addresses the extent of damages to affected communities, the response resources that were required, and the effects of differentials in resource availability. Part 3 explores the different roles individuals played in post-event community learning. This includes their perceptions of and responses to risk, attitudes toward government, and personal beliefs. Part 4 evaluates affected individuals’ level of engagement and collaboration within the community and with government entities responding to the event. Part 5 develops a conceptual framework and model of community learning after disasters, then broadens the perspective to national and international scenarios. This book features meticulous scholarship on complex flood disasters, illustrating how particular communities responded and learned post event. It is not, however, a user-friendly guide for communities and planners to use in preparing for floods and other disaster events. The text is well suited to studying all Stafford Act disasters. Summing Up: Highly recommended. Graduate students, faculty, and professionals. —E. J. Delaney, formerly, National Park Service
Dauber, Michele Landis. The sympathetic state: disaster relief and the origins of the American welfare state. Chicago, 2012. 353p ISBN 9780226923482, $75.00; ISBN 9780226923499 pbk, $25.00; ISBN 9780226923505 ebook, contact publisher for price.
Reviewed in CHOICE May 2013
This book complements the literature on the US welfare state by situating its origin with disaster relief appropriations that Congress authorized beginning after the inception of the nation. Countering explanations positing the welfare state as an abrupt departure from constitutional precedent finally approved by the Supreme Court during the New Deal, Dauber (law and sociology, Stanford) argues convincingly that public relief had long been authorized through the General Welfare Clause. She details how New Deal lawyers focused on disaster relief in constructing an incremental argument for various provisions of the Social Security Act. While a content analysis of letters to Eleanor Roosevelt is a distraction from the author’s thesis, a brief postscript about how Hurricane Katrina proved the undoing of President George W. Bush’s presidency underscores her point. Summing Up: Highly recommended. Upper-division undergraduates and above. —D. Stoesz, Mississippi Valley State University
Kieffer, Susan W. The dynamics of disaster. W. W. Norton, 2013. 315p index ISBN 9780393080957, $25.95.
Reviewed in CHOICE April 2014.
Kieffer (emer., Univ. of Illinois; Geology in Motion blog) uses her deep expertise in the physics of geological processes to give an unconventional and thoughtful treatment of natural disasters. In contrast to most treatments that describe “what happened” much better than “why,” this book explains how volcanoes, earthquakes, tsunamis, rogue waves, hurricanes, landslides, and other disasters occur. Insightful analogies, clear illustrations, and the author’s personal experiences are used to explain complicated scientific concepts for general readers. The discussion emphasizes how science learns about these processes, both in terms of what is known and what remains unknown. The book also explores the human aspects of natural disasters, and how scientists can more usefully help society address them. Both general readers and working scientists will enjoy this well-written book–and learn some things they did not know. A 26-page notes section supports the text. Summing Up: Highly recommended. Lower-division undergraduates through professionals; general audiences. —S. Stein, Northwestern University
Kneeland, Timothy W. Declaring disaster: Buffalo’s blizzard of ’77 and the creation of FEMA. Syracuse, 2021. 248p bibl index ISBN 9780815636991, $60.00; ISBN 9780815611271 pbk, $24.95; ISBN 9780815655114 ebook, contact publisher for price.
Reviewed in CHOICE March 2022
The history of US infrastructure and transportation may sound professorial, but Kneeland’s nuanced narrative had this reviewer in its grip even before he reached the spellbinding account of the 1977 snow disaster in Buffalo, New York. Kneeland (Nazareth College) notes that people in the 19th century had far less trouble dealing with severe snowstorms than Americans do today. They lived in compact cities and could move around with sleighs. However, the loss of rail transportation and the rise of rubber-tired automobiles meant that roads had to be scraped bare. In 1977, Buffalo, which is at the top of the snow belt in the US, was hit with a record blizzard. Depressed by the loss of manufacturing, inadequate equipment, and a snow removal budget depleted from earlier snows, the city faced a disastrous outcome. Thousands of vehicles were stuck or completely covered by snow, and 450,000 residents were marooned in their homes for nearly a week. Regional storms struck again in 1978. Kneeland goes on to show how these events helped catalyze the consolidation of the US’s disaster management agencies into the Federal Emergency Management Agency by President Carter. Over 40 pages of notes support, but do not burden, one of the finest political history accounts this reviewer has encountered. Summing Up: Highly recommended. All levels. —F. T. Manheim, George Mason University
Rebuilding urban places after disaster: lessons from Hurricane Katrina, ed. by Eugenie L. Birch and Susan M. Wachter. Pennsylvania, 2006. 375p ISBN 0812219805 pbk, $34.95; ISBN 9780812219807 pbk, $34.95.
Reviewed in CHOICE July 2007
This impressive collection of papers, with conclusions at times depressing, at times encouraging, records a symposium held in February 2006 to address the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina. Twenty-two papers by 39 presenters with extensive experience in their respective fields address four broad concerns: protecting vulnerable places, restoring economic viability, caring for displaced people, and restoring beloved urban and rural areas. An essential handbook for many parts of the recovery effort, it adds value by putting them into a larger framework and offering to current and future planning and activity the perspective of other recovery efforts. Photographs and plates (some in color), charts, bibliographies, biographies, and intelligent but too-short forewords and afterwords supplement the papers. In short: invaluable. Summing Up: Essential. Upper-division undergraduates through professionals. —C. W. Westfall, University of Notre Dame
The Routledge handbook of hazards and disaster risk reduction, [ed.] by Ben Wisner, JC Gaillard, and Ilan Kelman. Routledge, 2011. 875p ISBN 9780415590655, $240.00; ISBN 9780415523257 pbk, $64.95; ISBN 9780203844236 ebook, contact publisher for price.
Reviewed in CHOICE August 2012
This “handbook” is an encyclopedic review and discussion of more than 60 aspects of hazards management and disaster risk reduction. Where previous efforts have been more limited in scope, and coverage restricted to discussion of the better-known natural and technological threats to people, their communities, regions, and states, this collection covers many less common issues, such as the challenges posed by the disabled and children in disasters, understanding psychological and social (not just physical and economic) recovery, and threats from epidemics not only among people but among livestock as well. The volume is ecumenical in that it includes up-to-date examinations of professional and academic perspectives crossing disciplinary, political, class, and cultural boundaries. The editors contextualize the chapters in introductory overviews for each of five sections: “Big Picture Views,” “Fine-Grained Views,” “Preparedness and Response,” “Planning, Prevention and Mitigation,” and “Conclusion.” The take-home message is that to fully understand the implications of the worlds of hazards and disaster risk, people must better understand human vulnerabilities and how they create the wicked problems of communities. Undoubtedly the most comprehensive book on these topics to date. Summing Up: Essential. Upper-division undergraduates and above. —J. P. Tiefenbacher, Texas State University
Zack, Naomi. Ethics for disaster. Rowman & Littlefield, 2009. 143p ISBN 9780742564947, $59.95.
Reviewed in CHOICE December 2009
Zack (Univ. of Oregon) examines the moral and ethical aspects associated with the impact of natural and man-made disasters. This welcome work significantly fills a vacuum in disaster studies and emergency management literature. Taking a no-nonsense approach using real-life and fictional examples, Zack highlights the moral and ethical obligations that citizens and governments have in preparing for and responding to the results and aftermath of disasters. Her work focuses on the suffering that is oftentimes disproportionally endured by the non-white, poor, elderly, infirmed, and disabled of society. This very thought-provoking book may serve as a template to those charged with the responsibility of planning for, responding to, and minimizing the deleterious effects of disasters. It should be required reading for anyone concerned with the ethical and human aspects of disaster planning and emergency management. The volume comprises six chapters, each of which is well researched and easily comprehended. Scholars, practitioners, and the general public will greatly benefit from reading it. Summing Up: Highly recommended. Lower-level undergraduates and above; general readers. —W. Jakub, Franciscan University of Steubenville
Zebrowski, Ernest. Category 5: the story of Camille: lessons unlearned from America’s most violent hurricane, by Ernest Zebrowski and Judith A. Howard. Michigan, 2005. 276p ISBN 0472115251, $27.95.
Reviewed in CHOICE July 2006
This volume encourages readers to consider the ways “geographic, sociopolitical, and cultural factors affect the impact of every disaster.” In particular, Zebrowski (Pennsylvania State Univ.) and Howard propose that the catastrophic consequences of Hurricane Camille (August 1969) on rural American regions, specifically Plaquemines Parish, Louisiana, the Mississippi Gulf Coast, and Nelson County, Virginia, revealed the limited veracity of mythic rural isolationism. Indeed, the book chronicles the shifting awareness of individuals and local and national entities that individual and local initiatives were insufficient to both manage and overcome the complexity of disaster mitigation and relief. Furthermore, the authors suggest that this understanding evolved as a consequence of the begrudging national acknowledgement of the socioeconomic heterogeneity of the US. They juxtapose survivor accounts against carefully explicated meteorological data about hurricanes and government responses to the disaster. The volume is a well-timed social history of the late-1960s and the ways socioeconomic status, geographic location, and political climate affected disaster management and relief, which, as the authors note, will be of great significance as the US reflects on the challenges associated with the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina. Summing Up: Highly recommended. General readers; lower-division undergraduates.—H. Doss, Malcolm X College