The Environment as Hazard

Ian Burton

Guilford Press, Apr 9, 1993 - Science - 290 pages

The Environment as Hazard offers an understanding of how people around the world deal with dramatic fluctuations in the local natural systems of air, water, and terrain. Reviewing recent theoretical and methodological changes in the investigation of natural hazards, the authors describe how research findings are being incorporated into public policy, particularly research on slow cumulative events, technological hazards, the role played by social systems, and the relation of hazards theory to risk analysis. Through vivid examples from a broad sample of countries, this volume illuminates the range of experiences associated with natural hazards. The authors show how modes of coping change with levels of economic development by contrasting hazards in developing countries with those in high income countries - comparing the results of hurricanes in Bangladesh and the United States, and earthquakes in Nicaragua and California.
In new introductory and concluding chapters that supplement the original text, the authors present new global data sets, as well as a trenchant discussion of implications of hazards research for the International Decade for Natural Disaster Reduction and for attempts by the world community to come to grips with the threats of climate change.

Contents

• Is the Environment Becoming More Hazardous?: 1
• BANGLADESH 1970: 2
• TROPICAL STORM AGNES 1972: 5
• TRENDS IN LOSSES: 9
• GLOBAL EVENTS: 10
• SELECTED HAZARDS IN THE UNITED STATES: 16
• POLICY AND ORGANIZATION: 18
• BANGLADESH AND TROPICAL STORM AGNES REVISITED: 21
• FEATURES IN COMMON: 23
• A CRUCIAL TIME: 28
• Hazard Response and Choice: 31
• ENVIRONMENTAL PARAMETERS FOR HUMAN RESPONSE: 34
• RESPONSE TO HAZARDS: 47
• CHOICES AND DECISIONS: 61
• The Range of Experience: 66
• AGRICULTURAL DROUGHT: 68
• FLOOD: 74
• TROPICAL CYCLONE: 79
• AIR POLLUTION: 84
• HAZARD AND THE NATIONAL EXPERIENCE: 90
• DEVELOPMENT AND THE NATIONAL EXPERIENCE: 91
• Individual Choice: 95
• HOW DO PEOPLE CHOOSE ADJUSTMENTS?: 96
• ELEMENTS IN THE CHOICE PROCESS: 100
• COMPARATIVE STUDY SITES: 103
• APPRAISING HAZARD: 108
• CHARACTERISTIC APPRAISALS AND CHOICES: 113
• FOUR BEHAVIOR PATTERNS: 121
• IMPLICATIONS OF INDIVIDUAL CHOICE: 123
• Collective Action: 125
• ADJUSTMENTS: 130
• PROCESSES OF CHOICE: 143
• THE APPRAISAL OF HAZARD: 144
• PERCEPTION AND CREATION OF ADJUSTMENTS: 145
• ADOPTION OF ADJUSTMENTS: 149
• MAINTENANCE AND CHANGE: 161
• National Policy: 164
• NATIONAL APPRAISALS OF HAZARD: 165
• NATIONAL EXPERIENCE IN COPING: 168
• TYPES OF NATIONAL POLICIES: 176
• DIRECTIONS FOR NATIONAL POLICY: 184
• International Action: 186
• WHAT IS WORTH SHARING?: 188
• WHAT IS WORTH DOING JOINTLY?: 197
• Natural Extremes and Social Resilience: 219
• MODES OF COPING: 220
• THE MIX OF ADJUSTMENTS: 226
• THE CAUSES OF NATURAL DISASTER: 229
• ENVIRONMENTAL CHANGE: 232
• SOCIETAL CHANGE: 234
• IS A LESS HAZARDOUS ENVIRONMENT ATTAINABLE?: 238
• BY WAY OF SUMMARY: 240
• Emerging Synthesis: 241
• THE INTERNATIONAL DECADE FOR NATURAL DISASTER REDUCTION: 254
• THE CHALLENGE OF GLOBAL ENVIRONMENTAL CHANGE: 256
• National and Comparative Studies: 264
• References: 266
• Index: 285

Bibliographic information

• Title: The Environment as Hazard
• Author: Ian Burton
• Contributors: Robert William Kates, Gilbert F. White
• Edition: illustrated
• Publisher: Guilford Press, 1993
• ISBN: 0898621593, 9780898621594
• Length: 290 pages
• Subjects: Science / Earth Sciences / Geography