Suchergebnisse

Hurricane Katrina is widely perceived as a threshold-crossing event, capable of bringing about changes in public policy comparable with those that followed the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001. Headline-grabbing proposals for improving the leadership of disaster-management organizations divert attention from a task of greater importance: the nourishment of partnerships among different stakeholder groups. Such partnerships have previously been organized around common material interests. Stronger and more enduring partnerships might better be based on ideas that capture shared ambiguities of hazard, as well as material interests. Lay publics need to be engaged with contradictory concepts that exist across the full range of environmental and societal contexts in which hazards are embedded. The process of recovery from Katrina presents social scientists with an opportunity to extend inquiry and partnerships into new arenas that have the potential to sharpen intellectual understanding as well as to address needed policy reforms.

Hurricane Katrina is widely perceived as a threshold-crossing event, capable of bringing about changes in public policy comparable with those that followed the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001. Headline-grabbing proposals for improving the leadership of disaster-management organizations divert attention from a task of greater importance: the nourishment of partnerships among different stakeholder groups. Such partnerships have previously been organized around common material interests. Stronger & more enduring partnerships might better be based on ideas that capture shared ambiguities of hazard, as well as material interests. Lay publics need to be engaged with contradictory concepts that exist across the full range of environmental & societal contexts in which hazards are embedded. The process of recovery from Katrina presents social scientists with an opportunity to extend inquiry & partnerships into new arenas that have the potential to sharpen intellectual understanding as well as to address needed policy reforms. Tables, References. [Reprinted by permission of Sage Publications Inc., copyright 2006 The American Academy of Political and Social Science.]

Whereas the verdict is undecided about the effects of global warming on Europe's flood risks, it is clear that Europeans are becoming more exposed and vulnerable to floods. Losses are increasing dramatically, mainly because of population and capital moving into harm's way and also because of human‐driven transformations of hydrological systems, including river basins and floodplains.

This paper briefly explores and comments on three interrelated themes: the natural riskiness of the Pacific Basin; recent changes in patterns of disasters; and trends in society and environment that may affect the potential for future disasters. Losses of life due to disasters appear to be declining in recent decades throughout much of the region except in Latin America and Southeast Asia, where they may he increasing. Environmental and societal changes in the Basin are likely to produce new types of disaster potential that may modify historical patterns of disaster.

Prepared for Office, Chief of Engineers, U.S. Army, Washington, D.C. under Contract no. DACA 39-75-M0260 and Military RDTE Program 4A161102AT22. ; Includes bibliographical references (page 38). ; Mode of access: Internet.