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Disaster Risk Reduction is not a Paradigm

Emergency Planning

It lacks the spatial dimension of the 1960s work of the geographers Torsten Hägerstrand (1968) and his colleagues, but it has all the other components. Sadly, a follow-the-herd mentality all too easily develops among researchers. Like any field of study, disaster risk reduction needs lateral thinking. Ismail-Zadeh, A.T.,

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The 2019 Global Assessment Report (GAR)

Emergency Planning

The United Nations International Strategy for Disaster Reduction was born out of the International Decade for Natural Disaster Reduction, 1990-2000. On 1 May 2019 it was renamed the UN Office for Disaster Risk Reduction. Unofficial voices have suggested that the 'cure to damage ratio' for natural hazards is 1:43.

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September is National Preparedness Month: Is Your Community Ready to Respond to a Severe Weather Event or Emergency?

National Fire Protection Association

Ready, a national public service campaign, has earmarked September as National Preparedness Month and urges those of us tasked with protecting people and property from fire, electrical, and related hazards, to work together, help educate, and empower the public to prepare for, respond to, and mitigate emergencies before they become tragedies.

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Towards a Taxonomy of Disasters

Emergency Planning

d) Intentional disasters, comprising all forms of terrorism and sabotage. (e) The next question is where to draw the boundaries in the study of disasters and practice of disaster risk reduction. Warming has already begun to have a substantial effect on the magnitude and frequency of meteorological hazards.

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The 1980 Southern Italian Earthquake After Forty Years

Emergency Planning

The year 1980 was something of a watershed in the field of disaster risk reduction (or disaster management as it was then known). The incessant, cumulative hammer-blow effect of disasters of all kinds on modern society had begun to stimulate a consistent demand for greater safety and security.

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Is it Possible to Keep Up with the Literature?

Emergency Planning

I am the founding editor of the International Journal of Disaster Risk Reduction (IJDRR), which began publishing in August 2012 with just four papers. Prior to submitting a work for publication, one must make sure that one has read all the truly pertinent literature.

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Common Misconceptions about Disaster

Emergency Planning

Myth 17: Unburied dead bodies constitute a health hazard. Reality: Not even advanced decomposition causes a significant health hazard. Not all useful resources that existed in the area before the disaster will be destroyed. Myth 27: In order to manage a disaster well it is necessary to accept all forms of aid that are offered.