Disasters & Disaster Relief books

Since the declaration of the COVID-19 pandemic health care, public health, first responders, and other essential workers have been engaged in the most extensive emergency response in more than a century, whilst trust in science has been eroded and public health has been politicized. Against this context, the authors in this collection assess the potential mental health impacts, widening disparities, and needed interventions for future resilience of the public health workforce. What actions can be taken now to ensure more resilient systems post-pandemic? Focusing on the impacts of the pandemic on responder health across health care, public health, emergency management, and more, the chapters, written by experts in the field, provide an overview of the mental health impacts of disasters and emergencies on responders more broadly, and also highlight the inequitable impacts of the response among sectors of the workforce and populations who are socially or physically vulnerable. Closing with recommendations for changes that are needed to address gaps in capacity, COVID-19, Frontline Responders and Mental Health makes a crucial contribution to building the evidence base and disseminating best practices to ensure recommendations become standard practices in the future. Realizing the harsh potential realities such as a shortage of qualified workers and questions around funding and workforce development needed to ensure preparedness for the next public health emergency, this playbook for delivering resilient public health systems post-pandemic provides a timely oversight for future resilience.

The global escalation of natural and human-induced disasters, and their future predicted occurrence is extremely worrying, especially in Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA). In addition to summarizing global disaster management frameworks, this book discusses the African Union’s strategy for disaster risk reduction (AU-DRR), including country-specific cases, and explores the extent to which national policies resonate with AU-DRR. By combining reviews with empirical evidence, the chapters provide an in-depth analysis of disaster policy processes, institutions and arrangements in SSA, situating the sub-continent within overarching global and African instruments such as the Sendai Framework for Disaster Risk Reduction, and the African Union’s Disaster Risk Reduction strategy. The book further provides novel insights which can enhance understanding of disaster risk reduction in Africa from a policy perspective. A combined analysis of all the chapters provides an interesting summary and information for creating disaster management policies for improved results in SSA. With an extensive glossary of terms and index, the book lends itself to specialized academics and students, but also to disaster management policy makers and practitioners and the occasional user.

Despite increasing disaster risk in South Asian countries, exposure and vulnerability to natural hazards are not yet at the forefront of development agendas. Covering disaster scenarios, and the causes and consequences of disaster displacement, Disaster, Displacement and Resilient Livelihoods: Perspectives from South Asia provides a much-needed focus on the South Asian context, generating new insights and considering the policy implications of strategies for building resilient livelihoods. Recognising the diversity of South Asian countries in terms of culture, environment, livelihood patterns and socioeconomic and political structures, chapters consider risk landscape and resilience capacity in Afghanistan, Bangladesh, India, Nepal, Pakistan and Sri Lanka. Bringing critical attention to an emerging topic, Disaster, Displacement and Resilient Livelihoods: Perspectives from South Asia breaks fresh ground by considering resilient livelihoods in terms of capacity, resources and policy within each country’s diverse local context. Delving into communities’ capacities to prevent displacement, their ability to mitigate protection risks during displacement and their options in terms of durable solutions, contributors offer a resilience building framework that incorporates common principles while also retaining a flexibility and adaptability for specific risk environments. Capturing the diverse context of the South Asian resilient livelihood framework, Disaster, Displacement and Resilient Livelihoods: Perspectives from South Asia addresses a crucial gap for an interdisciplinary audience interested in urban and political sociology, social and cultural anthropology and disaster, development and South Asian studies.

The book fills a void by bringing together literature in an under-represented but disaster-prone region – Southeast Asia. It discusses the cultural considerations of those providing mental health and psychosocial support in the region. It highlights the role of education in reducing disaster vulnerability. It presents ways in which workplace organization have sought to enhance employee and organizational resilience in the face of disasters. It discusses how the disaster planning process, including prevention, mitigation, and preparedness efforts, can be integrated with mental health efforts. It features how mental health interventions including psychological first aid, resilience interventions, mindfulness, and art therapy have been carried out. It also discusses the issues of those caring for survivors and describes MHPSS interventions for disaster responders themselves. The book also addresses post-traumatic growth as an outcomes of disaster exposure, concluding by summarizing the challenges and prospects for promoting resistance, resilience, and recovery in SEA. 

This special issue of Studies in Law, Politics, and Society examines the relationship between law and disasters. The papers come from members of the Collaborative Research Network on the Jurisprudence of Disasters within the Law and Society Association. This network was formed in 2012 at a conference held by the International Institute for the Sociology of Law, titled "Workshop on Disasters and Sociolegal Studies." The volume addresses the 'myths' of contemporary disaster law and policy, such as that of society's "invincibility". The papers examine specific cases such as the Fukushima Nuclear Disaster, bushfire management in Australia and wildfire prevention in the Mediterranean, as well as providing broader analysis and comment on global disaster law and policy.