CRC Press Community Disaster Recovery and Resiliency: Exploring Global Opportunities and Challenges

Once again nature’s fury has taken a toll in pain, suffering, and lives lost. In recognition of the need for a rapid and appropriate response, CRC Press will donate $5 to the American Red Cross for every copy of Community Disaster Recovery and Resiliency: Exploring Global Opportunities and Challenges sold. In the past, societies would learn from disasters and move the location of their urban development to safer areas, allowing naturally occurring ecosystems to maintain themselves and for societies to exist symbiotically with the environment. These days, however, it seems that society no longer takes cues from the environment but rather relies on technical advancement to attempt to control and overcome the environment, sometimes with wholly unsuccessful and even catastrophic results. Emphasizing non-traditional approaches to disaster recovery and rebuilding communities, Community Disaster Recovery and Resiliency: Exploring Global Opportunities and Challenges brings together leading research from top academics and scholars on the different ways various societies have experienced disasters, learned from them, and revised their thinking about building community preparedness and resiliency pre- and post-disaster. Provides a clear, concise, and up-to-date understanding of best practices for rebuilding community institutions and community development after a disaster Focuses on integrated solutions for ecological restoration and community development in disaster recovery planning and implementation Compares and contrasts community rebuilding between different nations at different stages of development, economic power, and stability Includes case studies that illustrate best practices, integrating the concept of community and community rebuilding for local, national, and international stakeholders All chapters offer diverse community examples that form a framework for comparing best practices. They focus on integrated solutions for ecological restoration and community development and explain how communities can reduce their vulnerability to disasters and reduce recovery time following a disaster. The book indentifies the opportunities and challenges communities are most likely to face on the road to recovery and supplies the interdisciplinary, social scientific understanding required to effectively address those challenges. Review … brings together leading research from top academics and scholars on the different ways various societies have experienced disasters, learned from them, and revised their thinking about building community preparedness and resiliency pre- and post-disaster. It provides a concise understanding of best practices for rebuilding community institutions and community development after a disaster; focuses on integrated solutions for ecological restoration and community development in disaster recovery planning and implementation ... compares and contrasts community rebuilding between different nations at different stages of development, economic power, and stability. … includes case studies that illustrate best practices, integrating the concept of community and community rebuilding for local, national, and international stakeholders.―MCEER, May 2011 In addition to describing recent disaster recovery projects, this volume encourages national leaders to stimulate social change that makes communities more disaster resistant and develop public policy that enables a culture of resilience. The 24 chapters identify opportunities for building a community-based infrastructure, revitalizing social and economic systems, and promoting public health and safety. The contributors also recommend best practices for housing reconstruction, public-private partnerships, and disaster planning. The case studies are drawn from San Francisco, New Orleans, Iowa, Grenada, Indonesia, Myanmar, Nigeria, Nicaragua, Bangladesh, Greece, and Israel. Miller is a professor of sociology at Rowan University, and