Handbook of Disaster Research

Recent disasters, such as the 2004 Indian Ocean Tsunami, bomb explosions in London, Hurricane Katrina, the Pakistan Earthquake, floods in Central America, and landslides in Indonesia, among many others, have resulted in an extensive loss of life, social disruption, significant economic impacts to local and national economies, and have made headline news in countries throughout the world. Thus the Handbook of Disaster Research is a timely and much needed contribution to the field of disasters. The editors of this Handbook have brought together a comprehensive and interdisciplinary volume with a diverse and international group of contributors.

The Handbook is based on the principle that disasters are social constructions and focuses on social science disaster research. Attention is given to conceptual issues dealing with the concept "disaster" and to methodological issues relating to research on disasters, including Geographic Information Systems as a useful research tool andits implications for future research; how disaster research is increasingly being used in the emergency management curriculum; and how research is useful in dealing with emergency operations. The Handbook also includes a number of essays focusing on various types of vulnerabilities. In addition, there are discussions on community processes that are evoked by disasters, including warnings, search and rescue, coordination, and organizational adaptation, as well as, dealing with death and injury, and recovery, and the role of the media in disasters; special attention is given to emergency systems in several nation states. The Handbook also includes contributions focusing on the relationship between disaster and development, the popular culture of disasters, new dimensions of disaster research, as well as projections of disasters into the future.

Disasters allow the opportunity for social scientists to study human behavior in which adaptation, resilience and innovation are often more clearly revealed than in “normal” and stable times. The Handbook of Disaster Research provides an interdisciplinary and international approach to disasters with theoretical, methodological, and practical applications.

• Innovation
• Nation
• gender
• globalization
• mass media
• mortality

“This book constitutes an important contribution to the field of disaster studies and is especially valuable for scholars, researchers, and those designing curricula in the field of emergency and disaster management … . It represents a critical addition for academic libraries and disaster collections with articles that will be heavily sought by students of disaster studies and would also make an excellent classroom textbook for students across a range of disciples and in the field of emergency management.” (Laura Olson, recoverydiva.com, June, 2018)

"The Handbook of Disaster Research will, without a doubt, be the most important publication of its type during this decade. Just about everyone who is anyone in the disaster research community has shared their knowledge on the important topics of the day. The authors and the publisher are to be congratulated for completing the book that will be widely sought after by practitioners, researchers and students of disaster planning andresponse. Thank you for this outstanding contribution to the field."

Henry W. Fischer III, Director, Center for Disaster Research & Education, Millersville University

"The Handbook of Disaster Research will generate considerable excitement amongst international disaster research and management professionals. Finally, a volume that takes on the task of articulating and unpacking the many social complexities of modern disasters and catastrophes. By taking a multi-disciplinary perspective, the Handbook addresses the very pressing need to better understand the social dimensions of disaster. Analyses of key social-psychological concepts, such as risk and uncertainty, stand beside sociological assessments of class, community, organisation, technology and the media. It is academically weighty, boasting contributions from world-leading scholars. Yet, the Handbook offers a very balanced set of analyses that will undoubtedly appeal to not only the researcher, but the practitioner and the policy-maker alike."

Dr. Derek Bopping, Defence Science and Technology Organisation, Department of Defence, Australia

"This is an amazing handbook. An impressive array of authors, including practitioners as well as academics, provide intellectual depth and breadth on disaster, risk, and uncertainty. A "must have" for anyone who wants to know the cutting edges of disaster research. The Handbook of Disaster Research is unlike any other handbook I’ve seen. It covers "the field," but does a great deal more than that. For it is provocative and creative, each chapter providing much, much more than mere "coverage." By this I mean the authors present and develop new ideas, about disaster, risk, uncertainty, warning, or, more generally, social behavior. This is not surprising when you look at the list of individual authors. Luminaries in their fields, they represent some of the most creative thinkers in the social sciences today.It is surprising, however, to find so much creativity in a Handbook. The editors have done a superb job. I’m impressed, too, with the breadth of expertise that is represented. Practitioners as well as academics, the "old guard" of disaster research as well as the young, rising stars, and the refreshing appearance of scholars from places other than the United States. I need this book on my shelf."

Lee Clarke, Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey

Author of Worst Cases: Terror and Catastrophe

• Disaster Research Center, University of Delaware, Newark, USA

  Havidán Rodríguez, Enrico L. Quarantelli, Russell R. Dynes

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