Disaster Resilience: An Integrated Approach

Events such as the 2004 Indian Ocean Tsunami, Hurricane Katrina in 2005 and the Japanese earthquakes and tsunamis in 2011 have provided unfortunate reminders of the susceptibility of many communities to devastating losses from natural hazards. These events provided graphic illustrations of how extreme hazard events adversely impact on people, affect communities and disrupt the community and societal mechanisms that serve to organize and sustain community capacities and functions. However, there is much that communities can do to mitigate their risk and manage disaster consequences. The construct that epitomizes how this is done is resilience. The contents of this volume provide valuable insights into how societal resilience can be developed and sustained. This considerably expanded new edition presents major topics of: Coexisting with Natural Hazards; Urban Resilience in Asia; Lifelines and Urban Resilience; Business Continuity in Disaster; Hazard Mitigation in Communities; Hazard Readiness and Resilience; Child Citizenship in Disaster Risk; Old Age and Resilience; Gender and Disaster Resilience; Impact of High Functionality on Resilience; Art and Resilience; Cross-Cultural Perspectives and Coping with Hazards; Religious Practices and Resilience; Living in Harmony with our Environment; Critical Incidence Response; Governance; Heat Wave Resilience; Wildfire Disaster Resilience; and Progress and Challenges to Disaster Risk Reduction and Resilience. This exceptional book brings together contributions from international experts in core areas and includes chapters that provide and overarching framework within which the need for interrelationships between levels to be developed is discussed. The book will be an outstanding resource for those researching or teaching courses in emergency management, disaster management, community development, environmental planning and urban development. In addition, it will serve law enforcement and emergency agencies, welfare

In compiling this text, the editors sought input from 45 scholars and subject matter experts on focused aspects pertaining to resilience in a societal context. Therefore, what the reader will encounter is not merely a viewpoint of one or two individual authors and experts, but rather a text that has both breadth and depth of content. The information in this book with 22 detailed chapters is akin to holding a large round-table discussion of subject matter experts. 
In the days, months and years following the terrorist attacks of 9/11, many sought to discover what could be learned from this horrific situation. Similarly, the editors of this text review the lessons learned that came out of three pivotal natural disasters: Indian Ocean tsunami, Hurricane Katrina, and the Japanese earthquake and tsunami that occurred a few years following 9/11. While terrorist attacks could potentially be prevented, natural disasters have a will of their own, and therefore the approach included in Paton and Johnston s (2017) text is on building resilience and the recovery from the events rather than prevention. The concept of the flood of brain-storming and after-action reports following crises can be reminiscent of a quote from Otto von Bismarck 'Only a fool learns from his own mistakes. The wise man learns from the mistakes of others.' 
For the emergency management practitioner, each focused chapter has its own set of references at the end of chapter making it easier to do further reading to learn more about that concept. For example, chapter two has three and a half pages of reference sources used to write this 10-page chapter. To the author s credit, most of the references used are current, thus increasing the degree of modern day relevance to the chapter topic. However, this chapter includes information on a new framework for urban resilience in South Asia, which, in my opinion, is tangent to the main purpose of this text. 
College students taking courses in the major of homeland security and/or emergency management, would likely find this text more appropriate for the graduate level. Undergraduate coursework (and the course textbooks) tend to be written at the lower level with less in-depth discussion of the details. Further, many undergraduate students prefer textbooks that are more colorful with pictures, charts, web links, and publisher student resources. Similarly, undergraduate faculty often prefer using textbooks that include review questions, critical thinking exercises, and application or discussion points. However, this book would be well-suited for a graduate course on the focused topic of disaster resilience, or even practical for the doctoral student. 
For practitioners working with emergency management, on a crisis intervention team, social workers, or collaborative community care or services, this book would be useful especially regarding an attempt to influence policy makers. Additionally, any disaster response team may benefit from understanding what works in building resilience. This book is clearly written from a sociological perspective. Many criminal justice practitioners operate from a legalistic perspective, therefore any emergency management or disaster management course within a criminal justice curriculum would likely adopt a textbook from the latter perspective. That is not to say one perspective is better or more correct, but rather a different lens from which to view the problem. I would certainly recommend this book for anyone seeking to work with the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) or state emergency management agencies to increase one s understanding of building a resilient society. --Dr. Sue Weaver, PhD - Fall 2017 ILEETA Journal