Waiting for Disaster

Download Waiting for Disaster PDF Online Free

Author :
Publisher : Univ of California Press
ISBN 13 : 9780520055506
Total Pages : 456 pages
Book Rating : 4.0/5 (555 download)

DOWNLOAD NOW!


Book Synopsis Waiting for Disaster by : Ralph H. Turner

Download or read book Waiting for Disaster written by Ralph H. Turner and published by Univ of California Press. This book was released on 1986-01-01 with total page 456 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Examines how the media reported a bulge on the San Andreas Fault in 1976, describes the impact on public opinion, and suggests ways to encourage earthquake preparedness

Disaster-In-Waiting

Download Disaster-In-Waiting PDF Online Free

Author :
Publisher :
ISBN 13 : 9781099143427
Total Pages : 534 pages
Book Rating : 4.1/5 (434 download)

DOWNLOAD NOW!


Book Synopsis Disaster-In-Waiting by : Elle M. Thomas

Download or read book Disaster-In-Waiting written by Elle M. Thomas and published by . This book was released on 2019-05-23 with total page 534 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Disaster-in-Waiting is a story of love, passion and the realisation that everything you have ever known and imagined as your future may not be as secure or set in stone as you thought. Eloise Ross is married to Michael, her much older and recently retired husband. He fills his days with golf and walking the dog, while she fills her days working as a newly appointed P.A. to the CEO of an international company.One night, disillusioned with her sexless marriage she goes out alone, drinks beer and dances with a handsome stranger. The moves on the dance floor quickly lead to passion and excitement like El has never known, but it was only one night, one time. Just that once couldn't mean anything, could it?That once changed her view on everything she'd ever thought she'd known or valued; her home, family, responsibilities, husband and marriage, but most of all herself.As her life unravels, with twists and turns that make her laugh, cry and despair, El has only one constant to hang onto, her handsome stranger. However, with destiny intent on throwing them together, he becomes less and less of a stranger.With her inability to escape him and the feelings and thoughts he evokes in her spiralling out of control, her life takes on a route paved with lies, secrets and discoveries where the only destination is likely to be heartbreak and disaster.Disaster-in-Waiting is a mature romance intended for readers 18+

Disaster Resilience

Download Disaster Resilience PDF Online Free

Author :
Publisher : National Academies Press
ISBN 13 : 0309261503
Total Pages : 216 pages
Book Rating : 4.3/5 (92 download)

DOWNLOAD NOW!


Book Synopsis Disaster Resilience by : National Academies

Download or read book Disaster Resilience written by National Academies and published by National Academies Press. This book was released on 2012-12-29 with total page 216 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: No person or place is immune from disasters or disaster-related losses. Infectious disease outbreaks, acts of terrorism, social unrest, or financial disasters in addition to natural hazards can all lead to large-scale consequences for the nation and its communities. Communities and the nation thus face difficult fiscal, social, cultural, and environmental choices about the best ways to ensure basic security and quality of life against hazards, deliberate attacks, and disasters. Beyond the unquantifiable costs of injury and loss of life from disasters, statistics for 2011 alone indicate economic damages from natural disasters in the United States exceeded $55 billion, with 14 events costing more than a billion dollars in damages each. One way to reduce the impacts of disasters on the nation and its communities is to invest in enhancing resilience-the ability to prepare and plan for, absorb, recover from and more successfully adapt to adverse events. Disaster Resilience: A National Imperative addresses the broad issue of increasing the nation's resilience to disasters. This book defines "national resilience", describes the state of knowledge about resilience to hazards and disasters, and frames the main issues related to increasing resilience in the United States. It also provide goals, baseline conditions, or performance metrics for national resilience and outlines additional information, data, gaps, and/or obstacles that need to be addressed to increase the nation's resilience to disasters. Additionally, the book's authoring committee makes recommendations about the necessary approaches to elevate national resilience to disasters in the United States. Enhanced resilience allows better anticipation of disasters and better planning to reduce disaster losses-rather than waiting for an event to occur and paying for it afterward. Disaster Resilience confronts the topic of how to increase the nation's resilience to disasters through a vision of the characteristics of a resilient nation in the year 2030. Increasing disaster resilience is an imperative that requires the collective will of the nation and its communities. Although disasters will continue to occur, actions that move the nation from reactive approaches to disasters to a proactive stance where communities actively engage in enhancing resilience will reduce many of the broad societal and economic burdens that disasters can cause.

Disaster Preparedness

Download Disaster Preparedness PDF Online Free

Author :
Publisher : Penguin
ISBN 13 : 1101446064
Total Pages : 172 pages
Book Rating : 4.1/5 (14 download)

DOWNLOAD NOW!


Book Synopsis Disaster Preparedness by : Heather Havrilesky

Download or read book Disaster Preparedness written by Heather Havrilesky and published by Penguin. This book was released on 2010-12-30 with total page 172 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: "Smart, hilarious, unique-- just terrific." --Anne Lamott A thoughtful, witty memoir from the author of How to Be a Person in the World and the popular advice column, Ask Polly. When Heather Havrilesky was a kid during the '70s, harrowing disaster films dominated every movie screen with earthquakes that destroyed huge cities, airplanes that plummeted towards the ground and giant sharks that ripped teenagers to shreds. Between her parents' dramatic clashes and her older siblings' hazing, Heather's home life sometimes mirrored the chaos onscreen. Disaster Preparedness charts how the most humiliating and painful moments in Havrilesky's past forced her to develop a wide range of defense mechanisms, some adaptive, some piteously ill-suited to modern life. From premature boxing lessons to the competitive grooming of cheerleading camp, from her parents' divorce to her father's sudden death, Havrilesky explores a path from innocence and optimism to self-protection and caution, bravely reexamining the injuries that shaped her, the lessons that sunk in along the way, and the insights that carried her through. Disaster Preparedness is a road map to the personal disasters we all face from an irresistible voice that gets straight to the beauty and grace at the heart of every calamity.

Disaster Waiting

Download Disaster Waiting PDF Online Free

Author :
Publisher : WestBowPress
ISBN 13 : 1490825258
Total Pages : 82 pages
Book Rating : 4.4/5 (98 download)

DOWNLOAD NOW!


Book Synopsis Disaster Waiting by : AC Curtis

Download or read book Disaster Waiting written by AC Curtis and published by WestBowPress. This book was released on 2014-02-03 with total page 82 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: What would you do if you had a choice between your mission or your life? How can you find out what God really needs you to do with your life? What lies ahead in the coming years that will force you to get back on track with Gods purpose for creating you? Disaster Waiting introduces Brock Dunbar and his elite search-and-rescue team, who discover that turning away from saving others lives could actually cost them their lives as well.

Disaster Epidemiology

Download Disaster Epidemiology PDF Online Free

Author :
Publisher : Academic Press
ISBN 13 : 0128095075
Total Pages : 214 pages
Book Rating : 4.1/5 (28 download)

DOWNLOAD NOW!


Book Synopsis Disaster Epidemiology by : Jennifer Horney

Download or read book Disaster Epidemiology written by Jennifer Horney and published by Academic Press. This book was released on 2017-10-31 with total page 214 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Disaster Epidemiology: Methods and Applications applies the core methods of epidemiological research and practice to the assessment of the short- and long-term health effects of disasters. The persistent movement of people and economic development to regions vulnerable to natural disasters, as well as new vulnerabilities related to environmental, technological, and terrorism incidents, means that in spite of large global efforts to reduce the impacts and costs of disasters, average annual expenditures to fund rebuilding from catastrophic losses is rising faster than either population or the gross world product. Improving the resilience of individuals and communities to these natural and technological disasters, climate change, and other natural and manmade stressors is one of the grand challenges of the 21st century. This book provides a guide to disaster epidemiology methods, supported with applications from practice. It helps researchers, public health practitioners, and governmental policy makers to better quantify the impacts of disaster on the health of individuals and communities to enhance resilience to future disasters. Disaster Epidemiology: Methods and Applications explains how public health surveillance, rapid assessments, and other epidemiologic studies can be conducted in the post-disaster setting to prevent injury, illness, or death; provide accurate and timely information for decisions makers; and improve prevention and mitigation strategies for future disasters. These methods can also be applied to the study of other types of public health emergencies, such as infectious outbreaks, emerging and re-emerging diseases, and refugee health. This book gives both the public health practitioner and researcher the tools they need to conduct epidemiological studies in a disaster setting and can be used as a reference or as part of a course. - Provides a holistic perspective to epidemiology with an integration of academic and practical approaches - Showcases the use of hands-on techniques and principles to solve real-world problems - Includes contributions from both established and emerging scholars in the field of disaster epidemiology

Disaster's Children

Download Disaster's Children PDF Online Free

Author :
Publisher : Little A
ISBN 13 : 9781542004077
Total Pages : 0 pages
Book Rating : 4.0/5 (4 download)

DOWNLOAD NOW!


Book Synopsis Disaster's Children by : Emma Sloley

Download or read book Disaster's Children written by Emma Sloley and published by Little A. This book was released on 2019 with total page 0 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: As the world dies, a woman must choose between her own survival and that of humankind. Raised in a privileged community of wealthy survivalists on an idyllic, self-sustaining Oregon ranch, Marlo has always been insulated. The outside world, which the ranchers call "the Disaster," is a casualty of ravaging climate change, a troubled landscape on the brink of catastrophe. For as long as Marlo can remember, the unknown that lies beyond the borders of her utopia has been a curious obsession. But just as she plans her escape into the chaos of the real world, a charismatic new resident gives her a compelling reason to stay. And, soon enough, a reason to doubt--and to fear--his intentions. Now, feeling more and more trapped in a paradise that's become a prison, Marlo has a choice: stay in the only home she's ever known--or break away, taking its secrets of survival with her. Set in a chillingly possible, very near future, Disaster's Children is a provocative debut novel about holding on to what we know and letting go of it for the unknown and the unknowable.

The Cure for Catastrophe

Download The Cure for Catastrophe PDF Online Free

Author :
Publisher : Basic Books
ISBN 13 : 0465096476
Total Pages : 370 pages
Book Rating : 4.4/5 (65 download)

DOWNLOAD NOW!


Book Synopsis The Cure for Catastrophe by : Robert Muir-Wood

Download or read book The Cure for Catastrophe written by Robert Muir-Wood and published by Basic Books. This book was released on 2016-09-06 with total page 370 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: We can't stop natural disasters but we can stop them being disastrous. One of the world's foremost risk experts tells us how. Year after year, floods wreck people's homes and livelihoods, earthquakes tear communities apart, and tornadoes uproot whole towns. Natural disasters cause destruction and despair. But does it have to be this way? In The Cure for Catastrophe, global risk expert Robert Muir-Wood argues that our natural disasters are in fact human ones: We build in the wrong places and in the wrong way, putting brick buildings in earthquake country, timber ones in fire zones, and coastal cities in the paths of hurricanes. We then blindly trust our flood walls and disaster preparations, and when they fail, catastrophes become even more deadly. No society is immune to the twin dangers of complacency and heedless development. Recognizing how disasters are manufactured gives us the power to act. From the Great Lisbon Earthquake of 1755 to Hurricane Katrina, The Cure for Catastrophe recounts the ingenious ways in which people have fought back against disaster. Muir-Wood shows the power and promise of new predictive technologies, and envisions a future where information and action come together to end the pain and destruction wrought by natural catastrophes. The decisions we make now can save millions of lives in the future. Buzzing with political plots, newfound technologies, and stories of surprising resilience, The Cure for Catastrophe will revolutionize the way we conceive of catastrophes: though natural disasters are inevitable, the death and destruction are optional. As we brace ourselves for deadlier cataclysms, the cure for catastrophe is in our hands.

Disaster Theory

Download Disaster Theory PDF Online Free

Author :
Publisher : Butterworth-Heinemann
ISBN 13 : 0128003553
Total Pages : 387 pages
Book Rating : 4.1/5 (28 download)

DOWNLOAD NOW!


Book Synopsis Disaster Theory by : David Etkin

Download or read book Disaster Theory written by David Etkin and published by Butterworth-Heinemann. This book was released on 2014-12-26 with total page 387 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Disaster Theory: An Interdisciplinary Approach to Concepts and Causes offers the theoretical background needed to understand what disasters are and why they occur. Drawing on related disciplines, including sociology, risk theory, and seminal research on disasters and emergency management, Disaster Theory clearly lays out the conceptual framework of the emerging field of disaster studies. Tailored to the needs of advanced undergraduates and graduate students, this unique text also provides an ideal capstone for students who have already been introduced to the fundamentals of emergency management. Disaster Theory emphasizes the application of critical thinking in understanding disasters and their causes by synthesizing a wide range of information on theory and practice, including input from leading scholars in the field. - Offers the first cohesive depiction of disaster theory - Incorporates material from leading thinkers in the field, as well as student exercises and critical thinking questions, making this a rich resource for advanced courses - Written from an international perspective and includes case studies of disasters and hazards from around the world for comparing the leading models of emergency response - Challenges the reader to think critically about important questions in disaster management from various points of view

The Big Ones

Download The Big Ones PDF Online Free

Author :
Publisher : Anchor
ISBN 13 : 0525434283
Total Pages : 258 pages
Book Rating : 4.5/5 (254 download)

DOWNLOAD NOW!


Book Synopsis The Big Ones by : Dr. Lucy Jones

Download or read book The Big Ones written by Dr. Lucy Jones and published by Anchor. This book was released on 2019-03-19 with total page 258 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: By the world-renowned seismologist, a riveting history of natural disasters, their impact on our culture, and new ways of thinking about the ones to come Earthquakes, floods, tsunamis, hurricanes, volcanoes--they stem from the same forces that give our planet life. Earthquakes give us natural springs; volcanoes produce fertile soil. It is only when these forces exceed our ability to withstand them that they become disasters. Together they have shaped our cities and their architecture; elevated leaders and toppled governments; influenced the way we think, feel, fight, unite, and pray. The history of natural disasters is a history of ourselves. In The Big Ones, leading seismologist Dr. Lucy Jones offers a bracing look at some of the world's greatest natural disasters, whose reverberations we continue to feel today. At Pompeii, Jones explores how a volcanic eruption in the first century AD challenged prevailing views of religion. She examines the California floods of 1862 and the limits of human memory. And she probes more recent events--such as the Indian Ocean tsunami of 2004 and the American hurricanes of 2017--to illustrate the potential for globalization to humanize and heal. With population in hazardous regions growing and temperatures around the world rising, the impacts of natural disasters are greater than ever before. The Big Ones is more than just a work of history or science; it is a call to action. Natural hazards are inevitable; human catastrophes are not. With this energizing and exhaustively researched book, Dr. Jones offers a look at our past, readying us to face down the Big Ones in our future.

Disaster by Choice

Download Disaster by Choice PDF Online Free

Author :
Publisher : Oxford University Press
ISBN 13 : 0192578286
Total Pages : 180 pages
Book Rating : 4.1/5 (925 download)

DOWNLOAD NOW!


Book Synopsis Disaster by Choice by : Ilan Kelman

Download or read book Disaster by Choice written by Ilan Kelman and published by Oxford University Press. This book was released on 2020-02-27 with total page 180 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: An earthquake shatters Haiti and a hurricane slices through Texas. We hear that nature runs rampant, seeking to destroy us through these 'natural disasters'. Science recounts a different story, however: disasters are not the consequence of natural causes; they are the consequence of human choices and decisions. we put ourselves in harm's way; we fail to take measures which we know would prevent disasters, no matter what the environment does. This can be both hard to accept, and hard to unravel. A complex of factors shape disasters. They arise from the political processes dictating where and what we build, and from social circumstances which create and perpetuate poverty and discrimination. They develop from the social preference to blame nature for the damage wrought, when in fact events such as earthquakes and storms are entirely commonplace environmental processes We feel the need to fight natural forces, to reclaim what we assume is ours, and to protect ourselves from what we perceive to be wrath from outside our communities. This attitude distracts us from the real causes of disasters: humanity's decisions, as societies and as individuals. It stops us accepting the real solutions to disasters: making better decisions. This book explores stories of some of our worst disasters to show how we can and should act to stop people dying when nature unleashes its energies. The disaster is not the tornado, the volcanic eruption, or climate change, but the deaths and injuries, the loss of irreplaceable property, and the lack and even denial of support to affected people, so that a short-term interruption becomes a long-term recovery nightmare. But we can combat this, as Kelman shows, describing inspiring examples of effective human action that limits damage, such as managing flooding in Toronto and villages in Bangladesh, or wildfire in Colorado. Throughout, his message is clear: there is no such thing as a natural disaster. The disaster lies in our inability to deal with the environment and with ourselves.

The Unthinkable (Revised and Updated)

Download The Unthinkable (Revised and Updated) PDF Online Free

Author :
Publisher : Harmony
ISBN 13 : 0593796721
Total Pages : 433 pages
Book Rating : 4.5/5 (937 download)

DOWNLOAD NOW!


Book Synopsis The Unthinkable (Revised and Updated) by : Amanda Ripley

Download or read book The Unthinkable (Revised and Updated) written by Amanda Ripley and published by Harmony. This book was released on 2024-08-20 with total page 433 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Unlock the secrets of survival with this riveting expedition into the science of disaster—now revised and updated to address the pandemic, the role of social media in disaster response, and more—from the New York Times bestselling author of The Smartest Kids in the World “The thinking person’s manual for getting out alive.”—NPR’s “Book Tour” “A must read . . . We need books like this to help us understand the world in which we live.”—Nassim Nicholas Taleb, author of The Black Swan and Fooled by Randomness Disaster can come in many forms, from earthquakes and wildfires to pandemics and acts of terror. Afterward, when the dust settles and the survivors emerge, we can’t help but wonder: Why did they live when so many others perished? In The Unthinkable, prize-winning journalist Amanda Ripley, who has covered some of the most devastating disasters of our age, sets out to find the answers. To understand the human reaction to chaos and imminent danger, she turns to leading brain scientists, trauma psychologists, and other disaster experts—from a Holocaust survivor who studies heroism to a master gunfighter who learned to overcome extreme fear. Along the way, we learn about the perils of crowd psychology, the elegance of the brain’s fear circuits, how leaders can build trust quickly, and other invisible factors that can make the difference between death and survival. A fascinating combination of neuroscience, firsthand accounts, and thrilling investigative journalism, this book is for anyone who has ever wondered how they would respond in a life-and-death situation—or wanted to increase their odds of survival. This new edition updates all the original research and features timely material on enormous, slow-moving disasters such as pandemics and climate catastrophes. Most important, it reveals the brain’s ability to do much better—with a little help.

Beautiful Disaster Signed Limited Edition

Download Beautiful Disaster Signed Limited Edition PDF Online Free

Author :
Publisher : Simon and Schuster
ISBN 13 : 1476719071
Total Pages : 416 pages
Book Rating : 4.4/5 (767 download)

DOWNLOAD NOW!


Book Synopsis Beautiful Disaster Signed Limited Edition by : Jamie McGuire

Download or read book Beautiful Disaster Signed Limited Edition written by Jamie McGuire and published by Simon and Schuster. This book was released on 2012-11-27 with total page 416 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Abby Abernathy is re-inventing herself as the good girl as she begins her freshman year at college, which is why she must resist lean, cut, and tattooed Travis Maddox, a classic bad boy.

Crisis, Pursued by Disaster, Followed Closely by Catastrophe

Download Crisis, Pursued by Disaster, Followed Closely by Catastrophe PDF Online Free

Author :
Publisher : Random House
ISBN 13 : 0307555437
Total Pages : 304 pages
Book Rating : 4.3/5 (75 download)

DOWNLOAD NOW!


Book Synopsis Crisis, Pursued by Disaster, Followed Closely by Catastrophe by : Mike O'Connor

Download or read book Crisis, Pursued by Disaster, Followed Closely by Catastrophe written by Mike O'Connor and published by Random House. This book was released on 2009-03-04 with total page 304 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Throughout his childhood, Mike O’Connor’s family pretended to be normal. But Mike and his two younger sisters knew that their parents were hiding something–a secret they didn’t dare talk about. The family appeared to be no different from any of their small-town Texas neighbors–that is, until suddenly, the O’Connor’s would flee, leaving with only a few hours’ notice, abandoning houses and pets and possessions and running across the border to Mexico. For all of Mike’s adolescence, O’Connor family life alternated between relative comfort and abject poverty–sometimes within a matter of days. From living in a Texas ranch house to living in two rented rooms in an impoverished Mexican village, the O’Connors never knew what lay ahead–only that they must not draw attention to themselves. Though their parents steadfastly denied it, the children knew that something was chasing them–a past that hovered like an invisible enemy, always waiting to strike, always in pursuit. But it was not until much later, after his parents’ deaths, that Mike O’Connor, now an investigative reporter, was able to uncover the truth about his family’s past. As the secrets were unlocked one by one and the long trail of deception unfurled, Mike faced the heart-wrenching ramifications of his parents’ actions–and made a discovery that shook his family loyalty to its core. Full of incredible details of a life lived on both sides of the border, in near-poverty and near-wealth, Mike O’Connor’s account is a real-life suspense story of childhood mysteries and strange circumstances that will enthrall readers to its very end.

At Risk

Download At Risk PDF Online Free

Author :
Publisher : Routledge
ISBN 13 : 1134528612
Total Pages : 492 pages
Book Rating : 4.1/5 (345 download)

DOWNLOAD NOW!


Book Synopsis At Risk by : Piers Blaikie

Download or read book At Risk written by Piers Blaikie and published by Routledge. This book was released on 2014-01-21 with total page 492 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The term 'natural disaster' is often used to refer to natural events such as earthquakes, hurricanes or floods. However, the phrase 'natural disaster' suggests an uncritical acceptance of a deeply engrained ideological and cultural myth. At Risk questions this myth and argues that extreme natural events are not disasters until a vulnerable group of people is exposed. The updated new edition confronts a further ten years of ever more expensive and deadly disasters and discusses disaster not as an aberration, but as a signal failure of mainstream 'development'. Two analytical models are provided as tools for understanding vulnerability. One links remote and distant 'root causes' to 'unsafe conditions' in a 'progression of vulnerability'. The other uses the concepts of 'access' and 'livelihood' to understand why some households are more vulnerable than others. Examining key natural events and incorporating strategies to create a safer world, this revised edition is an important resource for those involved in the fields of environment and development studies.

The Ostrich Paradox

Download The Ostrich Paradox PDF Online Free

Author :
Publisher : University of Pennsylvania Press
ISBN 13 : 1613630794
Total Pages : 133 pages
Book Rating : 4.6/5 (136 download)

DOWNLOAD NOW!


Book Synopsis The Ostrich Paradox by : Robert Meyer

Download or read book The Ostrich Paradox written by Robert Meyer and published by University of Pennsylvania Press. This book was released on 2017-02-07 with total page 133 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: "The Ostrich Paradox boldly addresses a key question of our time: Why are we humans so poor at dealing with disastrous risks, and what can we humans do about it? It is a must-read for everyone who cares about risk." —Daniel Kahneman, winner of the Nobel Prize in Economics and author of Thinking, Fast and Slow We fail to evacuate when advised. We rebuild in flood zones. We don't wear helmets. We fail to purchase insurance. We would rather avoid the risk of "crying wolf" than sound an alarm. Our ability to foresee and protect against natural catastrophes has never been greater; yet, we consistently fail to heed the warnings and protect ourselves and our communities, with devastating consequences. What explains this contradiction? In The Ostrich Paradox, Wharton professors Robert Meyer and Howard Kunreuther draw on years of teaching and research to explain why disaster preparedness efforts consistently fall short. Filled with heartbreaking stories of loss and resilience, the book addresses: •How people make decisions when confronted with high-consequence, low-probability events—and how these decisions can go awry •The 6 biases that lead individuals, communities, and institutions to make grave errors that cost lives •The Behavioral Risk Audit, a systematic approach for improving preparedness by recognizing these biases and designing strategies that anticipate them •Why, if we are to be better prepared for disasters, we need to learn to be more like ostriches, not less Fast-reading and critically important, The Ostrich Paradox is a must-read for anyone who wants to understand why we consistently underprepare for disasters, as well as private and public leaders, planners, and policy-makers who want to build more prepared communities.

Blueprint for Disaster

Download Blueprint for Disaster PDF Online Free

Author :
Publisher : University of Chicago Press
ISBN 13 : 0226360873
Total Pages : 392 pages
Book Rating : 4.2/5 (263 download)

DOWNLOAD NOW!


Book Synopsis Blueprint for Disaster by : D. Bradford Hunt

Download or read book Blueprint for Disaster written by D. Bradford Hunt and published by University of Chicago Press. This book was released on 2009-08-01 with total page 392 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Now considered a dysfunctional mess, Chicago’s public housing projects once had long waiting lists of would-be residents hoping to leave the slums behind. So what went wrong? To answer this complicated question, D. Bradford Hunt traces public housing’s history in Chicago from its New Deal roots through current mayor Richard M. Daley’s Plan for Transformation. In the process, he chronicles the Chicago Housing Authority’s own transformation from the city’s most progressive government agency to its largest slumlord. Challenging explanations that attribute the projects’ decline primarily to racial discrimination and real estate interests, Hunt argues that well-intentioned but misguided policy decisions—ranging from design choices to maintenance contracts—also paved the road to failure. Moreover, administrators who fully understood the potential drawbacks did not try to halt such deeply flawed projects as Cabrini-Green and the Robert Taylor Homes. These massive high-rise complexes housed unprecedented numbers of children but relatively few adults, engendering disorder that pushed out the working class and, consequently, the rents needed to maintain the buildings. The resulting combination of fiscal crisis, managerial incompetence, and social unrest plunged the CHA into a quagmire from which it is still struggling to emerge. Blueprint for Disaster, then,is an urgent reminder of the havoc poorly conceived policy can wreak on our most vulnerable citizens.