Disaster Risk Management

Foreword

The Challenges of Disaster Risk Management¹

Arnold M. Howitt

Harvard University and Tsinghua University

 

 

The chapters in this volume bring into sharp relief the ongoing challenges of preparing South Asia for the multiple disasters—typhoons, earthquakes, tsunamis, landslides, floods, droughts, and more—that threaten lives, livelihoods, property, community life, culture, and the environment. That focus is vitally needed. We live in an era in which, on the one hand, significant progress has been made in concentrating the attention of local, national, and international actors preparing for and managing the risks of disaster. On the other hand, disasters have increased in frequency and intensified because of changing patterns of human ...