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  • © 2016

Disaster Forensics

Understanding Root Cause and Complex Causality

  • Presents state of the art ‘forensic analysis’ approaches to understanding the root causes of disasters and thereby presents insights in preventing, preparing for and managing disasters
  • Shows how disasters can be avoided through knowledge-based actions
  • Stresses the importance of a global, multi-disciplinary approach to dealing with the challenges brought by natural disasters
  • Includes supplementary material: sn.pub/extras

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Table of contents (16 chapters)

  1. Front Matter

    Pages i-xvii
  2. Heroes and Villains in Complex Socio-technical Systems

    • Jonathan Gao, Sidney Dekker
    Pages 47-62
  3. Climate Change and Disaster Forensics

    • Ross Prizzia
    Pages 223-247
  4. Staying Alive in the Business of Terror

    • Gisela Bichler, Stacy Bush
    Pages 271-294

About this book

This book aims to uncover the root causes of natural and man-made disasters by going beyond the typical reports and case studies conducted post-disaster. It opens the black box of disasters by presenting ‘forensic analysis approaches’ to disasters, thereby revealing the complex causality that characterizes them and explaining how and why hazards do, or do not, become disasters. This yields ‘systemic’ strategies for managing disasters.
Recently the global threat landscape has seen the emergence of high impact, low probability events. Events like Hurricane Katrina, the Great Japan Earthquake and tsunami, Hurricane Sandy, Super Typhoon Haiyan, global terrorist activities have become the new norm. Extreme events challenge our understanding regarding the interdependencies and complexity of the disaster aetiology and are often referred to as Black Swans. Between 2002 and 2011, there were 4130 disasters recorded that resulted from natural hazards around the world. In these, 1,117,527 people perished and a minimum of US$1,195 billion in losses were reported. In the year 2011 alone, 302 disasters claimed 29,782 lives; affected 206 million people and inflicted damages worth a minimum of estimated US$366 billion.

Editors and Affiliations

  • Centre for Security Science , OTTAWA, Canada

    Anthony J. Masys

Bibliographic Information

Buy it now

Buying options

eBook USD 129.00
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as EPUB and PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
Softcover Book USD 169.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Compact, lightweight edition
  • Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
  • Free shipping worldwide - see info
Hardcover Book USD 169.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Durable hardcover edition
  • Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
  • Free shipping worldwide - see info

Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout

Other ways to access