Vulnerability and Resilience to Natural Hazards

A comprehensive overview of the concepts of vulnerability and resilience for natural hazards research for both physical and social scientists.

Sven Fuchs (Edited by), Thomas Thaler (Edited by)

9781107154896, Cambridge University Press

Hardback, published 22 March 2018

350 pages
25.3 x 17.8 x 2 cm, 0.89 kg

'Although being widely used in both risk research and management, the concepts of vulnerability and, particularly, resilience are the subject of ongoing debate with respect to their definition as well as their operationalisation. In this intense discourse, few publications have aimed at a systematic view. Against this backdrop, the present book offers a comprehensive and multifaceted approach, and provides an important and timely contribution to the discussion on the relation between the concepts of vulnerability and resilience. Particularly the aspects of scale and time dependence will provide food for thought on their future role in science and practice.' Jakob Rhyner, United Nations University, Bonn

In recent years there has been growing recognition that disaster risk cannot be reduced by focusing solely on physical hazards without considering factors that influence socio-economic impact. Vulnerability: the susceptibility to the damaging impacts of hazards, and resilience: the ability to recover, have become popular concepts in natural hazard and risk management. This book provides a comprehensive overview of the concepts of vulnerability and resilience and their application to natural hazards research. With contributions from both physical and social scientists it provides an interdisciplinary discussion of the different types of vulnerability and resilience, the links between them, and concludes with the remaining challenges and future directions of the field. Examining global case studies from the US coast to Austria, this is a valuable reference for researchers and graduate students working in natural hazard and risk reduction from both the natural and social sciences.

1. Introduction Sven Fuchs and Thomas Thaler
2. Vulnerability: an introduction Alexander Fekete and Burrell Montz
3. Physical vulnerability Sven Fuchs, Tim Frazier and Laura Siebeneck
4. Social vulnerability Christopher Burton, Samuel Rufat and Eric Tate
5. Economic vulnerability Thomas Thaler and Brenden Jongman
6. Institutional vulnerability Maria Papathoma-Köhle and Thomas Thaler
7. Resilience: an introduction Christopher T. Emrich and Graham A. Tobin
8. Physical resilience Anna Bozza, Domenico Asprone and Gaetano Manfredi
9. Social resilience Gérard Hutter and Daniel F. Lorenz
10. Economic resilience Carlos Dionisio Pérez Blanco, David Adamson and Adam Loch
11. Institutional resilience Samuel D. Brody and Kayode Atoba
12. Linkages between vulnerability and resilience Susan Cutter
13. Synthesis and conclusion Sven Fuchs and Thomas Thaler.

Subject Areas: Natural disasters [RNR], Petrology [RBGG], Volcanology & seismology [RBC], Environmental economics [KCN]