Great disasters and horrors in the world's history,

Mode of access: Internet.

Narrative of the Texan Santa Fé expedition : Comprising a tour through Texas with an account of the disasters that the expedition encountered for want of food, and by attacks of Indians : the final capture of the Texians, and their sufferings as prisoners in Mexico /

Mode of access: Internet.

Disasters in water development : some of the most economically wasteful and environmentally destructive projects of the Corps of Engineers, the Bureau of Reclamation, and the Tennessee Valley Authority /

"This draft report represents five years of work by the National Water Commission studying all the nation's water problems and needs."

The End of Everest? Reimagining Himalayan Adventure Travel in an Age of Unnatural Disasters

Himalayan adventure travel is a burgeoning industry in some mountainous regions of Nepal, India, and the Tibet Autonomous Region of the People‘s Republic of China. The development of a trekking and expedition mountaineering infrastructure has created economic opportunities in remote areas and allowed foreign visitors to embark on life-changing explorations. However, with the industry’s rapid, uneven, and largely unregulated growth have come environmental and resource challenges, the creation of new economic and social arrangements, and renewed questions of equity and safety. The current Himalayan adventure travel paradigm is unsustainable, and I argue that only a profound reimagining of sociopolitical relationships—those between the state, local and global civil society actors, and adventure travel practitioners and participants—will allow it to continue. A series of recent disasters in the mountains may serve as the necessary catalyst for previously underrepresented stakeholders to translate their growing assertiveness into meaningful and durable solutions.

Recovering from Natural Disasters: Helping Museum Employees Return to Workplace Normalcy

Thesis (Master's)--University of Washington, 2016-06

Tourism crisis and disasters: Enhancing understanding of system effects

This paper examines the definitions and conceptual foundations of crises and distinguishes between crises and disasters. It takes a systems view of these concepts and uses the perspective of systems as organizational networks to examine implications for tourism managers. A tourism destination is perceived as consisting of a network of interacting organizations. This perspective questions the boundaries that should be used to study crisis and disasters. The paper also discusses the possibility of a crisis having a positive outcome for a destination.

Sierra : cooperative request-response for resource management in disasters using semantic web principles

Disasters cause widespread harm and disrupt the normal functioning of society, and effective management requires the participation and cooperation of many actors. While advances in information and networking technology have made transmission of data easier than it ever has been before, communication and coordination of activities between actors remain exceptionally difficult. This paper employs semantic web technology and Linked Data principles to create a network of intercommunicating and inter-dependent on-line sites for managing resources. Each site publishes available resources openly and a lightweight opendata protocol is used to request and respond to requests for resources between sites in the network.

Culture and the psychological impacts of natural disasters: Implications for disaster management and disaster mental health

In recent decades, natural disasters have caused extensive losses and damages to human psychological wellbeing, economy, and society. It has been argued that cultural factors such as social values, traditions, and attachment to a location influence communities facing and responding to natural disasters. However, the issue of culture in disaster mental health seems to have received limited attention in policy and practice. This review highlights the importance of cultural background in the assessment of vulnerability to the psychological impacts of disasters, disaster preparedness, and provision of disaster mental health services. In particular, this paper suggests the importance of cultural competence in the planning and delivery of effective disaster mental health services. In order to address the varying circumstances of people with different cultural backgrounds, disaster mental health services must be developed in a culturally sensitive manner. Development of culturally competent disaster mental health services requires significant changes in policy making, administration, and direct service provision

Contradictions inherent in the management of natural and industrial disasters

These days people keep wondering whether the world is more dangerous now than it was before. Do natural disasters really happen more frequently or is it just that the damage they cause that has become greater? The situation is not quite clear. As a result of the globalizing world and advanced communication infrastructure, the number of known / reported catastrophes is relatively high, but that does not necessarily mean there has been an actual increase in frequency. The red mud spill in Hungary was a special combination of industrial and natural disasters. This is one of the reasons why it is very hard to pinpoint who is responsible for the event. Natural disasters tend to raise questions about responsibility that are different from those concerning industrial catastrophes. Interestingly enough, however, nature often plays an important role in industrial disasters. The present article is concerned with how the issues of responsibility are handled in the case of industrial disasters.

A State and Territorial Survey Regarding Utilization of Environmental Health Shelter Assessments during Disasters, and a Secondary Analysis of Available Shelter Assessment Data

Disasters are complex events characterized by damage to key infrastructure and population displacements into disaster shelters. Assessing the living environment in shelters during disasters is a crucial health security concern. Until now, jurisdictional knowledge and preparedness on those assessment methods, or deficiencies found in shelters is limited. A cross-sectional survey (STUSA survey) ascertained knowledge and preparedness for those assessments in all 50 states, DC, and 5 US territories. Descriptive analysis of overall knowledge and preparedness was performed. Fisher’s exact statistics analyzed differences between two groups: jurisdiction type and population size. Two logistic regression models analyzed earthquakes and hurricane risks as predictors of knowledge and preparedness. A convenience sample of state shelter assessments records (n=116) was analyzed to describe environmental health deficiencies found during selected events. Overall, 55 (98%) of jurisdictions responded (states and territories) and appeared to be knowledgeable of these assessments (states 92%, territories 100%, p = 1.000), and engaged in disaster planning with shelter partners (states 96%, territories 83%, p = 0.564). Few had shelter assessment procedures (states 53%, territories 50%, p = 1.000); or training in disaster shelter assessments (states 41%, 60% territories, p = 0.638). Knowledge or preparedness was not predicted by disaster risks, population size, and jurisdiction type in neither model. Knowledge: hurricane (Adjusted OR 0.69, 95% C.I. 0.06-7.88); earthquake (OR 0.82, 95% C.I. 0.17-4.06); and both risks (OR 1.44, 95% C.I. 0.24-8.63); preparedness model: hurricane (OR 1.91, 95% C.I. 0.06-20.69); earthquake (OR 0.47, 95% C.I. 0.7-3.17); and both risks (OR 0.50, 95% C.I. 0.06-3.94). Environmental health deficiencies documented in shelter assessments occurred mostly in: sanitation (30%); facility (17%); food (15%); and sleeping areas (12%); and during ice storms and tornadoes. More research is needed in the area of environmental health assessments of disaster shelters, particularly, in those areas that may provide better insight into the living environment of all shelter occupants and potential effects in disaster morbidity and mortality. Also, to evaluate the effectiveness and usefulness of these assessments methods and the data available on environmental health deficiencies in risk management to protect those at greater risk in shelter facilities during disasters.