Human vulnerability to natural disasters is an age-old phenomenon. Besides nature~s wrath, human interventions, too, have led to many calamities in the recent past. The heedless pace of development has left us ecologically barren. Most of the world~s people live in ~developing~ economies, as do most of the world~s poor. They also face the most debilitating consequences in the form of economic and social disruption caused by disasters. The long history of disasters and their intensity has brought the question of disaster management to the forefront. Disaster mitigation is a major component of a disaster management plan. Mitigation entails measures to reduce the physical, economic and social vulnerability of a community to disasters.
Disaster management is still an untouched domain, suffering for want of systematic and committed research and development inputs. It is essential not only to consolidate its academic stature but also to infuse the requisite knowledge, skills and attitudes in the personnel connected with this field. This collection of articles from several contributors is an excellent analysis of different mitigation strategies. It offers insight into the different dimensions of disaster preparedness and mitigation. The underlying attempt in each chapter is to illuminate the pertinence of those mitigation efforts that would prepare everyone related with disaster management to comprehend and approach the problem more holistically.
Besides government agencies, NGOs, and community-based bodies, the book is suitable for students pursuing the certificate programme in Disaster Management developed by the Indira Gandhi National Open University, New Delhi.
PARDEEP SAHNI,is Professor of Public Administration at the Indira Gandhi National Open University (IGNOU). He also holds the additional charge of the Head, Material Production and Distribution Division of the university. Prior to joining IGNOU, he served with the Punjabi University, Patiala and the Haryana Institute of Public Administration, Chandigarh. He has over 32 years of experience in teaching and research. In addition to being the author of seven books, he has published a number of research papers and articles in reputed Indian and foreign journals. He received his M.Phil. and Ph.D. from Punjabi University, Patiala. Prof. Sahni, along with his colleagues, has shown pioneering initiative in developing courses and undertaking extension activities in the field of disaster management. He has also been a consultant in disaster management for the Disasters Emergency Committee, UNDP and the World Bank. He is involved in the development of Postgraduate Diploma in Disaster Management and the Masters Programme in Public Administration, both courses being conducted by IGNOU.
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ALKA DHAMEJA, Ph.D., Reader in the Faculty of Public Administration, IGNOU, having long teaching and research experience. |
UMA MEDURY, Ph.D., Reader in the Faculty of Public Administration, IGNOU, having long teaching and research experience.
