What can we learn from the spatial patterns of disasters? What human and structural factors need to be addressed to explain hazard vulnerability? As populations grow and the climate warms, how can natural hazards be mitigated? Thoroughly revised and updated, and now with a more global perspective, the second edition of this accessible text provides an integrated framework for understanding and managing natural hazards. Numerous case studies from around the world illustrate the complexities of extreme geophysical events and highlight their physical, social, political, and economic dimensions. The text identifies essential principles for tackling the fundamental causes of differential vulnerabilities that perpetuate human distress, and for promoting recovery and resilience.
 
New to This Edition
*New frameworks for understanding human resilience and adaptive capacity in recovery, dynamics of risk and uncertainty, and more.
*Chapter on spatial and temporal aspects of hazards. 
*Discussions of cutting-edge topics, such as chronic disasters, controversies in international aid, and how hazards affect regions differentially.
*Many new case studies, including Hurricanes Katrina and Charley, Superstorm Sandy, the 2011 Japan tsunami, Ecuador's chronic volcanic hazard, and others.
*Reflects 20 years of research advances across the physical and social sciences, development trends, new technologies, and ongoing global climate change.
 

Burrell E. Montz, PhD, is Professor of Geography in the Department of Geography, Planning, and Environment at East Carolina University. Throughout her career, she has been involved in teaching and research on natural hazards, water resources management, and environmental impact analysis. She has addressed such topics as the effects of flooding on property values, perceptions of risk, and responses to warnings. Dr. Montz has worked in Slovenia and New Zealand, as well as numerous locations throughout the United States.
 
Graham A. Tobin, PhD, is Professor of Geography in the School of Geosciences at the University of South Florida. His research focuses on natural hazards and water resources, addressing issues of human vulnerability, community sustainability and resilience, hazard perception and social networks, environmental impacts, and health conditions in disaster-prone environments. Dr. Tobin has conducted investigations in the United States, United Kingdom, Ecuador, Mexico, and New Zealand, centered on disaster outcomes, evacuation strategies, and recovery associated with floods, hurricanes, volcanic eruptions, and earthquakes.
 
Ronald R. Hagelman III, PhD, is Associate Professor and Associate Chair of the Department of Geography at Texas State University. His research interests include natural hazards, disaster reconstruction, historical geography of disasters, urban environmental management, and local food systems. Dr. Hagelman's research, primarily conducted in the U.S. Gulf Coast region, investigates human/social response to acute and chronic changes to environmental conditions. These have included climate change planning, recovery and reconstruction following natural disasters, and sustainability trends in urban environmental management.

1. Natural Hazards and Disasters: When Potential Becomes Reality
2. Physical Dimensions of Natural Hazards
3. Spatial and Temporal Characteristics of Natural Hazards
4. Perception Studies: The Individual in Natural Hazards
5. Behavioral Studies: Community Attitudes and Adjustment
6. Public Policy and Natural Hazards
7. The Economic Impacts of Hazards and Disasters
8. Risk Assessment
9. An Integrated Approach to Natural Hazards