Nature : Natural Disasters

Introduction Increasing conflagrations of forests and other lands throughout the world during the 1980s and 1990s have made fires in forest and other vegetation emerge as an important global concern. Both the number and severity of wildfires (accidental fires) and the application of fire for land-use change, seem to have increased dramatically compared to previous decades of the twentieth century. The adverse consequences of extensive wildfires cross national boundaries and have global impacts. Fire regimes are changing with climate variability and population dynamics. Satellite remote sensing technology has the potential to play an important role for monitoring fires and their consequences, as well as in operational fire management. In response to this need as well as to respond to other needs for more rapid progress in forest observation, in 1997 the Committee on Earth Observation Satellites (CEOS) initiated Global Observation of Forest Cover (GOFC) as an international pilot project to test the concepts of an Integrated Global Observing System. The GOFC program is currently part of the Global Terrestrial Observing System (GTOS). GOFC was designed to bring together data providers and information users to make information products from satellite and in-situ observations of forests more readily available worldwide. Fire Monitoring and Mapping was formed as one of three basic components of GOFC. This book contains eighteen contributions authored by scientists who represent the most active international research and development institutions, aiming at coordinating and improving international efforts for user-oriented systems and products. These papers were initially presented at a GOFC Fire Workshop held at the Joint Research Centre, Ispra. The volume is a contribution of the GOFC Forest Fire Monitoring and Mapping Implementation Team to the Interagency Task Force Working Group Wildland Fire of the UN International Strategy for Disaster Reduction (ISDR). more...

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Esta publicación es una guía práctica que facilita el quehacer de los trabajadores de la salud que laboran en situaciones de emergencia o desastre. Se describen las principales reacciones psicológicas y trastornos mentales que pueden aquejar a las víctimas de desastres, y las pautas para la atención individual o la remisión de quienes requieren asistencia especializada; se incorporan, también, las características más importantes de los problemas psicosociales de la infancia y las pautas para su manejo individual y de grupo. Aborda la situación de los desplazados y los sobrevivientes de los conflictos armados y hace énfasis en los elementos de ayuda humanitaria como pilar fundamental de los planes de ayuda psicosocial. more...

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Try it. Right now. Picture the lights going off in the room you're sitting in. The computer, the air conditioning, phones, everything. Then the people, every last person in your building, on the street outside, the entire neighborhood, vanished. With them go all noises: chitchat, coughs, cars, and that wordless, almost impalpable hum of a city. And animals: no dogs, no birds, not even a cricket's legs rubbing together, not even a smell. Now bump it up to 95 degrees. Turn your radio on and listen to 80 percent of your city drowning. You're almost there. Only twenty-eight days to go. A portion of the author's royalties from this book will go to the Katrina Arts Relief and Emergency Support (KARES) fund, which supports New Orleans-area writers affected by the storm.Visit www.NewOrleansLiteraryInstitute.com to find out how to make a direct and positive impact on the region. more...

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This book provides guidelines to manage this process. It points out that countries and organizations should incorporate the topic of logistics into their planning and preparedness for disasters. It also underlines the fact that each step in the supply chain should be seen as a critical and interrelated link. Published jointly by PAHO and WHO, this book is the result of many years of practical experience (especially thanks to the use of the SUMA methodology). Despite the fact that it places emphasis on drugs and pharmaceutical supplies, the techniques and procedures that it proposes are multisectoral in nature and can be used in any type of emergency operation. more...

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Esta guía de campo para personal no especializado ofrece orientaciones prácticas que facilitarán la recuperación, identificación básica, almacenamiento, la disposición, y en conjunto, la gestión adecuada de los cadáveres después de los desastres. También hace sugerencias sobre la forma de brindar ayuda a los familiares y de comunicarse con el público en general y con los medios de comunicación. more...

Price: $16.00