Environmental Hazards
Rating: 
Writing this review just after the tornado has struck Oklahoma, one is reminded of the power of hazards and the importance of studying such phenomena. At the same time one is drawn to the idea that hazards are an essentially anthropocentric view of specific environmental phenomena – they are particular events which threaten property and lives (often taken in that order) – witness we are less concerned about such events in wilderness areas, whereas we are bothered about re-insurance issues).
There are very few texts that can claim to have spanned the birth and growth of a sub-discipline and it says something about the overall quality and perspective of this text that it remains one of the key books on the subject. As he notes in the introduction, most of the framework of the book has been kept between editions (having reviewed a couple of previous editions this can be confirmed!) but the information and cases have expanded.
The text is divided into two sections. The first section looks at the nature of hazards – how to define, study and manage them. As such it acts as a framework for further study. I have always found this to be important especially in educational settings. By their very nature, hazards are unpredictable and varied. What might be a disaster in one setting causes virtually no damage in another. Given this variability it is important to provide the reader with a set of ideas that allow comparison. The advantage is that we see which types of hazards cause damage, when and how whilst permitting us to have a uniform response to them. We build this idea slowly, starting with a very general overview noting definitions and some of the ways by which hazards can be studied. From here, we move on to disaster data and data recording. Even at this early stage we can see the importance of getting a clear idea of what we are studying. For example, we need to record disasters but we need to do so in a way which best allows analysis and comparison. This requires that we report the same phenomenon the same way, requiring some notion of classification. The next stage is to make sure reporting is accurate ( and timely, as recent examples of Twitter use during disasters attests). These data need to be archived so that trends can be seen (either temporal or spatial). Explanations of these trends should then give rise to careful management.
One of the key problems with hazards is that they are complex events, possibly chaotic. That is to say that slightly different conditions can give rise to considerably different results. The author uses the analogy of DNA to suggest interconnections between the physical and the human and although this does not really capture the picture (it suggests more of a lock-step situation than is the case) it does highlight the two sides of any hazard. What it does is one thing; how we react (or, more likely, are able to react) is another and this is based on a wide range of factors, not least the economics to defend against hazards. Following this we turn towards management. There are two main parts to this: assessing the risk inv9olved and setting the acceptable level of risk. All activities are risky so we need to set an acceptable level. It is this area that many students find the most difficult but it is also one of the best chapters in explaining the situation! We are given ranges of risks, some of which we accept on a daily basis just to be able to move around (car accidents cause more fatalities than hazards), others of which are almost non-existent (large hazards can fall into this category). We cannot stop hazards, only reduce their impact and so we weigh off the costs with the benefits. Floods are a great example of this where the worst areas might be protected from severe floods (e.g. ones dues only once every 25 years on average) whilst anything larger than that will just need to be dealt with when it arrives. Having accepted a level of risk, we can start planning and managing the hazard. If we can’t stop hazards then we can set the level of risk we are prepared to tolerate which means we can then plan to reduce impacts. As responses to hazards become ever more sophisticated, so we have designed a range of reduction techniques from protection, through to mitigation and finally adaptation (it’s interesting, in this context, to see that climate change management has used a similar typology although in this case, it’s a temporal change not a set of options).
These five chapters have given us the framework we need: we’ve defined what we are going to deal with, set measurement levels, realised the complex nature of hazards, considered risk and produced strategies. By this part of the text, we have a solid grounding in the theory of hazards and in the framework needed to describe them. This is an important approach because it allows the reader to build up a way of dealing with the many incidents that can be considered hazardous. The next stage is to apply these ideas to real hazards. Thus part 2 focusses on a range of hazards from earthquakes to technology. For those who wondered why time should be spent providing a framework to study will realise the value of this approach as we read through the range of hazards and the concomitant range of impacts. Each chapter follows the same pattern which is roughly similar to the order of the first five chapters. Let’s take chapter 6 as an example. It looks at earthquakes and tsunamis. We start with a general overview of the nature of earthquakes and then move on to examining the ways in which earthquakes form and how they work. At this stage, the author divides the impacts into two which can prove to be very useful as a teaching aid but also in apportioning aid and finance in real situations. Impacts can be primary (i.e. part of the actual event e.g. a bushfire or a flood) or come along as the impact or aftermath of the event, which we call secondary. It helps us understand which parts of a hazard contribute what sorts of impacts. It’s important to separate out in terms of management too. A final part looks at mitigation and the issues that arise. This format is used to success with all other hazards in the text: volcanoes, mass movement, storms, floods, drought, climate change and finally, technology. A final chapter examines changes in hazards as a response to changing information and expectations.
It is certainly possible to see the earlier texts in this one, not least in the way it is set out and argues it’s case. It is extremely well illustrated in both senses with images and case studies. The idea of “theory” followed by practice is also a crucial factor in reader engagement. Students of hazards need a clear pathway to follow and the creation of a framework prior to examples is a good move. Allied to the quality of writing and production is the availability of extension material. Here, the book does extremely well with each chapter having its bibliography and a set of web links. Overall, this is an excellent edition, well up to past standards. It should be seen as the key text for hazard courses.
