"Reducing risk that emerges from hazards of natural origin and societal vulnerability is a key challenge for the development of more resilient communities and the overall goal of sustainable development. Newest global assessment reports (GAR 2011, Welle et al. 2012; IPCC 2013) underscore that risk reduction and resilience building remains a key challenge for developing and developed countries alike particularly due to the increasing exposure of people and assets in high risk zones and the intensification of extreme events in the context of climate change (see e.g. IPCC 2013). It is increasingly recognized that natural hazard associated risk and threats to human security cannot be reduced by focusing solely on the hazards. Societies will have to live with changing environmental conditions and therefore need to build resilience by reducing vulnerabilities to natural hazards. Vulnerability assessment of natural hazards and climate change has emerged in the past decades as an important research field (see e.g., Maskrey, 1984; Chambers, 1989; Pelling, 1997; Cardona, 2001; Birkmann, 2006a/b; Adger, 2006; IPCC, 2007; Bohle, 2008; Bohle and Glade, 2008; Oxfam America, 2009, Birkmann 2013) bringing together scientists from different disciplines (Fuchs, 2009)"-- Provided by publisher.

Print version record.

Front Cover; Assessment of Vulnerability to Natural Hazards: A European Perspective; Copyright; Contents; Contributors; Introduction; Vulnerability: a key determinant of risk and its importance for risk management and sustainability; Chapter 1 -- Theoretical and Conceptual Framework for the Assessment of Vulnerability to Natural Hazards and Climate Change in Europe1: The MOVE Framework; 1.1 INTRODUCTION; 1.2 RISK, VULNERABILITY, AND ADAPTATION TO NATURAL HAZARDS; 1.3 MULTIDIMENSIONAL AND HOLISTIC PERSPECTIVE: THE MOVE FRAMEWORK; 1.4 THE APPLICATION: CRITERIA AND INDICATORS.

1.5 CHALLENGES AND OUTLOOKREFERENCES; Chapter 2 -- Holistic Evaluation of Seismic Risk in Barcelona; 2.1 INTRODUCTION; 2.2 DESCRIPTION OF THE CITY; 2.3 LOCAL SEISMIC HAZARD; 2.4 METHODOLOGY OF SEISMIC RISK ASSESSMENT; 2.5 HOLISTIC RISK EVALUATION; 2.6 EVALUATION OF THE RISK MANAGEMENT PERFORMANCE; 2.7 CONCLUSIONS; REFERENCES; Chapter 3 -- Spatial and Holistic Assessment of Social, Economic, and Environmental Vulnerability to Floods-Lessons from the Salzach River Basin, Austria; 3.1 INTRODUCTION AND BACKGROUND; 3.2 ASSESSING VULNERABILITY-FROM CONCEPTS TO MEASURABLE AND MEANINGFUL SPATIAL UNITS.

3.3 INDICATORS FOR MULTIPLE VULNERABILITY DIMENSIONS3.4 RESULTS; 3.5 DISCUSSION; 3.6 CONCLUSIONS AND RECOMMENDATIONS; ACKNOWLEDGMENTS; REFERENCES; Chapter 4 -- Vulnerability to Earthquakes and Floods of the Healthcare System in Florence, Italy; 4.1 INTRODUCTION AND BACKGROUND; 4.2 MATERIAL AND METHODS; 4.3 RESULTS; 4.4 CONCLUSION; REFERENCES; Chapter 5 -- Vulnerability Assessment to Heat Waves, Floods, and Earthquakes Using the MOVE Framework: Test Case Cologne, Germany; 5.1 INTRODUCTION; 5.2 NATURAL HAZARDS WITHIN THE STUDY AREA; 5.3 VULNERABILITY ASSESSMENT WITHIN COLOGNE: METHODS.

5.4 RESULTS5.5 DISCUSSION AND CONCLUSION; REFERENCES; Chapter 6 -- Vulnerability to Drought and Heatwave in London: Revealing Institutionally Configured Risk; 6.1 CASE STUDY DESCRIPTION; 6.2 HAZARDS; 6.3 VULNERABILITY ASSESSMENT METHODS; 6.4 INDICATORS; 6.5 RESULTS AND VALIDATION; 6.6 DISCUSSION; 6.7 CONCLUSIONS AND RECOMMENDATIONS; REFERENCES; Chapter 7 -- Comprehensive Vulnerability Assessment of Forest Fires and Coastal Erosion: Evidences from Case-Study Analysis in Portugal; 7.1 VALIDATION OF THE VULNERABILITY FRAMEWORK: METHODOLOGICAL QUESTIONS; 7.2 HAZARDS CHARACTERIZATION.

7.3 VULNERABILITY ASSESSMENT METHODS7.4 INDICATORS DESCRIPTION; 7.5 RESULTS; 7.6 DISCUSSION; 7.7 CONCLUSIONS AND RECOMMENDATIONS; REFERENCES; Chapter 8 -- Vulnerability to Heat Waves, Floods, and Landslides in Mountainous Terrain: Test Cases in South Tyrol; 8.1 INTRODUCTION; 8.2 LANDSLIDES; 8.3 FLOODS; 8.4 HEAT WAVES; 8.5 CONCLUSIONS AND RECOMMENDATIONS; REFERENCES; Chapter 9 -- Conclusion: Assessing Vulnerability in Europe and the World; 9.1 REDEFINING CONCEPTS AND MAKING CONNECTIONS; 9.2 BRIDGING THE HUMAN-PHYSICAL GAP; 9.3 THE COMPONENTS OF VULNERABILITY.