Includes bibliographical references (pages 199-218) and index.

Print version record.

Front Cover ; Disaster Prevention Policies: A Challenging and Critical Outlook ; Copyright; Contents; Foreword; Introduction; Part 1. Disaster Prevention Policies: Paradoxical and Ambiguous Assessments; Chapter 1. The Rise in Knowledge and Policies Suggest an Increase in Disasters; 1.1. According to the EM-DAT and DesInventar databases, the number of disasters would increase; 1.2. Disaster prevention policies are proliferating on every scale; 1.3. Research on disasters and their prevention is also increasing; Chapter 2. The Contributions to Disaster Prevention are Difficult to Assess.

2.1. Disasters are not increasing according to all databases2.2. Not necessarily more disasters, but definitely more to lose; 2.3. There is not always more mortality associated with disasters; 2.4. The markets interested in disaster prevention; Part 2. Understanding and Managing Disaster Risk: The Multiple Limits of Specialized Approaches; Chapter 3. The Limits of Understanding Disasters; 3.1. The place and status of inherent uncertainty in databases; 3.2. Disaster risk: ambiguous definitions; 3.3. The difficult search for a conceptual model of disaster prevention.

Chapter 4. The Limits of Disaster Prevention: Returns on Management Experiences4.1. Returns on experience demonstrate the universal character of the limits; 4.2. Dike risk in France: an example of unintended consequences; 4.3. Segmentation and politicization of risk management in Ecuador; Part 3 Why and How Does the Prevention of Disasters Necessitate Thinking and Acting in an Imperfect World?; Chapter 5. The Principle of Cognitive Limits: Its Application to Disaster Prevention; 5.1. The analytical basis: the Cartesian method and the fragmentation of notions.

5.2. Reconstitution of the analytical foundation: Pascal and the systemic attempts5.3. The limitations of analytical reconstitution: Bergson's intuition; Chapter 6. Bridging the Gap between Disaster Prevention and Environmental Concerns; 6.1. The gradual contributions of environmental interpretations to disaster prevention ; 6.2. Advantages and disadvantages for the increase in complexity for disaster prevention; Chapter 7. Reflections upon the Contribution of Social Geography to Disaster Prevention; 7.1. What epistemologies are necessary to develop environmental knowledge?

7.2. Under what conditions do social sciences contribute to disaster prevention?7.3. What contributions do social sciences make to both disaster prevention and acting in an imperfect world?; Chapter 8. How Can We Best Manage Disasters?; 8.1. The knowledge management systems' contributions to disaster prevention policies; 8.2. Resistance to prevention policies: poverty and power relations, lifelong obstacles; 8.3. Evolution or revolution? The dilemma of Pahl-Wostl; Conclusion; Bibliography; Index; Back Cover.

This book addresses disaster risk reduction (DRR) policies, focusing on reducing the paradox that exists between the compulsory implementation of DRR policies and continuing limitations.