Review of Curbing Catastrophe: Natural Hazards and Risk Reduction in the Modern World

Abstract

Timothy H. Dixon. 2017. Curbing Catastrophe: Natural Hazards and Risk Reduction in the Modern World. (New York, NY: Cambridge University Press) 300 pp. ISBN 978-1108113663. In Curbing Catastrophe, Timothy H. Dixon explores commonalities among natural disasters like Hurricane Katrina, the 2010 earthquake in Haiti, and the meltdown at Fukushima. He identifies communication failure between scientists and policy makers as a major culprit in the devastation that results from such events and offers strategies for improving that communication. He includes optional in-depth scientific and quantitative examinations of the events and the resulting devastation, making the book appropriate for use in teaching as well as for recreational reading.

Keywords

• global warming
• climate change
• natural disaster
• geology
• Fukushima
• Hurricane Katrina
• earthquakes
• tsunamis
• hurricanes
• nuclear power
• coal