Disasters are a major challenge for countries across the globe. Current debates on climate change focus both on extreme weather events that trigger disasters and their long-term variability. Effective disaster prevention requires detailed understanding of and learning from past disasters and the implementation of adaptation strategies in order to mitigate or control disasters resulting from climatic changes already under way.
Disaster prevention and preventive adaptation strategies present a complex challenge. Predicting climatic changes is not enough: we need scenarios that describe the probable effects of these changes on local climates and sea levels. Just as important is the implementation of technical and organizational changes in order to prevent, or at least mitigate, the impact of disasters. This book addresses the complexity and the multidisciplinarity of this challenge.