Disaster management is a process or strategy that is implemented when
any type of catastrophic event takes place. The process may be initiated
when anything threatens to disrupt normal operations or puts the lives
of human beings at risk. Governments on all levels as well as many
businesses create some sort of disaster plan that make it possible to
overcome the catastrophe and return to normal function as quickly as
possible. Response to natural disasters (e.g., floods, earthquakes) or
technological disaster (e.g., nuclear, chemical) is an extreme complex
process that involves severe time pressure, various uncertainties, high
non-linearity and many stakeholders. Disaster management often requires
several autonomous agencies to collaboratively mitigate, prepare,
respond, and recover from heterogeneous and dynamic sets of hazards to
society. Almost all disasters involve high degrees of novelty to deal
with most unexpected various uncertainties and dynamic time pressures.
Existing studies and approaches within disaster management have mainly
been focused on some specific type of disasters with certain agency
oriented. There is a lack of a general framework to deal with
similarities and synergies among different disasters by taking their
specific features into account. This book provides with various
decisions analysis theories and support tools in complex systems in
general and in disaster management in particular. The book is also
generated during a long-term preparation of a European project proposal
among most leading experts in the areas related to the book title.
Chapters are evaluated based on quality and originality in theory and
methodology, application oriented, relevance to the title of the book.
