Dorrik A. V. Stow Editor in Chief, Association of Geoscientists for
International Development ( AGID) AGID is particularly pleased to see
published this latest hurricanes, floods-that are wreaking havoc,
destroying report in its Geosciences in International Development
livelihood and lives in some corner of the globe. Series, as a
significant contribution to the onset of the UN As geoscientists there
are perhaps three concerns that Decade of National Disaster Reduction,
and as a mark of should be uppermost in our minds as we join an inter-
AGID's growing concern over the potential and actual national effort to
combat the adverse effects of natural effects of geohazards throughout
the developing world. hazards. The first must be to improve our
scientific The problem of geohazards is increasing, not because
understanding of the nature and causes of such hazards and to work
towards more reliable prediction of their the rate of earth processes is
accelerating, nor because the occurrence and magnitude.