The Dynamics of Disaster

We live on a restless planet. Every minute of every day, somewhere on Earth there are geological changes going on. Most of these changes are of a minor nature and go unnoticed by humans, but every now and then there's a major change, one that's sure to get our attention. A tsunami in the Indian Ocean threatens coastal communities, a volcano erupts in Iceland wrecking havoc on the environment and disrupting air travel, landslides of rock, mud, snow or ice radically altering the landscape, wiping out whole towns or even cities in an instant. Meteorology and Oceanography can play a hand in disasters with tornadoes, blizzards and hurricanes that do millions of dollars in damage and claim countless lives. To a certain extent humans can learn to live with these dangers by ignoring them or just turning a blind eye to the possibility of their eventual and inevitable reoccurrence. Historically, in spite of the danger, communities have sprung up around "sleeping" volcanos, in major flood plains and coastal locations that are often right at, or many feet below, sea level. Sometimes the rewards for living in these areas are substantial; rich soil for farming, access to maritime resources or other financially rewarding endeavors. But the risks of cataclysmic "acts of God" are always there, so it would behoove us all to know the inner workings of these events. In a layperson friendly way Kieffer takes the reader on a kind of "field trip" around the world and into the past to explain the what, when, why and how of various disasters. Biographies of famous volcanos like Mt St Helens, Pinatubo and Vesuvius will explain how a volcano can suddenly reawaken after decades or even centuries of sleep. Landslides are another life altering event that people tend to forget when years can pass between occurrences and the area in question is just right for human needs. We can also learn to live with earthquakes but how many people know about things like liquefaction of the ground that can happen nearly instantaneously. In "The Dynamics of Disaster" author Susan W Kieffer explains the nature of these events from a geologist point of view. With fast moving, informative text she clearly explains the dynamics of all these disasters and more. But even with our currant level of knowledge, predicting the next earthquake or hurricane can be a daunting task. Small changes at any point of the process can radically alter the outcome (sounds like Chaos Theory to me!). Case in point: the super volcano underneath Yellowstone: is it there or not, when will it happen? And we all know about the weather reports: will it rain or not? Will that hurricane in the eastern Atlantic impact the Gulf States or move up the East Coast or fizzle out? For me The Dynamics of Disaster was an exceptional read, giving us a new outlook on the world around us and the complex inner action of forces beyond our control that can often lead to disaster. Anyone interested in Earth Science and the inner workings of our restless planet should enjoy this book. I had no technical or formatting problems with this Kindle edition.Last Ranger

A great book that opens your eyes to the natural disasters in the world around us. There are enough of them that we don’t have to create our own.

I have been involved in fire, rescue, emergency medical and disaster management for over 50 years, but this book gave me a new way of looking at disasters; as being caused by changes in the state of energy on our planet. The author puts into layman's terms how and why disasters occur. She does so by relating those energy changes in simple, everyday events that we are all familiar with. Then, by taking the reader on"geological field trips," she explains how those changes in energy states cause disasters.I recommend this book to anyone interested in disaster management or climate change.

It's a really a fascinating and informative book. One less star, because I found some parts repetitious.

This is a fantastic book. I've recommended to colleagues at FEMA and am using it as a text for my disaster classes. It really demonstrates how knowledge of the environment should inform policy. It was a page turner for me! Thanks to Dr. Kieffer for writing this important, accessible, and interesting book.

I view of disasters would be a very good book to read for emergency planners. A discussion on engineering type disasters would have been useful

of volcanoes, earthquakes, hurricanes, rotas, etc. Better than the textbook used in my college natural disaster class because the explanations and graphics were so clear.

I was hoping this was going to have some good information about how to help myself and others during a disaster. Instead, it is more of a political theory book. The title is rather misleading. I wasn't looking for someone's opinions on global warming. The bits of good reading are buried deep in pseudoscience.

Susan Kieffer zeigt hier eindrücklich, wo die Gefahren unserer Gesellschaft wirklich lauern. In den regelmässig und gnadenlos zuschlagenden Naturkatastrophen wie Erdbeben, Erdrutsche, Vulkanausbrüche, Riesentsunamis. Da sieht man bald, wie unwichtig und unbedeutend die von Greenpeace und den anderen Weltverbesserern hochstilisierten Kataströphchen sind, die wir heute als Bedeutend anschauen, es aber im historischen Kontext nicht im Ansatz sind: Tschernobyl, Harrysburg, Three Mile Island, Fukushima, Klimawandel und all die anderen kleinen, konstruierten Problemchen der NGOs.Als vor ca. 71'000 Jahren der Vulkan Toba ausgebrochen ist, wurde beinahe die gesamte Weltbevölkerung mit Menschen und Tieren ausgelöscht. Die überlebenden 500 Mütter können wir bis heute in unseren Genen nachweisen. Es wurde damals innerhalb eines Jahres ca. 18 Grad kühler als heute. Für Jahrzehnte. DAS war eine Katastrophe! Und davon gibt es in regelmässigem Abstand immer wieder eine ....