These titles have been reviewed jointly.

Center for International Disaster Information (CIDI).  Internet Resource. Reviewed in 2006sep CHOICE.
44-0045
http://www.cidi.org/

International Strategy for Disaster Reduction (ISDR).  Internet Resource. Reviewed in 2006sep CHOICE.
44-0045a
http://www.unisdr.org/ 
 
[Visited Jun’06] Founded in 1988, CIDI operates under a grant from the USAID’s Office of Foreign Disaster Assistance. Stating that “the American public’s generosity is often misplaced,” CIDI’s Web site strives to set parameters for properly planned disaster response and to curb in-kind giving. The site suggests guidelines for charitable giving in disaster-related situations, stressing that money, not supplies or volunteers, is the foremost agency need; many of the site’s sections link back to these guidelines. Links include Situation Reports, Resources, Articles, and educator information, although the actual information presented in most areas is sparse or incomplete. For example, although situation reports highlight recent disasters, many links discuss charitable giving and “effective donations.” Little information is given concerning actual disasters or the relief agencies involved. A December 2004 report, “South Asia: Tsunami,” includes a link to a tsunami description on the fee-based BrainPOP site. Few of the CIDI site’s reports have been recently updated; for example, the FAO Desert Locust Bulletin was last updated in January 2003, although the 2006 report is available at the FAO site http://www.fao.org/ag/locusts/en/info/info/index.html. Many educator sources direct users to sites selling resource kits, rather than supplying actual information about disasters. At CIDI’s site one will find compelling reasons to donate cash; however, much better, credible information is available for free on many Web sites.

Compare the Web site for ISDR, the UN interagency task force devoted to disaster reduction and mitigation, which cites “disaster reduction as an integral component of sustainable development.” The ISDR site provides a wealth of keyword-searchable data, reports, publications, and links concerning disasters and hazard mitigation. Of particular interest is the Disaster Statistics section, which compiles worldwide figures for occurrences, impact, and countries affected. Also useful is the Country Information category, analyzing hazard vulnerability and the number of citizens affected by disaster. There are many links to UN publications, and also to an online newsletter from the task force, upcoming conferences related to disaster reduction, online dialogues, and the ISDR library, which (among other activities) creates bibliographies on disasters. The unique information presented on the ISDR site would be difficult to locate elsewhere. Overall, it will be invaluable to anyone searching for data and reports about recent disasters or studies in hazard mitigation. Summing Up: CIDI. Optional. General readers. ISDR. Highly recommended. Lower-level undergraduates through faculty/researchers; general readers. — C. A. Sproles, University of Louisville

EM-DAT: International Disasters Data Base.  Internet Resource. Reviewed in 2007apr CHOICE.
44-4210
http://www.emdat.be/

[Visited Jan’06]  EM-DAT: International Disasters Data Base (also referred to as Emergency Disasters Data Base) has logged over 12,800 disasters worldwide since 1900. Created by the World Health Organization in 1988, it is now maintained by the UN’s CRED (Centre for Research on the Epidemiology of Disasters). Increasingly, people in this field are emphasizing hazard mitigation, or preparing in advance for dealing with large-scale emergencies, rather than reacting after a disaster strikes. The goal of this database is to share basic knowledge about disasters for use in future planning. For an event to be included in the database, the following criteria apply: it must have killed ten or more people, affected more than 100 people, resulted in a state of emergency being declared, or led to international assistance being requested. Each entry includes a disaster number; date; country affected; type of disaster; number killed, injured, or affected; and a damage estimate.

The database’s searching capabilities include Country Profiles and Disaster Profiles. Advanced search allows searching by region or country, time period, and disaster type. Display criteria can be set for the results, including graphics such as bar graphs and pie charts. Users can request raw data from the database, but must create an account to download most data sets. The home page offers links to a glossary, a bibliography of disaster-related publications, a special section on the 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami, 2005 disaster statistics, and other data sources. The data included are very thorough; most disasters appear to be recorded. The only negative is the inability to access the downloadable data sets anonymously. This valuable resource is a much-needed tool for future global disaster planning. An excellent source for researchers and planners, it would fit well into any collection concerned with hazard research or mitigation. Summing Up: Highly recommended. Graduate students through professionals/practitioners. — C. A. Sproles, University of Louisville

Handbook of international disaster psychology, ed. by Gilbert Reyes and Gerard A. Jacobs.  Praeger, 2006.  4v bibl indexes afp ISBN 0-275-98315-3, $300.00. Reviewed in 2006sep CHOICE.
44-0032  RC451   2005-18786 CIP

Disaster psychology is a relatively new discipline focusing on culturally relevant, community-based crisis intervention and stress reduction for survivors. This timely handbook has a surprising focus, especially in the first volume. Rather than serving as a clinical work, this multivolume set emphasizes program design and evaluation, coordination of humanitarian organizations, rapid response, assessment of needs, and cultural sensitivity to groups. Contributors write about the aftermath of disaster as a public health problem requiring psychosocial programming. Additionally, they discuss key issues such as the ethics of doing research at a disaster site, or the blurring of military and humanitarian operations and subsequent mortal threats to relief workers. They describe from personal experience how to implement programs for survivors (volume 2), how to assist refugees (volume 3), and how to help people with special needs, such as child soldiers, sexually abused women, and victims of torture (volume 4). A refrain throughout is that psychological distress after disaster is a “normal response to abnormal events,” and that suffering may be experienced collectively rather than individually. This is distinctly different from the traditional Western view of suffering as individual and possibly pathological.  Beyond psychology, this handbook is appropriate for human rights, public health, disaster preparedness, public policy, and social work collections. Two single volumes to consider are editors Robert J. Ursano and Ann E. Norwood’s Trauma and Disaster Responses and Management (2003), a concise book about the impact of trauma from the neurobiological to the epidemiological; and editors John P. Wilson and Boris Drozdek’s Broken Spirits: The Treatment of Traumatized Asylum Seekers, Refugees, War, and Torture Victims (2004), an international compendium of essays about treating victims of human malevolence and about sociopolitical issues regarding migration and resettlement. Readers of this new handbook should have some knowledge of program evaluation and assessment concepts. Summing Up: Highly recommended. Advanced undergraduates and beyond. — T. C. Bekhuis, TCB Research

LANIC Latin American Network Information Center.  Internet Resource. Reviewed in 2006sup CHOICE.
43Sup-0606 
http://lanic.utexas.edu/ 

[Revisited Jul’04]  This Web-based information center sponsored by the Institute of Latin American Studies at the University of Texas, Austin (originally reviewed, CH, Sup’97) was established in 1992, and is financed by the Institute with grants from several foundations, including The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation and the Ford Foundation. The Center’s primary purpose is to provide access to Internet sources for academic information about Latin America. No commercial sites are included. The index is divided into three directories. The first is a Latin American country index that links users to resources on a variety of topics from and about specific countries. The sites listed include general reference information, full-text periodicals and newspapers, library catalogs, some full-text books, and statistics. The second directory features 77 subject access points to topical sites. In the third directory, LANIC hosts materials from numerous joint projects with several other organizations. Examples include an index to 800 periodicals from 29 Latin American countries produced by the Association of Research Libraries Latin Americanist Research Resources Project; an English-language collection of all of Fidel Castro’s speeches translated by the Foreign Broadcast Information Service (FBIS); and an index to the databases of the Latin American Council for the Social Sciences (CLACSO).  Well designed and easy to use, LANIC provides a daily update of new items added to the center. The Web site will be of value to almost any type of researcher interested in Latin America, from beginning researchers needing basic information, to students wanting to read Latin American newspapers, to faculty doing complicated research. An indispensable research tool for the study of Latin America at all levels. Summing Up: Essential. All libraries and levels.– M. L. Grover, Brigham Young University 

Stein, Seth.  An introduction to seismology, earthquakes, and earth structure, by Seth Stein and Michael Wysession.  Blackwell, 2003.  498p index afp ISBN 0-86542-078-5  pbk, $79.95.  Outstanding Title! Reviewed in 2003apr CHOICE.
40-4625  QE534  2001-52639 CIP 
 
It is hard to imagine a subject of greater importance for appreciating and understanding how Earth works through time and how natural phenomena, especially earthquakes, impact our lives than seismology. Stein (Northwestern Univ.) and Wysession (Washington Univ.) comprehensively introduce key concepts and applications of seismology and, most importantly, integrate seismology with key related fields of geology, physics, and mathematics. Major contents include seismology and society; basic seismological theory; seismology and earth structure; earthquakes; seismology and plate tectonics; seismograms as signals; inverse problems; appendix of mathematical and computational fundamentals; and numerous select references. Each section is supported by an annotated bibliography and Internet resources and also with many select problems including computer exercises for beginning and advanced students. The text is well stocked with mathematical expressions, figures, charts, and maps. Seismology comes through to readers as a creative and intuitive science, connecting and integrating diverse topics. Fundamental concepts of seismology essential to study of earthquake hazards, nuclear test monitoring, and oil exploration are introduced with remarkable skill and clarity. This outstanding book is without equal, and it will endure for many years as an indispensable reference for earth scientists and engineers, as well as a great resource for students. Summing Up: Essential. Upper-division undergraduates through professionals. — T. L. T. Grose, Colorado School of Mines 

UN news centre.  Internet Resource. Reviewed in 2005sup CHOICE.
42Sup-0629 
http://www.un.org/News/
 
[Visited May’05] Available in all six of the official languages of the United Nations, this site is a treasure trove of information, which is both its strength and its weakness. Pages are overladen with links to other layers. There are nearly 100 links on the elongated first page alone. This means that the print is quite small on some parts of the page. There is also some confusion about exactly what is “news,” as some of the items have been on the site for four or more years. When should such items be transferred to an archival site and off the front page of a news organization’s site? On the plus side, users can read the UN Daily News, register for e-mail news alerts, and browse and search news by region, topic, and date. Other sections of the site include Press Releases, News Conferences, Multimedia, Resources, and News Magazines. The maps, documents, and other information are very important and useful for today’s scholar. The images and graphics are clear and do not seem to impact the download speed. Some pages, particularly maps and charts, are in Adobe. The internal search engine is quick and reliable; however, important tips for searching are not provided unless the user comes up with no hits. The most important of these is the use of British rather than American English, e.g., labour not labor. There is also advanced searching capability, which is not obvious from the initial page. A worthwhile, if cluttered, site. Summing Up: Recommended. All levels. — S. J. Stillwell Jr., formerly, University of Texas at Arlington 

United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization.  Internet Resource. Reviewed in 2008jan CHOICE.
45-2689
http://portal.unesco.org/ 

[Visited Oct’07] Founded in 1945, the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) was created to promote international cooperation among its 192 member states and six associate members in the fields of education, science, culture, and communication. The site, launched in 1995, serves as a portal to the services and information provided by the organization. The top of the home page contains links for viewing the site in one of six languages, including English, Spanish, and Russian. The home page contains news on current issues, events, and recently published UNESCO titles. The site has five main sections: Themes, Worldwide, Communities, The Organization, and Services. The Themes section provides information on UNESCO programs and activities in various areas, e.g., education, natural sciences, culture, and communication and information. In the Worldwide section, users can browse or search by a specific continent/region to identify UNESCO programs. Communities links to member states, the UN, and other government units; The Organization provides information on all the units within UNESCO, along with background history. Information on the various services, fellowships, and employment opportunities within UNESCO can be found in Services. Users may do a basic keyword or an advanced search. The advanced search page includes limiters such as format, language, date, and theme. There are also links for text-only viewing and for the site map, which provides an alphabetical list of UNESCO portal sections. Users can view a printer-friendly version of a page or e-mail pages. Overall, the site is easy to navigate, is well organized, and has an attractive interface. Of value to a wide range of users interested in UNESCO’s worldwide programs and more broadly global studies. Summing Up: Recommended. Upper-division undergraduate through professional collections. — D. L. Luce, Faulkner University 

U.S. Department of State.  Internet Resource. Reviewed in 2005sup CHOICE.
42Sup-0652 
http://www.state.gov/ 

[Visited May’05] Serving primarily as a news conduit for the U.S. Department of State, this site is the source for current information on department doings as well as foreign relations/foreign trade. Highlights and news on the home page change daily as warranted. Links are organized by topic: Press and Public Affairs; Travel and Living Abroad; Countries and Regions; International Issues; History; Business Center; and Employment. Internal documents include performance reports, strategic plans, goals, and objectives. Excellent full-text sources can be found under the link Major State Department Publications. Titles that previously were issued in paper to form a basic collection for federal depositories are gathered here, e.g., Background Notes; Diplomatic List; Foreign Consular Offices in the U.S.; State Magazine; Key Officers of Foreign Service Posts. The most impressive collection is the full text of volumes from the Foreign Relations of the United States series (CH, Sup’00, 37Sup-619) covering presidential administrations, beginning with the Truman administration. The Business Center links to sources on US business opportunities abroad and international trade statistical data. Features include an A-Z index and a search box, where results can be sorted by relevancy, date, and title. A Web site for K-12 students is also available in the History, Education, and Culture section. This site loads quickly and is easy to navigate. A wealth of information is here for all levels, from the general public to researchers. Summing Up: Highly recommended. All collections. — M. M. Strange, University of Wisconsin—LaCrosse 

USGS earthquake hazards program.  Internet Resource. Reviewed in 2005jun CHOICE.
42-5614 
http://earthquake.usgs.gov/
 
[Visited Mar’05] USGS Earthquake Hazards Program provides information about worldwide earthquake activity, earthquake science, and earthquake hazard reduction. The home page prominently displays US and world maps depicting earthquake activity during the last seven days; a zoom feature provides larger-scale maps. Earthquake magnitudes and times since occurrences are represented graphically. Clicking on a specific earthquake location produces detailed information for the event, and another prominent section links to earthquake news and highlights. Another feature allows users to report felt earthquakes; this information is used to generate a Community Internet Intensity Map that is updated every few minutes following a major earthquake. Another link leads to a list of latest worldwide earthquakes. The site includes an earthquake glossary, sections for teachers and children, science and technology, FAQs, earthquake facts and lists, hazards and preparedness, and links to regional earthquake Web sites. Recent Earthquake Map Animations displays a seven-day animation of recent earthquake maps and is useful for gaining a global perspective of seismic activity along plate margins. The site is well organized, searchable, easy to navigate, and continually updated, although a few links were inactive. It contains essentially the same information as National Earthquake Information Center (CH, Feb’01, 38-3343).– L. Joseph, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign 

USGS national earthquake information center.  Internet Resource. Reviewed in 2001feb CHOICE.
38-3343
http://neic.usgs.gov/

The National Earthquake Information Center (NEIC) supplies information on the location and size of most earthquakes that occur worldwide, collects and disseminates an extensive seismic database, and pursues an active research program to better understand earthquakes. The NEIC Web site provides an excellent mechanism to broadcast earthquake information to national and international agencies, scientists, and the general public. NEIC collects data through the operation of national and global networks, and through cooperative agreements. More than 3,000 stations report data to the NEIC. The data that are collected by the NEIC are published in a variety of formats and publications and much is available through its Web site; i.e., the site offers more than 10,000 seismograph station codes and coordinates. It is extremely well organized with internal links to current earthquake information, and including a near real-time earthquake list, general earthquake information, routine US mining seismicity, and the station book. Each page is well documented with concise information and many links to external sources, making this site an excellent starting point in the quest for information on the Earth’s seismicity. Upper-division undergraduates through professionals. — D. J. Campagna, College of William and Mary 

Zeilinga de Boer, Jelle.  Earthquakes in human history: the far-reaching effects of seismic disruptions, by Jelle Zeilinga de Boer and Donald Theodore Sanders.  Princeton, 2005.  278p bibl index afp ISBN 0-691-05070-8, $24.95.  Outstanding Title! Reviewed in 2005jun CHOICE.
42-5881  QE521  2004-40122 CIP 

Earthquakes in Human History, along with the previous Volcanoes in Human History (CH, Jun’02, 39-5828), both by Zeilinga de Boer (Wesleyan Univ.) and science writer and editor Sanders, elucidate the interaction between natural disasters and human history. Whole societies, cultures, and established evolutions–subjects that comprise the core of most accounts of human history–have been suddenly, irreparably changed by earthquakes and volcanic eruptions, subjects seldom discussed by historians. The authors provide little-known facts and insights on geologic processes and the effects of these natural disasters on the course of human history. Narratives on especially impactful earthquakes include events in the Holy Land, Ancient Greece, England, Portugal, Missouri, San Francisco, Japan, Peru and Chile, and Nicaragua. The influence of the earthquakes on religion, politics, economy, wars, and literature is portrayed in fascinating prose, embellished with carefully selected photos, drawings, and maps. An extensive glossary helps with some unavoidably technical terms, and notes and references reinforce each chapter. Because earthquakes are an expression of a living and evolving planet Earth, knowledge of their influence on a living and evolving human population is essential. This book goes a long way toward erasing that knowledge deficit. Summing Up: Essential. General readers; upper-division undergraduates through professionals; two-year technical program students. — T. L. T. Grose, Colorado School of Mines 

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