This book contains seven chapters, each dealing with one major natural disaster encountered in our country. Each of the authors is an expert in that particular field. The outstanding contribution of this book is that it not only deals with the forecasting and description of the various natural disasters, but also stresses the management aspect, exhaustively detailing the necessary steps that need to be taken to deal with the fallout in the wake of these disasters. The book also describes the advances in remote sensing and the state-of-the-art technology available in India for the monitoring and prediction of these phenomena. It also draws up a comprehensive warning system to be implemented, in order to minimize the extensive losses to life and property that occur year after year.
Dr Harsh K Gupta is an eminent geophysicist, currently Secretary to the Government of India, Department of Ocean Development. He has vast experience in addressing problems related to natural hazards, particularly earthquakes. He was the Chairman of the Steering Committee of the recently concluded Global Seismic Hazards Assessment Program (GSHAP), one of the programs initiated by the United Nations for the International Decade of Natural Disaster Reduction (IDNDR), where over 500 scientists worked globally from 1992 to 2001 to prepare, for the first time, a Global Map of Earthquake Hazards. His pioneering work on earthquakes, triggered by filling artificial water reservoirs, is referred to globally. He has authored three books, edited 14 volumes, and published in many scientific journals.
Foreword