Natural Hazards in Australasia

Description

Many ideas and concepts about natural hazards have been developed in Australasia, but these are often overlooked in books written from a Northern Hemisphere perspective. Natural Hazards in Australasia is the first textbook that considers Australasian natural hazards, their triggering mechanisms and the physical and social environments in which they occur. James Goff and Chris de Freitas lead an expert author team from around Australia and New Zealand to introduce readers to the natural hazards of the Australasian region, including floods, drought, tropical cyclones, volcanic and seismic hazards, tsunamis, landslides and bushfires. This book explores the interactions not only between one hazard and another, but also between humans and natural hazards. Key pedagogical features for students include learning objectives, regional case studies, summaries, chapter glossaries, end-of-chapter review and discussion questions, and further reading and resources. The full colour text is enhanced by a rich array of illustrations, photographs and maps.

Professor Goff is particularly interested in tsunamis - all aspects of tsunamis - hazard, risk and vulnerability assessment, disaster and emergency management, but in studying this particular natural hazard his interests have quite naturally extended to include a vast range of others. He has worked in environments from the high mountains to the deep ocean and therefore all natural hazards and the associated human-environment interactions are of interest to him. He has worked on natural hazards such as tsunamis, earthquakes, cyclones, volcanic eruptions, river floods, glacial outbursts, and landslides in Australia, the Antarctic, New Zealand, Indonesia, Thailand, Sri Lanka, Japan, Solomon Islands, Cook Islands, Chile, Mexico, the Maldives, Papua New Guinea, Fiji, Tonga, Vanuatu, Hawaii, New Caledonia, the Falkland Islands, French Polynesia, Canada, UK, USA (including Hawaii), France, Greece, Belize, and Wallis and Futuna. He has written over 200 peer reviewed publications on a wide range of physical and social science issues. He is Professor of Tsunami Research and Deputy Director of the Palaeontology, Geobiology and Earth Archives (Pangea) Research Centre in the School of Biological, Earth and Environmental Sciences at the University of New South Wales in Sydney, Australia. He has been Adjunct Professor at the University of Hawaii, Visiting Professor at Arizona State University, and is currently Honorary Research Associate at the University. Chris de Freitas is a climate scientist at the University of Auckland, New Zealand, where he has been Head of Science and Technology at the Tamaki campus and has spent four years as Pro Vice Chancellor. He received his early education in Trinidad, West Indies. He has Bachelors and Masters degrees from the University of Toronto and PhD from the University of Queensland as a Commonwealth Doctoral Scholar. He has been vice-president of the Meteorological Society of New Zealand, vice-president of the International Society of Biometeorology, editor of the international journal Climate Research, and co-founder of the Australian-New Zealand Climate Forum. He has over 200 journal publications and is author of several books.