Urban Disaster Emergency Response and Management

Author: Wang Shaoyu / Feng Baixia
Publisher:
Publishing Date: 2005-01-01
Features: From the "9/11" attacks to the SARS epidemic and then to the massive disasters in the Indian Ocean earthquake and tsunami, crises have called for disaster emergency response and management. Experts in disaster and social issues have dedicated years of research to high-risk urban disasters, presenting their theoretical findings. One of the authors is a survivor and witness of the Tangshan earthquake, who has long reflected on and focused on the fate of people and humanity in disasters. Chongqing Publishing House allocated 1 million yuan in 1988 to establish the Chongqing Publishing House Scientific Academic Works Publishing Fund, becoming the first in the country to do so. At the same time, it invited several renowned scientists and experts to form the guiding committee of the fund. This fund is specifically used to support the publication of academic works in natural and social sciences that are at home or internationally advanced. By 2003, the fund had accumulated to 3 million yuan. Starting in 2004, an additional 1 million yuan was added annually until 2010, when the fund reached a total of 10 million yuan to continue supporting the publication of more outstanding scientific academic works. Constructing a systematic conceptual framework and theoretical model for urban disaster emergency management, exploring the emergency management systems and operational mechanisms for urban disasters, and establishing disaster early warning systems and emergency rescue systems, to provide a basis for decision-making and emergency plan formulation by governments at all levels, are important references for disaster management teaching and research personnel. This book is strongly recommended by academicians Ding Guoyu and Chen Yong of the Chinese Academy of Sciences and highly praised by the guiding committee of the "Chongqing Publishing House Scientific Academic Works Publishing Fund." The planning for this book began during the fight against SARS in 2003, but our consideration of urban disaster emergency management issues started several years after the world-shaking Tangshan earthquake. The sudden SARS crisis once again exposed the many flaws in our emergency response mechanisms and management systems, prompting deeper reflection on the construction of urban disaster emergency management systems and operational mechanisms. Therefore, we aimed to write this book to avoid simply compiling general materials or merely introducing foreign situations, focusing instead on exploring the system of urban disaster emergency management and the construction of this discipline. We are fully aware that this book may have many rough edges, but this is precisely what can provide references for more people's explorations. With this mindset, we are willing to dedicate this book to readers as a stepping stone, hoping that more wise minds will focus on the construction of China's disaster emergency management system and the development of this discipline. This book is suitable for leaders and public officials in government departments engaged in disaster management and public safety management, as well as for faculty and researchers in universities and research institutions involved in disaster management teaching and research, as well as college students and the general public concerned about social public safety.