McDonald R. Introduction to Natural and Man-Made Disasters and Their Effects on Buildings

Oxford: Architectural Press, 2003. — 256 p.We have all suffered from minor disasters, such as breaking a beautiful vase – or possibly a major disaster such as a motor accident, but this book deals with a wide variety of natural and man-made disasters. We don’t like to think of disasters, hoping that they won’t happen in our lifetime. This book is, however, a useful reminder. It shows the incredibly large range of possible disasters. This book ranges over the whole spectrum of disasters, ending with Appendices giving emergency action checklists and fact sheets for earthquakes, floods, hurricanes and tornadoes, extreme heat, landslides and mudflows, terrorism, wildfire emergencies, and nuclear accident mitigation. Wars are man-made disasters, made even worse by ethnic cleansing as in the former Yugoslavia, and collateral damage as in Afghanistan. The author defines the purpose of her book – to make a small step towards providing a general understanding of the principal types of disaster, and in particular, how they can affect buildings. By understanding how these natural and man-made events take place, how they evolve, and how they affect us, we stand a better chance to build and live safely in stronger communities resilient to disaster. I believe the author has succeeded.ForewordAcknowledgementsNatural Disasters
Earthquakes
Volcanoes
Flooding
Weather conditions
Man-made Disasters
Conflict
Fire
Disasters resulting from human activities
Historic buildings destruction
Emergency action checklist and fact sheetsInformation sources