Natural Disasters and Risk Communication

Fletcher and Lovejoy's Natural Disasters and Risk Communication: Implications of the Cascadia Subduction Zone Megaquake is a must-read for anyone interested in risk communication and how societies respond to natural disasters. The book focuses on moving readers beyond traditional responses such as panic or apathy and toward more productive ones such as preparedness and resilience in the face of inevitable crises. Natural disasters associated with climate change make this book especially timely and necessary. I highly recommend it. -- Luis E. Hestres, The University of Texas at San Antonio
This text provides a useful set of readings from various authors addressing the scope of risk perception, preparedness, and communication within the framework of a regional risk. Parts of the book address various geological features of natural disasters and the role education, family units, and economic factors of disasters which are often under-addressed in the communication literature. Through the incorporation of a number of unique perspectives the uses of this book and implications for scholar and practitioners of communication are obvious. This assembled collection of works fills specific gaps in the literature examining natural disasters. The book provides a contribution that is timely and ongoing. -- Patric Spence, University of Kentucky