Asia is considered one of the fastest developing continents. As per the UNDP Human Development Report (2010) , Asian countries like China, Nepal, Indonesia, Lao PDR, and South Korea are among the top 10 fastest growing countries. China, the second highest achiever in the world in terms of HDI...

In 2004, the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) in Bangkok, Thailand, and UN-HABITAT collaborated on an eco-housing project in the Asian region ( UNEP, 2010 ). The aim was to promote eco-housing as a key disaster preventive measure in the Asia-Pacific region. Eco-housing is an evolving...

Among the most fragile, complex, and productive ecosystems to benefit humans are coastal ecosystems, and they offer many services. These ecosystem services range from provisioning services to protection services, cultural services, and supporting services. The coastal zone is defined as a...

In this chapter, the linkages between environment- and disaster-related issues are reviewed in the context of urban planning in developing countries. The focus is on urban areas, with the aim to understand processes in urban systems that are distinct from those in rural villages/towns. Over the...

All disasters produce wastes of some kind, be it the trees fallen by a cyclone, a house destroyed by an earthquake, a beach coated by an oil spill, or animals killed by a flood. Postdisaster responses also produce wastes – from the human excreta of people staying in the camp to day-to-day...

The southwest coastal region is part of an inactive delta of large Himalayan rivers and is protected from tidal surge by the Sundarbans mangrove forest. This area is the hub of all types of disasters such as cyclones, tidal surges, floods, drought, salinity intrusions, repeated waterlogging, and...

Over the centuries cities have undergone various types of urbanizations, thereby changing the lives of the urban residents. At the same time our earth has undergone a damaging transition called climate change that is threatening the lives of millions of people across the globe. The threat is...