Philip's guide to global hazards (Updated edition)

Philip's Guide to Global Hazards discusses the many hazards that face us, with each hazard in its own section: earthquakes, volcanoes, weather (including hurricanes and tornadoes), snow and ice, floods, tidal waves and tsunamis, forest fires, drought and famine, epidemic disease, pollution and habitat loss, climate change (including El Nino and global warming), and cosmic disasters (such as meteorite strikes).

Each section describes the phenomenon, with clear text plus high-quality artworks and photography.

Case histories of some of the world's most terrifying and destructive cataclysms are given, focusing on both the human and the geophysical aspects of these tragedies.

Disasters featured as case histories include the Pakistan Earthquake of 2005, the Sumatra-Andaman Tsunami of 2004, the West African Floods of 2003, the unprecedented four Category Five hurricanes of 2005, of which Hurricane Katrina was the most devastating, as well as other more recent events.

There is much emphasis on the future and the very real threats to the lives and well-being of not just individuals and communities but humanity as a whole. Areas prone to particular hazards (such as earthquake zones, volcanic regions and flood zones) are illustrated and mapped.

Philip's Guide to Global Hazards will be useful to geography and social studies students and to all readers interested in politics, current affairs and the environment.

The study of natural hazards as an academic discipline in its own right is growing, with new departments and courses starting up regularly.