Promoting Community Resilience in Disasters

Kevin Ronan has been working in the hazards and disasters area for the past decade. He has an ongoing interest in community resilience and prevention work in this and other areas (e.g., conduct disorder and delinquency in youth and families). He has been the Director of Clinical Psychology Training at Massey University for a number of years and stresses evidence-based practice with trainees. In addition, the idea of accountability for producing outcomes is an emphasis in the training program and in his practice. He has published widely in the area of hazards and disasters. David Johnston has been employed with the Institute of Geological and Nuclear Sciences, New Zealand since 1993 and his research is focused on reducing the vulnerability of society, economy and infrastructure to hazards. He has been involved in developing integrated risk management strategies for different hazard events, using techniques such as scenario development, mitigation planning and community education programs. He is also interested in assessing social and economic impacts of natural and environmental hazard events.

• Introduction to a Community Resilience Framework.- Community Resilience to Disasters: Introduction to Theory and Review of Research.- Community Resilience: The Role for Schools, Youth and Families.- Community Resilience: A Partnership and Multidisciplinary Perspective.- Promoting Resilience: Readiness and Risk Reduction.- Promoting Resilience: Response.- Promoting Resilience: Recovery.- Putting It All Together: Evidence Based Guidelines for Practice.- The Research-Practice Interface and Recommendations.- Appendices.- References.- Index.

From the reviews: "The premise of this book is that two of the groups most vulnerable to disaster are children and their family members. As such, this book is designed to assist those charged with helping these groups respond to and rebound from major traumas (e.g., school psychologists and counselors, emergency managers and planners, and mental health professionals). This book offers both clinicians and researchers guidance on hazards preparedness as well as early response and intervention practices." (Natural Hazards Observer, Vol. 30 (5), May, 2006)