ABSTRACT
This chapter turns to various aspects of responding to disasters in a
developmental way. This is in the interest of the short-term relief and
long-term recovery processes.
Disaster mitigation is about reducing the impact of events that cause
human crises. This may be in ways as diverse as protecting people from
environmental hazards through a defensive infrastructure, from abuse
through policing and social services, and from fi nancial ruin through
emergency fi nancial buffers. Another way of looking at mitigation is
through a resilience approach, whereby the more environmental, social
and economic assets people have, then the less they will feel the impact.
In recent times, and with respect to climate change impacts in particular,
the idea of adaptation has also come to the fore. The way in which
