ABSTRACT
Development of policies of disaster risk reduction (DRR) in the Azores is reflective of changing domestic and international contexts. Domestically DDR policies are a manifestation of the profound political and cultural adjustments that occurred as the Portuguese State transitioned to representative democracy following the 1974 revolution. Key initial steps on this journey to effective policy development are the establishment in 1976 of the Regional Government (Governo Regional dos Açores) and the Department of Geosciences of the University of the Azores (Departamento de Geociências da Universidade dos Açores). Further steps and stimuli have been marked by responses to and lessons learnt from the 1980 Terceira emergency; new academic initiatives undertaken from the start of 1990s, such as research on prediction discussed in Chapter 4 and the emergence of proactive policies which were evident as the Azores coped with the exigencies brought about by the 1998 Faial earthquake. Internationally a major change occurred in 1986 when Portugal became a member of the European Economic Community and from 1993 the European Union, which, not only allowing the Azores to benefit from regional economic development funds, but also encouraged collaborative research programmes to be developed with other member states so allowing DRR policies to be put in place.
