Environmental Hazards covers all major rapid-onset events, whether natural, human or technological in origin, which directly threaten human life on a community scale. Combining insights from both the natural and social sciences, this book offers a complete introduction to environmental hazards. A broad overview is followed by a systematic analysis of specific hazards to explore a wide range of global case studies and policy responses. This substantially revised and expanded second edition includes important new global case studies with fresh material on risk management, epidemics, disaster trends, Third World vulnerability, remote sensing, mass movements and droughts. Drawing from the most recent research, this edition is a major new contribution in the International Decade for Natural Disaster Reduction.