Vol. 2 No. 8

January 2004
Book Review
  Strategies for Coordinating Disaster Responses, by Thomas E. Drabek, Natural Hazards Research and Applications Information Center, University of Colorado, 2003, 255 pages, paper $20.

REVIEWED BY:
Mayer Nudell, CSC, Specialized Consulting Services, USA

Those of us involved in planning for and/or responding to disasters will recognize the name Thomas Drabek. For decades, he has been among the pre-eminent scholars in the field of disaster management. With his forthcoming retirement, Strategies for Coordinating Disaster Responses may be Professor Drabek's final major publication and it updates his thinking on how emergency managers operate.


In this book, Professor Drabek distills the procedures and best practices for creating effective disaster management in a multi-jurisdictional or multi-agency environment, based on more than 150 personal interviews with emergency managers, agency executives, and emergency management team members.


This book is a fitting capstone to a distinguished career, combining theory and methods with practical strategies. Its applicability is broader than government officials. Security professionals in companies and organizations exposed to natural disasters (and how many are not?) will find much of benefit here.