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This book examines how disasters affect at-risk populations, such as the poor and the elderly, beginning with factors that contribute to disaster risk. It integrates vulnerability and resiliency theories within a stress and coping framework.

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Disaster vulnerability is rapidly increasing on a global scale, particularly for those populations which are the historical clients of the social work profession. These populations include the very young and very old, the poor, ethnic and racial minorities, and those with physical or mental disabilities. Social workers are increasingly providing services in disasters during response and recovery periods, and are using community interventions to reduce disaster vulnerability. There is a need for a cogent theory of vulnerability and research that addresses improved community disaster practice and community resilience. Community Disaster Vulnerability and Resilience provides a unifying theoretical framework backed by research which can be translated into knowledge for effective practice in disasters. _

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Disasters and the Promise of Disaster Vulnerability Theory.-Vulnerability Theory.- The Development Perspective on Vulnerability.-Resilience Complements Vulnerability.-Cross-Sectional Design and Linear Statistics in Vulnerability Research.- Linear Accounts of Vulnerability.-Vulnerability Described Geographically.-Vulnerability Described through Networks.- Vulnerability Explored and Explained Dynamically.-Enhancing the Future of Vulnerability Theory.

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From the reviews:
"The small book ... summarizes how social scientists conceptualize, research, and approach such matters. ... helpful to social workers or other professionals on the ground, with the possible exception of those who design plans for emergency response to disasters, who may find it useful as an introduction to research approaches. This may also be a useful book for those who want to enter the field of disaster research and are looking for a compact overview and an introduction to the vocabulary of the area." (Julian Rappaport, PsycCRITIQUES, Vol. 58 (47), December, 2013)

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