Disaster Governance:Analyzing inconvenient realities and chances for resilience and sustainability

In many places in the world, people are increasingly exposed to disasters. Disasters have the potential to shake societies and their governance systems not only temporarily, but often for years afterwards as well. Despite their destructive impact, disasters present societies also with an opportunity. As such, disasters have the power to both uncover inconvenient realities and to provide a chance to recover towards more resilient and sustainable societies. This book presents a study on disaster governance. It analyses disasters that occur through and manifest the interactions between humans and their natural environment. The research builds on three case-studies of places affected by disasters: 1) Christchurch, after the earthquakes in 2010 and 2011, 2) Chiloé, Chile, after the ISA disaster in the salmon industry in 2007, and 3) Groningen, the Netherlands, in the face of the earthquakes cause by gas extraction from roughly 2012. The research examines the role of governance in facilitating post-disaster transitions. It highlights the heterogeneous cause and impact of disasters, calling for a hybrid and multi-level governance response. Moreover, all three cases reveal post-disaster learning processes, yet these tendencies of learning do not lead towards societal learning, adaptation and transformation. This book discusses relevant ingredients for disaster governance and provides insights into the fostering of post-disaster transitions towards enhanced resilience and sustainability