World disasters report 1994.

Today's disasters are a frequent part of the lives - and deaths - of hundreds of millions of people in every part of the world, from Somalia to Los Angeles, and their impact cannot easily be brushed aside: US$ 30 billion for a few seconds of earthquake, 250,000 children dead in a year of hunger in Africa. Disasters have a powerful and growing effect on our world, its economies and its security, from the complex conflicts of Europe to the survival of slum-dwellers living next to a leaking chemical plant whose risks are kept secret from the very people who need that information most. Focuses on the individuals caught up in disaster; their rights and responsibilities, their capacities and vulnerabilities. Looks at the need to set standards for relief workers and puts forward, for the first time, a Code of Conduct for disaster relief workers. Examines the role of local knowledge and organisations in tackling disasters and the rapidly growing threat posed by the 200 million antipersonnel mines which exist in the world today. Contains a review of the major disaster response operations of 1993, from drought recovery in Southern Africa to dealing with economic collapse in the Caucasus