Introduction to the Special Section on “Chinese Earthquake Risk Management”

Abstract

Natural disasters by definition are surprises, causing a great deal of damage and inconvenience. Earthquakes are among the most terrifying and destructive natural disasters threatening humans. Emergency management has been described as the process of coordinating an emergency or its aftermath through communication and organization for deployment and the use of emergency resources. This special section of HERA provides the state of the art studies of risk and emergency management related to the Wenchuan earthquake that occurred in China in May 2008.