Table of Contents
Introduction 7
1 Climate Change Is Increasing the Severity of Natural Disasters Andrew Freedman 11
2 Climate Change Is Increasing the Frequency of Floods and Droughts Paul A. Dirmeyer 18
3 Climate Change Is Not Increasing the Frequency of Floods Kenneth Artz 27
4 Natural Disasters Are Hitting Harder, and Not Because of Global Warming Jacey Fortin 31
5 Natural Disasters Caused by Human Activity Have Increased Brian Merchant 40
6 Urbanization Increases the Threat of Natural Disasters Stewart M. Patrick 45
7 The Increase of Natural Disasters Is a Biblical Prophecy Ron Fraser 50
8 Catastrophe on Camera: Why Media Coverage of Natural Disasters Is Flawed Patrick Cockburn 56
9 The Frequency of Earthquakes Is Not Increasing Colin Stark 64
10 Counting the Costs of Calamities Economist 68
11 Economic Recovery from Natural Disasters Is Declining Richard Heinberg 78
12 International Laws Fail to Address Disaster-Driven Migration Michael Clemens 84
Organizations to Contact 88
Bibliography 92
Index 97