Foreword and acknowledgements

Natural and human-induced disasters have disruptive impacts on societies and economies, especially at the local level. Repeated episodes of flooding can create significant economic stress, especially when countries’ major urban areas are affected. Wildfires have proven challenging to contain in countries as diverse as Australia, Greece, France, Portugal, the US and Canada. Longer dry periods followed by extreme precipitation, such as California recently experienced, challenge governments' risk prevention capacities in many regions. Above all, disasters, such as the major earthquakes in Japan, New Zealand, Italy or Chile can probe countries’ risk management abilities and create significant challenges for crafting appropriate prevention policy responses.