This volume, written by the Hazards Science Team of the International Year of Planet Earth, brings together some of the most influential international scientists dealing with Natural Hazards and Society’s response to natural hazards. It recognises that hazards, like poverty, will always be with us but that concerted and organised societal response can prevent a hazard becoming a disaster. By bringing together geoscientists, social scientists and those concerned with the administration of international science and international disaster reduction, this book details the state-of-the-science as well as the state-of-the-response in natural hazards.