Disaster Response SMARTbook 3 "“ Disaster Preparedness, 2nd Ed. (Personal, Community & Organizational Readiness) is the updated 376-page second edition of this book. The material has been completely updated and refocused as a planning and preparation guide with 128 additional pages of material. Topics include disaster fundamentals, personal preparedness, community preparedness, organizational preparedness, natural disasters (hurricanes, earthquakes, wildfires, floods & landslides, volcanoes, tsunamis, tornadoes, drought, famine & extreme heat, blizzards & ice storms, outbreaks, epidemics & pandemics), man-made disasters (hazardous material incidents, nuclear events, explosions & chemical spills, civil disturbances, terrorist incidents, active shooters, cyber threats), and recovering from a disaster. Disaster can strike anytime, anywhere. It takes many forms—a hurricane, an earthquake, a tornado, a flood, a fire, a hazardous spill, or an act of terrorism. In the past decade alone, natural disasters of considerable severity resulted in 699 Presidential Disaster Declarations, an average of nearly six per month. Disaster management (or emergency management) is the term used to designate the efforts of communities or businesses to plan for and coordinate all the personnel and materials required to either mitigate the effects of, or recover from, natural or man-made disasters, or acts of terrorism. Individuals can make a difference in their own community but not everyone has bought into preparedness. Research on personal preparedness indicates that individuals who believe they are prepared for disasters often are not as prepared as they think. In addition, some admit they do not plan at all. Our nation's emergency managers, firefighters, law enforcement officers, EMT/paramedics, and other emergency responders do an incredible job of keeping us safe, but they cannot do it alone.