About the contributors

Manuel Aguilera Gomez is general secretary of the Government of Mexico City, in charge of the Civil Protection Unit. Mr. Aguilera was director general of the Popular Housing Reconstruction Unit (RHP), the organization responsible for the reconstruction of 90,000 low-income housing units in Mexico City.

Mary B. Anderson is a development economist and president of a small consulting firm, the Collaborative for Development Action, Inc., in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Ms. Anderson has focused her research on consulting on rural development, the gender variable in development planning, education policy, and disaster response.

N. Erik A. Arrhenius is principal advisor on science and technology to the vice president of sector and policy research at the World Bank. At the University of Stockholm, he is professor of the management of natural resources and director of the Institute for the Management of Natural Resources. He was science advisor to Sweden’s prime minister and secretary general for the Swedish Parliament’s Commission on Natural Resources and the Environment.

Stephen O. Bender has been project chief of the Natural Hazard Risk Assessment and Disaster Mitigation Pilot Project at the Organization of American States since 1983. He most recently guided the development of the OAS Natural Hazards Project from its conception through its implementation as a major technical assistance and training program active throughout Latin America and the Caribbean.

Jonathan C. Brown is division chief of the East Africa Department’s Infrastructure Operations Division at the World Bank. He has been with the Bank since 1973, working in eastern and western Africa in country operations, agriculture, human resources, and transportation. He also was the resident representative in Senegal in 1978-81.

John R. Clark is a senior research associate at the School of Marine and Atmospheric Sciences, University of Miami, where he is involved with international coastal management and planning. He has also worked for the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, the Sandy Hook Marine Laboratory in New Jersey, the Conservation Foundation (in the then-new federal Coastal Zone Management Program), and the International Affairs Office of the National Park Service.

Michael A. Cohen is chief of the Urban Development Division of the Infrastructure and Urban Development Department of the World Bank. Mr. Cohen has worked in the Bank since 1972, primarily on projects and policy formulations in the urban sector. He has extensive field experience in Africa and Asia.

Frederick C. Cuny is founder and chairman of Intertect, a consulting firm providing technical assistance, research and training on disaster mitigation, prevention, and recovery. Mr. Cuny also works with refugee settlements.

Daniel D.C. Don Nanjira is Kenya’s ambassador to the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization in Rome and to the countries of Italy, Poland, Greece, Turkey, Cyprus, and Malta. Previously, Mr. Don Nanjira was deputy to the director of the UN Disaster Relief Office in New York.

Edward G. Echeverria is currently a consultant to the World Bank on a number of urban development projects. Prior to his World Bank appointments, Mr. Echeverria was a partner in a planning and architectural firm involved in urban development projects in Delhi and Calcutta, coastal development, and disaster reconstruction.

Lloyd B. Falck is executive chair of the New Zealand Earthquake and War Damage Commission, the government-owned disaster insurance agency. He is also deputy chair of the Works and Development Services Corporation Ltd., the largest consultancy and construction company in New Zealand.

Austin Fernando is chief executive officer of Sri Lanka’s National Reconstruction Steering Committee.

Hassan M. Hassan is a senior environmental specialist with the World Bank’s Assessment and Programs Division where he is the leader of the Center for Earth Resource Analysis. Previously he was director of the Regional Remote Sensing Center in Nairobi, Kenya.

Chen Hong is director of the Department of Disaster and Social Relief of the Chinese Ministry of Civil Affairs and director of the Office of the Chinese National Committee for the International Decade for Natural Disaster Reduction (IDNDR).

Alcira G. Kreimer is a senior environmental specialist with the World Bank’s Environmental Policy Division where she provides advice on policy, research, and operations for disaster prevention, mitigation, and recovery. She organized the Colloquium and is the Bank’s representative to the UN steering committee for the IDNDR. She has extensive experience in prevention, mitigation, and development issues.

Wayne Luscombe is a senior environmental specialist with the World Bank’s Environment Department, Center for Earth Resource Analysis.

Braz Menezes is a principal urban planner with the World Bank’s Infrastructure Operations Division where he works in urban development projects for the Brazil Department.

Neelam S. Merani is director of the Secretariat for the International Decade for Natural Disaster Reduction. Mr. Merani was previously director for Policy Development and External Relations at the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP).

Mohamed Muhsin is a senior country officer for Sudan and Ethiopia with the World Bank’s Eastern African Country Operations Division.

Mohan Munasinghe is chief of the World Bank’s Environmental Policy Division. He was previously division chief for energy and infrastructure operations in the Latin America and the Caribbean Region. During 1982-86 he served as senior advisor to the President of Sri Lanka.

Andrew S. Natsios is director of the U.S. Agency for International Development’s Office of U.S. Foreign Disaster Assistance (OFDA). Previously, Mr. Natsios was a member of the Massachusetts State Legislature.

Idris M. Nur is head of the Natural Resources Division of the Organization of Africa Unity in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, where his main areas of concern are food and agriculture, nutrition, disasters, and water resources development.

Thomas R. Odhiambo has been director of the International Centre of Insect Physiology and Ecology in Kenya since 1978. At the same time, he has held positions in academia and the public sector.

Jelena Pantelic is a research scientist and assistant director of the National Center for Earthquake Engineering at the State University of New York at Buffalo. She also coordinates the Center’s Disaster Research and Planning Program.

Martha Preece is a consultant in the World Bank’s Environment Department, Policy and Research Division. Since 1978 Ms. Preece has worked on policy evaluation and research for environmental protection and natural resources management in developing countries.

E.L. Quarantelli is a research professor at the Disaster Research Center at the University of Delaware, where he co-founded the Center and served as its director from 1963 through 1989. The first president of the International Research Committee on Disasters, he has also been the editor of Mass Emergencies and Disasters and the International Journal of Mass Emergencies and Disasters.

Stephen Rattien is executive director of the Commission of Geosciences, Environment, and Resources of the U.S. National Research Council, the research arm of the National Academy of Sciences, National Academy of Engineering, and Institute of Medicine.

William Riebsame is director of the Natural Hazards Center at the University of Colorado at Boulder, a national clearinghouse for information on natural hazards response and mitigation. Mr. Riebsame’s research centers on the social effects of climatic hazards, such as drought and severe weather, and the effect of climate change on natural resources.

Seyril R. Siegel is chief of division I of the Regional Bureau for Latin America and the Caribbean of the United Nations Development Programme. She is currently the UNDP’s resident representative in Venezuela.

Charles Sykes is the assistant executive director of CARE, responsible for liaison with the World Bank, the U.S. government, and private international relief and development organizations in the Washington, D.C. area.

Kenzo Toki is a professor at Kyoto University’s Disaster Prevention Research Institute and has been involved in earthquake engineering research for 25 years.

Parviz S. Towfighi is chief of interagency affairs in the Office of the Executive Director of the United Nations Center on Human Settlements (Habitat).

Jurg H. Vittani is senior relief advisor to the undersecretary general for operations at the League of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies in Geneva. Mr. Vittani was involved in most of the major disaster relief operations coordinated by the League in the last 25 years.

Horst Wagner is a forestry specialist with the World Bank’s Asia Technical Department. Mr. Wagner has been with the Bank since 1974, working on forestry issues for the Latin America and East Africa Regions.

Thomas Waltz was a consultant to the Office of the Vice President, Sector Policy and Research in the World Bank.

Brian A.O. Ward has been director of the Asian Disaster Preparedness Center at the Asian Institute of Technology, Bangkok, since the Center was established in January 1986. Before that, he worked for more than ten years as a consultant for UNDRO or as a delegate for the League of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies, undertaking relief or predisaster planning missions to countries in Asia and Africa.

Peter Witham is on the staff of the United Nations Development Programme, Planning and Coordination Unit.