Absolute Disaster: 99 things you should know about natural disasters (Paperback) (ISBN-13: 9780992720124)

Having been directly involved in 27 disaster responses over the past 20 years, and having worked with the widest possible range of international aid agencies and governments at director and ministerial level, JAMES SHEPHERD-BARRON is one of the world's most experienced international disaster management consultants. He is also one of a handful of qualified disaster epidemiologists. This is a unique combination. James is also an experienced coordinator, having led Health, Shelter, Water-Sanitation-Hygiene, and Early Recovery clusters (sectors) in nine of the world's largest disaster responses, most recently during the 2013-2014 Typhoon Haiyan response in The Philippines and the 2015 Earthquake response in Nepal. In the past few years, he has also acted as senior humanitarian adviser for the UK government's Department for International Development in Libya, Turkey (for the Syria crisis), and Nepal, and was Special Adviser to Sierra Leone's Minister of Health at the onset of the Ebola crisis. When not coordinating, writing or lecturing, James advises international aid agencies and governments on how to reduce risk posed by natural hazards ... and then on how to manage response and recovery operations when all else has failed, and disaster has ensued. He has an MSc in International Health and Epidemiology, and was awarded an honorary doctorate in public health by the government of Albania following his work during the Kosovo crisis in the late 1990's. Until recently, he was a 'visiting research fellow' at the Feinstein International Center at Tufts University, and was CARE International's first Global Director of Emergency Response. He currently advises and co-chairs the Cash Management Industry's 'Cash Access in Crises Committee'.