Since its publication in 2009, this volume has been used successfully in many college classes, by emergency management professionals, and in the independent volunteer sector. Focusing on populations subject to significant and often differential risk when disasters occur, the book remains essential to the emergency management, homeland security, and related social science fields, including public policy, sociology, geography, political science, urban and regional planning, and public health. The new edition is fully updated, is more international in scope, and incorporates significant disaster events since 2009. It also includes new case studies to illustrate concepts.