This is the first English language book that systematically introduces the spatial and temporal patterns of major natural disasters in China from 1949 to 2014. It also reveals natural disaster formation mechanisms and processes, quantifies vulnerability to these disasters, evaluates disaster risks, summarizes the key strategies of integrated disaster risk governance, and analyzes large-scale disaster response cases in recent years in China. The book can be a good reference for researchers, students, and practitioners in the field of natural disaster risk management and risk governance for improving the understanding of natural disasters in China.

Peijun Shi, a leading expert of natural disaster risk management in China, is the Academician of the China Science Center of International Eurasian Academy of Sciences, and was awarded the National Science Fund for Distinguished Young Scholars in 2004. He is the Deputy Director of the Expert Committee of China National Commission for Disaster Reduction and Director of the State Key Laboratory of Earth Surface Processes and Resource Ecology, Beijing Normal University. He has led more than 10 national research projects, including projects of the National Science and Technology Support Program and National Key Basic Research and Development Program, and published over 200 peer-reviewed journal articles and more than 30 books and atlases.