Planning and Management for the Prevention and Mitigation of Natural Disasters, Especially in a Metropolitan Context: Initial Questions and Issues Which Need to be Addressed

Almost all the discussions and recommendations on the subject matter of the topic of our paper are plagued by ambiguities, inconsistencies and uncertainties in the central concepts involved. Good policies and implementation measure for planning and managing the prevention and mitigation of natural disasters cannot follow from such a confused, unclear and problematical starting point. We need to be clear first about what we are talking of before anyone can seriously advance conclusions and suggest means and ends which ought to be pursued.