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Published in:
2015 | OriginalPaper | Chapter
Introduction
Authors : Virgil Henry Storr, Stefanie Haeffele-Balch, Laura E. Grube
Published in: Community Revival in the Wake of Disaster
Publisher: Palgrave Macmillan US
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Hurricanes, typhoons, earthquakes, tornadoes, and fires can shatter lives, destroy property, and cause severe emotional trauma. Consider, for instance, some of the worst disasters of the past few decades. The 2004 Great Sumatra earthquake and subsequent tsunami in the Indian Ocean affected almost a dozen countries, resulted in over 230,000 deaths, and displaced over 1.5 million people. It was the third largest and also the deadliest earthquake recorded in history, and destroyed over 300,000 homes, and resulted in over ten billion US dollars in damage. It is not hyperbole to state that many victims of this disaster lost everything; their homes, their loved ones, and their worldly possessions were swallowed up by the sea. The scale and scope of the devastation caused by this disaster was, in a word, overwhelming.