The main objective of the book is to offer a vision of the dynamics of the main disasters in South America, describing their mechanisms and consequences on South American societies. The chapters are written by selected specialists of each country. Human-induced disasters are also included, such as desertification in Patagonia and soil erosion in Brazil. The receding of South-American glaciers as a response to recent climatic trends and sea-level scenarios are discussed.

The approach is broad in analyzing causes and consequences and includes social and economic costs, discussing environmental and planning problems, but always describing the geomorphologic/geologic involved processes with a good scientific substantiation. This is important to differentiate the book from others of a more 'social' impact that discuss risks and disasters with emphases mainly on economy and simple impacts.

• Actual theme, interesting for a variety of professionals
• Fills in the scarcity of specialized literature in geosciences from South America
• The first book in the market exclusively devoted to geomorphology of disasters in South America

1.Climate and geomorphologic related disasters in Latin America (NO. Garcia);

2. Geomorphology as a Tool for Analysis of Seismogenic Sources in Latin America and the Caribbean (C.H. Costa, F.A. Audemard M., L. Audin and C. Benavente);

3. The changing coastlines of South America (F.I. Isla and E.J. Schnack);

4. Disasters in Mexico and Central America: a little bit more than a Century of Natural Hazards (I. Alcántara-Ayala);

5. Venezuela: The Construction of Vulnerability and its Relation to the High Seismic Risk (J. Laffaille,

C. Ferrer and K. Laffaille);

6. Natural hazards and human induced disasters triggered by intense and episodic tropical rains in the Venezuelan mountains (M. Bezada);

7. Convulsive events, a widespread hazard in the Colombian Andes (M. Hermelin and Natalia Hoyos);

8. Geomorphology of natural and human induced disasters in Ecuador (F. Sarmiento);

9. Natural hazards in Peru: Causation and vulnerability (K. Young and Blanca León);

10. Geomorphology of natural hazards and human-induced disasters in Bolivia (E.M. Latrubesse,

P.A. Baker and J. Argollo);

11. Soil erosion in Brazil from coffee to the present-day soy bean production (S. Simoes de Castro and J. Pereira de Queiroz Neto);

12. Landslides and Disasters in Southeastern and Southern Brazil (A.L. Coelho Netto and A. de Souza Avelar);

13. Floods in Urban areas of Brazil (J.C. Stevaux, E.M. Latrubesse, M.L. de P. Hermann and S. Aquino);

14. Seismic and Volcanic Hazards in Argentina (L.P. Perucca and S.M. Moreiras);

15. Landslide Processes in Argentina (S.M. Moreiras and A.Coronato);

16. Floods in Argentina (E.M. Latrubesse and D. Brea);

17. Desertification in Patagonia (E. Mazzonia and M. Vazqueza);

18. Geology and Geomorphology of Natural Hazards and Human-Induced disasters in Chile (A. Cecioni and

V. Pineda);

19. Impact of global climate change on glaciers and permafrost of South America, with emphasis on Patagonia, Tierra del Fuego and the Antarctic Peninsula (J. Rabassa);

20. Possible Future Changes in Geomorphological Hazards in Latin America (A. Goudie);

21. A Latin American Perspective on Geomorphologic Hazards and Related Disasters (E.M. Latrubesse)

"In a volume of uniformly high quality, it is difficult to highlight particularly noteworthy papers, but this reviewer particularly appreciated contributions on: geomorphology as a tool for analyzing seismic sources; soil erosion in Brazil; seismic and volcanic hazards in Argentina; and hazards and human-induced disasters in Chile… [H]ighly recommended for library use, and the availability of an electronic version should greatly assist its use within the student market. Overall, it is an excellent volume that I am pleased to commend." --Latin America Volume 13, Mountain Research