Confronting Catastrophe: A GIS Handbook demonstrates how the digital mapping and analysis tools of GIS technology can be critical for comprehensive preparation and quick response to disastrous events. This book takes readers through the five stages of management: identification and planning, mitigation, preparedness, response, and recovery and shows how GIS processes can be incorporated into each. With full-color maps, checklists, and the hard lessons learned from the real world of catastrophe response and preparedness, ""Confronting Catastrophe"" is a hands-on manual for GIS practitioners and decision makers whose communities face the threat of large-scale disasters.