Handbook on Natural Disaster Reduction in Tourist Areas World Tourism Organization and World Meteorological Organization, 1998. ISBN: 92-844-0239-5. 121 pages. Produced through a joint initiative of the World Tourism Organization and the World Meteorological Organization to contribute to the IDNDR. While Handbook on Natural Disaster Reduction in Tourist Areas is intended for regional and local tourism authorities, tourism planners, developers, operators, resort and hotel managers, and others involved particularly in the tourism industry. It also offers beneficial advice to the countries, regions and islands that are both heavily dependent on tourism and exposed to frequent natural disasters. For example, in Asia the 1990 Luzon Earthquake paralyzed the tourism industry in the Philippines archipelagoÕs northern capital city of Baguio, where several hotels collapsed. In present day Kathmandu, an earthquake of similar magnitude to the 1934 Great Bihar-Nepal Earthquake could devastate the tourism industry, which presently accounts for nearly 80% of Nepal's annual GDP. This handbook, therefore, is welcomed for its recommendations and tools for managing the tourism industry, especially in terms of mitigating economic losses through methods of "natural disaster reduction." Handbook on Natural Disaster Reduction in Tourist Areas opens with key objectives pursued in general disaster reduction, especially pertaining to investment in disaster mitigation. In relation to the tourism industry, importance is placed on the reduction of deaths and injuries in tourism-receiving areas; the reduction of property losses (both buildings and economic assets); and environmental degradation in tourist areas. The opening chapter also introduces key topics for administrators in the tourism industry, such as infrastructure classification, disaster preparedness, information and education, risk reduction, planning and response, as well as relaunching tourism after natural disasters. The handbook follows with four chapter-long introductions for each of the most common natural hazards found in tourism areas: tropical cyclones (hurricanes and typhoons), storm surges, flooding (coastal, estuarine and river), avalanches, and earthquakes. Within each of these thematic chapters the handbook relates how disaster management can be implemented throughout the disaster cycle in the tourism industry: (i) hazard, vulnerability and risk evaluation; (ii) disaster prevention, including structural and non-structural methods; (iii) disaster preparedness; and (iv) relief, rehabilitation and reconstruction. In the final chapter the handbook provides an overview of emergency preparations and appendices for resort managers, tourists, and families. It also includes guidance on marketing and press relations associated with relaunching tourism after a disaster, and a sample damage assessment report. These appendices are critical for administrators in preparing for disaster and promoting the speedy recovery of the tourism industry, in order to avoid potentially devastating economic losses. Overall, Handbook on Natural Disaster Reduction in Tourist Areas is well-written and provides information, recommendations, and tools that can be utilized by a wide audience, including countries of the Asia-Pacific region. -- Laura Fried Laura Fried is an urban planner who works as the Urban Information and Networking Manager of the Asian Urban Disaster Mitigation Program (AUDMP) at ADPC.