Rebuilding Sustainable Communities after Disasters: Remote Islands

What would you do if a category five monster cyclone was headed your way? Drive as far as you could, as quickly as you could in the opposite direction? What if there were no cars? What if there were no roads? What if you were on a tiny island? What if there was nowhere to run to? How would you feel, knowing that when it was over it could be weeks before anyone came to help?Thousands of people live with this possibility every day, and their resilience and coping skills are incredible. However, climate change threatens to make these events worse, and all the while the sea levels are rising, and these islands are sinking. Bringing together the perspectives of the people on small, remote islands in the South Pacific, the aid organisations who help after a disaster, and the governments, this book investigates how we should respond.These are the stories of people for whom climate change is not a theoretical future, but a daily reality.