This timely book reviews the hydrological aspects of different types of disaster and considers measures required to protect people and property against such events as well as disaster prediction, forecasting and monitoring. Its publications coincide with the start of the United Nations Decade for Natural Disaster Reduction. It comprises twenty-seven papers by experts from a wide range of countries and organizations presented at the Technical Conference convened by the World Meteorological Organization in Geneva in November 1988. The contributions are grouped into five sections covering hydrolog