The aim of this thesis is to investigate the Chinese government’s disaster response over the past two decades, analyze any patterns or recurring management behaviors, and understand the government’s overall emergency response capability. Disaster response is one area that reflects the Chinese Communist Party’s ability to govern and exhibit performance legitimacy. As an authoritarian regime, the CCP relies on repression and performance to maintain its authority, especially so when national disasters occur. During times of crisis, the CCP is expected to maintain control and minimize potentially negative consequences. Not doing so results in a potential image crisis and loss of legitimacy. The cases studied in this thesis were the 2005 Songhua River benzene spill, the 2008 winter storms, the 2008 Wenchuan earthquake, the 2015 Tianjin warehouse explosions, and the 2016 June and July floods. The 2008 Wenchuan earthquake was the deadliest disaster in a generation and provides the most thorough example to investigate China’s government disaster response capabilities. Two of these crises were industrial chemical accidents near or in major Chinese cities. The remaining two were weather disasters spread over a large area that required a far-reaching and coordinated government response across multiple provinces. Each of these sets displays a type of national disaster that China experiences regularly. In conclusion, the investigation makes two conclusions about the government’s disaster response capabilities. First, the central government is able to make extensive use of its overall authority and hierarchical structure to mobilize state resources on a massive scale. This includes the CCP’s control of the People’s Liberation Army and state emergency personnel, the government’s economic authority to impose immediate regulatory measures, and ability to gather and distribute physical resources. Second, the CCP seeks to avert an image crisis to maintain a veneer of performance legitimacy. Two common tactics are repressing investigative journalism and jailing critics while molding an image of a paternalistic and protecting state through compassionate moral performance. However, the necessity for this last conclusions hints at why such practices are necessary in the first place. The CCP’s rush for economic growth, lack of accountability, and propensity for corruption among other things are the very factors that have allowed disasters to become crises. Extreme measures are necessitated because the system the Party has built is prone to crisis. Without fundamental change, the CCP will continue facing such crises in the foreseeable future.

This study examines the privatization movement in the post-Katrina New Orleans education system. Less than a month after Katrina, a well-financed charter school movement was moving swiftly through the ravaged city. Nationally, a network of right-wing think tanks and school choice advocates descended on New Orleans shortly after the storm. Locally, state legislators and local leaders pushed from the inside for reform in the way of charter schools. Aided by a state takeover of schools and federal and corporate financing, the "great experiment" had begun. This study strives to cut through the façade of the charter school movement, and to investigate and explain the real motivations of the expected outcomes of the privatizers. Finally, the current injustices caused by the experiment being conducted in New Orleans are reviewed as an extension of the historical racial inequities of the school system.

This dissertation explores the role of the private and public sectors in hazard mitigation, an important part of the Federal Emergency Management Agency’s (FEMA’s) performance requirements from the Stafford Act. Hazard mitigation is the effort to reduce societal impacts from natural disasters by reducing their risk to people, property and infrastructure; before hazards occur. The goal of the work is to contribute to the literature examining the national trend towards privatization and reliance on the free market economy for the provision of government social services, through such public management movements as the “New Public Management” (NPM) of the 1980s and the general efficiency movement that encompasses a greater market orientation in public government and an increase in the use of private sector contractors as an alternative to public provision (Boston 1996). The primary question which this dissertation seeks to answer is: How has the provision of hazard mitigation services by the private sector come to be the norm and what have been the consequences. Due to the broad nature of the question and the lack of previous research, this dissertation will utilize a mixed methods approach with the goal of gaining a broad understanding of the privatization of the hazard mitigation sector in its various manifestations. The approach consists of one case study, broken down into two time periods: hazard mitigation prior to the passage of the Disaster Mitigation Act of 2000, and hazard mitigation following the Disaster Mitigation Act of 2000. The case study is based primarily upon a series of interviews and includes several imbedded cases. They will be contextualized within an overall description of hazard mitigation focusing on the history and the context of the relevant federal legislation.

In the decades following World War II, the Louisiana National Guard evolved due to world, national, and local events. In response to the United States’ Cold War policies to contain Communism, the Guard expanded, professionalized, and was occasionally called to federal service. In conjunction with Cold War fears of external attack and internal subversion, a civil defense mission brought coordination between federal, state and local response agencies. Despite the lack of large scale war service or an attack on the U.S. homeland , the skills and responsibilities acquired by the Louisiana Guard during this time period resulted in an enhanced ability to respond to Louisiana’s biggest practical threat, i.e. natural disasters.

Tendo em vista o grande número de desastres naturais que têm afetado o mundo nos últimos anos e seus efeitos nocivos à economia e ao bem-estar social, é crescente o interesse da literatura, das organizações internacionais pertinentes e dos formuladores de políticas públicas, por avaliações dos impactos dessas catástrofes. O panorama brasileiro não é diferente, todos os anos o país é assolado por uma série de eventos naturais, que carecem de estudos sobre os seus diferentes impactos. Nesse contexto, o objetivo dessa pesquisa é avaliar, por meio de dois artigos, alguns dos efeitos socioeconômicos dos desastres naturais brasileiros. No primeiro estudo, foi verificado o impacto na atividade econômica dos municípios afetados, mensurada pelo Produto Interno Bruto (PIB) per capita, das chuvas e deslizamentos ocorridos na região Serrana do estado do Rio de Janeiro em janeiro de 2011. Esse evento, distinto aos demais desastres brasileiros, foi considerado em função do número de afetados e óbitos, o maior desastre natural do Brasil. Para investigar a relação de interesse, aplicou-se o método de controle sintético com procedimento de inferência baseado no descrito por Cavallo et al. (2013). Os resultados indicam que a catástrofe gerou efeitos negativos sobre o crescimento econômico dos municípios afetados. Já o segundo artigo, se propõe a avaliar a relação existente entre os desastres naturais hidrológicos e aspectos de saúde, como a morbimortalidade, nos municípios brasileiros. Essas catástrofes, apesar de não se tratarem do desastre mais comum, apresentam elevada recorrência e se destacam quando se trata do número de afetados e de óbitos. As possíveis implicações econômicas dos efeitos na saúde são variadas, perpassando pela redução da oferta de trabalho, perda de ativos, mudanças nas decisões alocativas das famílias, perda de capital humano, entre outras. Assim, o objetivo do segundo estudo é verificar os impactos regionais diretos e indiretos, de curto a longo prazo, dos eventos hidrológicos sobre a morbimortalidade por faixas etárias. Para isso, foi construído um painel de dados municipal com periodicidade mensal, de 2000 a 2012, com informações dos desastres e das taxas de mortalidade e morbidade. Os resultados indicam que, em curto prazo, se destacam os efeitos diretos como o aumento dos óbitos em virtude da exposição às forças da natureza e aos afogamentos. Em médio prazo, os impactos positivos se concentram, principalmente, nas taxas de morbidade em decorrência das doenças transmitidas pela água, com impactos relevantes na região Nordeste e sobre as crianças. Porém, dentre as enfermidades de médio prazo a mais crítica é a leptospirose. Essa doença é potencializada pelos desastres, tanto em relação às taxas de internações e atendimentos ambulatoriais quanto das taxas de mortalidade, em grande parte das regiões do Brasil. Já as doenças de longo prazo são pouco afetadas pelos eventos hidrológicos, com reflexos apenas para a morbidade em função da desnutrição na região Nordeste. Portanto, as evidências encontradas nesta tese indicam que os desastres naturais brasileiros demandam atenção, posto que geram uma série de impactos socioeconômicos nocivos no país. / In view of the large number of natural disasters that have affected the world in recent years and their detrimental effects on economy and social welfare, there is a growing interest in literature, relevant international organizations, and public policy makers on the impacts of these disasters. The Brazilian scenario is no different, every year the country is plagued by a series of natural disasters, which require studies on their different impacts. In this context, the objective of this research is to evaluate, through two articles, some of the socioeconomic effects of Brazilian natural disasters. In the first study, the impact in terms of economic growth of the affected municipalities was evaluated, measured by the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) per capita of the rains and landslides that occurred in the mountain region of Rio de Janeiro in January 2011. This event, distinct from the Brazilian disasters, was considered due to the number of people affected and deaths, it was the greatest natural disaster in Brazil. To investigate the relation of interest, the synthetic control method was applied with an inference procedure similar to that described by Cavallo et al. (2013). The results indicate that the event had negative effects on the economic growth of the affected municipalities. The second study seeks to evaluate the relationship between hydrological natural disasters and health aspects, such as morbidity and mortality, in Brazilian municipalities. These disasters, although not very common, present high recurrence and stand out when it comes to the number of people affected and deaths. The economic implications of health effects are varied, ranging from the reduction of job offers to loss of assets, changes in the allocative decisions of families, loss of human capital, among others. Thus, the objective of the second article is to verify the direct and indirect short- and long-term regional impacts of hydrological events on health on different age groups. For this purpose, a municipal data panel was compiled monthly with information from the disasters and mortality and morbidity rates from 2000 to 2012. The results indicate that, in the short term, the direct effects such as the increase of mortality rates due to exposure to forces of nature and to drownings stand out. In the medium term, the positive impacts are mainly on morbidity rates, due to waterborne diseases, with relevant impacts on the Northeast region and on children. However, of the medium-term diseases, the most critical is leptospirosis. This disease is strengthened by disasters, both in terms of hospitalization and outpatient care rates and mortality rates, in most of the regions of Brazil. Long-term diseases are little affected by hydrological disasters, with positive effects only on morbidity due to malnutrition in the Northeast region. Therefore, the evidence found in this thesis indicates that Brazilian natural disasters demand attention, since they generate a series of prejudicial socioeconomic impacts in the country.

Northeastern and mid-Atlantic United States are understudied from the perspective of hurricane vulnerability. In an attempt to fill this gap in research, this dissertation attempted to assess the hurricane vulnerability of the northeastern and mid- Atlantic United States through the construction of a Composite Hurricane Vulnerability Index (CHVI) for 184 counties extending from Maine to Virginia. The CHVI was computed by incorporating indicators of human vulnerability and physical exposure. Human vulnerability was derived from demographic, social and economic characteristics whereas physical exposure was based on attributes of the natural and built up environments. The spatial distribution of the CHVI and its component indices were examined and analyzed to meet the research goals, which were a) to develop indices of human vulnerability, physical exposure and composite hurricane vulnerability for all counties; b) to assess vulnerability distribution in terms of population size, metropolitan status (metropolitan versus non metropolitan counties) and location (coastal versus inland counties); c) to identify the specific underlying causes of vulnerability; d) to identify the significant clusters and outliers of high vulnerability; and e) to examine overlaps between high human vulnerability and high physical exposure in the region. Results indicated high overall vulnerability for counties that were metropolitan and / or coastal. Vulnerability clusters and intersections pointed towards high vulnerability in the major cities along the northeastern megalopolis, in the Hampton Roads section of Virginia and in parts of Delmarva Peninsula. Evidence of relationship of population size, metropolitan status and location with vulnerability levels provides a new perspective to vulnerability assessment. / by Shivangi Prasad. / Thesis (Ph.D.)--Florida Atlantic University, 2013. / Includes bibliography. / Mode of access: World Wide Web. / System requirements: Adobe Reader.

A necessidade de minimizar os impactos causados por desastres, e pelos resíduos sólidos neles gerados, motivaram o desenvolvimento da gestão de resíduos de desastres em todo o mundo. Plataformas de sensoriamento remoto orbital e aeronaves tripuladas vêm sendo empregadas no auxílio à gestão de desastres e de seus resíduo, ainda que de forma restrita a casos mais extremos. O desenvolvimento tecnológico dos veículos aéreos não tripulados (VANTs), em especial os modelos civis comerciais de baixo custo, e a formulação da legislação que trata do seu uso, tem viabilizado sua aplicação em distintas áreas, dentre elas o mapeamento de precisão. A fim de analisar a aplicabilidade dessas plataformas de auxilio ao diagnóstico da geração de resíduos de desastres, foram selecionados dois conjuntos fotografias previamente obtidos com um VANT comercial quadrirotor. Em seguida, foi realizado o processamento desses dados no PhotoScan, visando a geração de mapas informativos. Buscou-se analisar a capacidade de identificação, quantificação e caracterização dos resíduos sólidos dispostos nas áreas mapeadas. Aspectos legais, econômicos e técnicos associados ao uso da ferramenta foram contemplados, afim de melhor fundamentar a aplicabilidade em questão. Os resultados indicaram relevante potencial de identificação e quantificação dos resíduos encontrados, e algumas limitações na capacidade de caracterizá-los. A atual legislação, e os aspectos econômicos e técnicos levantados favorecem a utilização de mini-VANT comercial para o uso proposto, ainda que de forma limitada à desastres onde a extensão afetada não seja demasiadamente extensa. A observância às boas praticas na escolha do equipamento, no planejamento e execução de vôo são fundamentais para a geração de mapas informativos contendo o posicionamento, o volume estimado e a composição estimada dos montes de resíduos encontrados. / The need to minimize the impacts caused by disasters, and the solid waste generated, motivated the development of methods and practices for the management of disaster residues all over the world. Orbital remote sensing platforms and manned aircraft have been used in the management of disasters and their residues, even though it restricts them to the most extreme cases. The technological development of unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs), especially low-cost commercial civil models, and the formulation of legislation that deals with their use, has made their application viable in different areas, including precision mapping. In order to analyze the applicability of these platforms in aid of the diagnosis of disaster waste generation, two sets of photographs previously obtained with an \"off the shelf\" UAV were selected. Then, the processing of these data in PhotoScan was carried out, aiming at the generation of informative maps. It was sought to analyze the capacity of identification, quantification and characterization of the solid residues disposed in the mapped areas. Legal, economic and technical aspects associated to the use of the tool were contemplated, in order to better base the applicability on the question. The results indicated relevant potential of identification and quantification of the residues found, and some limitations in their capacity of characterization. The current legislation, and the economic and technical aspects raised favor the use of commercial mini-VANT for the proposed use, even though in a limited way to disasters where the affected extension is not too extensive. The observance of good practices in the choice of equipment, in the planning and execution of its execution are fundamental for the generation of informative maps containing the positioning, the estimated volume and the estimated composition of the amounts of residues found.

Made available in DSpace on 2016-04-28T20:40:19Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 Rosana Teresinha DOrio.pdf: 1078158 bytes, checksum: 833931f2e26a3a189088442872f29437 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2010-06-28 / Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnológico / The purpose of this thesis was to understand the role of rituals in grieving situations caused by disasters. Given the Attachment Theory and the subsequent contributions to this approach, increased by studies on the meaning of death and of rituals performed in the grieving process, we conducted a qualitative study of people who suffered losses in a crash: the aircraft crashed after takeoff hitting some houses, resulting in the death of all passengers and crew and one resident of the affected community. With this objective in mind we have researched as it was the grieving process, if they received some type of social support and how the mourning relatives are now days. Data was grouped into two blocks denominated 'risk factors' and 'protective factors', being the first sought to verify the reactions inherent in traumatic grief, the actions of brutalization of the dead and the living and the precariousness or lack of rites of passage. In the second section, we focus on mourner s reports on shares of kindness addressed to the dead, to themselves and whether or not rites of passage were performed. Remember that this study addresses a kind of mourning, which, though private, is also a part of public mourning, for it is aimed on losses caused by mass transport, and also for having achieved widespread media coverage. In this sense, we tried to observe how the grief was expressed in public space due to its revival as the 'New Public Mourning' and in private space, considering also what were the cultural influences within this perspective. Assuming that culture shapes us, we contextualize the data from the anthropological view of super modernity, characterized by figures of excess: time , the non-places and I . We made two important considerations: the first involves the principle of non-brutalization of the dead, which means respect in the treatment to the dead; the second, covers the principle of non-brutalization of the living, with regard to their welfare by defining for the latter, the word delicacy . In closing remarks, we emphasize that in cases of bereavement due losses from disaster situations, rituals can act as a protective factor for better preparation of the process of traumatic grief, and considering that in this type of death bereavement must occur in both the public and in private, we found that if manifested only in one of these two dimensions do not get to fill, nor confirm or acknowledge, both for the bereaved and to the community, the unique existence of what was lost. In this sense, is not optional, but necessary, its manifestation in both dimensions / A finalidade desta tese foi compreender o papel dos rituais no processo de luto originado por situações de catástrofes. Tendo em vista a Teoria do Apego e as contribuições posteriores dessa abordagem, acrescidas dos estudos sobre o significado da morte e dos rituais no processo de luto, realizamos uma pesquisa qualitativa com pessoas que tiveram perdas em um acidente aéreo: a aeronave, após a decolagem, chocou-se contra algumas residências, resultando no óbito de todos seus ocupantes e de um morador da comunidade atingida. Com esse objetivo, pesquisamos como se deu o processo do luto, se receberam algum tipo de suporte social e como os parentes enlutados se encontram na atualidade. Os dados foram agrupados em dois blocos denominados de fatores de risco e fatores de proteção, sendo que no primeiro buscamos verificar as reações inerentes ao luto traumático, as ações de brutalização dos mortos e dos vivos e a precariedade ou inexistência de rituais de passagem. No segundo bloco, focamos nos relatos dos enlutados sobre ações de delicadeza dirigidas aos mortos, a eles próprios e se houve a realização de rituais de passagem. Vale lembrar que este estudo aborda um tipo de luto, o qual, apesar de privado, é também um luto de âmbito público, por se tratar de perdas causadas por meio de transporte de massa, e, ainda, por ter obtido ampla cobertura da mídia. Neste sentido, procuramos observar como o luto se expressou no espaço público, devido ao seu reavivamento como Novo Luto Público, e no espaço privado, ponderando, ainda, quais foram as influências culturais dentro dessa perspectiva. Partindo do pressuposto de que a cultura nos molda, contextualizamos os dados a partir da visão antropológica de supermodernidade, caracterizada pelas figuras de excesso: o tempo , os não-lugares e o eu . Fizemos duas considerações importantes: a primeira envolve o princípio que nomeamos de não-brutalização dos mortos, que significa o respeito no tratamento aos mortos; a segunda abrange o princípio da não-brutalização dos vivos, no que diz respeito ao seu bem estar, definindo-se, para esta última, a palavra delicadeza . Nas considerações finais, destacamos que nos casos de enlutamento por perdas devidas às situações de catástrofes, os rituais podem atuar como um fator de proteção para a melhor elaboração do processo do luto traumático, e, considerando que neste tipo de morte eles devem ocorrer tanto na esfera pública quanto na privada, constatamos que, se manifestos apenas em uma dessas duas dimensões, não ganham sentido de suficiência, nem confirmam, nem reconhecem, tanto para o enlutado quanto para comunidade, a existência ímpar do que foi perdido. Neste sentido, não é opcional, mas necessária, sua manifestação em ambas as dimensões

Made available in DSpace on 2016-04-29T13:31:06Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 Roberth Miniguine Tavanti.pdf: 2192052 bytes, checksum: b878fbff78906e9364523b9da07bc196 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2013-10-18 / Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnológico / This research aims to understand how teenagers who live in Jaçanã, a neighborhood in the North of São Paulo city, coexist with disaster risks associated with rainfall (floods, flash floods and landslides). Generally speaking, by focusing on the language of risks grounded on the perspective developed at the Center of Discursive Practices and Production of Senses in Daily Life - PUC/SP, it tries to contribute to the construction of models of observing the social phenomena that have focus on the tension between universality and particularity, between consensus and diversity, aiming to produce an useful theoretical-methodological tool to promote social change. To achieve our goals, we have performed the following procedures: 1) systematic survey of files and records concerning the official history of Jaçanã neighborhood; 2) analysis of documents relating to the mapping of risk areas and the preventive plan of Civil Defence; 3) daily records on field journals; and 4) the realization of activities (workshops about risks) with groups of teenagers inhabitants of this territory. The workshops are spaces for trading meanings, with high potential of collective significance, allowing the visibility of arguments, offsets, construction and contrast of versions and therefore privileged occasions for discursive practices analysis. As a result, an insufficient local structure and organization of institutions and services related to civil defense was identified, as well as an absence of a kind of prevention which rely on the support and participation of groups and/or vulnerable populations. In relation to the linguistic repertoires, it is important to point out the multifaceted character of senses of risk in everyday life, as well as the recurrent use of terms associated with the risks in various contexts (health, traffic accidents and household, education, sports and games, social and urban insecurity and environment). About the disaster risk prevention in the groups of teenagers, it was showed the importance of developing local alternatives focused on disaster risk management, on the basis of the following thematic axes: 1) political participation and popular mobilization of residents considered members of the various decision-making processes, in particular with regard to public policies and control mechanisms to disaster risk management; and 2) the approach of collective (associations) between the performers, groups, institutions and/or organizations related to these questions, as one of the relevant alternatives for the development of collective strategies arising from the proceedings of local disaster risk management. In short, this research, produced through the sharing of information, technologies and knowledge (managers, specialists and citizens) and purposely held in a specific context (vulnerable area), contributes to the development of instruments of control and management of risks, as well as for the construction of local alternatives (collective strategies) with emphasis in public debate around disaster risk prevention related to rainfall in urban areas / Esta pesquisa tem como objetivo compreender como os adolescentes que moram no bairro do Jaçanã, região norte da cidade de São Paulo, convivem com os riscos de desastres associados às chuvas (inundações, alagamentos e deslizamentos). De modo geral, ao enfocar a linguagem dos riscos na perspectiva desenvolvida no Núcleo de Pesquisa em Práticas Discursivas e Produção de Sentidos no Cotidiano da PUC/SP, tenta-se contribuir para a construção de modos de observação dos fenômenos sociais que tenham como foco a tensão entre a universalidade e a particularidade, entre o consenso e a diversidade, com vistas a produzir uma ferramenta útil para promover transformações sociais. Para alcançar os objetivos desta pesquisa, efetuamos os seguintes procedimentos: 1) levantamento sistemático de arquivos e registros referentes ao histórico oficial do bairro do Jaçanã; 2) análise de documentos referente ao mapeamento das áreas de risco e ao Plano Preventivo de Defesa Civil; 3) registros em diários de campo; e 4) realização de atividades (oficinas de risco) com grupos de adolescentes moradores deste território. As oficinas de risco são espaços de negociação de sentidos, com alto potencial de significação coletiva, permitindo a visibilidade de argumentos, deslocamentos, construção e contraste de versões e, portanto, ocasiões privilegiadas para análise de práticas discursivas. Como resultado, constatamos a insuficiência estrutural e organizacional das instituições e serviços locais vinculados à defesa civil, assim como a inexistência de ações de prevenção que contam com o apoio e a participação dos grupos e/ou populações vulneráveis. Em relação aos repertórios linguísticos, importante assinalar o caráter polissêmico dos sentidos de risco no cotidiano, assim como o uso recorrente de termos associados aos riscos em contextos variados (saúde, acidentes de trânsito e domésticos, escolares, os esportes e jogos, insegurança urbana e ambientais). Ao discutirmos sobre a prevenção de riscos de desastres com os grupos de adolescentes, evidenciamos a importância do desenvolvimento de alternativas locais voltadas à gestão dos riscos de desastres, tendo como base os seguintes eixos temáticos: 1) participação política e mobilização popular dos moradores considerados integrantes dos diversos processos decisórios, em especial, no tocante às políticas públicas e aos mecanismos de controle e gerenciamento dos riscos de desastres; e 2) a aproximação dos coletivos (associações) entre os atores, grupos, instituições e/ou organizações envolvidas com as questões em debate, como uma dentre as alternativas pertinentes ao desenvolvimento de estratégias coletivas decorrentes dos processos de gestão local dos riscos de desastres. Em suma, esta pesquisa, produzida por meio do compartilhamento de informações, tecnologias e saberes (gestores, especialistas e cidadãos) e propositalmente realizada em um contexto específico (área vulnerável), contribui para o desenvolvimento de instrumentos de controle e gerenciamento dos riscos, assim como para a construção de alternativas locais (estratégias coletivas) com ênfase no debate público e em prol das ações de prevenção dos riscos de desastres associados às chuvas em áreas urbanas

Este trabalho investigou a sociocriosfera nos Andes Centrais e examinou as percepções, adaptações e os impactos dos desastres glaciais nos povoados do Callejón de Huaylas, Peru. Trata-se de um estudo de caso que se utiliza de conceitos de cultura, adaptação, risco, perigo e desastre para compreender de forma integrada os efeitos advindos de mudanças climáticas regionais e as relações existentes entre os povoados do Callejón de Huaylas com as geleiras adjacentes. O trabalho teve como base os aportes teórico-metodológicos da Geografia Física e da abordagem cultural na Geografia para entender os problemas físicos e humanos advindos da ocupação de uma região inóspita. A investigação foi estruturada em três momentos: primeiramente, foi realizada a construção dos cenários físicos dos desastres glaciais, por meio de uma série de instrumentos – como mapas geológico, geomorfológico, de declividade, de uso e ocupação do solo e dos principais riscos glaciais do flanco ocidental do Nevado Huascarán (Cordilheira Branca). Posteriormente, foi investigado o processo civilizatório andino no Callejón de Huaylas – com base, principalmente, em evidências arqueológicas, foi gerado o mapa de localização dos assentamentos pré-colombianos, de acordo com os estágios de desenvolvimento cultural. O terceiro momento refere-se à identificação dos efeitos pós-coloniais e de ocupação humana em zonas de alto perigo na região periglacial, aumentando o risco dessas comunidades. Assim, no campo dos cenários físicos, a integração dos registros geológicos e geomorfológicos mostrou o dinamismo das regiões periglaciais andinas, ou seja, desde longa data a paisagem vem sendo definida pela dinâmica glacial Os principais vetores da dinâmica do fluxo de massas, desencadeada por ação glacial direta e indireta, permitiu a delimitação das principais regiões de perigo. Nessas regiões, situa-se grande parte da infraestrutura agrícola atual, e no caso da cidade de Huaraz (9°31'42"S e 77°31'37"O), grande parte das áreas urbanas, mostrando o grande risco ao qual está submetida. Por outro lado, sítios arqueológicos como Keushu (9°5'24"S e 77°41'59"O), não se encontram em zonas de grande perigo de fluxos decorrentes da dinâmica glacial. No cenário do processo civilizatório, os assentamentos das culturas pré-colombianas localizavam-se, predominantemente, em zonas elevadas, distantes dos trajetos de aluviões. Portanto, consideramos que as culturas pré-colombianas adaptaram-se aos perigos dos desastres glaciais. Nesse sentido, é pertinente reconhecer que essas populações gestaram um essencial etnoconhecimento andino. As cidades modernas mais populosas, como Huaraz, que estão em áreas de alto risco de desastres glaciais, tem origem na época colonial. Assim, o período colonial resultou não apenas na espoliação das riquezas dos Andes, mas, sobretudo, na desestruturação de um sistema cognitivo milenar. O processo de desterritorialização produzido pelos desastres glaciais provocou, para além de perdas econômicas, perdas de relações, que afetam a existência da pessoa produzindo, portanto, perdas irreparáveis. A reterritorialização dos locais suscetíveis aos desastres glaciais se dá pela necessidade de se ter um lugar (para plantar, para viver), mas também devido aos sentimentos topofílicos que se referem ao elo afetivo existente entre a pessoa e o lugar. Em suma, este trabalho mostra que o modelo de sociedade pós-colonial tende a inviabilizar possíveis estratégias de adaptação às mudanças climáticas no Callejón de Huaylas. / This work investigated the sociocryosphere of the central Andes, examining perceptions, adaptations and impacts of glacial disasters on the towns of the Callejón de Huaylas, Peru. It is a case study that uses concepts of culture, adaptation, risk, hazard and disaster to comprehend in an integrated way the effects of regional climate changes and the existing relations between the villages of the Callejón de Huaylas and adjacent glaciers. The work is based on the Physical Geography theoretical-methodological contributions and the cultural approach in Geography to understand the physical and human problems arising from the occupation of an inhospitable region. The research was structured in three moments. Firstly, the physical scenarios of glacial disasters were constructed through a series of instruments - such as geological, geomorphological, slope, land use and occupation maps and the main glacial hazards of the western flank of the Nevado Huascarán (Cordillera Blanca). Subsequently, the Andean civilization process was investigated in the Callejón de Huaylas - based, mainly, on archaeological evidence, the map of the pre-Columbian settlements location was generated, according to the cultural development stages. The third point concerns the identification of post-colonial effects and human occupation in the periglacial region high-danger zones, increasing the risk of these communities. Thus, in the field of physical scenarios, the integration of geological and geomorphological records showed the dynamism of Andean periglacial regions, that is, the landscape has long been defined by glacial dynamics. The main mass flow dynamics vectors, triggered by direct and indirect glacial action, allowed the delimitation of the main danger regions A large part of the present agricultural infrastructure is located in these regions, and in the case of the city of Huaraz (9°31'42"S e 77°31'37"O), a great part of the urban areas, showing the great risk to which it is submitted. On the other hand, archaeological sites like Keushu (9°5'24"S e 77°41'59"O) are not in zones of great danger of flows from glacial dynamics. In the civilization process scenario, the pre-Columbian cultures settlements were located, mainly, in elevated zones, far from the alluvial paths. Therefore, we consider that pre-Columbian cultures have adapted to the hazards of glacial disasters. In this sense, it is pertinent to recognize that these populations have generated an essential Andean ethno-cognition. The most populous modern cities, such as Huaraz, in areas of high risk of glacial disasters, originated in the colonial time. Thus the colonial period resulted not only in the spoliation of the riches of the Andes, but above all, in the deconstruction of a millenarian cognitive system. The process of deterritorialization produced by glacial disasters has caused, in addition to economic losses, loss of relationships, which affect the person's existence, thus producing irreparable losses. The reterritorialization of sites susceptible to glacial disasters is due to the need to have a place (to plant, to live), but also due to the topophilic feelings that refer to the affective link between the person and the place. In short, this work shows that the postcolonial society model tends to make impossible strategies to adapt to climate change in the Callejón de Huaylas.