Challenges to building a disaster-resilient nation

The deadly typhoon that struck Burma in early May and the devastating earthquake that struck China a week later carried with them echoes of the devastation wrought by the Sumatra earthquake and tsunami on the Indian Ocean region in 2004. In the United States, the vulnerability of Burma’s coastal populations to severe winds and storm-surge inundation also served to remind us of Hurricane Katrina and the ongoing recovery in New Orleans and other GulfCoast communities.