Q&A: how cities can recover from natural disasters

In the space of a month, hundreds of lives have been lost due to natural disasters. Mexico was hit by two high-magnitude earthquakes within two weeks, while swathes of the US and the Caribbean have been severely damaged or destroyed by the force of three successive hurricanes: Harvey, Irma and Maria. The Conversation spoke to Alfredo Stein Heinemann – a lecturer in urban development planning with more than 30 years of experience studying post-disaster reconstruction – to see how communities can mitigate and recover from the devastation wrought by natural disasters.