This book explores the risk management of natural hazard-triggered technological accidents (so called Natechs). The volume includes a selection of work first presented at the 5th International Symposium on Natural and Technological Accident Risk Reduction at Large Industrial Parks (5th Natech Symposium - Natech 2021), which took place on March 10 and 11, 2021. The 5th Natech Symposium, represented a unique opportunity to promote scientific exchange among diverse and multi-disciplinary stakeholders  on risk management and risk governance of Natechs. The symposium brought together more than 100 participants from academia, local, national and international government organizations, industry and local community leaders from 26 countries from all over the world.

The consequences of past Natech accidents have highlighted the vulnerability of modern societies to these complex accident risks. Addressing the risk posed by Natechs requires comprehensive, area-wide efforts that go beyond one plant, or a single industrial park to the wider community of stakeholders in which industries carry out their production, processing, distribution, and operations. This requires new, proactive approaches to risk management with a broader scope. Therefore, by bringing in knowledge and methods from different disciplines, new points of view and approaches support a clearer understanding of Natech complexities and improved ways to manage the challenges they entail. The 5th Natech Symposium was an important catalist to promote research and foster multi-stakeholder and interdisciplinary collaboration leading to the publication of this volume.

The book may be of interest to researchers and academics, government authorities and first responders, industry managers and/or operators, and interested citizens. The book is divided into five sections including an analysis of Natech incidence and trends; investigation of past Natech accidents for lessons learning; advances in Natech risk assessment, modeling and simulation; an analysis of Natech risk management practices from the point of view of industry and government authorities; and risk communication and participatory disaster risk management.

Ana Maria Cruz is an Adjunct Professor at the Department of Mechanical and Industrial Engineering, Norwegian University of Science and Technology, Trondheim, Norway; and Emeritus Professor from the Disaster Prevention Research Institute, Kyoto University, Uji, Japan. She received a Chemical Engineering degree in 1987, and worked in industry for over 10 years before pursuing graduate studies. She obtained a MSc. in Applied Development in 1999, and a Ph.D. in Environmental Engineering from Tulane University in 2003. She has worked in the private and public sectors, in academia and with government at the local and international levels in four continents. Ana Maria Cruz pioneered research regarding natural hazard-triggered technological accidents (known as Natechs). Currently, her research interests include area-wide Natech risk management, accident investigation and analysis, household hazard adjustment, risk perception, and risk communication concerning Natech hazards, as well as climate change impacts on the oil and gas industry. She has published over 101 peer-reviewed journal articles, books, and book chapters. She served as the President of the International Society for Integrated Disaster Risk Management (IDRiM) from 2020-2026, where she also serves as the Editor In-Chief for the IDRiM Journal. Furthermore, she is an Editor for the Journal of Loss Prevention in the Process Industries.

Shin-ichi Aoki is a Professor Emeritus at Osaka University. He received his Doctoral degree from Osaka University, Japan, in the field of Civil Engineering. He started his career at Osaka University as a research associate in 1983. He moved to Toyohashi University of Technology as an associate professor in 1993 and promoted to full professor in 2003. He moved back to Osaka University in 2012. He retired from Osaka University in 2023 with the title of Professor Emeritus. His academic activities are mainly with the Japan Society of Civil Engineers (JSCE). He served as the Director of JSCE and Chair of the Coastal Engineering Committee from 2015 to 2016. He is currently the President of the Kansai Branch of JSCE. His research field is coastal engineering, including coastal disaster prevention, coastal geomorphology, and coastal environment. Recently, he has been interested in the safety of petroleum complexes located in coastal areas against natural disasters.