A hazard, in its widest sense, is a natural, technological or human caused incident which causes economic, social and environmental damage to human communities and their homes, in a way that the available facilities and resources cannot cope. In this framework, geographical, atmospheric, waterborne and airborne (hydrological) events and incidents, whose forces cause damage, casualties and loss are known as natural hazards. Natural hazards are caused by events in nature. Humans can also influence the occurrence of these events, but the conditions of the natural environment lay the ground for them. Natural hazards, given their possible long term or even irreversible consequences, influence the economic, social and environmental structures of effected areas. Accordingly, hazard management is one of the fundamental aims of human and environmental planning and management. Until today the main approach of hazard management has been to reduce vulnerability to risk. But under the new conditions and approach, hazard management emphasizes increasing the level of resilience and endurance in human communities (urban and rural) to hazards. This is because increased resilience reduces vulnerability and boosts the ability to return back to normal life. The change in crisis management approach from vulnerability reduction to resilience increase is among the definitional developments of the last decade. Vulnerability shows the sensitivity and level of flexibility of society and the environment to hazards. Vulnerability analysis identifies geographical locations at hazard risk, people at risk of injury or death, loss of property and possessions, or environments vulnerable to hazards caused by events and catastrophes, and the key definitions related to vulnerability stand in opposition to those of resilience. Since the vulnerability of local communities limits their development, particularly in areas which are continually under threat from hazards, the resilience of local communities can facilitate development, improve residents living conditions and improve living standards in the area. As mentioned earlier, the definition of resilience stems from the evolution of hazard management in the last decade. Today, viewpoints and theories on the management of catastrophes and sustainable development seek to create resilient communities against natural hazards. Thus, according to the majority of researchers, resilience is among the most important factors in achieving sustainability. Today, resilience is a means of consolidating communities through the use of their own capacities and different definitions, approaches, criteria and measurement models have been developed for it. Resilience is one of the necessary options for making human settlements more desirable for living. Increasing resilience and the level of compatibility, confronting changes and environmental crisis, and reducing the level of vulnerability among local communities will allow residents to continually and sustainably develop despite threats from environmental hazards and prevent subsequent catastrophes from disrupting their lives. The authors, given their numerous experiences of teaching and research in the fields of hazard management, crisis management and the resilience of local communities, have written a book on the resilience of local communities so that suitable literature in this field can provide the groundwork and solutions for managing environmental hazards in human communities (urban or rural). In order to achieve the stated aim, this book has been divided into five chapters. In Chapter 1 fundamental definitions, in Chapter 2 the approaches, viewpoints, models and criteria of resilience and in Chapters 3-5 the resilience of local communities, cities and rural communities have been discussed, and the academic basis of hazard management and resilience of local communities has been explained from a theoretical perspective. This book has been published by Tarbiat Modares University Press and has 424 pages.This book is aimed at lecturers, students, planners, managers, researchers and scholars in the fields of natural and human hazard management, geographical sciences (geography and rural planning, geography and tourism planning, geography and urban planning, climatology and geomorphology), the environment and natural resources at the undergraduate, masters and doctoral levels. The sources and references used in this book consist of the latest theoretical and practical achievements of leading experts in the field from Iran and the wider world as well as the theoretical and practical achievements of the authors - more than five hundred sources – accompanied by a glossary and index.

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