This publication echoes the 1981 Emergency Health Management after Natural Disaster (Scientific Publication No. 407), but it is a whole new book, with a fresh organization and much new content. It sketches the role the health sector plays in reducing the impact of disasters and describes how it can carry it out. These guidelines aim at presenting a framework that an administratror can rely on to make effective decisions in managing the health sector's activities to reduce the consequences of disasters. It does not pretend to cover every contingency. In fact, some of the suggested procedures may need to be adapted to fill some local needs. We hope that this book will help to develop manuals that can be tailored to local conditions. Settlement focus: Chapter 10, page 64: Planning, layout and management of temporary settlements and camps. "Health authorities will not usually be directly responsible for setting up and managing camps and temporary settlements. Since many aspects of camp management affect the health of the occupants, however, the Health Disaster Coordinator should be involved in decision making as early as possible. "