India has witnessed countless disasters in the last hundred years. This book is based on India's 4004 disaster research writings. Towards this goal, the number was neither predetermined nor an end in itself. It is an auto-evolved number. As a destination is to the seeker, so 4004 is to this research. This book is a research on India's disaster research using 4004.

A Veritable Niche

Why be concerned with the research already accomplished in the field? Why not simply get on with research itself? This too is a valid query. Research is perceived and perhaps truly is an intellectual engagement of a higher order. In the realm of academics, one is judged by individual research, not by the work of others. It could also be added that in a world of specialisation, the compilation of research is the forte of another group of professionals. Here, there is need to draw a fine line. Firstly, before knowledge was caged into cubbyholes, it was academia that compiled and interpreted the research in a given field. It remains to be seen what would have been the shades of research had this role sustained itself. Further, research on research is not equivalent to compilation. It also differs from a review of literature. The investigation of any idea or theme demands a reading of the relevant literature which functions as a background to evaluate a specific research objective.