Survey of Natural Hazards and Disasters

Catalog description

This survey course provides a graduate level introduction to the broad fields of study associated with natural hazards and disasters. Emphasis is placed on gaining an understanding of the defining characteristics of natural hazards and how their effects on human settlements can lead to a series of issues that help us understand what defines a disaster. This course introduces students to a range of topics including meteorology, geology, hydrology, engineering and building performance, policy making, planning, and sociology, among other disciplines. The course is framed using concepts of sustainable development and disaster resilience, including those pre- and post-disaster conditions and actions that enhance or hinder these aims. Emphasis is placed on the use of case studies of past disasters to help students understand the physical characteristics of natural hazards and how individual, community, state, regional, national and international actions led to the event becoming a disaster.