Resilience in International Disasters

Catalog description

This course addresses the field of disaster and international humanitarian studies, trends and recent developments in the field, and strategies to reduce disaster risk. It builds basic concepts and tools that will prepare students to understand humanitarian issues for disaster management. Students will learn to articulate concepts about disasters and the changing patterns of disasters, disaster resilience and international humanitarian response. They will develop a broad view of the key organizations involved in and components of the international humanitarian response system. The course methodology includes case studies of major disasters including the Haiti earthquake of 2010, Hurricane Katrina, the current crisis in Syria, famines in the Horn of Africa, Sahel, Southern Africa and the 2004 Asian Tsunami. Students will gain hands-on experience in computing indicators used to determine the effects of disasters on public health. Guest lecturers from the Centers for Disease Control will participate through tele video-conferencing.