DRRE401-20S1 (C) Semester One 2020

Introduction to Disaster Risk and Resilience

15 points

Details:
Start Date: Monday, 17 February 2020
End Date: Sunday, 21 June 2020
Withdrawal Dates
Last Day to withdraw from this course:
  • Without financial penalty (full fee refund): Friday, 28 February 2020
  • Without academic penalty (including no fee refund): Friday, 29 May 2020

Description

The DRRE401 course provides an introduction to disaster risk and resilience situations, theory and practices. It explores drivers of disaster risk and covers national and international frameworks for disaster risk reduction. The course allows students to undertake natural hazard risk assessments and explore resilience strategies for real life communities in high risk environments (via field trips) and utilises a number of guest lectures from leading international thinkers in this field. The course assumes no background, but progresses to advanced topics throughout the course.

This course provides an introduction to disaster risk and resilience situations, theories and practices. It explores drivers of disaster risk and covers national and international frameworks for disaster risk reduction. The course allows students to undertake natural hazard impact and risk assessments and explore resilience strategies for real life communities in high risk environments (via field trips), utilising a number of guest lectures from leading international thinkers in the field.  The course assumes no background, but progresses to advanced topics throughout the course.

Learning Outcomes

  • Learning Outcomes
    Students successfully completing this course will:

  • Have a clear understanding of the basic terminology used in disaster studies, particularly “hazard”, “risk” and “disaster”.
  • Understand the concept of risk resulting from uncertainty about the behaviour of complex dynamic systems
  • Have a clear overview of the processes of complex earth and human systems within a disaster context.
  • Investigate the drivers or disaster risk
  • Be familiar with case studies relating to a variety of disaster situations, and the management possibilities.
  • Carry out a disaster risk assessment within a specified topic, including identifying principal drivers and their potential impacts.

      • University Graduate Attributes

      This course will provide students with an opportunity to develop the Graduate Attributes specified below:

      Critically competent in a core academic discipline of their award

      Students know and can critically evaluate and, where applicable, apply this knowledge to topics/issues within their majoring subject.

      Employable, innovative and enterprising

      Students will develop key skills and attributes sought by employers that can be used in a range of applications.

Prerequisites

Subject to approval of the Programme Director

Restrictions

HAZM401

Lecturer

Sarah Beaven

Contact Person

Tim Davies

Assessment

Assessment Due Date Percentage  Description
Course Participation 10% Course Participation
Assignment 1 20% Assignment 1
Assignment 2 30% Assignment 2
Assignment 3 40% Assignment 3


Assessment
• Course participation  = 10%
• Assignment 1 = 20%, set 2 March submit 17 March
• Assignment 2 = 30%, set 2 March submit 27 April
• Assignment 3 = 40%, set 26 March submit 11 May


Note: there is no final examination for this subject.

Textbooks / Resources

There are a vast number of text books and other literature in this subject area; the recommended texts are only a sample. Mileti’s book is now aged but still relevant.

Resources – ISO/NZ 31000 Risk Management
– Readings for each module: to be advised.

Notes

Course Content
The course deals with the nature of natural hazard and disaster risks – what they are, why they occur, why they are increasing and ways in which they might be managed. The roles of hazard events (eg floods, tsunami, volcanic activity, earthquakes) and social/cultural factors (e.g. economics, institutional & governance arrangements, risk perception, world-views) in understanding and managing hazards and disasters are studied. The focus is on the limiting role of economic, institutional, social and cultural factors on the capacity to manage hazards and disasters, and the potential to reduce disaster effects by modifying human systems. Case studies and exercises illustrate the points being made.

Course Programme
The course comprises 6 weeks of classes, with two 2 hour sessions per week during the first half of Semester 1 (Term 1). A 4 day field trip to the West Coast which pulls together lecture content from throughout the seminar sessions completes the course -- scheduled in the April lecture-break.  
.

Topics include:
The conceptual basis of disasters; complex system behaviour; patterns of system behaviour; application to earthl systems and disasters; application to complex social systems and disasters; anticipating disasters; West Coast hazardscape.

In addition to the scheduled seminars/discussion sessions a 4 day field trip will be on 10-13 April in the Easter semester break to examine natural hazards and other risks in the Franz Josef area of Westland. Further local trips or laboratories may be organised to complement other seminars.
The course is assessed by way of course participation and3 assignments.

Indicative Fees

Domestic fee $1,054.00

* All fees are inclusive of NZ GST or any equivalent overseas tax, and do not include any programme level discount or additional course-related expenses.

Minimum enrolments

This course will not be offered if fewer than 5 people apply to enrol.

For further information see School of Earth and Environment .

All DRRE401 Occurrences

  • DRRE401-20S1 (C) Semester One 2020
Previous year Next year