Please note: the information in the course manual is binding.
 

 

After successful completion of the course, the student understands the causes, nature, and frequency of natural disasters and the geographic zones where natural hazards occur. She/he understands how risk results from exposure and vulnerability and is able to relate this to institutional quality. The student appreciates the interplay between natural events, economic effects and social impact as exemplified by a wide range of historical events. Furthermore, the student is able to collect and synthesize information and analyze the short and long run economic and social impacts of natural hazards for a society. Students gain insight in the challenges and value added in multidisciplinary research.

Natural disasters are a part of everyday life and may cause significant economic, social and emotional damage. Natural disasters include earthquakes, volcanic eruptions, tsunamis, meteorite impacts, floods, droughts, wild fires, hurricanes, landslides, and land subsidence. Many natural disasters act at scales so large that humans have no choice but to adapt or suffer the consequences. But in many others, it is mostly human (in)action and behavior before and after the event itself that determines the scale and scope of a disaster. This course aims to connect to a number of recent developments; the ongoing climate change, the increasing connections between economies which cause, for example, the next earthquake in Tokyo or California to have global repercussions, modern media showing the tsunami in Thailand real-time into our homes, refugee flows and climate conflicts. The course is aimed at bachelor students in economics, social sciences, earth sciences, history, social geography, environmental sciences, and liberal arts and sciences.
 
Course Structure
The course opens with an example presentation of an integrated multi-disciplinary analysis by the teachers. The sources of natural hazards, their typical impacts and magnitude-frequency relations are discussed in the first weeks of the course. Depending on the hazard, there are varying possibilities of prediction, forecasting/warning and preparedness.
 
These hazards are put into the broader perspective of “hazards and risk management” next. All topics that are covered in the course are put into this context.
 
Institutional quality has bearing on the societal preparedness, and on both the short- and long term effects: damage, economic consequences, adaptation techniques, insurance strategies. This includes also the socio-political consequences of disasters, i.e., disaster management and the societal perspective on natural hazards.
 
Throughout the course we have multiple examples of historical events, and how different societies dealt with hazards. Best practices emerge. The detailed program (including class schedule, rooms, topics, work forms, and tests) is available via the course website on BlackBoard.