**Disaster Response and Recovery**

GEO 4000/6000C01 Spring 2003 Instructor: Ann Angelheart

Meeting Time: M W F 9:00-9:50am Classroom: McEniry #122

Office Hours: daily 1:00pm-2:00pm, or by appt.

*Office Location: 420 McEniry*; turn right as you exit the elevators; at
the end of the hallway turn left; my office will then be on your right
-- my office is at the back of the room #420 (by the windows)

*There will be no class held on the following dates:*

Monday Jan. 20 Martin Luther King, Jr. Day

Weds.-Fri. Mar. 5-7 Instructor at Conference

Mon.-Fri. Mar. 10-14 Spring Break

*To contact Miss Angelheart:*

704-687-6222 (If I'm not in, please leave a message.)

[aeangelh@email.uncc.edu]{.underline}

*Textbooks*:

Environmental Hazards, 3rd Edition; Keith Smith

The Environment as Hazard, 2^nd^ Edition; Burton, Kates, & White

[Course Description]{.underline}

This is an introductory course intended for upper-level undergraduates
or graduate students. It covers why human activity occupies "risky"
places; how people, groups and governments respond to disaster; the
long-term ramifications of decisions made during the disaster's
aftermath; the social, planning, and economic issues that arise during
reconstruction after a disaster.

The essence of the course is to provide the framework of current
academic knowledge about disasters, and then examine disasters from
various points of view. The majority of examples will be from natural
disasters that occurred in the U.S., although the principles are true
for other countries, and for intentional or unintentional human-caused
disasters (e.g., terrorism, oil spills). For example, we'll consider the
following questions:

-   Which are more frightening: sudden events or slow-onset events?

-   Why do some groups evacuate when warned of a disaster, and others
    throw a party?

-   Why do people occupy hazard-prone places?

-   If a disaster occurs in a developing country, do international aid
    groups hinder or help recovery efforts?

[Grading Scale]{.underline}

Attendance -- 10%

Papers (Combined Value) -- 30%

Midterm Exam -- 25%

Final Exam -- 35%

[Important Deadlines]{.underline}

1^st^ paper (lit. review paper) due Monday, **March 24**, at the
beginning of the class period. I will proofread a draft of your paper if
you get it to me by Monday, March 17.

Mid-term exam: Monday, **March 3**

2^nd^ paper (case study paper) due Friday, **April 25**, at the
beginning of the class period.

Final exam: Wednesday, **April 30**, in class.

Exams will be short-answer and essay questions.

The papers will be described in the class. The general guidelines are as
follows:

+------------------------------------+-----------------+---------------+
|                                    | Undergrad       | Graduate      |
|                                    | Students        | Students      |
+------------------------------------+-----------------+---------------+
| 1^st^ Paper -- lit review          | 5-7 pages;      | 8-12 pages;   |
|                                    |                 |               |
| (discussion of selected course     | 6-8 cites (at   | 10-14 cites   |
| concepts as seen in academic       | least 4 from    | (7+ from      |
| journals or books)                 | journals)       | journals)     |
+------------------------------------+-----------------+---------------+
| 2^nd^ Paper -- case study          | 8-12 pages;     | 14-16 pages;  |
|                                    |                 |               |
| (with 1^st^ paper as introduction  | 10+ cites       | 16+ cites     |
| to case study)                     |                 |               |
+------------------------------------+-----------------+---------------+

[Grades for Papers]{.underline}

-   Papers that are more than 24 hours late will not be accepted without
    verifiable justification. The instructor will decide if the late
    paper's grade will be reduced one letter grade for missing the
    deadline.

-   I will subtract:

    -   ¼ point for each grammatical or spelling error

    -   1 point for each citation that doesn't appear in the references
        list

    -   1 point for each item in the references list that is not cited
        in the text

    -   5 points for too few citations

    -   5 points for each page with more than 3 quotations or more than
        2" of quoted material

-   For each loss of 5 points, the paper's overall grade will be reduced
    by ½ a letter.

-   Anytime three or more consecutive words appear in a text that are
    the exact same as from a source document, yet are not quoted (and
    cited), it will be considered plagiarism. The student will receive
    an F for the course if any portion of his or her papers is
    plagiarized. If any portion of any paper submitted for a grade has
    been obtained via the work of another person (e.g., a roommate wrote
    it, or it was obtained from an Internet-based service), the student
    will receive an F for the course.

I want to read your writing with your words. I expect neither
sophisticated, scholarly writing, nor writing that would land you on the
New York Times bestseller list. I simply want clear, concise writing
that describes and explains whatever viewpoint your paper is trying to
convey. In other words, there are no "bonus points" for "wow-ing" me.

[WebCT]{.underline}

Exam/Quiz Schedule

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For those that commute to school, should there be an unexpected
cancellation of class, the instructor will post a notice on WebCT.

To log onto webct: go to:
[www.uncc.edu/webct](http://www.uncc.edu/webct)

click on the Login button; enter your webct id and password in all
lowercase letters.

Your user id is the same as your campus email account (the portion of
your address that precedes the @ symbol). If this doesn't work, on the
webct page, go to: Login Troubleshooting.

[Course Outline]{.underline}

Week 1 -- Risk, Vulnerability, Resilience

Week 2 -- Meteorologic Hazards

Week 3 -- Geologic Hazards

Week 4 -- Risk Communication/Interpretation & Media Roles

Week 5 -- Evacuation & Refusal to Evacuate

Week 6 -- Convergence, Altruism, and Subgroup response to disaster

Week 7 -- Community Response and Grieving

Midterm

Week 8/9 -- Government Response/Emergency Management (Fed/State/Local)

Week 10/11 -- Aid/Support Groups (Local, National, International,
Emergent, Activist)

Week 12 -- Planning/Mitigation Efforts

Week 13 -- Other Postdisaster Development Issues (e.g., economic,
social, environmental)

Week 14 \-- Human-Caused Hazards: Accidental, Technological, & Terrorist

Week 15 -- Disaster in the Developing World

Final Exam

[Books on Reserve]{.underline}

These are on reserve at the library, so that you may refer to them for
ideas or for material to cite for your papers. (A \* indicates that the
book is the property of the library.)

*Government Policy & Planning*

Disasters by Design\* Mileti (also available free at National Academy
Press)

Natural Hazard Mitigation\* Godschalk, Beatley, Berke, Brower, & Kaiser

Disasters and Democracy\* Platt

*Social Behavior and Social Issues*

Disasters, Collective Behavior, and Social Organization\* Dynes &
Tierney

At Risk Blaikie, Cannon, Davis, & Wisner

Natural Hazards Tobin & Montz

*Specific Events/Case Studies*

The Angry Earth Oliver-Smith & Hoffman

Facing Our Future Maiolo, Whitehead, McGee, King, Johnson & Stone

Hurricane Andrew Peacock, Morrow, Gladwin

Isaac's Storm Larson

Galveston & the 1900 Storm Bixel & Turner