Draughts, floods, storms, landslides, earthquakes and volcanic eruptions are normal, albeit extreme events of the Earth's dynamics. These natural events become disasters only when population dynamics combine with ignorance, greed and poverty to place people or entire populations into harm's normal way. Or when public and private institutions lack the political capacity, the will, or the resources to build sufficient disaster resilience by persistent planning and actions. We explore the role of global economic development to the rapidly increasing risk exposure. Some of this development is unsustainable.
Some development is promoted via loans to developing countries for large infrastructure projects.
Many of these projects are not properly assessed for the existing hazards to which they are exposed, or for the new risks they generate. Students are challenged to find their own answers to some of these questions based on introductory information provided, and their own research and reasoning. The aim of this short course is to provide students with insights and skills they need to respond to natural disasters during their future professional careers. And to include policies into their regular professional activities with the aim to minimize the exposure of people or entire populations to disasters. Students are expected to have read the following two books cover to cover during the course.