DRRE401-24X (C) General non-calendar-based 2024

Introduction to Disaster Risk and Resilience

15 points

Details:
Start Date: Monday, 19 February 2024
End Date: Sunday, 21 April 2024
Withdrawal Dates
Last Day to withdraw from this course:
  • Without financial penalty (full fee refund): Sunday, 3 March 2024
  • Without academic penalty (including no fee refund): Sunday, 31 March 2024

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.

DRRE401 provides an introduction to disaster risk and resilience disciplines, theories and practices. It explores drivers of disaster risk and covers national and international frameworks for disaster risk reduction. The course helps students to develop a broad understanding of the disaster risk management field, and of applications in real-world settings, including the identification of resilience strategies for communities in high-risk environments (via field trips). It utilises a number of guest lectures from leading international thinkers in the field. The course assumes no background but progresses to advanced topics. It is required for MDRR students, but it is also open to students enrolled in other programmes.

Learning Outcomes

  • Learning outcomes:

    Students successfully completing DRRE 401 will:

  • Have a clear understanding of the basic terminology used in disaster research contexts, particularly “hazard”, “risk,” “exposure,” “vulnerability” and “disaster”.
  • Have developed a basic understanding of the broad drivers of disaster risk.
  • Understand some of the key challenges associated with disaster risk management and risk governance.
  • Be familiar with case studies from a variety of disaster contexts and potential disaster risk management approaches.
  • Undertake a structured approach to identifying: drivers of disaster risk; potential impacts; and appropriate disaster resilience strategies

    Course Content:

    The course deals with natural hazard and disaster impacts and risks – what they are, why they occur, why they are increasing and ways in which they might be reduced. The contributions to disasters made by hazard events (e.g. floods, tsunami, volcanic activity, earthquakes) and social/cultural factors (e.g. economics, institutional & governance arrangements, demographics, world-views) are studied. The focus is on the potential to reduce disaster impacts by understanding and negotiating the limitations posed by economic, institutional, social and cultural drivers of disaster risk. Case studies and exercises illustrate the points being made.
    • 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.

      Engaged with the community

      Students will have observed and understood a culture within a community by reflecting on their own performance and experiences within that community.

      Globally aware

      Students will comprehend the influence of global conditions on their discipline and will be competent in engaging with global and multi-cultural contexts.

Prerequisites

Subject to approval of the Programme Director

Restrictions

HAZM401

Timetable 2024

Students must attend one activity from each section.

Lecture A
Activity Day Time Location Weeks
01 Wednesday 09:00 - 11:00 Ernest Rutherford 213 Geol Engineering Lab
19 Feb - 31 Mar
Lecture B
Activity Day Time Location Weeks
01 Thursday 11:00 - 13:00 Ernest Rutherford 213 Geol Engineering Lab
19 Feb - 31 Mar
Field Trip A
Activity Day Time Location Weeks
01 Monday 12:00 - 17:00 Christchurch/local region
19 Feb - 25 Feb
Field Trip B
Activity Day Time Location Weeks
01-P1 Friday 12:00 - 00:00 Twizel
4 Mar - 10 Mar
01-P2 Saturday 00:00 - 00:00 Twizel
4 Mar - 10 Mar
01-P3 Sunday 00:00 - 12:00 Twizel
4 Mar - 10 Mar
Tutorial A
Activity Day Time Location Weeks
01 Monday 11:00 - 12:00 Ernest Rutherford 213 Geol Engineering Lab
19 Feb - 25 Feb

Timetable Note

The course comprises 6 weeks of classes, with two 2-hour sessions per week during the first half of Semester 1 (Term 1).

A half day field trip around Christchurch in the first week uses the CES to introduce the cohort to key Disaster Risk Management concepts, while a 2-day field trip to Twizel (8-10 March) pulls together and applies lecture content from seminar sessions.

A final exercise introduces risk-based land-use planning.

Course Coordinator

Sarah Beaven

Lecturers

Tom Wilson , Tom Robinson , Kristie-Lee Thomas and John Hopkins

Assessment

Assessment Due Date Percentage 
Simulation Exercise (Kaikoura) 29 Feb 2024 20%
Policy Brief 07 Mar 2024 30%
Twizel Sit Rep 15 Mar 2024 20%
Risk-based Land Use Planning 30 Mar 2024 30%


Note: there is no final examination for this subject.

Textbooks / Resources

Recommended Reading

Kelman, Ilan; Disaster by choice : how our actions turn natural hazards into catastrophes ; 1st ed; Oxford University Press, 2020.

Mileti, Dennis S; Disasters by design : a reassessment of natural hazards in the United States ; Joseph Henry Press, 1999.

Additional Recommended Reading:
The Routledge Handbook of Research Methods for Social-Ecological Systems. Edited by Reinette Biggs, Alta de Vos, Rika Preiser, Hayley Clements , Kristine Maciejewski and Maja Schlüte. Routledge, 2022.

Indicative Fees

Domestic fee $1,145.00

* 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

  • DRRE401-24X (C) General non-calendar-based 2024