ATS1310 · Extreme earth! The geography of disasters

Overview

The world today is increasingly shaped by extreme events – bushfires, floods, earthquakes, droughts, hurricanes and tsunamis – that cost lives, damage infrastructure and ecosystems, and disrupt livelihoods and economies. In a changing climate, it has never been more important to understand the natural hazards and human vulnerabilities that shape disasters, and to use this understanding as a powerful tool for positive change in the way we prepare for, respond to and recover from these events. In this unit, you will develop a geographical understanding of interconnected environmental and social processes to explain the highly uneven distribution of disaster risk around the world, and you will explore a wide range of disaster risk management solutions through engaging lectures, skills-based tutorials and real-world case studies. As future leaders, practitioners and researchers, your knowledge and insights gained from this course will play a pivotal role in contributing to resilient and sustainable societies in the face of an ever-evolving landscape of hazards and disasters!

Areas of study: Geographical science Human geography

Offerings

Assessment

The Handbook does not list a final examination among the assessment items. That is not a guarantee there is none.

Within semester assessment: 100%

Assessment details may change. Please refer to the assessment information in Moodle closer to the start of the teaching period.

Requisites

The Handbook lists no prerequisite, corequisite or prohibition for this unit.

Learning outcomes

1. describe the range of environmental processes that are recognised as hazards to human lives, livelihoods and settlements;
2. discuss the nature and origin of hazardous environmental processes, including concepts of event magnitude and frequency of occurrence;
3. explain regional variations in the characteristics of environmental and socio-economic processes that produce catastrophes;
4. analyse the social and demographic factors through which an environmental process becomes a human disaster;
5. recognise and explain the range of factors that may influence the vulnerability of particular regions or communities to hazardous environmental processes;
6. evaluate some of the strategies used to minimise the risk of environmental disaster and to respond to disasters that occur.

Workload

Minimum total expected workload to achieve the learning outcomes for this unit is 144 hours per semester typically comprising a mixture of scheduled learning activities and independent study. Scheduled activities may include a combination of teacher directed learning, peer directed learning and online engagement.

Student experience, not official rules. Nothing here changes what the Handbook says.