HUMANITARIAN EMERGENCY AND DISASTER MANAGEMENT

This course provides the skills and knowledge needed for hazard mitigation planning and implementation.  Effective emergency planning is the key to surviving natural and manmade disasters. Risk analysis and the formulation of a comprehensive plan, followed by a vigorous and continuing testing program, are essential elements to surviving an emergency. Topics to be covered within this course include threat assessment, risk analysis, formulating the plan, staffing the Emergency Operations Centre (EOC), coordinating with supporting agencies, continuing liaison activities, managing an actual incident, and conducting an effective follow-up analysis.

Introduction to Meteorology is a natural science course, taught within the School of Social Science, from the perspective of Geography, Environment, and Spatial Sciences. The course explores the natural processes and phenomena that take place in the Earth’s atmosphere and how everyday changes in the atmosphere affect people and human societies, as well as the interactions between these two spheres. Furthermore, this course is designed to acquaint the student with the fundamentals of meteorology, energy balance, adiabatic processes, cyclogenesis, and severe weather.

A review of the skills needed to effectively deal with the public and media before, during, and after an emergency event. Topics will include: role and responsibilities of the Public Information Officer, understanding the roles and responsibilities of the media, conducting awareness campaigns, writing news releases, public speaking, granting interviews, media management, and dealing with high-profile incidents. An examination of the relationship between public safety agencies and the larger community, with particular emphasis on administrative and policy dimensions; the role of public safety agencies, the community’s involvement in establishing that role, police-community relations programs, relationships with the media, and professionalization and accreditation movements in public safety agencies are addressed.  The course focuses on the relationship between the public safety agency—police, court, corrections, fire—and the larger community. An historical framework of the public safety role and an ecological model of the environment of public safety agencies is provided as background. The course then focuses on the development of community-oriented programs in public safety agencies, including attention to neighbourhood service units, citizen advisory councils, complaint handling procedures, and the role of an agency overseer. A significant element of the course addresses relations with the media, since the media become one of the primary intermediaries between the public safety agency and the community.

The role of technology in the support of emergency planning, response, recovery and mitigation efforts. Application of current and emerging web based technologies. Topics include: GIS, RSS, GPS, EWS, Medias, simulation and modelling software, decision support and the application of current and emerging web based technologies. Emergencies and disasters are extreme events that cause significant disruption.  They require immediate response as well as coordinated application of resources, facilities, and efforts beyond those regularly available to handle routine problems.  They rise from both natural as well as man-made events.  When does a situation become a crisis invoking extraordinary resources and management priorities – distinct from “business as usual?”  The application of technology in emergency management will be explored in this class.  Examples of current and emerging technology applications will be illustrated along with an explanation of critical issues that are a part of the technology application.

The history, methods, and philosophy of terrorism are reviewed. Emphasis is placed on extremism as a foundation for terrorist behaviour, types of terrorism, and how governments and law enforcement agencies respond to terrorism.  Case studies of terrorist activities and implications for emergency response are highlighted.

This course introduces students to the relevance of gender to humanitarian programming. The course identifies why addressing gender matters in humanitarian response and will make students familiar with key frameworks underpinning gender mainstreaming approaches. Acquire deeper knowledge on tools used to ensure programming is gender responsive, such as gender analysis and the basic principles of ensuring equal participation of males and females. It will enable students to take a close look at specific cluster responses through the use of case studies. Another session will be dedicated to assessing responses to gender-based violence in humanitarian action.  This course introduces students to the growing body of literature on sex, gender and gender relations in the context of natural, technological or human-induced hazards and disasters. It will analyze gender differences and inequalities through the disaster cycle and gender as a cross-cutting theme in other patterns of disaster vulnerability and resilience.

This unit is designed to enable the student to acquire skills, knowledge and attitudes on port health. Describe the public health procedures for clearing the incoming international travellers and vessels. Explain the sanitary requirement in ports and for food handling and storage on board vessels. Explain port health activities. Explain the purpose, scope and implementation of International Health Regulations (I.H.R.)

This course is designed to provide students with the knowledge of emergency management and the philosophy of emergency planning for community, business and industry. Students will develop a management perspective on issues, concerns, and constraints effective to emergencies that responders must think about today.