Environment General Courses (ENVIRON)

graduate level, taught in Durham

298.71 Natural Catastrophes: Rebuilding from Ruins (2 Credits)

Course organizers: David Schaad, Pratt School of Engineering; Emily Klein and Peter Haff, Earth and Ocean Sciences, Nicholas School; David Hinton, Environmental Science and Policy, Nicholas School; Jay Hamilton, Sanford Institute of Public Policy

Several courses across the university will make use of a common set of guest lectures. Each course will then add requirements for a particular category of students. This version of the course is targeted to NS professional masters students.

Contact person for NS professional students:
David E. Hinton
Office Address: LSRC Room A333B
Telephone Number: (919) 613-8038
Fax Number: (919) 684-8741
E-mail: dhinton@duke.edu
Office Hours: TBD
Web Page: http://www.nicholas.duke.edu/people/faculty/hinton.html

In this interdisciplinary, undergraduate, graduate and professional students and invited experts will discuss the range of meteorologic, hydrologic and geologic factors that cause disasters; explore how societies plan for and/or respond to the immediate and long-term physical, social, emotional and spiritual issues associated with survival; and present case studies of response, recovery and reconstruction efforts. NS professional students will attend the lecture component of the course and complete on-line quizzes to demonstrate understanding of the material presented. In addition, one paper (5-10 pp.) using lecture material to stimulate reflection on what environmental management can contribute to rebuilding from a particular instance of natural disaster. The paper will be presented to the MEM students of the class.

Note: There may be an opportunity to participate in field trips to a domestic disaster area during spring break. In this case, students may substitute a reflection paper and presentation on the field trip experience for the paper mentioned above.

Class Meeting Times
Two lectures per week (75 minutes each)

Meeting times: Location:
Tu & Th 1:15-2:30 pm (Spring 2006) Schiciano Auditorium, Fitzpatrick Center

Grading:
Attendance is expected at all guest lectures.

On-line quizzes: 25%
Individual paper: 50%
Final presentation: 25%

What Causes Natural Disasters?

Jan 12 Hurricanes (Avissar/Barros/Albertson)
How are they formed? How do they move?
Does global warming affect their intensity?
How do we predict their path? How do we plan for them?

Jan 17 Earthquakes (and Tsunamis) (Gavin/Malin)
Why do they happen? Can we predict them?
What have we done to plan for them?

Jan 19 Floods and Droughts (Medina/Schlesinger/Rob Jackson/Porporato)
How has human activity exacerbated flooding?
How do we try to control flooding?
What causes droughts?

Jan 24 Disease Outbreaks (John Hamilton/Chris Woods)
Pandemics and local plagues – how do they happen?
How do diseases spread? How do we prevent them?
What are the consequences?

Surviving the Unimaginable

Jan 26 Government Role in Disasters (Gunther Peck/David Schanzer)
Historically, what has been the role of governments in natural disasters? How does the US government respond to disasters?

Jan 31 Leadership During Crisis (Sim Sitkin)
How do you lead in the midst of disaster?
Leadership lessons arising from Katrina and the challenges still facing FEMA.

Feb 2 CASE STUDY: The Red Cross
Lessons learned in the trenches – stories of initial responses to crisis.

Feb 7 Health Epidemics, Government Response (Margaret Humphreys)
Historically, what has been the role of governments in health disasters?

Feb 9 Role of Religious Institutions (Keith Meador)
How does faith and hope help in the survival and response to disasters?
Preliminary Plans Submitted for Spring Break Project

Feb 14 Infectious Diseases and Epidemiology (John Hamilton/Chris Woods)
Disease surveillance and outbreak investigation – how and why we do it?
Health epidemics and government response and infectious diseases epidemiology.

Feb 16 Media Coverage Analysis (Robert Korstad)
How does the media cover disasters? Does it sensationalize catastrophes as it reports on them? Does the reporting have a bias or reinforce stereotypes? Does it hurt or help the response and recovery effort?

Feb 21 CASE STUDY: Hospital Disaster Preparation (Jim Chang)
How prepared are we? The emergency management coordinator for Duke University Hospital, will describe emergency plans for local hospitals and will discuss preparedness drills within Duke University Hospital and with external groups at both the local and state levels.
Final Plans Submitted for Spring Break Project

Feb 23 Emotional Toll of Disasters (Kenneth Dodge)
How do we survive and cope with tragedy? How do we move from survival to rebuilding?

Rebuilding from Ruins

Feb 28 Who Leads and Who Pays (H. Kitschelt)
Who is responsible for leading the reconstruction effort? Where do you start? How do you do it?

Mar 2 Racism and the Response to Katrina (Mark Anthony Neal)
How do socio-economic forces and racism affect the recovery effort?

Mar 7 CASE STUDY: Rebuilding After the Tsunami (Garnevicus/Wren)
Student Team from Engineers Without Borders to discuss their trip to Indonesia is discuss Livelihood Restoration after the Tsunami

Mar 9 Trip Planning/Training - Final Details and Instructions
Individual Reports Due for Students Not Participating in Spring Break Trips

SPRING BREAK - SERVICE LEARNING PROJECTS

Mar 21 Social Responsibility (Tony Brown)
Accountability and responsibility for rebuilding. A new approach to "social entrepreneurship" in the context of the response to Katrina.
Form Interdisciplinary Teams for Group Paper for Students Who Did Not Participate in Spring Break Trips

Mar 23 Possible Futures of New Orleans (Jacob Vigdor)
What might New Orleans look like in the future? An historical social perspective on New Orleans and its changing population, economy and demographics.

Mar 28 Rebuilding New Orleans (Henry Petroski)
What might New Orleans look like in the future? An engineering perspective on reconstruction.

Mar 30 Coastal Development and Katrina (Orin Pilkey)
How has coastal development impacted natural processes for flood control?
How do we rebuild in areas that were historically floodplains and wetlands?

Apr 4 Water Quality and Floodwaters (Karl Linden)
As we rebuild, what do we do with all of the waste and debris? What about the flood water that was pumped into Lake Ponchatrain? What are the subsequent long-term implications for the lake ecosystem and future human use of the area?

Apr 6 Wetland Preservation (Curtis Richardson)
Natural resources issues in rebuilding and how we deal with them.

Apr 11 Invited Speaker - New Orleans Response (FEMA or Local/State Official)

Case Studies

Apr 13 Class Oral Presentations

Apr 18 Class Oral Presentations

April 20 Class Oral Presentations

Apr 25 Course Debriefing
Final Group Reports Due