Study-Unit Description

Study-Unit Description


CODE ISS5140

 
TITLE Disasters and Disaster Risk Preparedness in Small Island States

 
UM LEVEL 05 - Postgraduate Modular Diploma or Degree Course

 
MQF LEVEL 7

 
ECTS CREDITS 5

 
DEPARTMENT Islands and Small States Institute

 
DESCRIPTION This study-unit will cover the following themes:

- Description and classification of hazards and catastrophic damages;
- Economic and social impact of disasters on small island states;
- Approaches to assess the risk of a disaster;
- Distinction between natural and anthropogenic hazards and vulnerability;
- Description and interpretation of data on disasters, mostly with reference to EM-DAT, the international disaster database;
- Building disaster resilience through prevention, preparedness, response and recovery from disaster events, with a focus on small island states;
- Emergency and crisis planning and management, including humanitarian action tools;
- Possibility for disaster insurance schemes;
- The need to integrate disaster science while respecting and integrating local and indigenous knowledge in small island states.

Study-Unit Aims:

The aim of this study-unit is to enhance the students' knowledge on:

- The meaning of disasters from a social and physical sciences perspective;
- The risk of disaster occurrence and on the human impacts of disasters in small island states;
- The building of disaster resilience through prevention, preparedness, response and recovery from disaster events;
- The International Strategy for Disaster Reduction (UN-ISDR) and skills and abilities for implementing the Disaster Risk Reduction (DRR) Strategy;
- Potential effects of disasters and methods to deliver public health response to avert these effects;
- Skills and ability to design, implement and evaluate research on disasters.

Learning Outcomes:

1. Knowledge & Understanding:

By the end of the study-unit the student will be able to:

- Consider the meaning of disasters from both a social and physical sciences perspective;
- Identify the different approaches to assess the risk of a disaster;
- Adopt a multidisciplinary approach to disaster resilience through prevention, preparedness, response and recovery;
- Produce and interpret data relating to disasters in small island states.

2. Skills:

By the end of the study-unit the student will be able to:

- Develop skills in assessing risks and in proposing policy approaches to build disaster resilience;
- Develop skills in procuring and interpreting data relating to the occurrence and impacts of disasters.

Main Text/s and any supplementary readings:

Main Texts:

- BLAIKIE, P., CANNON, T., DAVIS, I., & WISNER, B. (2014). At risk: natural hazards, people's vulnerability and disasters. Routledge.
- KELMAN, I, MERCER, J, and GAILARD, JC (eds.) (2017). The Routledge Handbook of Disaster Risk Reduction Including Climate Change Adaptation, Routledge.

Supplementary Readings:

- MERCER, J., KELMAN, I, TARANIS, I,.L, and SUCHET-PEAROSN, S. (2010). Framework for integrating indigenous and scientific knowledge for disaster risk reduction. Disasters, 34(1), 214-239.
- GALEA, P. (2007). Seismic history of the Maltese islands and considerations on seismic risk. Annals of geophysics.
- VELLA, A., GALEA, P., & D'AMICO, S. (2013). Site frequency response characterisation of the Maltese islands based on ambient noise H/V ratios. Engineering Geology, 163, 89-100.
- PELLING, M., & UITTO, J. I. (2001). Small island developing states: natural disaster vulnerability and global change. Global Environmental Change Part B: Environmental Hazards, 3(2), 49-62.

 
STUDY-UNIT TYPE Lecture and Tutorial

 
METHOD OF ASSESSMENT
Assessment Component/s Assessment Due Sept. Asst Session Weighting
Assignment SEM2 Yes 30%
Examination (2 Hours) SEM2 Yes 70%

 
LECTURER/S

 

 
The University makes every effort to ensure that the published Courses Plans, Programmes of Study and Study-Unit information are complete and up-to-date at the time of publication. The University reserves the right to make changes in case errors are detected after publication.
The availability of optional units may be subject to timetabling constraints.
Units not attracting a sufficient number of registrations may be withdrawn without notice.
It should be noted that all the information in the description above applies to study-units available during the academic year 2023/4. It may be subject to change in subsequent years.

Study at UM

https://www.um.edu.mt/course/studyunit