Emergencies and Disasters: Trends and Issues (FutureLearn)

Offered by Coventry University,
Emergencies and Disasters: Trends and Issues (FutureLearn)

Understand the common characteristics of emergencies and disasters, and explore the challenges they create. Evaluate the trends and issues of emergencies and disasters. Emergencies and disasters are usually viewed as one-off events without consideration of similar events that have previously occurred. By investigating the common elements of these events, you can better understand how emergencies and disasters should be managed. On this course, you will uncover the common trends and issues surrounding emergencies and disasters, and understand how these issues impact the ability of stakeholders to intervene. You will also explore the challenges that emergencies create for policymakers and examine how these events are shown to the public.

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This course is part of the program Integrated Emergency Management: Policy and Issues, which is one of the building blocks that leads to a degree in MSc Emergency Management and Resilience.

What topics will you cover?

  • Trends and issues in emergencies and disasters
  • Characteristics of emergencies and disasters such as scale, complexity, and uncertainty
  • Presumptions of responsibility for emergencies and disasters, together with their public profile, and the implications for intervention in these events

What will you achieve?
By the end of the course, you‘ll be able to...

  • Investigate, interpret and evaluate some of the major trends and issues surrounding emergencies and disasters
  • Investigate and interpret the significance of specific issues, such as public profile and presumptions of responsibility, in respect of emergencies and disasters
  • Evaluate the implications of such issues for intervention in emergencies and disasters
  • Investigate and evaluate how key terms and concepts relevant to emergencies and disasters are an intrinsic part of alternative perspectives on those events, and how these terms and concepts shape intervention
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