Postgraduate - UnitMIR4160 - Disaster resilience and community safety

The unit is the advanced discipline theory unit for this field of study. It will review the epidemiology trends of disaster and emergencies, from both the global and students' regional perspectives and use contemporary models and principles to examine the background, intentions and implications of the February 2011 COAG Statement on "National Strategy for Natural Disaster Resilience". This unit aims to promote the development of a broad and critical conceptual and practical understanding of disaster resilience and community safety in disaster and emergency situations, and includes themes of: disaster preparedness and leadership; hazard assessment, disaster risk reduction and disaster risk communication; vulnerability assessment; community capacity building; and, shared responsibility, each applied across the spectrum of the emergency management cycle of preparedness, response and recovery. This unit will highlight the key elements of humanitarian responses and emerging disaster threats in the region. It will bridge the policy context to the practicalities of community capacity building in the setting of disaster resilience and will be attractive to a broad range of health and emergency management professionals in this field. The unit will conclude with examining the implications of these principles for both community and responder education and identifying research opportunities in this field. Students will apply the principles in this Unit to their respective professional practice.