Undergraduate - UnitATS1310 - Extreme earth! Natural hazards and human vulnerability

This unit entry is for students who completed this unit in 2014 only. For students planning to study the unit, please refer to the unit indexes in the the current edition of the Handbook. If you have any queries contact the managing faculty for your course or area of study.

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6 points, SCA Band 2, 0.125 EFTSL

Refer to the specific census and withdrawal dates for the semester(s) in which this unit is offered, or view unit timetables.

Level	Undergraduate
Faculty	Faculty of Arts
Organisational Unit	School of Geography and Environmental Science
Monash Passport category	Research Challenge (Investigate Program)
Offered	Clayton First semester 2014 (Day)
Coordinator(s)	Dr Adeline Tay

Notes

Previously coded GES1070

Synopsis

This unit takes as its starting point the catastrophes of our world today, such as droughts, earthquakes, epidemics, fires, floods, hurricanes, landslides, tsunamis and weather extremes, and seeks to provide a blended understanding between the mechanics and dynamics of these environmental phenomena with the social contexts in which these disasters occur. This subject analyses the wide range of environmental processes (hazards) that pose risks to human lives, livelihoods and settlements, and brings together physical and human geographical approaches to explore how risk in a chosen area is a function of both the hazards and the community's vulnerability. Local and international case studies form a central component of this unit. As well, questions pertaining to the role of international aid and risk management (including mitigation, protection and adaptation strategies) will be discussed.

Outcomes

Students completing ATS1310 satisfactorily will:

gain awareness of the range of environmental processes that are recognised as hazards to human lives, livelihoods and settlements
understand the nature and origin of hazardous environmental processes, including concepts of event magnitude and frequency of occurrence
appreciate regional variations in the characteristics of environmental and socio-economic processes that produce catastrophes
recognize the social and demographic factors through which an environmental process becomes a human disaster
appreciate the range of factors than may influence the vulnerability of particular regions or communities to hazardous environmental processes
be able to summarise and discuss some of the strategies used to minimise the risk of environmental disaster and to respond to disasters that occur.