“If sufficient a number of management layers are superimposed on top of each other, it can be assured that disaster is not left to chance.” -Norman R. Augustine
The occurrence of disasters appears to be on the rise, and despite several technological advancements, they still cause major damage and destruction to our societies. In order to minimize these damages and save lives, disaster management plans must adopt a participatory strategy with an increasing focus on the grassroots level. Small initiatives, such as creating awareness and educating vulnerable communities on simple and easy disaster management techniques, may mitigate the conditions that exacerbate disasters and help reduce losses.
Therefore, there is a need for a participatory and broad-based approach in order to increase the scope of disaster management and utilize local knowledge and means of communication and organization. Instead of looking at crises from the delivery end as outsiders, we need to focus on understanding the requirements of the sufferer, the victim, the community and design disaster management plans accordingly. The course mainly focuses on victim-centric, micro-level planning in disaster management and predominantly discusses the techniques that are useful at the individual/family/community level. It focuses on actions to be taken during and after the occurrence of disasters, rather than focusing on the mitigation.
This course can be applied towards:
Noncredit courses do not produce academic credit nor appear on a Colorado State University academic transcript.
Important Information
Due to the condensed time frame for this course, students cannot withdraw and receive a refund once the course begins.
Instructors
Prakash Kamtam
prakash@devlogix.org
Prakash Kamtam is a civil servant with over 16 years of experience in public policy, governance and development administration and with over a decade of hands on experience in the disaster management department in India. He worked as one of the key officials during the tsunami relief and rehabilitation operations in Southern India. His experience is in policy development and regulation; coordinating the development of policy related knowledge management products for different departments across public service and development disciplines including disaster management. He is a qualified mechanical engineer with executive management qualifications from the Indian Institute of Management-Ahmedabad. He recently cofounded a NGO that is working towards building a global sustainable development resource center. In addition to teaching with the Community-Based Development certificate program, he is an adjunct faculty member at Birla Institute of Technology, India where he teaches several elective courses in public administration, disaster management, professional ethics, etc.