5 credits

A major concern of disaster response professionals is meeting basic and humanitarian needs of disaster-affected populations. In this course, students explore a range of issues, including evacuation, relocation, and tactical and strategic decisions in the immediate aftermath of an emergency episode. Students study important federal policies related to disaster response and recovery, including the National Response Framework, and they can gain an understanding of how local, state, and federal policies mesh in response and recovery efforts. Through their exploration, they study how recovery begins once the immediate threat of the emergency wanes and the focus shifts to restoring disaster-affected areas. As part of this course, students complete the FEMA Emergency Management Institute course IS208.a: State Disaster Management.