This course is joint offering of National Disaster Coordinating Council and World Bank Institute, in partnership with Earthquake Megacities Initiative.

The consequences of natural disasters on economic activities, property, human welfare and natural resources can be devastating. These events greatly affect the productive sectors of the economy, not to mention the impacts on communities, in particular, the poor.

With increasing frequency, countries face situations in which scarce resources that were earmarked to development projects have to be diverted to relief and reconstruction. A recent World Bank Study on Jamaica, Dominican Republic and OECS countries confirms that long-term economic growth recovers slowly after major natural disasters. Disasters directly impact the foreign exchange earnings capacity of countries, at a time when extra resources are needed to finance the necessary imports of food, energy and factors of production. If sustainable development is to be achieved, countries will have to take effective measures to manage natural hazard risks.

 

The course is based on the Handbook developed by the UN Economic Commission for Latin America and Caribbean. It incorporates both the conceptual and methodological aspects of measuring the damage caused by disasters to capital stocks, losses in the flows of goods and services, and temporary effects on the main macroeconomic variables. The presented methodology can be also used to estimate whether there is a sufficient domestic capacity for dealing with reconstruction tasks, or whether international cooperation is required. 

 

Language

The language of the course is English.

 

Course Format

The course consists self-paced modules, discussion forums, exercises, readings, case studies, tests and learning via interaction with program faculty and peers. The course includes 3 audio sessions of expert lectures for 40–45 minutes each.

 

Course Expectations

Participants are expected to commit 8–10 hours per week in order to gain the most out of this course in addition to:

• Complete the required reading assignments
  
• Participate in all online activities. Participation involves posting a minimum of two messages per week that are substantive in nature. The message can be either a new topic or a reply to someone else's message.
  
• Participants are encouraged to post more often than twice a week in order to be involved more deeply into topics.
  
• Participate in videoconferencing and asynchronous chat sessions (if applicable)
  
• Complete assignments and end of course project
  
• Complete course evaluation at the end of the course

The course consists of presentations, case studies, readings and an end of course exercise. During the course, instructors and facilitators from National Disaster Coordinating Council (NDCC), Earthquake Megacities Initiative (EMI) and the World Bank Institute will guide the participants and evaluate the project work.

National Disaster Coordinating Council  (NDCC), and Earthquake Megacities Initiative (EMI)

This course is offered to a group of up to 40 central government officials, policymakers, consultants, researchers and professors of training institutions worldwide, who are interested in development challenges and issues related to natural disaster risk management. Once the course has ended, participants from training institutions are welcome to replicate this training for their staff, for central and local government officials. Donors working in hazard and disaster related projects could also apply to attend the course. Only applicants who attended the Comprehensive Disaster Risk Management Framework course will be accepted. 

Tara Ledesma from Earthquake Megacities Initiative: taral@emi-megacities.org