Naturally occurring hazards, such as earthquakes and hurricanes, occur every year and affect nearly every part of the Earth. Their cumulative cost can be extreme in terms of both dollars and lives lost. While less frequent, pandemics have also resulted in staggering losses. The loss depends not only on the severity of the effects, but also on the vulnerability and resiliency of the affected society. The number and cost of disasters have been increasing over the last few decades, a pattern which is likely to continue. This increase may be due both to hazards increasing in frequency, size, or extent, and to an increasing vulnerability and/or decreasing resiliency of populations at risk.

This course will start with an examination of the trends and patterns of past disasters, discussing socioeconomic factors that increase vulnerability. We will then discuss the role of corruption and government effectiveness in exacerbating vulnerability, the differences between vulnerability and resiliency on a local scale, and why resiliency is so difficult to quantify. Finally, we will discuss the role of global demographics trends and changing climate with regard to future hazards and our increasing vulnerability to them. We will use the Sichuan, China (2008), L’Aquila, Italy (2009), and Haiti (2010) earthquakes, hurricanes Katrina (2005), Sandy (2012), Harvey (2017), and Maria (2017), and the current COVID-19 pandemic as case studies.

Eric Hetland is an associate professor in the UM Department of Earth & Environmental Sciences, specializing in earthquakes and volcanoes. Eric also develops statistical tools to tackle problems ranging from climate change to vulnerability.

This study group will be held on Thursdays from November 5 through 19.

Pre-registration is required via the OLLI website or phone. A link to access the study group will be e-mailed to you approximately one week prior to the first session.