290212 VO Risk Assessment and Disaster Management (2011S)

This course deals with the procedures to collect, analyse and evaluate spatial information for risk assessment from natural and human-induced hazards (such as geological hazard, hydrometeorological hazards, environonmetal hazards and technological hazards). The course will guide you through the entire process of risk assessment, on the basis of a case study of a city exposed to multiple hazards, in a developing country (RiskCity).

At the end of this course you will be able to:
- understand the concepts of hazard assessment, elements at risk mapping, vulnerability assessment, and risk assessment;
- formulate the spatial data requirements for risk assessment;
- generate an elements at risk data base using GIS;
- formulate the requirements of hazard data and methods;
- apply various methods for vulnerability assessment;
- generate risk maps using qualitative and quantitative methods;
- have insight in how a risk assessment could be carried out in your own situation;

Some basic background in Geographic Information Systems is desirable, although not strictly required, as the course follows a step-by-step approach which allows participants to rapidly acquire the basic skills in handling GIS software. The course is given using Open Source GIS software (ILWIS).