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Disasters occur when abnormal catastrophic events impact on vulnerable communities, causing substantial damage, disruption, injuries and casualties. Such events often leave affected communities unable to function normally without external assistance. Complex emergencies arise where more than one causal factor is involved, and are often compounded by civil disorder following the breakdown of governance and social support structures.
Severe disasters have been on the rise globally in recent decades. Rapidly rising losses and reconstruction costs have forced the issues of disaster management and mitigation up the policy agendas of affected governments, as well as humanitarian assistance organizations. In addition to the immediate effects on affected communities, disasters pose long-term threats to sustainable development, poverty reduction initiatives, the achievement of a number of the Millennium Development Goals, and the health of national economies. Furthermore, disaster-related setbacks may counter global efforts to fight terrorism, transnational crime, failing states, and emerging epidemics. Due to their far-reaching effects, disasters need to be dealt with from multi-disciplinary perspectives.
The Department of Urban and Regional Planning at the University of Hawai'i at Mānoa (UHM) offers a graduate certificate program in disaster management and humanitarian assistance (DMHA). The program aims at building disaster risk reduction competence and professionalism. The inter-disciplinary curriculum combines existing UHM disaster-related courses with focused coursework and seminars in the core areas of DMHA. Career opportunities for DMHA professionals exist in both the public and private sectors, from the local to the international arenas.
The UHM has an expanding portfolio of disaster remediation and mitigation projects and research areas supporting the development of disaster resilient communities. As a central coordinating body, the DMHA program provides academic researchers an information clearinghouse on opportunities related to disaster management and risk reduction, and serves as a central point of contact for external agencies seeking academic expertise. The focused fostering of relationships with external agencies and organizations further assists in networking and collaboration among the hazard reduction community.
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