Overview

Geological Natural Hazards include all geological or hydrological processes that pose a threat to people or their property. This MS level program aims to address the crosscutting area of Disaster Preparedness and Mitigation by building public awareness and providing technical linkages to schools and communities about Geological Hazards.

The program's scope includes earthquakes, volcanic hazards, slope stabilities, landslides, debris flows, droughts and floods and also indirect linkages such as the impact of these events on infra-structural elements like community development, environmental education, transportation, health, sanitation and water quality.

The focus of this program is to improve the effectiveness of geological hazards mitigation in appropriate Peace Corps countries. Michigan Tech has already established significant linkage for this work with government agencies in several selected countries, particularly in the areas of volcanic hazards. This program would provide a vehicle for community-level linkages between technical government agencies and people at risk. It is a 3 year program for the student, with two years being the Peace Corps service abroad.

As Peace Corps Volunteers, MI students would have special training to work on the social and technical aspects of reducing hazards to people . This program is a logical counterpart to Peace Corps' short-term work with Crisis Corps and fits within several sectors where Peace Corps currently works.