Overview
The final project for this course is the creation of a geohazard preparedness proposal. The final project represents an authentic demonstration of competency because you will need to investigate the science behind your proposal, the preparation process prior to a geohazard, and the responses during the aftermath of a geohazard of your choice. The project requires the submission of one milestone, which will be submitted in Module Four to scaffold learning and ensure a quality final submission. The final project will be submitted in Module Seven.
In this assignment, you will demonstrate your mastery of the following course outcomes:
- Analyze the impact of geographical location on geohazards for communicating potential risks to disaster preparedness organizations and affected communities
- Assess the relationships among the geosphere, atmosphere, and hydrosphere for their potential effect on natural hazard events
- Critique responses to past geohazard events for their effectiveness in improving local and global geohazard preparedness and mitigation policies
- Suggest socially and environmentally responsible methods of geohazard preparedness that are designed to reduce loss of life and property
Prompt
Write a geohazard preparedness proposal designed to mitigate losses from natural disasters. The proposal, geared toward management executives in a disaster preparedness agency, should target a natural hazard (or hazards) specific to your geographic location. (You may select an alternative geographic location of interest with instructor approval.) Your proposal must include an explanation of the origin of the hazard(s) and how geographic factors and interactions among environmental processes affect the risk and impact of the hazard. You should also examine past occurrences of similar geohazards and the mitigation policies associated with those events, in order to form a basis of established best practice. Your proposal should then detail specific recommendations designed to improve warning, land use, or other policies that have the potential to reduce the loss of life and property associated with the natural hazard events you identify.
Specifically, the following critical elements must be addressed:
- Common Geohazards. This section should set the stage for your eventual recommendations by detailing common hazards in your location. Remember these can include hazards related to the earth’s interior (volcanos, earthquakes, tsunami, etc.) or exterior (soil erosion, flooding, landslides, wetland and coastal issues, oceanic or atmospheric changes, severe weather, etc.).
- What geohazard event or events are the greatest risk for your location, and why? Support your response with relevant geoscience information, such as charts, maps, and/or incidence data. You may also want to discuss levels of human and economic exposure and the range of environmental impacts posed by the hazard in your response.
- Where within your region or country do the geohazards you identified typically pose the greatest risk, and why? Justify your answer using geoscience principles and data. For example, are events most likely to occur in the mountains, near the coast, or within a certain radius of established fault lines?
- Are some locations susceptible to multiple hazards? Explain why or why not using geoscience principles and data, including maps and charts.
- How aware are individuals and local communities of geohazard risks in their location? Do they know what to do if one occurs? What do they not know that they should? Provide examples to support your response.
- Earth Processes. In this section, you should assess how the relationships among the earth’s spheres contribute to natural hazard events.
- How do earth processes interact to affect geohazard risks in your location? Use maps and concrete examples to illustrate your points.
- Have these processes and interrelationships been consistent over time? Explain why or why not using geoscience data and principles.
- Are there new processes and interrelationships, or the potential for new processes and interrelationships, that may change the risk of geohazards? For example, is the risk of flooding or an earthquake greater now than it was in the past? Explain why or why not, providing evidence to support your answer.
- Past Events. This section should assess how past natural hazard events have influenced current mitigation policies for the principal types of geohazards in your location.
- What are the strengths and limitations of current warning systems for natural hazard events in your location? Support your response with research. If there are no warning systems, assess the strengths and limitations of potential warning systems, based on what has been done elsewhere, supporting your response with research.
- What geohazard preparedness and/or mitigation policies have been or are currently in effect for your location? How successful have they been, and how have they changed over time? Support your response with evidence. If there are no preparedness or mitigation policies, assess the effectiveness of potential policies, based on what has been done elsewhere and how those policies have changed over time, supporting your response with research.
- What lessons can be learned from policies that deal with similar hazards in other locations? Are there emerging best practices? Justify your response, providing specific examples based on research.
- Proposals. Use this section to propose ways to mitigate geohazard impacts on humans, property, and the environment.
- How might improved geoscience information contribute to better geohazard preparedness, and to mitigating impacts when disasters do occur? Make specific suggestions based on your analysis in the preceding sections.
- What implications might your proposals have for geohazard preparedness in other locations, or for other types of geohazards? Justify your response.
- Immediate human needs often have negative consequences for the environment and can hinder efforts to mitigate geohazard effects. For example, it might be best for the environment and for people not to build or intensely farm areas prone to mudslides. However, you cannot force people from their homes and livelihood if they are already living in those areas. How you will balance conflicting needs to ensure that your proposals are socially and environmentally responsible? Justify your response.
Milestone
Milestone One: Earth Processes In Module Four, you will submit Milestone One. For this milestone, you will assess how the relationships among the earth’s spheres contribute to the natural hazard you are researching for your final project. The purpose of the milestone is for you to investigate the research that explains how the relationships among the earth’s spheres contribute to geohazards. This milestone will be graded with the Milestone One Rubric.
Final Submission: Geohazard Preparedness Proposal In Module Seven, you will submit your final project. It should be a complete, polished artifact containing all of the critical elements of the final project. It should reflect the incorporation of feedback gained throughout the course. This submission will be graded with the Final Project Rubric.
What to Submit
Your proposal must be 5 to 7 pages in length, plus a cover and reference page, and must be written in APA format. Use double spacing, 12-point Times New Roman font, and one-inch margins. Include at least three references cited in APA format.
I have attached two files as well to use for the critical element 1 and 2 to help with those questions.