Aim

• prepare the students so that they are able to carry out preparations and planning to deal with disasters and crises in the community, and

• provide a foundation for students interested in research to be used as a base for their research related to disasters and crises in society.

Knowledge and understanding
For a passing grade the student must

• be able to describe the problem issues that must be dealt with in the event of major disasters and crises in the community.

• be able to describe society's organisations and structures on a local, regional, national, and international level in order to properly deal with disasters and crises.

• be able to understand the connection between various types of extreme events, problems dealing with them, and society's resources on a local, regional, national, and international systems level.

Skills and abilities
For a passing grade the student must

• be able to analyse and assess plans for dealing with disasters and crises with regard to their usefulness for to addressing operational problems that arise in such events.

• be able to define the factors that must be given special attention in the planning process and to outline how they can be reflected in a plan.

• be able to apply and assess the relevant literature in terms of its significance in bringing about improvements in dealing with disasters and crises.

• be able to discuss preparedness planning and plans with relevant actors in such a way that they can conclude that the meeting was useful.

• be able to formulate and propose issues that can lead to the creation and improvement of planning and plans.

• be able to formulate issues for further study and to set up literature self-study programs for improving his/her own competence.

• be able to analyse standard practices and to draw conclusions regarding development needs.

Judgement and approach
For a passing grade the student must

• demonstrate capability for identifying his/her needs for further knowledge and for ongoing improvement of his/her competence.

• demonstrate capacity to make assessments with respect to the relevant scientific, community-related, and ethical aspects, and show awareness of the ethical aspects of community-related safety issues.

Contents

• Describing scenarios (actual major events in Sweden).

• Lectures on research in the field.

• Lectures on systems and organisations in society for dealing with major disasters and crises.

• Class-room sessions with analytical discussions on emergency-response issues.

• Literature seminars.

Literature
Fredholm, L och Göransson, A-L (Red): Ledning av räddningsinsatser i det komplexa samhället. Räddningsverket 2006.
Fredholm, L: Myndighetsgemensam utgångspunkt för utformning av ledningsfunktioner och ledningsstöd vid civil krishantering. Paper presenterat vid CIMI 2003 (Konferens om civil och militär ledning).
Enander, A: Människors förhållningssätt till risker, olyckor och kriser. Räddningsverket 2005.
Buckle, P: Re-defining community and vulnerability in the context of emergency management. Paper presented at Disaster Management: Crisis and Opportunity: Hazard Management and Disaster Preparedness in Australasia and the Pacific Region Conference, James Cook University, Centre for Disaster Studies, Nov 1-4, 1998, Cairns, Queensland.
Quarantelli, E L: Research based criteria for evaluating disaster planning and managing. Disaster Research Center, University of Delaware, Newark, Delaware, USA 1997.
Statens haverikommission Brand på Herkulesgatan i Göteborg, O län, den 29-30 oktober 1998. Rapport RO 2001:02
Nylén. Operativ ledning, CRISMART for RPS, 2006.
Pappila. Command and control. Kungliga krigsvetenskapsakademiens handlingar och tidskrift, vol. 2, 2009.
Sjöberg, Wallenius, Vrbanjac and Larsson. Ledarskap och beslutsfattande under stress vid komplexa olyckor. Försvarshögskolan, 2007.
Hagström, A och Sundelius, B: Krishantering på göteborgska: En studie av brandkatastrofen den 29-30 oktober 1998. Försvarshögskolan 2001.
Enander, A, Hede, S och Lajksjö, Ö: Att stå i stormens öga. Krisberedskapsmyndigheten 2005.
Uhr, C Och Fredholm, L: Theoretical approaches to emergency response management. Paper presenterat vid TIEMS (The International Emergency Society) 2006 Conference, Seoul, 22-26 May 2006.
Abrahamsson, M: Analytical input to emergency preparedness planning at the municipal level. Paper presented at TIEMS 2007 Conference, Trogir, Croatia, 2007.
Perry, R.W. och Lindell, M.K. Preparedness for Emergency Response: Guidelines for the Emergency Planning Process. Artikel i “Disasters" 2003.
Alexander, D. Towards the development of a standard in emergency planning. Artikel i “Disaster Prevention and Management” 2005.
McConnell, A. & Drennan, L. Mission Impossible? Planning and Preparing for Crisis. Paper in “Journal of Contingencies and Crisis Management” 2006.