An international field work course on "Disaster Resilience and the Environment of the 21st Century: Learning from Recovery" was held from 25 February through 4 March in the United States, with eight undergraduate students taking part. The eight-day program was led by Professor Haruo Hayashi and Assistant Professor Shingo Suzuki, with cooperation from local researchers and experts.
In the first part of the program, the students learned about recovery efforts undertaken in New York City following the terrorist attacks of 11 September 2001. Through a lecture by Dr David Mammen, former Director of the Institute of Public Administration, New York University, and a guided tour of the National September 11 Memorial & Museum, led by Mr Clifford Chanin, the facility's Vice President for Education and Public Programs, the participants learned about details of the damage caused and various rebuilding initiatives that had since been implemented.
The second part took place in New Orleans, where Hurricane Katrina caused massive damage at the end of August 2005. Students attended a lecture by Dr Douglas Meffert, Vice President and Executive Director of Louisiana for the National Audubon Society, to learn about how the disaster-stricken city had rebuilt itself while adapting to the changed environment, and toured the Lower 9th Ward, where, they were told, many local residents had benefitted from doing volunteer work as they struggled to recover from the hurricane damage. On the final day, the participants visited the New Orleans Redevelopment Authority (NORA) to give presentations in English about what they had learned from the program.
The eight students came away from these experiences with a strong motivation to learn more about post-disaster recovery and disaster resilience, as well as fuelling a desire to improve their English skills to a level sufficient to be useful in a global context.
Visiting an area affected by Hurricane Katrina
Learning about recovery efforts in the Vietnamese community
Taking part in volunteer work in the Lower 9th Ward
Presenting at the New Orleans Redevelopment Authority
