The experiences of recent major disasters, such as the Indian Ocean tsunami and the massive earthquake in Pakistan, and the discouraging trend of disasters around the world have made it clear that a holistic approach to Disaster Management is needed to substantially reduce disaster losses.
It is not only the response to deal with the consequences of disasters that has to be more effective andprofessional, but even more so the efforts to assess and reduce risks beforehand and to recover after.
These three main processes of Disaster Management - Disaster Risk Reduction, Response and Recovery - all have distinctive objectives and are equally important and overlap each other, and will have to be incorporated in all Disaster Management decisions. Further should Disaster Management decisions be based on a socially, politically, culturally, economically and environmentally sustainable foundation.
In order to meet these needs for a more holistic approach to Disaster Management, the University of Copenhagen and Lund University are offering their joint multidisciplinary expertise in the form of a master programme, based on the above philosophy - a Master of Disaster Management.
The Master programme is designed to offer students the opportunity to take advantage of over 870 years of research and experience of the two leading Scandinavian universities.