Sunday, June 06, 2010
Chennai: From the next academic year, disaster management will figure in the syllabi of the University of Madras — for undergraduate and postgraduate courses across all streams.

It would be a compulsory paper for all students, said the university’s vice-chancellor G Thiruvasagam at the release of the latest issue of the Asian Journal of Environment and Disaster Management on Saturday. “Activists have been pushing us to include human rights or climate change in the curriculum. This paper on disaster management will touch upon all these subjects and will cover the entire spectrum of disaster management,” he said. The varsity is making sure that students do not write the paper off as worthless. “Marks secured in the paper will be considered for the grades. So students will take this seriously,” Thiruvasagam said.

RR Krishnamurthy, reader at the university’s department of applied geology and managing editor of the journal, said that it would be an umbrella course, taking into its fold issues like rescue and recovery post disaster, how to administer medication and preparedness.

The curriculum will be written by the Asian Universities Network, of which the Madras University is a member.

This edition of the Asian Journal of Environment and Disaster Management —focusing on environment and disaster-related issues in Asia — was released to mark the World Environment Day.