About the Program
Professor Aldrich’s Disasters and Recovery DOC is a month-long experience through a non-traditional “classroom in the field.” Students travel with a Northeastern University faculty member – Prof. Aldrich – as well as two Japanese language-fluent graduate student program assistants to learn about disasters and recovery through literature as well as real-world experience. Disasters and Recovery aims to educate students on the ways in which societies encounter shocks, and then are able to use their resources to recover. “Students speak with survivors of various events in Japanese history,” Aldrich said, emphasizing that the course allows students to see real-life examples of crises people typically only read about, including the melted-down Fukushima nuclear reactors. These discussions give students real-life examples of how a society is able to recover through first-hand accounts from survivors, including survivors of the 1945 Hiroshima atomic bombing, the 1995 Kobe earthquake, and the 2011 triple disasters.
