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Abstract

In Colombia, classified as a High Risk country in the INFORM Index for risk management developed by the European Commission, Geosciences contents at primary school levels are practically absent, and there are extremely few courses on Natural Hazards and Disaster Risk Reduction at undergraduate level. This fundamental gap results in a generalized lack of knowledge in Earth Systems, Socio-Geo-ecological systems and DRR frameworks, and ultimately limits local capacities in decision-making.In order to reduce the lack of knowledge at undergraduate level, we re-designed the general course “Natural Hazards and Disasters” at Universidad de Los Andes to a student-centered virtual modality, open to all undergraduate programs of the university. At the end of the course, students from any background are expected to be able to analyze and explain the factors that condition natural hazards, and discuss the vision of disasters as social constructions. The course seeks to sensitize students about the role that we all have, from the different disciplines, both individually and collectively, to reduce diverse vulnerabilities, taking into account specific cultural contexts in Colombia. Students are grouped into disciplinary and multidisciplinary teams to address a case study and analyze it from each vulnerability perspective, according to their careers. The resulting study-case is later used to produce a podcast, which they discuss in a final forum.Regular evaluation of the course in the last three years attests for improvement of developing abilities, targeting learning goals, rise awareness on Disaster Risk Reduction and motivate proposals on Nature-based and Community-based solutions.