In this unit students will learn about a variety of types of disasters, what they can do to help their communities when such events occur, and learn about specific events that occurred throughout history. Guiding questions include What is the difference between an emergency, disaster, and catastrophe? What are vulnerability, social capital, and convergence? What can students do in an emergency or disaster situation to help their communities? What could be done to prevent or minimize the effects of a disaster of this type from happening again? This unit begins with background information on various types of natural disasters as well as biological and technological disasters. Students are then assigned an event to research for which they will create a presentation describing the type of event (hurricane, earthquake, etc.), ways to stay safe during an event of this type, a specific event of this type from history, and things that could be done to prevent or minimize the effects of the disaster in the future. Students will learn about convergence after a disaster and understand ways they can better help with disaster recovery.