"Natural disasters occur every day and affect the lives of millions of people each year. During their growing-up years, many students experienced a hurricane, a wildfire, a tornado, an earthquake, a flood, a landslide, or other natural disaster. They arrive in college interested in courses where these events and processes are explained in lectures and images-and lively discussions can ensue. During decades of teaching courses at San Diego State University, I found that students have an innate curiosity about "death and destruction"; they want to know why natural disasters occur. Initiation of a Natural Disasters course led to skyrocketing enrollments that exceeded 5,000 students per year. Some of these experiences are described in a Journal of Geoscience Education article by Pat Abbott and Ernie Zebrowksi [v 46 (1998), pp. 471-75]"-- Provided by publisher.