Closing the DRR Resilience gap through transformative learning approaches

Below is the presentation I gave to my research group in the department of geography at King's College London. By using a video clip of people 'stuck' on an escalator as a starting point to illustrate that the gaps between intention, behaviour and action are more nuanced than merely a lack of knowledge, it is possible to identify newer routes to enabling individuals, collectives and wider communities to learn how to become more resilient to disasters through transformative learning practices. The presentation is included as a Prezi as this is a little more dynamic and is the equivalent of seven slides - This was only a short presentation!

I hope this provides a little bit of context to my own research as well as offering directions for resilience and DRR research and practices.

Do let me know what you think!

Justin

I'm still LOVING this video - Great way to capture attention of 'bored' public on flights

Watch the Flight Attendants suddenly burst into a dance!!! Great way to catch attention of bored travellers. This video has been watched 9 million times on youtube, and yes there is even an all male version as well! Which can be seen at: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FnOfFma6p88 As a matter of interest I have taken part in an earthquake dance in Japan...If I get enough interests I might upload it!

Zombie Preparedness! An effort to get people thinking about emergencies differently!

In an effort to highlight emergency preparedness in general, the US Centre for Disease Control has set up a page offering advice about what to do in case of a zombie attack, which is of course being tweeted about and written about in blogs such as this one as well as zooming around the Twitterverse! I think it is a great idea as it gets people talking and reading and is really about preparing emergency kits for the home! Kudos to the CDC for attempting a novel way of engaging those who may not think about emergency preparedness normally!

Educational Resource of the Week!

Here is a great resource I found on Save the Children Website. It is also available in Thai, where it was carried out as an education project and would certainly be a lot of fun to carry out with very young children who make puppet shows as well as maps and go-bags and seems to be a great way of involving the whole community in being better prepared!

It revolves around an alert rabbit who mistakenly takes a tsunami test warning to be the real thing and panics others in his community. After the village head hears o this it is decided to hold a meeting and preparedness is discussed and practiced!

Alert Rabbit information and story: Alert_Rabbit_part1.pdf

>> Resources for the classroom: Alert_Rabbit_part2.pdf

>> Info, story and resources in Thai (on external website) Thai Resources

Cyclone Yasi - Advice for kids and families

For Younger children:

You may have to leave your house during a disaster and may sleep somewhere else for a while. It’s smart to put together your own Kid’s Activity Survival Kit so you will have things to do and share with other kids. These can all be stored in a backpack or duffel bag. Just make sure you can carry it easily. Some suggested items for your Activity Survival Kit:

• A few of your favorite books


• Crayons, pencils or marking pens and plenty of paper


• Scissors and glue


• Two favorite toys such as a doll or action figure


• One or two board games


• A deck of cards


• A puzzle (One with lots of pieces is good -- it takes a long time to do!)


• Small people figures and play vehicles that you can use to play out what is happening during your disaster -- such as ambulance, fire truck, helicopter, dump truck, police car, small boats.


• Favorite stuffed animal or puppet


• Favorite blanket or pillow


• Pictures of the family and pet


• A "keep safe" box with a few treasures that make you feel special.

Parents

Ensure that you talk to you children about what is happening, reassuring them about what is happening and keep an eye out for children becoming withdrawn or over-anxious. Children may experience separation anxiety (this includes teenagers) so open communication is really important.

Best Road Safety Ad? Opportunities for simple DRR messages too, I think!

This video from Sussex road safety which has won many awards and was designed to be understood without words. The films creator adds, “Key to the film's creation was to focus on a message that didn't take a conventional route to shock and scare the audience; rather it was my intention to bring the audience in on the conversation of road safety, specifically seat belts, and the best way to do this was to make a film that could engage the viewer purely visually and could be seen and understood by all, whoever they are and wherever they lived."


The question for ALL of us, is what can we achieve on a similar level for DRR. Do we need to simplify the message and allow for slow and steady adoption of personal DRR, rather than attempting large catch-all programs? Behavioural psychologists will tell you that this is a more likely approach? So what do you think? Please watch and add comments.

Hunza River Disaster

Check out this SlideShare Presentation:

Hunza River Disaster

View more presentations from edu4drr.

Global Facebook Users Generous Texters for Haiti, but Unprepared Themselves - how do we change this?

Despite the 500,000 or so members on facebook disaster relief site a recent survey of users found that many are not prepared themselves for a disaster - something that educators and researchers are seeking to understand and change. The link to the survey is:
http://blog.nielsen.com/nielsenwire/online_mobile/survey-global-facebook-users-generous-texters-for-haiti-but-unprepared-themselves/

What is interesting is the generosity of many and the critical mass of people that donated and want to support others in times of crises, while their own 'concept of unique invulnerability' means that they don't do something for themselves in terms of preparedness. Of course this is only a simplified supposition and I am aware that there may be a range of complex reasons for lack of preparation, but understanding that simple cost effective actions can be taken by everyone is not complicated. If there is a will there is a way, as they say (see this video http://edu4drr.ning.com/video/whats-up-your-crutch?xg_source=activity ) - but creating the will is our biggest challenge!

Please reply and let us change this situation together!