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you children about what is happening, reassuring them about what is happening and keep an eye out for children becoming withdrawn or over-anxious.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!

n never rains in sunny California, but when an earthquake happens adults still do the wrong thing

Last week I posted a video on this site from Governor Schwarznegger that talked about the earthquake that occurred in the town of Eureka, California in which he talked about adults doing the wrong thing by running outside, while children did the right thing by ducking under heavy furniture and hiding on until the shaking stopped. In this day of instant news and eye-witness report, the following eye-witness piece on CNN iReport website appeared:

I was on my lunch break when it hit. I was talking to a few friends who worked in mall (Bayshore Mall), felt a tiny tremor and then all of a sudden the lights were flickering and the building started shaking. All I remember hearing was a long loud rumbling noise and everything falling off the shelves and yelling (not screaming in terror yet kind of yelling.)

The floor was like water (knowing that it was solid concrete beneath me.) and the walls and the windows were moving like jello and everything around us was shaking and literally moving up and down with the feeling of empty space from where my hand originally was on the counter.

All I could think about after the moment that seemed like 30 seconds.. was I needed to get back to my store and help my coworkers and of course my roomie at home with my laptop,

I had to walk outside even though I wanted to run, noticed alot of shards of glass and store merchandise on the ground from other stores in the mall.

The moment I got outside though, hightailed it back to the enterance of my store.

I noticed and glanced around while running, that nearly all of the people either were crying or scared or both (natural human instincts of course) and some others were in shock and yet helping others out.

I got to my store, helped ushering the customers out, we had a lost little boy and I stayed with him until his mom showed up.

Next thing I knew, the staff and I did a quick search of everything in the store to make sure that no customers was in there and we got ourselves out. Did a head count and just waited until the mall traffic was gone.

Of course while we were all waiting, did a round of hugs and making sure we were all OKAY, called up our General Mgr and the everyone else who was suppose to come in, called our loved ones and dear friends to make sure everything is okay.

The traffic going out from the mall was backed up and horrible.

I know an earthquake isnt like a block party but you know I ended up taking pictures anyway of it.. and its my first ever huge earthquake and I survived it.

Can you spot what she did wrong? How many things did she do wrong? I would like to know what you think and why. More importantly, how can we change this behaviour? There have now been two Shake-out drills in Southern California, but is the message still not getting through to everyone across the state? How can we achieve this through education (both formal and informal) is an important question and one in which I invite you to help answer!

Poster Presentation to UCL conference on DRR - Drills as part of experiential learning cycle for DRR education – A bureaucratic exercise or learning

The Great Southern California ShakeOut of November 2008 featured the largest earthquake drill in U.S. history. Involving 5.3 million participants the drill took place in homes, businesses, schools, places of worship and communities across California with an estimated 3.3 million school children involved. As part of an international observation team put together by RiskRed three schools were observed taking part. This paper Poster Presentation focuses on a high school in Burbank, Los Angles, California, comparing it with a drill observed in an elementary school in Taiwan in May 2009 in an effort to highlight good practice while examining how the drill could be integrated into wider disaster prevention education, before during and after the event. It is argued that the current practice of isolated and abstract exercises without reflection and action by students does not help them to become better prepared now or in the future as adults.
The presentation can be viewed in pdf form by clicking the link here:

ucl_poster_sharpe_1.pdf

You can lead a horse to water but...

I am currently writing a paper for a disaster prevention in education conference in Taiwan and so have been researching about new curriculum in general, alongside curriculum materials. What is becoming clear is that although there is an ever growing proliferation of educational materials, made to address different facets of a range of hazards and responses, this will not lead to education that helps people make changes to their lifestyles to become better prepared. This is for several reasons.

Firstly even if you 'train' teachers or provide INSET, unless they are engaged and think it is important, they will do what they need to do to tick boxes and perhaps nothing more.

Secondly you need to have everyone on board and wanting the same outcomes, which means that these outcomes need to be WRITTEN DOWN and agreed upon by all the agencies involved in creating the curriculum.

Thirdly, these outcomes need to be broken down and specified for EACH part or lesson in the scheme of work, so 'what Im a looking for...' and 'we are learning to...' type statements that can be answered and built upon each time.

Fourthly, that having lesson plans and a 'scheme of work is not enough to engage teachers. They want a range of resources that they can pool from (more often using the internet) which offer a range of film clips, photo-slideshows, mystery exercises, diamond nine thinking skills, maps etc that can be used in the way that best suits the individual needs of both the teacher and the class. This means that writing frames and differentiated worksheets and activity sheets will need to be produced. Also by offering a range of resources in this way the individual learning styles of students can be attended to (kinaesthetic, visual, audio etc), while also allowing the teacher to remain a creative force in the classroom while allowing his/her students to develop a better understanding of the ideas and concepts that disaster prevention education wants to get across.

And finally (for now anyway) it is important that students and teachers feel a sense of achievement about what they have been through together. That BOTH students AND teachers not only understand and are aware of the dangers in their community but that they are both prepared mentally and physically. By this I mean having and emergency go-bag, learning first aid and knowing what there role is and more importantly, how to perform it in the event of an emergency either at school or in their community.

I have tried to provide a flavour of this on this site under the curriculum section. Although I used this in the school I work in does not mean that you would want to take the entirety of it for your school and indeed it would not be suitable for every age group or every part of the world. However I am doing what I can. The aim of this network is that we all do what we can but also SHARE this practice with others.

Take my quiz if you dare!

Below is my new multi-hazard quiz using youtube clips of hazards to test your knowledge..careful, some are times so no cheating!!

This clip of flooding should be shown as a "Do's & Don'ts" for floods in UK

I saw his on the BBC news site this morning...Can you spot where people have concreted EVERYWHERE and then try to drive through the floods only to get stranded....Education also needs to reach adults!



http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/7781388.stm

Have the Pitt Review people seen this by the way? This is a REALLY useful way of showing how flooding can be exacerbated by making the wrong decisions, from concreting your 'garden' to driving through flooded areas only to need 'rescuing'. This is also a great resource for educators and teachers. Show it to your students and then ask them to spot why some people were flooded more severely than others

FEMA Launches Children-In-Disasters Initiative With IAEM, Save The Children but misses the point

An initiative to beintroduced by FEMA and Save the children to reduce their vulnerabilities in the event of a disaster has been launched, but fails to really hit the mark in my opinion. An extract published below from the press statement sounds rather grand, but is disappointing as it does not recognise the capacities of children in any way:

WASHINGTON, D.C. -- The Department of Homeland Security's Federal Emergency
Management Agency (FEMA) is teaming up with the International Association of
Emergency Managers (IAEM), Save the Children Foundation and the American Red
Cross to launch an initiative that will enable the emergency management
community to better address the needs of children in disasters.

"This initiative will involve concrete steps to focus attention on the needs
of children in disasters and help the emergency management community address
children's special needs in the emergency planning process," FEMA
Administrator Paulison said. "Although this initiative is a
work-in-progress, we're committed to a course of action that involves
assessing and adjusting disaster response services for children."

The course will be designed to help state and local emergency
managers incorporate the needs of children into the emergency planning
process and standard Emergency Operations Plans. It will be based on Save
the Children Foundation's emergency management guide, The Unique Needs of
Children in Emergencies, a Guide for the Inclusion of Children in Emergency
Operations Plan.

"Children are extremely vulnerable during an emergency and evacuation," said
Mark Shriver, vice president and managing director of Save the Children's
U.S. programs and chair of the National Commission on Children and
Disasters. "It is crucial that communities plan ahead for disasters, with a
special focus on assisting children."

My response to this on the CYD-NET list serve was:

Dear Colleagues,
Although this is an encouraging initiative, it is important that the capacities of children are not overlooked in this instance. It is important that education involves children, rather than them being passive observers, they understand and are aware of the potential dangers as well as being able to know what to do, where to go and how to get there. They need to understand that they play a role in being safe. We teach children how to cross the road safely, how to wear a seatbelt, not to talk to adult that they don't know etc, but we don't yet address how they can be safe in an emergency.

I have recently been an observer in the Southern California shake-out exercise in which more than three million school children took part in drop, cover and hold, and many were involved in school evacuations. Although there was dissemination and feedback with staff involved in these exercises there was hardly any dissemination or discussion with the students that had also taken part. Had they understood why? Was it just another drill? When I asked the students what educational activities they had done prior to the drill the answer was that they had not. In other words it was not tied to the curriculum in any way, but was seen as an 'abstract' exercise with limited learning outcomes. This needs to change for these experiential activities are to be effective they need to have proper time for reflection and evaluation so that it becomes truly part of the 'experiential learning cycle'.


I also asked the students if they had an emergency kit at home, in the car etc, and in a group of twenty, there was one response of, "I think my mom does..." It is clear that these students (of high school age by the way) did not think it was their responsibility. We must move on from 'top down' approaches and be truly inclusive which means involving children in their own preparedness and safety through creative curricular and experiential learning that builds on evaluation and reflection. We also need to move on from didactic education and make it fun and experiential with an emphasis on practical action that can be taken by all (including children) to be prepared.

Edu4hazards.org now available in Chinese

Following the success of translating the entire site into Spanish and in an effort to cover the major written languages of the world, www.edu4hazards.org is now also available in Chinese (simplified). While you may also notice that this site has had a redesign, so has http://edu4drr.ning.com which I have done in an effort to get members to do the same! I want member sto use the site more and I thought that if I 'pimped' the site, they might do the same thing!

Effective Education for DRR - It's NOT Rocket Science...

This short video shows what can be done by teachers to initiate effective education for DRR in schools and the communities around them. These are VERY young children and yet thay are learning how to respond, where the hazards are in their area, how to avoid them and where the safe places are to evacuate to. They make their OWN hazard maps and share these with their pers and with adults. They are NOT scared or scarred by this experience, but they do LEARN and DISCOVER. According to proponents of experiential learning this will also perform part of a cycle where the children will reflect on what they have learned and apply it to a similar learning experience in the future. So what is MOST important is that great initiatives, lessons and learning are built upon and revisited in just a creative a way. Examples like this are inpiring to me as both a teacher and researcher of effective education for DRR and I wanted to share it with you. BY the way the original video of this was longer but I have edited out some of this in order to keep the important and simple message this film has to offer. The original film was made by the Insurers of Japan.

www.edu4hazards.org in Spanish

My edu4hazards site is now completely translated into Spanish. It took me about ten hours to change all the graphics in photoshop and edit and upload all of the html files. I have even changed the META tags so that someone searching on google in a Spanish speaking country will be able to find it! Pretty tiring but I am PLEASED with the results. Next I plan to translate into simplified Chinese using google translate! And talking of translating websites, I now have a clever little series of flags on the edu4drr.ning.com site which when pressed translates the entire site using google translate! I have to say having used google translate it is pretty good. However you really have to read through careully as any 'untranslatable' words stay in English. The trick the is to rephrase it slightly and then cross-check by translating back from Spanish to English (in this instance)

Script for Earthquake Preparedness Radio Adverts

So there was a message on the EN-DRR list serve today from the Kazakhstan wanting input on a script for earthquake safety. The advert was obviously aimed at engaging families in taking protective measures to reduce their vulnerability to disasters. When the script first came to me it was a little leaden and didn't necessarily reinforce the important messages for earthquake preparedness. Below is my reply with the edited version of the scripts. I have completed script one and two of four now:

Dear Tashkent DRR Team,
I have looked through your scripts and think that reaching people via radio commercials is a very good idea. It is VERY important to make sure that the advice is consistent with lessons learned elsewhere. It is doubly important that any radio commercial makes it very CLEAR what to do as there is no visual reference. I will attempt to change all four scripts to meet this criteria, but have changed the first one to what you see below! Explaining what an earthquake is quiet abstract and I am unsure of the level of education about this with the general public in Kazakhstan. However, I have tried to address this in the script below. I hope this helps and I am sure that there are others on the mailing list that will be willing to help you.

Kind Regards,

Justin Sharpe

Clip 1


There are three characters in this jingle: mother, father and 10-12 years old child.


Kid: Daddy, what is an earthquake?


Father: Earthquake’s are the shaking, rolling or sudden shock of the earth’s surface. Earthquakes happen along "fault lines" in the earth’s crust.

Mommy: Most of the time, you will notice an earthquake by the gentle shaking of the ground. You may notice hanging plants swaying or objects wobbling on shelves. Sometimes you may hear a low rumbling noise or feel a sharp jolt.

Kid: And how to act during an earthquake?


Father: The most important is not to panic!


Mother: The second most important thing to remember during an earthquake is to DROP, COVER and HOLD ON. So remember to DROP to the floor on your knees and get under something such as a table for COVER and HOLD ON during the shaking.

Father: If there is no table or bed to get under drop down onto your knees against a wall away from things that might fall on you. Stay away from windows bookcases or heavy furniture. Try to cover your head and neck.


Mother: And of course, you have to stay at your place until the earthquake stops.

Father: And when it is over, move carefully and look out for fallen things.

The Second Script & e-mail:

Dear Tashkent Team,
I have written out clip two below. It is important to REINFORCE a consistent message about certain key points, so you will see information about drop cover and hold on, again in this clip. I have expanded (slightly) the rest of the clip too, but all of this will be below 30 seconds still! I hope this helps,

Kind Regards,

Justin

Clip 2:


Kid: Mommy, why are there sometimes victims when earthquakes happen?


Mother: Well, first of all, because people began to panic, which is strongly not recommended.


Father: And second of all, in order not to be a victim of an earthquake it is important to be prepared for it.


Kid: But how can we be prepared?

Mother: Do you remember what we have been practicing at home?

Kid: You mean when we DROP, COVER and HOLD ON. I get under a table, drop to my knees and hold on to the table leg!

Father: Well REMEMBERED!

Mother: But we should be prepared in other ways too.

Kid: How so?

Mother: The most dangerous places in the house should be identified, for example near the windows, big and heavy things which can fall down. You need to stay away from these if an earthquake occurs!


Father: We should also know how to switch off the gas and electricity in order to avoid a fire starting.

Mother: There must be a first aid kit in the house which is easy to access and won’t get lost in an earthquake.


Father: Moreover, it is important to have copies of necessary documents.


Mother: Each member of the family should know exactly appointed place for meeting after the earthquake, as well as how to get there safely!

Lesson Starters - What NOT to do in an earthquake!

Your lesson starter is incredibly important. Whether you are in a classroom or undertake projects in other locations, if you can use multimedia resources it can REALLY help captivate your audience! I work with11-18 year olds who can often come across as cynical, so to get them interested and engaged I often use photographs or short film clips. You could do worse than use THIS VIDEO as a starter! There are so many lessons from this video for students and teachers...
Find more videos like this on Edu4drr

Genius Video, shame about the website

The video posted below is brilliant! Watch for yourself and see what I mean. If you want to get across a clear message about preparing for an earthquake I think this is excellent - especially for the teenage/young adult demographic. However, and it is a BIG however, the website that it suggests the viewer visit is VERY dry! I think teens and young people may see this and visit the website, and then be put off immediately. Now I can't speak for every teen and young person, but the information is NOT presented in this format. But if you're dad who is in his 30's or 40's it would be a good place to visit!



Any way check the video out, as it deserves to be watched and make your own decision about the website, which has some very useful information on it including video's on preparing. Alternatively I have designed a website aimed at children and youth at www.edu4hazards.org which is useful for those in the 9-14 age range. I suppose there is a gap for the twenty something demographic, which I will try and address next!

In the meantime, it would be useful if those attempting to raise awareness examined their own awareness of the younger market!

Using Second Life as an educational Resource for DRR

I have been playing around in Second Life and examining its application for educational use. There's quite a community in there and it is possible to set up one for an organization or educational establishment. I wanted to set up a UNISDR island starting with educational stuff, links to podcasts etc. I believe this to be a great opportunity to reach a lot of people in an unconventional way. I know the US EPA have a boat in Second Life for instance which has been rendered precisely like one of their research vessels, but this is of limited educational use. I have also discovered that NOAA have an island in second life I want to attempting to create a disaster island scenario, which is almost like a disaster themed 'fun park' where hazards occur and you have to react in the most appropriate way...flying would have to be disabled for people's avatar's (their second life persona) and rewards given for reacting appropriately and surviving...There are ways of embedding url's ino second life and I have already done so in the technology educators island. There is an opportunity to do this with a group of islands in second life known as the scilands If anyone wants to be involved in this exciting project let me know and we can start creating!

Edu4hazards.org available in Norwegian - More translation needed.

Over a year ago I designed and built a website aimed at enabling
children and youth to know what appropriate measures to take before
during and after a hazard event. The initial idea came about because
the students I teach often travel abroad on holiday or visiting
family in areas where there are high risks of earthquakes, tornadoes
and hurricanes. Consequently the design of the site reflects this and
the front page of the site is a suitcase with eight labels that say
'earthquake', 'hurricane' etc. Once clicked on the main information
about how to react to the hazard appears. It i purposely not too
wordy and the advice is simple and widely accepted. The site has been
very successful and without marketing generates 50,000 hits monthly
and growing. I have used the site to deliver DRR messages in schools
in London very successfully; using the site as a stimulus and then
carrying out some of the advice with children such as 'duck, cover
and hold' for earthquakes, practising the 'lightning crouch' and
deciding what other action may be taken in the event of a thunder and
lightning storm. Students have made their own films in a wide variety
of languages - Mandarin Chinese, Turkish, Russian, Urdu, Punjabi,
French, German and English in order to show what action to take for a
wide variety of these hazards. These are available through youtube
teacher tube and as video podcasts through the itunes store (type in
'edu4hazards').

The site and the multimedia techniques that I have been pioneering
have been accepted well in the international community of those
involved in DRR and was included as an example of good practice in
the UNISDR publication earlier this year. This is all well and good
and I am glad to receive recognition, but this was never the reason
for me carrying out this project. I wanted to make a difference and
highlight what I thought was lacking in education for DRR in
mainstream education - experiential learning techniques that make a
real impact on children and youth, allowing them to be prepared and
not scared. I have come to the attention of the UK Government, the
Council of Europe and many emergency managers in many local
authorities, where I have given presentations about this project.
However when I have asked for help for site translation their has
been an initial buzz followed by a hiatus, followed by a negative
response at a later date. But following my presentation at the
Council of Europe Meeting on Disaster Reduction at school, a
Norwegian colleague, offered to translate the site into Norwegian.
The main information on each one of the hazard pages has now been
translated, although the further information parts have not been. The
site will automatically come up in Norwegian if you are in Norway,
whereas the rest of the world currently gets the English site, but it
does not have to be like that! I am attaching a word document with
this principal information on and would appreciate any help that
colleagues could give in translation. I would add a link on the site
as I have done from the Norwegian version of the site to that
person's organisation! The Norwegian site can be viewed at: http://
www.edu4hazards.org/index_no.html

There has been a lot of discussion on this forum about education and
how to motivate children and youth to become agents for change for
DRR and I have seen this site coupled with the activities alongside
it do just that. Children show me there Emergency go-bags for
instance and I have even had parents talk to me about what to include
in them (there are photograph's on the site). There is now a
teacher's page on the site where teachers can explore how to use the
site with lesson plans and resources as well as a link to the new
social network for teachers wanting to make a difference in disaster
prevention at: http://edu4drr.ning.com

Please contact me if YOU can help make a difference, as doing this by
myself is not easy!

Edu4Hazards site in Norwegian!

The Edu4Hazards site has now been translated into Norwegian, or at least the pages with the most relevant information about how to prepare for and react to all eight of the hazards is! This graphic tells you how to react to an earthquake for instance!

New social network by and for teachers who want to make a difference in disaster prevention.

I have created a social network by and for teachers who want to make a difference in disaster prevention. There are many teacher carrying out disaster prevention worldwide, using a variety of different techniques and pedagogical approaches. This new site is to highlight examples of good practices and while allowing teachers to upload resources or plans and attach them to their discussions. When we have a reasonable number of teacher signed up, we will host a series of live chats where practitioners and teachers can share experiences and ideas. Vist the site and sign up for an account. It is free and easy to get going! http://edu4drr.ning.com