Pilot project on Disaster Risk Reduction in schools:

Right step towards disaster risk reduction

by Indeewara Thilakarathne and Ranga Chandrarathne

It is a fact that children are among the vulnerable segments in a disaster and preparedness for a disaster is vital in disaster risk reduction. This project was conducted under the patronage of the Secretary of the Ministry of Disaster Management and Human Rights Prof. Rajiva Wijesinha and the Director General of the Disaster Management Centre Major General Gamini Hettiarachchi with the support of zonal education officers.

The pilot project on Disaster Risk Reduction in schools launched by the Disaster Management Centre is aimed at achieving the goals of a safe nation, according to the Road Map for Disaster Management in Sri Lanka.

The education system has been identified as a strategic intervention area that has the strong potential to create a positive impact on society. If the children are aware of the causes and consequences of disasters, it would eventually lead to raise public awareness on the matter.

The project was conceptualized and implemented with financial assistance from the United Nations Office for Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (UN OCHA) from July 2007.

Goals

The overall goal of the project is to integrate school preparedness and response strategies with those of community and institutional preparedness and response plans drawn up by vulnerable communities. The Disaster Management Centre (DMC) was selected as the main government partner to implement the project activities as it was the institution mandated by the Government of Sri Lanka to coordinate all disaster management-related activities. The German Technical Corporation (GTZ) was another civil society organization working in collaboration with the DMC on school-level disaster risk reduction and preparedness activities.

This pilot project focuses on three schools in districts which are vulnerable to different socio-natural hazards commonly occurring in Sri Lanka. Initially, 48 schools were identified by the District Disaster Management Coordinators in collaboration with the Zonal Education Directors of the Department of Education in 16 districts.

The schools were selected on the basis of their vulnerability to major hazards (i.e. floods, landslides, tsunamis, lightning, cyclones, drought, epidemics, etc.) in Sri Lanka, located in areas where Grama Niladari-level Disaster Preparedness and Response Plans have been developed and schools with active School Development Societies and school administrations which are willing to implement the pilot project activities.

Among the objectives of the project were to develop a teachers’ guide to build the capacity of teachers in DRR, to train schoolchildren in first aid and promote it as an essential life skill among school children and School Development Society members to train children in selected schools to serve as animators for the community in monitoring rainfall data and in providing early warning information to Village Disaster Management Committees and to support teachers and students in developing proposals for improving safety measures in their schools and provide funding for small-scale vulnerability reduction and mitigation activities.

For the pilot project Akiriyankumbura Maha Vidyalaya in the Ridi Maliyadda DS Division Badulla District and Koslanda Madya Maha Vidyalaya have been selected. The children of Akiriyankumbura Maha Vidyalaya have to undergo many hardships including sever droughts and wild fires. As the main occupation in the area is cultivation of paddy and chena cultivation, during the dry season people find it hard to get water for drinking, domestic and agricultural purposes.

As the initial step a disaster management awareness programme for 50 students was conducted by the District Disaster Management Coordination Unit (DDMCU) in collaboration with United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) with the technical support of the Forest Department and National Water Supply and Drainage Board. As a long term measure the school Disaster Management Circle was formed and the school decided to develop a model green house which would serve as a model site for school children to learn agricultural innovation with special emphasis on drought resistant varieti es of crops.

Schools submitted model disaster mitigation projects. Considering the overall submissions, most of the projects, were found to be linked with learning components for students while some were focused on structural mitigation. Developing a model lightning protection system, using children as animators to prevent frost fire in the village, fixing a ‘live fence’ to prevent elephant attacks of the school, construction of a staircase for emergency evacuation, water purification system and rain water harvesting to prevent fluorosis among children were some of the mitigation projects identified by the other selected schools.

Activities initiated under the project include formation of School Disaster Management Circles, Strengthening the Circle with capacity development United Nation Development Programme (UNDP) in affiliation with the Disaster Management Centre (DMC) initiated the School Disaster Management Project in 48 schools in 16 districts including conflict affected Ampara, Batticaloa, Trincomalee and Jaffna District with the financial support of the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (UNOCHA).