which affects will you check for pre disaster management in your school
Answers
More than 400 national disasters take place every year, affecting more than 230 million
people and causing an average of almost 75,000 deaths annually (CRED, 2008).
Worldwide, 450 cities with populations over 1 million face recurring earthquakes.
Cyclones, typhoons and hurricanes are among the deadliest and costliest of disasters.
Droughts and desertification currently affect 250 million people and threaten 1.2 billion
people in 110 countries (UNESCO, 2007). Annually recurring floods regularly prevent millions
of children from attending a full year of school.
Education is a human right, universal and inalienable. Education is especially important
in enabling people to reach their full potential and exercise other rights. This right does
not disappear or get suspended because of disasters and emergencies. When education is
interrupted or limited, students drop out, with negative and permanent economic and social
impacts for students, their families, and their communities. Natural hazards are part of
the context for educational planning. Whether it is annually recurring floods, a once-in-5-
generations earthquake, the increasing severity of storms and cyclones, water shortages, or
the slow onset of rising sea water levels, these known and expected hazards can be mitigated
with the determined application of knowledge, education, and ingenuity.
We are not able to prevent the earth from shaking, the wind from blowing, or the rain
from falling. However, with assessment and planning, physical and environmental protection
and response preparedness we can prevent these events from becoming disasters. Since
schools are our universal institution for sharing knowledge and skills, the expectations for
schools to be role models in disaster prevention is high. Successful disaster mitigation is one
of the ultimate tests of the success of the education we provide over generations.
This Handbook is written for administrators, teachers, support staff, and other individuals
involved in emergency and disaster preparedness atschool. Its purposes are:
• To guide administrators and staff in assessing risks and planning and carrying out
physical protection measures;
2 Disaster and Emergency Preparedness: Guidance for Schools
• To develop skills and provisions for disaster and emergency preparedness, response,
and rapid recovery;
• To support schools in developing disaster and emergency plans specific to their
local needs and reflecting good practices internationally and nationally.
This handbook has been prepared with a primary focus on ‘school safety’ and thus the
language used throughout refers to ‘schools’ versus ‘universities’. However, the underlying
tenets in terms of the development of policy, planning and implementation is equally relevant
regardless of the type of institution in question.