Preparing children to face disasters

Colombo: Disaster management experts in Sri Lanka have found a novel use for the snakes and ladders board game - training children in disaster mitigation.

The snakes represent disasters while the ladders are mitigation methods. When a player gets to a snake he slides down on the board but when he reaches a ladder he moves up.

The game forms part of a disaster awareness programme conducted at schools in 16 districts around the country by the Sri Lankan Disaster Management Centre, part of the Ministry of Disaster Management and Human Rights, and the UN Development Programme (UNDP).

"Children are aware of disasters," UNDP field coordinator for the programme, said Zihan Zarouk, "but they have limited knowledge of how to face them or their aftermath."

The school programme is part of a wider national disaster awareness effort and was started after disaster management experts at UNDP and DMC identified children as an effective means to create awareness about disaster preparedness and response within their communities.

"Children can not only influence others but will carry the knowledge with them, that is very vital," Zarouk said.

Three schools selected

Three schools have been selected for disaster preparedness training in each of the 16 districts, including the conflict-affected districts of Ampara, Batticaloa, Trincomalee, and Jaffna in the north and east of the country.

The project began in November 2007 and will run until December 2008.

A typical training session starts with the disaster management experts discussing natural as well as man-made disasters with the teenage students.

The latest session took place in Koslanda, a landslide-prone area in the central Badulla district, 150 km from the capital, Colombo.

At the beginning of the training, participants were asked to identify landslide-prone locations on the road to a nearby town.

They spotted five in all. In addition, each group of trainees is taken on a field trip to a recent disaster area or a disaster-prone site during the workshop to discuss the consequences of disaster and possible mitigation strategies.

"Landslides, droughts, floods and lightning - these are the four main disasters that kids tend to identify as serious threats," Zarouk said.

"One group was asked to work on the identification of landslide-prone areas and develop a hazard and vulnerability map for the Koslanda area," UNDP said, "while another was involved with the identification of the causes and the aggravating factors for the landslide in the same division."

At the conclusion of the training sessions, the participants submit their own disaster mitigation proposals for consideration. If considered effective, they might be funded by the UNDP for implementation.

Surprising ideas

"We have had some surprising ideas," said Zarouk, "Children at one school in the [central] Matale district wanted protection from lightning, because it seemed to strike so often."

Their proposal was evaluated by the Department of Meteorology and UNDP funded the installation of a lightning rod on the roof of the school.

Another group in the Rathnapura district on the western slopes of the central hills proposed that the school be provided with a kitchen. "The children said that it could be useful when people are displaced due to frequent landslides," Zarouk said.

Apparently, during repeated past evacuations the cooking facilities were always makeshift and inadequate.

"Disaster management experts have come to appreciate the personal insight children bring to the training programme. They are often well attuned to the potential dangers that exist in their communities, and identify potential mitigating steps that might not otherwise be considered," according to Zarouk.