Topic 12 Disaster Response

Why should teenagers be taught about how to cope with disasters?

Hong Kong has disaster resilience but needs to strengthen its disaster preparedness capabilities. Young people should cultivate an attitude of being vigilant in peacetime and formulate in advance preventive and responsive measures for different types of disasters. Young people should understand the preventive measures for natural disasters (such as typhoons, floods, thunderstorms, wildfires, earthquakes, etc.), epidemics and fires to respond when encountering these crises. Young people can also learn about local and international medical and humanitarian organisations, such as the works and services they provide and how they respond to crises and promote upholding humanitarianism.

Main Concepts

The United Nations held the "World Conference on Disaster Risk Reduction". They advocated integrating disaster risk knowledge into formal and non-formal education (including disaster prevention, preparedness, response, recovery, etc.). They also committed to improving public awareness through effective publicity and lobbying, increasing public awareness of disaster risks and prevention. We have referred to UNICEF's education documents and compiled the following key points as a reference for local teachers when developing school-based curriculum:

1. Knowledge of Hazards and Disasters

Let students know the causes and effects of natural disasters (such as earthquakes, volcanic eruptions, droughts, floods, etc.);
Let students know about local disasters (such as typhoons, heavy rains, flooding, epidemics, etc.);
Let students understand natural disasters that occur locally, nationally, and around the world;
Let students know that human factors can cause disasters (such as war, armed conflict, building collapse, damage to nuclear facilities, etc.).

2. Disaster management mechanisms and practices

Educate students on protective measures that can be taken before, during, and after a disaster;
Let students know that alarm systems can alert people to impending danger;
Enable students to learn about local, national and international disaster relief infrastructures and related medical and humanitarian organisations.

3. Appropriate affectional expression and actions to respond

Let students develop appropriate listening skills that enable them to empathically accept others' narratives and expressions of affection and learn how to express their feelings;
Raise students' awareness and willingness to participate in safety and disaster response measures (such as fire drills) conducted in schools, estates, housing estates and communities;
Raise students' awareness and willingness to learn skills and knowledge that can be applied in emergencies and disasters (such as first aid skills, survival skills, swimming and lifesaving, etc.) so that they can protect their safety and help those in need in times of crisis;
Let students understand and appreciate the beauty of human nature and the value of life, respect life and be willing to help protect lives from harm;
Allow students to express their willingness to participate in voluntary work and community services and to recognise the need to respect the rights of others while focusing on disaster risk reduction.

Keywords

#Be vigilant in piecetimes #Crisis Response #Natural Disasters #Epidemic Disease

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