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Investing in Disaster Risk Reduction in Education

Disaster Risk Reduction (DRR) - what is it?

According to the United Nations International Strategy for Disaster Reduction,  DRR 'aims to reduce the damage caused by natural hazards like earthquakes, floods, droughts and cyclones, through an ethic of prevention'.


How is this linked to education I hear you ask. Check out
this poster from UNICEF and UNESCO which tells you how education is linked to DRR, and why we need it. 

This child-friendly publication from Plan International is also helpful to get young people thinking about how they can get involved with responding to disasters, and possibly preventing them in the future.

What are your thoughts on DRR? Have you been involved in DRR initiatives? Do you think they could be used for preventing crises such as conflict? It would be great to hear your experiences (both good and bad) - feel free to share them below. 


2 comments:

  1. Itumeleng on LinkedIn:

    From a development perspective I believe that this is an area the individuals need to be proactive in within their own communities and then have government policies and structures catch-up, and this is possible through educating our "neighbours" particularly diring the Winter months. The reality is that people do not have adequate housing which makes them primarily vulnerable to disasters such as fires and exposure to harmful chemicals due to their surroundings.

    Some "disasters" are certainly avoidable through education and sensatisation. This definitely has the potential to go as far as alleviating the pressure on our health structures as well as the social structures such as the disability grant system in particular. Send me your thoughts on this matter!

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    1. I think you're right that such initiatives need to begin with the communities themselves. If not, it seems in some cases nothing much will ever change given the lack of political will. You raise some interesting points on this going as far as reducing pressure on social security systems. I guess it depends on the country in question - keep in mind some do not even have such systems to begin with.

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