Disaster risk education starts with the young in the Philippines

By Madeline Wilson, communications delegate, IFRC Asia Pacific zone office

In the wake of the massive rescue and relief operation mounted by Red Cross after heavy monsoon rains caused devastating floods across Metro Manila and surrounding provinces in August, Madeline Wilson joined Gwendolyn Pang, secretary general of the Philippine Red Cross, on a visit to Santulan Elementary School in Malabon city for the launch of a disaster risk reduction education programme.

“We are targeting the disaster risk reduction education program to children in schools because of the multiplying affect this has on the community,” Pang explains. “The children go home and tell their siblings, their parents and even their grandparents, so all of a sudden we have households thinking about and preparing for the next disaster.”

After visiting Australia in 2010 and seeing the disaster education resources produced by Australian Red Cross, Pang was inspired to develop similar resources relevant for the Philippines context.

Stepping into the grade six classroom with 50 students eagerly awaiting the special lesson, Pang introduced the work of the Red Cross before asking the students to identify some of the potential hazards that Santulan and other communities in Malabon city might face.

“The curriculum has been designed to be interactive and messages on disaster risk are integrated across several subjects, including arts, science, music, health and physical education, ” says Pang.

“Teachers are provided with a flip chart as a visual aid and students receive a workbook to test their learning. There’s also a giant disaster hazards board game to make the leaning interactive and fun.”

Teaching students to sing the ‘happy birthday’ song as cue for how to properly wash their hands, Pang tells me that talking about health and hygiene is an important component of the program, along with the topic of climate change.

After the class I spoke with eleven-year-old Jerome who told me he would share what he learnt with his brother, his sisters and his grandmother: “Now I know how to how to prepare and what to do during a disaster,” says Jerome. “I also learnt how to properly wash my hands, using the ‘happy birthday’ song to wet hands, use soap, scrub and then rinse. I also know how Red Cross helps people after an emergency,” Jerome adds.

One of the most disaster-prone countries on earth, an average of 20 typhoons make landfall in the Philippines every year. The country is also vulnerable to storms and flooding, volcanic eruptions and earthquakes. Natural disasters often cause millions of dollars in damage and even more in economic losses.

For Pang, disaster risk reduction doesn’t stop with individual households. She spends much of her time in discussion with government representatives from the local to the national level, advocating for greater investment in disaster preparedness and risk reduction. She talks about how Red Cross, as auxiliary to the government in times of emergency, can help prepare for and improve the delivery of humanitarian aid whenever and wherever people are affected by disasters in the Philippines.