Importance of raising awareness of importance of disaster preparedness from an early age

The suggestion brought up most often, and where the strongest group dynamic could be observed, was starting to teach emergency procedures to children from a young age, in combination with embedding altruistic behaviour in children's education: “We should raise children to help others”. At the same time, participants distinguished between teaching children merely how to call for help, and training them in actual behaviour in disaster situations: “They have no education. The school tells them to call the police or emergency. I agree with that, but if they are in an emergency situation what will they do? These days you leave a 12-year-old boy home alone”.

Cultural Factors: Norms/values, Educational system

Hazards: Natural hazards, Man-made non-intentional hazards or emergency situations, Man-made intentional hazards

Disaster Phases: Preparedness, Response

Types of Actors Concerned: Local authorities, Government, Healthcare and emergency services

Recommendations:

• Develop culturally aware disaster preparedness and response training
• Training programmes for citizens of all ages should be developed. These are necessary to increase citizens’ knowledge of and preparedness in case of disasters. The training activities should be organized on the basis of a training strategy and should take various forms, ranging from emergency drill to workshops