Disaster awareness programme for students in 16 districts

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, Zihan Zarouk, told IRIN, "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 at the 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 have been selected for disaster preparedness training in each of the 16 districts, including the districts of Ampara, Batticaloa, Trincomalee and Jaffna.

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. School children are urged to come up with their own ideas for disaster preparedness and mitigation measures, some of which are even eventually funded by UNDP.

The latest session took place in Koslanda, a landslide-prone area in the central Badulla District. 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.

"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. (IRIN)