After a school was retrofitted, SEEDS facilitated trainings
in disaster preparedness for community members, school
staff and students. The trainings included search and
rescue, fire safety, first-aid, safe evacuation and mapping
contingency plans. Students were also trained in ‘duck,
cover and hold’ methods in case of earthquakes and safe
evacuation. Special training was also provided to school staff
to create a school disaster management plan. Together, the
school retrofit and the accompanying ‘soft’ activities with the
school community were expected to serve as a channel for
promoting a culture of prevention and preparedness in the
local community.
SEEDS then formed school disaster management task forces
based on the trainings, which were divided into functional
groups. These were search and rescue, first-aid, fire
response, and a group to connect with the local government
offices. The task force members included representatives
from local leaders, parent-teacher associations and school
clubs.
Establishing a Joint Action Plan
After the school community became aware of disaster risk
reduction principles, SEEDS established a Joint Action
Plan, which connected the school task force with the
larger community. They performed outreach to ensure the
wider community knew the school could be a gathering
point in a flood, earthquake or other sustained hazard.
By strengthening this connection, SEEDS was attempting
to ensure the community benefited from the training and
disaster management planning at the school.
Even though the school was likely to operate as a safe haven
and school task forces would take leadership roles during
a disaster, SEEDS also taught communities emergency
preparedness skills and basic hazard knowledge in case the
school became incapacitated.
and Rescue task force then had to respond by finding the
missing people and providing aid. If the missing students
were injured, they would be connected with the hospital.
It was not just the adults that role-played. Students also
practised their response skills, identifying damaged
buildings, rescuing each other, performing first-aid and
putting out fake fires. The mock drills were both realistic and
exciting.
The biggest challenge for the students was to evacuate
quickly and to establish coordination among the task forces.
However, they became more efficient through multiple
practices of the mock drill.
Overall, the process of engagement, retrofitting and
practising mock drills took a full year. On completion of
the project SEEDS handed the project details – including
the disaster management plan, guidelines for retrofit and
other project details – to the local education department
for implementation in other schools. The governments in
several provinces have adopted the initiative for wide-spread
replication.
Key takeaways
• Safe school construction should be integrated into a
comprehensive school safety program.
• Non-structural mitigation is an integral part of
Comprehensive School Safety, and a part in which
students and staff can actively participate.
• Safe school construction projects provide impetus for
engaging communities in school disaster management.
• School mock drills, especially when coordinated with the
wider community, can provide good opportunities for
practice and affirmation of a culture of safety.
The Joint Action Plan was designed to help the task forces
react to disasters as well as proactively protect children
during their routine interactions with school. One proactive
measure included consistent updates for parents on the
whereabouts of their children. Disaster or not, if a bus was
late, parents were sure to get a call explaining why.
After being given a predetermined signal, students
responded with ‘duck, cover, and hold’ as they had been
taught during the disaster preparedness training. They then
evacuated the school buildings following the practice of
‘don’t run, don’t push, don’t talk, don’t turn back’. Students
left the building by class and organised at a set assembly
point.
Realistic conditions involved certain students that were
‘trapped’ in the school or generally missing. The Search
In 2011, officials from Shimla’s police, education and public
works department meet with the SEEDS project manager
during an advocacy workshop. Photo: SEEDS.
SECTION III: POST-CONSTRUCTION
For the school communities, the experience culminated
with a large mock drill where the school, fire department,
the hospital and local government played the part they
would function in a real emergency. SEEDS identified mock
earthquake drills as the most useful exercise for students,
staff and communities to check their preparedness levels.
They encouraged the local government to mandate the mock
drill to ensure everyone participated.
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