Teaching kids hazard mapping and evacuation planning

Students of Masantol Elementary School present their disaster-preparedness poster

Child rights advocate Save the Children (STC) is helping train kids to participate actively in disaster preparedness and risk reduction in two flood-prone Pampanga towns.

STC conducted training programs in the towns of Minalin and Masantol that led to the organization of six children’s brigades. Kids should not be helpless in times of disasters, STC said.

After the training, three children’s brigades were established in San Pedro, Santa Rita and Minalin elementary schools.

In Masantol, three brigades were established at the central school in the town proper and at the Nigui and Sagrada Familia elementary schools near a dike.

Minalin is at the end of Pasig-Potrero River that drains from the watershed of Mount Pinatubo, the long-dormant volcano responsible for the world’s second worst eruption in the 20th century.

Masantol is downstream of Pampanga River from which 30 rivers in Central Luzon empty into Manila Bay.

Students review their school hazard and evacuation map.

Each brigade has 10 members ages 9-12 years old. Brigades are led by the principal, who heads the school disaster risk reduction and management council and coordinates with counterpart barangay brigades formed after training adults on disaster risk reduction and climate change adaptation.

The children had basic sessions on understanding disasters and hazard mapping, crafting early warning systems, writing communication plans and formulating evacuation plans. They were also familiarized with their school disaster-management plan.

“By forming and training children’s brigades, we are engaging the kids [so they can take part] in the overall disaster risk reduction programs of their community and school,” said Antonio Tiemsin Jr., communications officer of STC, which works in over 120 countries.

“By teaching them at a young age about the risks and hazards brought by calamities, especially in Pampanga where flooding is a perennial problem, we believe we are reducing their vulnerabilities,” Tiemsin said.

Through the project, which is supported by Korea International Cooperation Agency, STC aims to “save the lives of the next generation and to create a better future for them,” Tiemsin said.

Minalin Mayor Edgardo Flores said the project was helpful to young people. “They are being trained to be prepared for disasters,” he said.

Tarlac Rep. Susan Yap has filed House Bill No. 5062 seeking to establish national policies to help and protect children during calamities.

“If [Supertyphoon] ‘Yolanda’ will be the new normal, then we need to [raise] our game now in terms of child protection during extreme weather events,” Yap said in a report posted by the Philippine Information Agency.

The proposed measure seeks to provide “emergency relief and protection for children during disaster, calamity and other emergency situations.” It also mandates the Department of Social Welfare and Development and other government agencies to create and implement a comprehensive program to protect children in times of disasters.