Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Plan

The impacts of natural and human-induced hazards are increasing with population growth and climate change, causing immense losses to the society. Besides their impact on the society and infrastructure, disasters are also one of the biggest challenges to the goal of ‘Education for All’. In the past couple of decades, a number of disasters killed thousands of school children and severely disrupted the normal education in many countries.

For example in 1995 in Dabwali, Haryana, a fire broke out during the prize distribution ceremony at school and as a result 425 people died, most of them were school children. In another disaster, during the 2011 Bhuj earthquake in Gujarat, 71 school children and 31 teachers died and many more injured, 1884 school buildings collapsed and 11761 school buildings suffered major to minor damages. 

The list is endless and it endorses the fact that the rights of all children, to both education and safety, must be safeguarded simultaneously. Disaster-resilient education and safe schools are within reach. It requires sincere efforts to assess local risks and institutional capacities and to develop a well-planned and self-sufficient mechanism of preparedness. 

In lieu of that a well organized "Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Plan" of the school was laid out and proper training was provided to students, teachers and other staff members. Several response teams consisting teachers and other staff members were formed like School Disaster Management Committee (SDMC), Awareness Campaign Team, Fire Alarming Team, Evacuation Team, Search and Rescue Team, Fire Fighting Team, First Aid Team, Site Safety Team, Transport Management Team and Media Management Team. The roles and responsibilities of all the teams were precisely defined and the standard operating procedures (SOPs) were clearly understood by everyone. An Emergency Operation Centre (EOC) was set up in the school which was equipped with communication system and all other required resources. Detailed maps of Evacuation routes were also prepared and displayed in the school.

To test the efficacy of the Disaster Management Plan and to have clarity and better understanding of the roles and responsibility of all the stakeholders, a mock-drill was successfully conducted on December 5th, 2018 in the school premises. Drills offer the opportunity to identify training needs, establish new reflexes, and teach through action, repetition and change in plan.

Considering the fact that external help may reach to the school very late, it is important that school teachers, staff and students learn about the key aspects of school safety and preparedness. It is critically required that all the schools should take proactive measures to increase awareness about disaster management and also test their preparedness plans through conducting mock-drills at regular intervals. In order to create an enabling and safe environment for the students. it is important to spread awareness among the school staff, teachers and students and make them prepared to deal with any kind of catastrophic event which will enable them to be life savers at the time of emergencies.