Child-led disaster training saving lives

IRIN: Children are frequently the most affected by natural disasters and yet rarely are their voices heard. "Children are always one of the most vulnerable groups in emergencies, especially in poor countries," Nguyen Van Gia, emergency coordinator for Save the Children USA in Vietnam, told IRIN. "Our community-based disaster preparedness programmes always have a focus on child protection and child rights," Gia said. In addition, children are trained to take part in all aspects of emergency preparedness.

According to Save the Children's 2008 report, In the Face of Disaster, Children and Climate Change, In the Face of Disaster, Children and Climate Change more than 50 percent of those affected by natural disasters worldwide are children. In addition to the threat of death, they are much more at risk than adults to water-borne diseases and by the loss of adequate sanitation facilities. Increasingly UN agencies and humanitarian agencies are training children to be prepared for disasters and to be informed on evacuation and response procedures.

They are easily separated from their families in the chaos of emergencies and face mental stress and physical exploitation, according to the report. In light of these realities, Save the Children USA made children the focus of its community-based disaster risk-management programmes. The agency has been operating child-led disaster risk-reduction programmes throughout Asia, training children in all aspects of emergency preparedness. In Vietnam, such programmes have been running for more than five years in seven provinces; more than 600 children in 30 schools have been trained in child rights, disaster risk reduction (DRR) and hazard-vulnerability-capacity assessment processes….

Lost Russian children, circa 1942, taken by the father of "Twatch," Wikimedia Commons