Disaster management at school level needs coordinated efforts

Schools are one of the most crucial institutions when it comes to institutional preparedness and also community based awareness building. Spending one third of their day at schools, children need to learn about school-based safety measures as well. Meanwhile, it is also important to have a school-based disaster management mechanism and risk reduction education in built within the mainstream educational system. Islamic Relief introduced school based DRR programme in Sylhet city in 2008 and has helped introduce school led DRR initiative in a good number of school till now through different phases of DIPECHO Action Plans funded by European Commission Humanitarian Aid and Civil Protection.
Sylhet City Corporation is growing by stature everyday in terms of population, urbanization and its vulnerability to diversified urban hazards. Specifically focusing on DRR issues, it is high time the relevant government authorities and non-government stakeholders join hands and plan ahead to reduce the vulnerability of the dwellers of this emerging metropolis. The recent joint venture from Fire Service and Civil Defence (FSCD) Sylhet authority, one of the major stakeholders in terms of DRR and Emergency Response in the city and Islamic Relief Bangladesh and Oxfam, both NARRI Consortium partners working in 20 Wards of Sylhet for enhancing community resilience to urban hazards, can be hailed as a replicable example in this regard.
Fire Service and Civil Defence has the mandate to contribute to the skill development of the community members for emergency response. So recently when FSCD in Sylhet received instructions from their central management to arrange mock simulation drill in at least two schools per month, they directly communicated with Islamic Relief Sylhet office to organise these drills jointly as Islamic Relief already has presence in number of schools in different Wards under the city corporation. On 13 January, representatives from Islamic Relief and other organisations working on school based DRR in Sylhet had a meeting with FSCD officials and developed an initial work-plan for organising mock drills at 11 major schools all of which are covered under the 7th DIPECHO Action Plan. In the plan, FSCD and the NGOs dissected their responsibilities within the joint approach as it was decided that FSCD will organize mock drills through their skilled personnel and necessary equipment while the NGOs will support the events in terms of coordination with school management committees, mobilizing students' task forces and the trained urban volunteers.
Based on the work-plan, FSCD has already organised mock drills in 3 major schools in the city where Islamic Relief is currently implementing its project interventions. The intervention started off on 20 January 2014 with Blue Birds School  and College which has around 4000 students consisting of its primary and high school shifts and college. The simulation event consisted of Classroom Evacuation, First Aid, Fire Fighting, Search and Rescue, Airbag Jumping, Roping etc. as number of urban volunteers and school students took part in the demonstration alongside the FSCD personnel. The simulation exercise provided the audience, especially the students a hands-on demonstration on how to respond during an emergency like fire outbreak or earthquake which is very relevant for an urban school. Apart from large number of students and other community members, the Deputy Commissioner Md. Shahidul Islam, Ward Disaster Committee Members, FSCD officials including Deputy Director Mr. Erfan Ali, IRB representatives and journalists were present on the occasion.
Simulation drills have been arranged in two other schools namely Roshomoy Memorial High School on 23rd January, 2014 and Kazi Jalaluddin Girls High School on 5th February, 2014. FSCD will gradually conduct the same demonstrational event in the other schools as part of their monthly programme as they have plans to cover most of the schools under the city corporation if not all, and thus, ensure their share of contribution in the culture of preparedness and safety at school level. At the same time, the initiative has set a great example how government and non-government stakeholders can put up a joint endeavor to prepare the schoolchildren on key issues related to disaster preparedness and emergency response which would surely lead to an aware and better prepared next generation of citizens.
The writer is working as a Programme Coordinator on Urban DRR with an INGO and can be reached at
simon.rahman@islamicrelief-bd.org