UNESCO and the European Commission strengthen their approach to risk disaster reduction

The European Commission Humanitarian Aid Department (ECHO) together with the Regional Bureau of Education for Latin America and the Caribbean based in Santiago de Chile have been successfully carrying out the project “Adaptive learning Mechanisms for the prevention and response to tsunami in vulnerable communities in Chile, Colombia, Ecuador and Peru” under the 6th DIPECHO Action Plan for South America.

The main goal of the project is to promote education for disaster risk reduction and participation in prevention and response to tsunamis and earthquakes. In addition, the project aims to improve cooperation and coordination between relevant institutions in the four participating countries. It has three main components:

Tsunami risk reduction among students, teachers, administrators and parents

Drafting local disaster risk reduction plans in cooperation with the community

Supporting the creation of inter-institutional and regional coordination mechanisms for tsunami early warning systems at early warning centers and among national education and governmental authorities.

Recently, a workshop entitled Tools to implement risk management in school curricula was jointly organized by the European Commission, UNESCO Office in Santiago and Soluciones Prácticas (ITDG)in the Callao region in Peru, addressing teachers and directors of eleven educational institutions. Callao region lies in a risk zone which is highly exposed to seismic and tsunami phenomena and the workshop surpassed all expectations in terms of participation and enthusiasm. The participants discussed their respective problematic realities and committed themselves to create a social network to further exchange their experience, knowledge and lessons learned.

A Regional workshop on the coordination of inter-institutional and regional mechanisms for preparedness and early warning in the event of a tsunami has been held in Santiago from 12 to 15 October 2010.

• 13-10-2010