edu4DRR

Effective Education for Disaster Risk Reduction - Learning Matters.

An example of disaster education working ...

One of the few pieces of good news to come out of last year's tsunami tragedy in Samoa was the story of 10-year old New Zealander, Abby Wutzler, whose quick actions saved the lives of her family and others at the beach when the wave hit. She had learned about tsunami in What’s the Plan Stan lessons at school in New Zealand, so recognised the signs and did all the right things on the day.

What's the Plan Stan is the Ministry of Civil Defence & Emergency Management's disaster education resource for schools. On her return to New Zealand, the Ministry organised an event at Abby’s school to acknowledge her actions. Abby’s family and school supported this as an opportunity to encourage people to be better prepared, and to acknowledge the impact that schools can have in teaching children what to do in a disaster.

The company I work for, Educating NZ, is proud to have been the Ministry of Civil Defence & Emergency Management's contracted developer for What’s the Plan Stan, knowing that it has now really saved lives.

www.whatstheplanstan.govt.nz

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Permalink Reply by Roly Hermans on March 9, 2010 at 20:39

We have heard another story of the New Zealand disaster education resource 'What's the Plan Stan' saving lives and injury. During the recent Chile earthquake, some children who had been schooled in New Zealand made their family 'drop, cover and hold', which saved them from serious injury or death. Furniture and objects were thrown round the room, several falling on the bed where family members had been lying transfixed until their children had told them what to do. The family have since emailed the school in New Zealand thanking them for the life-saving disaster lessons.

www.whatstheplanstan.govt.nz