Disaster Preparedess
Two years ago, Shahida witnessed how Cyclone Sidr hit her hometown in Bangladesh.
Now, at 14 and thanks to Save the Children, she is prepared if nature decides to strike again.
"I now know the concept of a disaster. What it is, and what the different kinds are and so on. And I know what the different sea signals mean. I have learnt it all in school and I have taught my parents what to do."
"Of all the things we have learned about disasters, I think disaster preparedness is the most important. Now we have a plan and we know what to do if a disaster happens. Yesterday, for example, I told my aunt and uncle about this and they will share it with other people.”
Child-centred Disaster Risk Reduction is the cornerstone of adaptation to our changing climate.
Reducing Risks, Saving Lives
Part of our response to climate change is to reduce the impact or even prevent disasters through Disaster Risk Reduction (DRR) work in 40 countries around the world.
DRR is any activity that helps people prepare for, reduce the impact of, or prevent disasters. These activities can be policies, strategies or activities carried out by villages, aid agencies or governments to reduce a community's vulnerability to a disaster.
Save the Children has pioneered child-centred DRR. We encourage children to play a key role in assessing the risks they face, helping to draw up emergency preparedness plans and maps, taking part in drills and evacuation simulation activities and raising awareness about risks amongst their peers and adults in their community.
Photoessay: 'Reducing Risks, Saving Lives'
Video: Save the Children disaster risk reduction
Video: Our Disaster Risk Reduction programmes in the Philippines
Feeling the Heat: Child Survival in a Changing Climate
As our report , Feeling the Heat: Child Survival in a Changing Climate emphasises, climate change is the biggest global health threat to children in the 21st century. Children are already dying because of climate change and without urgent action these deaths will increase.
Find out more about Feeling the Heat
Report: Feeling the Heat: Child Survival in a Changing Climate
What we're calling for
Our aim is to ensure that children are involved in identifying risks, know what to do when a disaster strikes, and share this information with their friends and wider community.
We emphasise that funding for adaptation should reach poor communities without delay. Child-centred disaster risk reduction which should be recognised as a corner stone of adaptation and an assurance to strengthen health, water and sanitation systems in the poorest countries so that they are ready to cope with the effects of climate change.
Read more about Save the Children's activities in Copenhagen
More Information
Eye Witness Accounts
Voices: Haids' from Bangladesh
Voices: Saruj's Story from Nepal
Press release: Children and Communities Benefitting from Save the Children’s Disaster Preparedness Work as Philippines Volcano Threatens Major Eruption
