Raising a resilient generation: Ensuring disaster preparedness for children

At first glance, ten-year-old B. Kenit from the coastal town of Visakhapatnam in India looks like any other school-going child, but there is more than meets the eye. Inspired by a tsunami drill conducted in his school when he was eight, the third grader became a disaster risk reduction advocate, educating his fellow students and community members on early warning, evacuation, and search and rescue.

More than 6,000 kilometres away in Australia, a group of school students excitedly play with the controllers of their virtual reality headsets, deeply engaged in a game where they are comforting and preparing a dog for evacuation during a simulated bushfire scenario.

In a world where disaster risks are increasing, these examples showcase why engaging children in Disaster Risk Reduction (DRR) is a worthwhile investment.

According to the World Meteorological Organization, a disaster related to a weather, climate or water hazard occurred every day on average over the past 50 years. As climate change is leading to a higher frequency and intensity of extreme weather events, the number of disasters has increased by five times during this period.

Yet improvements in early warning systems have resulted in reducing the number of deaths by almost three times. That said, certain groups continue to be disproportionately affected by disasters, including children. Often hit first and hardest when disasters strike, their safety, health, and education are always at risk.

UNICEF estimates that nearly half of the world's children - roughly 1 billion - live in one of 33 countries classified as "extremely high risk" due to climate change impacts. And between 2015 and 2021, over half a million schools have been damaged or destroyed by disasters according to data from the Sendai Framework Monitor.

The Sendai Framework for Disaster Risk Reduction, a global agreement adopted by UN Member States in 2015 to reduce disaster risks and losses by the year 2030, emphasizes the need to protect children and youth by integrating their needs into disaster risk reduction strategies and promoting their active participation.

That is why the theme for this year's International Day for Disaster Risk Reduction, observed on 13 October every year, is "Empowering the next generation for a resilient future." The theme highlights the role of education in protecting and empowering youth for a disaster-free future.

Schools play a vital role in disaster risk reduction by educating students on risks in their communities, building preparedness, conducting drills, and fostering a culture of prevention. They act as hubs for community awareness, ensuring that children and their families have the knowledge and skills to act on risks before they lead to tragedy.

Storytelling and gamification can be powerful tools for turning complex concepts into relatable and enjoyable experiences. For example, to raise awareness on Tsunami preparedness, UNDP prepared a series of animated storybooks, reaching out to over 200,000 students, teachers and administrators across 24 countries in the Asia Pacific region, while UNDRR's Stop Disasters game, which engages students in real-life disaster scenarios, has been played nearly 900,000 times just in 2023. Through such methods, we can ensure that children not only learn about disaster preparedness but also retain and apply this knowledge throughout their lives.

Schools also play an important role as evacuation points during disasters, providing a safe refuge for the community. To serve this purpose, schools must be disaster-resilient. This means enforcing zoning laws and building codes, investing in disaster-resistant infrastructure, and regularly assessing and retrofitting existing structures.

In 2011, the lives of 320 people in the Japanese city of Sendai were saved when they sought shelter at a disaster-resilient school ahead of an incoming tsunami wave. Today this school serves as a museum of disaster preparedness where children (and adults) can see for themselves the role schools can play in making their communities disaster resilient. It is an inspiring site where children play disaster simulation games and aspire to become change makers.

Enhancing the resilience of schools and the preparedness of students is everyone's responsibility, but especially governments. That is why we are calling on all countries to endorse the Comprehensive School Safety Framework as a means of focusing and accelerating child-centrist disaster risk reduction. We hope to see all countries endorse the framework by June 2025, ahead of the next Global Platform for Disaster Risk Reduction.

UNDP and UNDRR stand ready to support countries enhance their disaster risk management to be more inclusive, so no one is left behind.

Through a partnership agreement signed in 2020, the two organizations have a shared commitment to integrate disaster risk reduction in national-level planning and decision-making. We work closely with governments and other key stakeholders to provide guidance and technical assistance on risk-informed development pathways, while ensuring coherence with the Sendai Framework, the Paris Agreement and the Sustainable Development Goals.

An example of this approach can be seen in Burundi, where we are working together with the national government, with support from the European Union, to develop and test educational modules on DRR and climate adaptation. Aligned with the African Union's recommendation to integrate DRR into school curricula, the initiative is empowering children to become agents of change for more resilient communities.

Such solutions need to be developed and implemented at scale and speed, which requires policy commitment in two key areas - mobilizing financial resources, and capacity development.

As the world faces an increasing number and intensity of disasters, the need to protect and empower children and youth has never been more urgent. By investing in disaster risk reduction education, building resilient schools, and mobilizing financial resources, we can empower the next generation to navigate the challenges posed by disasters. Their future depends on the actions we take today. Together, we can ensure that every child, regardless of where they live, has the opportunity to learn, grow, and thrive in a safe environment.

Shoko Noda is the Assistant Secretary-General and Assistant Administrator and Director of the Crisis Bureau of the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), and Kamal Kishore, is the Special Representative of the UN Secretary-General for Disaster Risk Reduction, and Head of the United Nations Office for Disaster Risk Reduction (UNDRR).