As many as 8,000 Kudumbashree Balasabha members in the district and a total of one lakh across the State will be equipped to not only act during disasters, particularly those caused by climate change such as floods or landslips, but also emergencies that occur in everyday life as part of ‘Sajjam – Building Resilience’ programme.
As children are the most affected by natural disasters and other emergencies, they need to learn to anticipate and cope with such events without becoming nervous. The Kudumbashree is training its adolescent Balasabha members to overcome such events through Sajjam.
The module for the training, prepared by the Kudumbashree, disaster management authority, Kerala Institute of Local Administration’s disaster management wing, and the State Council of Educational Research and Training, focusses on knowing one’s surroundings, understanding climate change, recognising the disasters it could cause, how it can affect children, mitigating the impact of disasters, and children’s rights and responsibilities.
Activity-oriented training
The training, which is fully activity-oriented, will be led by 44 resource persons. To be held for children aged 13-18, the two-day training will be held at the panchayat level in two batches of 50 each. Training in 21 of the 78 local self-government institutions has already been completed.
One of the activities being taken up during the training is familiarising the students with the panchayat map. Once the map is sketched on paper, resources such as schools, hospitals, police station, common spaces, and so on will be mapped on it. Besides resources, disaster risk reduction and preparedness too will be given attention. If an area is prone to landslips, it will be mapped. Routes of river, forest areas, and so on will also be marked so that students become aware of resources beyond their immediate neighbourhood. Road stretches where accidents are frequent or areas where stray dog menace is high could also be marked. Kudumbashree communtiy development society members and panchayat representatives will be present to give their inputs.
To make the training more creative, write-ups, poems, drawings, stories, and so on by the children on their neighbourhood will be collected and brought out as a booklet with the panchayat map included in it.
Role play will be used to get students to enact what to do and how to act during such events and what the Kerala State Disaster Management Authority guidelines are so that they do not jump into situations on the strength of their training but remain calm and decide what is the best way to deal with them.
The Kudumbashree in the district is also trying to create a contact book so that besides the general number for emergency service providers such as police, hospital, Fire and Rescue Services, ambulance, Childline, and so on, the children know whom to reach out to at the local level to elicit a speedy response.
The training will enable children to not only ensure their own safety but also prepare for disaster management and reduce the impact of such events.
