Music and art to raise youth awareness around disaster risk reduction in Sri Lanka
Little Anish Prasath celebrated his seventh birthday in Sri Lanka by asking all his friends to bring stationary items and other preschool necessities instead of birthday presents. Everything went to the Little Rose Nursery, which was affected by the Meethotamulla Garbage Dump collapse that happened in April this year and needed to be relocated. His family, inspired by his generosity, provided additional learning items.
Anish had visited the garbage dump and was struck by the people and all the broken houses. He went as far as to design a waste management system for residential areas and high-rise apartments for a school project and has been involved in composting at home as well as encouraging his family to use as little polythene and plastic as possible.
Although this is not a recent story – it happened five years ago – it shows the power of youth and the change they can catalyse in their families and communities.
Engaging youth in disaster risk reduction in Sri Lanka
Just a few weeks ago, the Asia-Pacific Alliance for Disaster Management Sri Lanka harnessed that potential and organized “Youthful Spirit for a Secure Tomorrow”, a youth awareness programme for the International Day of Disaster Risk Reduction celebrated on October 13 every year.
More than 100 students, representing several National Youth Services Councils, participated – as part of the audience but also performing songs with a backdrop of videos related to disaster management in Sri Lanka among others. An exhibit with art done by students from the University of Colombo completed the picture.
The message was around youth in leadership for a safer tomorrow, and the importance of preparing for disaster rather than just worrying about them.
“We used a novel way of introducing disaster risk reduction through music and art, enabling trainees to understand the importance of disaster risk reduction in business as a value add to their vocational training,” said Firzan “Hush” Hashim, “And every student at the event got a certificate of participation to encourage them to continue learning and implementing disaster risk reduction strategies. Youth is an integral part of how we build a safer, more resilient future for all.”
With extreme weather events and other natural phenomenon increasing in frequency and intensity, a whole-of-society approach is essential for better preparedness, response, and recovery, leading to greater societal resilience. While the OCHA/UNDP Connecting Business initiative focuses on how better to engage the private sector in disaster management, we hope this example set by our CBi Member Network in Sri Lanka encourages others to be creative in how they engage with different groups – from youth to women, the elderly, the disabled, and beyond.
Together, we can aspire to – as said by Hush – building a safer and more resilient future for all.