The evolution of school earthquake education in Iran

This paper reviews earthquake education materials, pre-school activities, school curricula initiatives and related teacher trainings in Iran and discusses their strengths, as well as challenges and effectiveness of the Hyogo Framework for Action (HFA) on these activities.

The authors propose the following recommendations:

• the importance of retrofitting and strengthening the school buildings is of high importance;
• the continuous implementation of formal and informal education through schools, with linkages to community-based risk reduction promises the development of a “culture of safety”;
• the use of simulators and the expansion of drills can be practical in making children more sensitive to earthquakes;
• the role of mass media in introducing programs for children with themes of disaster preparedness is important in order to sensitize children and their families.
• there should be monthly meetings arranged by the school principals to review the practical side of earthquake preparedness for students and to assess the degree of which the prerequisites for the successful emergency management are met;
• the curriculum should also aim to provide practical responses to other potential disasters such as floods and droughts in addition to earthquake emergency response.

This document is an input paper of the 2015 Global Assessment Report on Disaster Risk Reduction.