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October 08, 2005

Learning to cope with disaster

Part of the dilemma with with a changing risk preparedness environment is the role of education. And while it seems almost impossible to learn of surefire measures against natural disasters, terrorist threats, and the outbreak of war simultaneously, classrooms in Singapore have been attempting to do just that.

The Channel NewsAsia presents a story in which the youth of Singapore are taking courses designed "deal with a catastrophe." The background material includes Hurricane Katrina.

This all-girls school is put through a host of scenarios and then given readings and exercises that relate to catastrophe learning. The course's teacher maintains,

I want them to be empowered and see themselves as active agents in the community. They should be people who can make a difference, and not just curl up into a ball and scream when something happens.

Such measures in education are quite limited in the United States to this day, though all Californian students are required to learn basic earthquake and fire evacuation procedures. One wonders if any future routine in this country--with the help of Homeland Security?--will be able to incorporate both natural disaster procedures and the duck-and-cover moves of the Cold War era.

Posted October 8, 2005 02:43 PM

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