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The MPA in Emergency and Disaster Management
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ResourcesMCNY BlogsMCNY's Emergency and Disaster Management Blog “Don’t Touch That Hot Stove!”April 30th, 2009 Not too long ago, Ms. Mary Williams, a Disaster Central reader, posted a very interesting, intelligent, and valuable response to my posting about one of our program’s open houses on the 1912 Titanic disaster. In her comments, Ms. Williams pointed out that she believes middle school students (and, perhaps, even younger students) should be afforded the opportunity to take Emergency Management training courses as part of their regular educational curriculum. From an Emergency Management standpoint, Disaster Central couldn’t agree with Ms. Williams more. In order to reach their full educational and operational potential, Emergency Management and Homeland Security need to become ritualized, need to become a more “natural” and integrated part of our collective culture in the United States. Because all Americans - regardless of their socio-economic level - can and do suffer in disasters, it’s important to the EM field not to exclude the opportunity for all Americans (regardless of age, gender, religious affiliation, and the like) to become better prepared, and to stay that way. Training the citizens of our great nation to better look after themselves, their families, their friends, their pets, and their property before, during, and after an emergency is one of the most important elements in reaching higher levels of preparedness and response, and our efforts should always be directed toward expanding that collective opportunity to save lives through saving systems. Japan is a nation at risk from a number of natural hazards…volcanic eruptions, seismic activity (earthquakes), tsunami (”tidal waves”), typhoons, and actors in rubber Godzilla suits…have all, over the centuries, beset this major global power. But unlike many other nations, Japan (which recognizes that nature is life) hasn’t attempted to downplay the risks of nature, but has instead reduced its collective vulnerability as a civilization to the deadly and destructive elements within these events. There’s no stopping a typhoon - but more robust building codes and practices in Japan have significantly reduced the death tolls that such hazards used to regularly claim. One way in which Japan has accomplished this is through the widespread ritualization of its preparedness message. Every year since 1960, Japan has marked September 1 as “Disaster Preparedness Day”. Disaster Central readers who are familiar with their history of catastrophes will no doubt remember that it was on September 1, 1923, that Japan was struck by the Great Kanto Earthquake, a natural disaster that claimed upwards of 100,000 people, and destroyed large sections of the capital city, Tokyo. Every September 1, Japanese authorities host preparedness educational events for children and adults, as well as drills and field exercises. The efficacy and wisdom of the Japanese model has been adopted by many countries and EM organizations, including our own top-notch New York City Office of Emergency Management, which frequently hosts educational venues for children and their parents. From a very early age, we teach our children to be careful of strangers, to look both ways before crossing the street, and to avoid touching a hot stove. But when it comes to teaching our children (and ourselves) to be prepared for natural and human-made disasters, we sometimes shy away for fear of - ? For instance: on Thursday, April 30, 2009, The New York Daily News ran an article titled, “N.Y.ers see red as FEMA coloring book shows 9/11″. The article severely criticizes FEMA for sponsoring a downloadable coloring book for children that contains a “horrific 9/11 image” which children can color in. In its usual tongue-in-cheek fashion, The Daily News helpfully re-published the “horrific 9/11 image” (why is that, do you suppose?), while at the same time including soundbites from “offended” New Yorkers, one of whom stated that he, ”…should punch the person who did this in the face.”(!) If you, too, want to “see red” (but for different reasons), you can access the article I’d like to thank The Daily News for providing us with such a valuable discussion point. But clearly, the American people cannot rely solely on corporate news media to objectively look after their best interests when it comes to devising and implementing a mature, sensible, accessible emergency preparedness educational program. For too long now, Americans have relied too greatly on the established news media to tell us what to think about disasters, about the government and quasi-governmental organizations designed to manage disaster operations, and even when and what to fear. But, over time, that twisted paradigm has started to change. Just as Americans no longer believe a fraction what is told to them by the corporate media, they have likewise begun to start looking after themselves when it comes to preparedness, response, and recovery. That’s not only a change we can believe in, but a change that one day may save your life. And the best way to keep up this progress is through education on just what preparedness means, what response means, and how great recovery from a disaster event can feel. FEMA is to be commended for its excellent efforts to educate the American people on how to be better prepared for disaster situations. Disaster Central encourages its readers to take emergency preparedness seriously, and without fear of ridicule or derision simply because cynicism and greed are apparently more important to us as cultural priorities than are preparedness and prosperity. It’s cool to be prepared. It’s a happy hipster who’s got a hip Go-Bag ready to go in an un-hip emergency. And it’s a responsible, caring parent who knows when and how to help a child understand that sometimes the winds blows, and the earth moves… Okay, Disaster Central readers, you’ve read some of my thoughts on this issue – what do you think? I’m quite certain we have some parents out there – how have you addressed disasters and emergency preparedness with your children? Email this · Subscribe to this Feed · Bookmark This! · Post a Comment » Posted by David Longshore in Emergency Management Planning, Emergency Preparedness, Disaster Preparedness. David Longshore is the former Director of MCNY’s Emergency and Disaster Management MPA Program. 3 Responses to ““Don’t Touch That Hot Stove!””Leave a Reply
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May 18th, 2009 at 11:33 pm
I Think it will be only a matter of time before disaster response drills become as (popular) as fire drills. Don’t laugh.
Some individuals will be expetected to have knowledge of what to do in the event of a disaster. Just because they are older or incharge.
I’m sure in the twister(Tornado)belt of the mid-west, children have been taught what to do when the horn goes off. There are some things that we can do in order to keep our children safe in a time of emergency. A crude coloring book may not be the right step. Other than signing then up with the Cub Scouts. What do we teach our children about times of heavy wind and rains? Not stand under trees. Get indoors, stay away from and close windows, have a flash light ready for possible black out.
It will take head of house holds, Teachers, Bus drivers and all our municipalities to be on the same page, devising creative and age appropriate knowledge on what to do to be prepared and handle disaster situatations.
A child should not be alone but consider that latch key kid. The little that he or she retains may be the difference between life and death.
June 2nd, 2009 at 11:22 pm
Since disaster preparedness is not just a task it is a way of thinking. I can only hope that our educators will incorporate disaster response training into existing school programs. Once schools add disaster response training maybe, just maybe small and medium sized businesses will get serious about disaster planning.
June 3rd, 2009 at 3:47 pm
I wrote my thesis on this exact topic. I believe that it is essential that students learn about disaster mitigation and preparedness as early as middle school. Not only is this a theoretical imperative, but it does in fact save lives. A 10 year old English girl saved hundreds of lives in Phuket Thailand when the tsunami hit because she had learned about the danger signs in school.
In Kobe, Japan (which was hit by an earthquake in 1995) the high school now has the only disaster mitigation curriculum in Japan and the students learn mitigation techniques as well as basic search and rescue and life saving skills.
Research for my thesis, as well as previous research shows that not only children, but adults as well, aren’t aware of the possible disasters they are in danger of. Even when people are aware they tend not to take steps to mitigate damage, even when they have already suffered from a disaster. Insurance is not enough.
If we start educating children about disasters then the paradigm of preparedness will change and future generations will understand what it means to be prepared for disasters and will take the proper steps to ensure that they do not lose property or life due to inevitable natural disasters.