Reuters AlertNet Full site
Homepage | Newsdesk | NGO Latest | Crisis briefings | Country profiles | MediaWatch | Jobs | Alerting | Login

FROM THE FIELD

5,000 Pakistani children equipped to survive emergencies
19 Jan 2008 04:56:13 GMT
 Source: World Vision Middle East/Eastern Europe office (MEERO)
wvmeero logo
Primary, middle school and high school students learn emergency evacuation procedures through an interactive puppet show.
Previous | Next
Primary, middle school and high school students learn emergency evacuation procedures through an interactive puppet show.
World Vision MEERO, http://meero.worldvision.org

Background

•  Pakistan-India quake 2005

MORE >>
More than 5,000 children learnt emergency evacuation procedures through a puppet show during a month-long disaster mitigation campaign organized by World Vision in 18 schools in quake-ravaged Siren valley, Northern Pakistan.

The campaign aimed to build the capacity of children to respond to disasters, as some 20,000 children were killed in the October 2005 earthquake that devastated areas of Northern Pakistan and the adjoining Kashmir valley.

'We learnt a lot about how to face any emergency situation – whether it's an earthquake or other natural disaster - through this puppet show,' said 10-year-old Shumaila Bibi, a fifth grade student from Chela Bagh village.


Puppets took on the characters of family members to train the children in emergency evacuation procedures during earthquakes, landslides, flashfloods and electrical storms.

'This was a well-organized activity and a very effective way to teach emergency response procedures to the children, who had a lot of fun learning,' said Ghulam Nabbi, Head Teacher of Boys Middle School Jabouri.

'This training had a huge impact on these children, who are still psychologically traumatized from the 2005 earthquake. The puppet show entertained the children while it addressed a subject – earthquakes – that is still very real and sensitive. Through the interactive entertainment, the children learned how to positively respond to any kind of disaster,'' said Kamran Khan, World Vision Pakistan Emergency Response Disaster Mitigation (ERDM) Project Coordinator.

The puppet show was organized by World Vision's ERDM project, in collaboration with Maqsad, a Lahore-based organisation expert in puppetry. The ERDM project aims to empower children to fully participate in community-based disaster management, reducing vulnerability and increasing resilience in earthquake-affected areas of North West Frontier Province.

The disaster mitigation campaign, held 27 November - 16 December, also included trainings on emergencies for adult community members.


[ Any views expressed in this article are those of the writer and not of Reuters. ]

Email this article       Send comments

Topics

•  Children

•  Disaster mitigation

•  Earthquakes

MORE >>

Emergencies

•  Pakistan/India earthquake

MORE >>

Members

•  World Vision Middle East/Eastern Europe office (MEERO)

MORE >>

NGO latest

•  5,000 Pakistani children equipped to survive emergencies
WV MEERO - Cyprus

•  International Medical Corps Health Alert - Kenyan TB Patients Falling Behind on Treatment Due to Violence, Displacement, and Hunger
IMC - USA

•  Israel and the occupied Palestinian territories: Civilians on both sides pay price of escalation
ICRC - Switzerland

•  Kenya: Red Cross helps trace missing family members
ICRC - Switzerland

•  ADRA Expands Aid to Violence-displaced in Kenya
ADRA - International

MORE >>

Latest news

•  Asia hardest-hit by disasters in 2007, group says

•  NAMIBIA: Dam will mean our destruction, warn Himba

•  KENYA: Florence Gundo: "How will we feed the children?"

•  KENYA: Florence Gundo: "How will we feed the children?"

•  Mexico gunmen target children in drug war

MORE >>

[ Any views expressed in this article are those of the writer and not of Reuters. ]

Related articles

Breaking stories
Asia hardest-hit by disasters in 2007, group says (1 minute ago)

NAMIBIA: Dam will mean our destruction, warn Himba (1 minute ago)

AlertNet insight
Climate change and conflicts: Is there a link at all? (1 minute ago)

Aid agency news feed
5,000 Pakistani children equipped to survive emergencies (1 minute ago)

Blogs
A new year's resolution for aid agencies and broadcasters (1 minute ago)

Maps
MAP: Chile earthquakes (1 minute ago)


Country information

Briefings
Pakistan/India earthquake - [Who works where]

Topics
Children Disaster mitigation Earthquakes
Statistics graphs
Population under 15 (2005)
Chart for Population under 15
View more stats >>

Del.icio.us Del.icio.us  |   Digg Digg  |   NewsVine NewsVine  |   Reddit Reddit   
Thumb for /thefacts/imagerepository/RTRPICT/2008-01-18T010445Z_01_DAR13_RTRIDSP_2_MEXICO-VIOLENCE_mainimage.jpg|/thenews/pictures/DAR13.htm
Thumb for /thefacts/imagerepository/RTRPICT/2008-01-18T003509Z_01_DAR10_RTRIDSP_2_MEXICO-VIOLENCE_mainimage.jpg|/thenews/pictures/DAR10.htm
Thumb for /thefacts/imagerepository/RTRPICT/2008-01-18T003348Z_01_DAR09_RTRIDSP_2_MEXICO-VIOLENCE_mainimage.jpg|/thenews/pictures/DAR09.htm
Thumb for /thefacts/imagerepository/RTRPICT/2008-01-17T171747Z_01_JER17_RTRIDSP_2_PALESTINIANS-ISRAEL_mainimage.jpg|/thenews/pictures/JER17.htm
Thumb for /thefacts/imagerepository/RTRPICT/2008-01-17T114827Z_01_AFR05-_RTRIDSP_2_MOZAMBIQUE-FLOODS_mainimage.jpg|/thenews/pictures/AFR05..htm

A policeman carries a child away during a gun battle in Tijuana, in Mexico's state of Baja California, January 17, 2008. A shootout on Thursday, after police agents moved in on ...


More pictures | Galleries
Disclaimers |  Copyright |  Privacy |  Contact Us |  Feedback |  About Us |  RSS XML

Last updated:Sat Jan 19 05:19:04 2008