A global review of disaster reduction initiatives - Welcome to the ...

4Living with Risk: A global review of disaster reduction initiatives4.2 Education and TrainingThe highest priority has to be given to present the various dimensions of disaster risk within acommunity through structured educational programs and professional training. As people'sunderstanding and the exercise of their professional skills are essential components of any riskreduction strategy, an investment in human resources and capacity building across generationswill have more lasting value than any specific investment made in technological systems toreduce risks.Education and training for disaster risk reduction takes many different forms:• Basic role of education and training• Disaster risk management training centers• Academic and educational programs• Primary and secondary schooling• Professional trades and skills training• Capacity building• Future challenges and priorities178Basic role of education and trainingAs disaster risk reduction has evolved over thepast two decades years from interests focussedon the study of specific hazards, the responsibilitiesof civil defence authorities and the largelystructural nature of physical protection, boththe needs and the institutional resources relatedto education and training have also changed.Academic research has become much more"One of the most significant trends affecting disaster preparednessand response is the transformation that has occurred in disastermanagement….. Once focused equally on war readiness and planningfor disasters and viewed as the exclusive purview of individualswith military backgrounds, 'civil defense' has evolved into theprofession of emergency management - a profession that requiresdiverse skills, ranging from the ability to develop formal disasterplans, to skills in community outreach and organizational development,the ability to mobilize political constituencies, and knowledgeof new and emerging technologies. The professionalizationof the field has been accompanied by the development of neworganizations, specialty fields, and credentialing processes, as wellas the growth of college and university curricula focusing on principlesof emergency management. With this ongoing evolution indisaster management, disaster research must continue to documenthow and why disasters occur as well as their immediate andlong-term impacts.Source: K. Tierney, 2001.focused on the transfer of knowledge and experience,which in turn has established the needfor much closer association between the sourcesof specialist knowledge and the population it isintended to serve. With more attention beinggiven to the social and economic conditions ofvulnerability, conventional thinking about disastermanagement has become much moreclosely linked to basic developmental issues. Bylooking beyond the physical attributes of hazards,a greater emphasis has been placed onmatters associated with disaster risk issues andpreparedness.Education and training about disaster managementcan no longer be considered as an area ofspecialist scientific study. The very concept of adisaster manager, fostered in the 1980s andearly 1990s, no longer sufficiently conveys theexpanded roles and responsibilities involved incontemporary strategies of disaster risk reduction.This historical context is important to demonstratethe evolution of education and trainingas the concept of disaster management hasgrown and diversified. As increasing attentionmust now be given to the changing nature ofhazards and the more complex conditions ofrisk, institutional facilities and relationshipsrequired for educating future populations willlikewise have to become more diverse. A needremains to accommodate the combined influencesof environmental and land management