The document outlines the importance of community awareness in disaster risk reduction, emphasizing its role in fostering knowledge and proactive measures among community members regarding potential issues. It discusses strategies for generating community awareness, including comprehensive methodologies for education and communication, and identifies four key approaches: campaigns, participatory learning, informal education, and formal school-based interventions. By effectively implementing these strategies, the document argues, communities can significantly enhance their resilience and preparedness for disasters.

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COMMUNITY AWARENESS
Community Awareness is generally defined as knowledge created through interaction between
community people and its environment, a setting bounded in space and time. It involves states of
knowledge as well as dynamic process of perception and action. It is the knowledge that must be
maintained and kept updated to complete some tasks in the environment. Community Awareness
generation is considered as core element of successful disaster risk reduction.
Community awareness refers when the community is aware about each and everything that is
happening around and if the is an issue which needs to be solved, the community members should
have an idea of what problems are some of the community members facing around the community.
Measures on how to solve the problems faced by the community must be discussed.
Community awareness is the ability to direct know and perceive, to fell, or consciousness about a
potential problem or impact on a community people of an event.
PRINCIPLE OF COMMUNITY AWARENESS GENERATION
The community awareness generation should be based on the following broad principles:
 The strategy for generating community awareness should be designed and implemented with
a clear understanding of local perspectives and requirements with materials reflecting local
conditions in a community.
 The strategy should target all sections of the society including decision makers, professionals,
public and individuals living in vulnerable areas.
 It postulates that different types of messages and delivery systems should be used to reach
various target audiences at different community.
 An ideal campaign has to be sustained over time to foster changes in social and behavioral
norms.
 Community awareness generation framework should follow the target audience’s
segmentation i.e. grouping by demographic, social, economic variables to create messages
that are salient, effective, oriented which is attractive for the community people.

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COMMUNITY AWARENESS PROCESS
Community awareness process based on probable or upcoming disaster strike:
1. Community mapping:
Ask the community to draw a map or build a model of their community. Ask them to think about
a “bird’s eye” view of what their community looks like and get them to visualize this in a
drawing or model. It could be a situational (e.g. as the community exists today) or a vision map
(e.g. what they want their community to look like in the future).
2. Appreciative Inquiry:
Instead of starting off talking about problems in a community, start with discussions of the good
things or the things they appreciate about their community. What are some things they are proud
of when they think of their community? What are some significant good things that have
happened in the history of their community? What makes their community special?
3. Historical timelines and trends:
Another method of getting a community to discuss their good things and bad things is to have
them share historical events that have occurred in their community. When did it start? What are
the major events of the community and when did they happen? We could vary it a bit and ask
them, based on the history and timeline they come up with, what do they think will happen in the
future in their community?
METHODOLOGY FOR AWARENESS GENERATION AND
DISSEMINATION
The methodology for creating awareness for disaster risk reduction amongst every member of the
community should clearly identify the ways as well as channels to carry out the campaign. Some of
the ways /methods to carry out various awareness programmes can be:
 Educational curriculum
 Quiz, Declamations and Debates
 Messages during Assembly

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 Focus group discussion about disaster
 Social networking
 Social media
 Workshops, Seminars, Orientation programmes and Lectures
 Field visits to disaster affected /hit areas
 Notices
 Posters, leaflets, brochures etc.
 Cartoons
 Photographs
 Films, Film clips, Videos and advertisements
 Dance, Drama, folksongs and streetplays
 Games based on knowledge about disasters
 Short radio/television features
 Talks/Presentations
 Demonstrations (Shake Table)
 Handbooks/booklets
 Maps/Vulnerability atlas
 Woven into folklore of a vulnerable area
 Conducting Mock Drills
 Organizing Rallies
 Some of the channels that can be used to carry out these programmes are as follows:
 Institutes of education and learning
 Places with high public visibility like hospitals, railway stations, bus terminals, airports, post
offices, commercial complexes, municipality offices etc.
 Museums like amusement parks, arts/history and science museums with static and dynamic
models
 Government stationery like postal letters, Railway tickets, Airline boarding cards, stamps etc.
 Telephone directories
 Shopping bags
 Existing government programmes / projects
 Radio/Television
 Cinema programmes (short films or clipping)
 Police information channels
 Utilizing popular events

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 Print media, Computer/Web media
 Religious Missions/ monuments / sites
 Voluntary organizations
 Fairs and community festivals
 Door to door awareness campaigns
 Internet sites
 Providing related disaster based training or emergency response strategies
 Mascot for Disaster prevention
 Through celebrities and significant personalities
 Synchronous technologies- Web-based, Telephone, Videoconferencing, Web conferencing,
Direct-broadcast satellite, Internet radio, Live streaming
 Asynchronous technologies – Audiocassette, E-mail, Message board forums, Print materials,
Voice
 Mail/fax, Videocassette/DVD
WAYS OF COMMUNITY AWARENESS DEVELOPMENT
1. One way method:
One way method can only telecast the messages among respondents but cannot scope to query
during telecast.
 Broadcast by radio
 Television, VCR, CR, conventional radio and weather radio etc.
2. Two way method
Disseminating the messages among respondents and has scope to query.
 Face to face interconnection
 Broadcasting face to face interaction
 Telephone, mobile etc.
3. Accumulation way:
Two or more broadcasting include one way and two way method.
 Telecast multimedia and scope to query.

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 Broadcasting face to face telecommunication.
 Focus group discussion, seminar, meeting etc.
COMMUNITY AWARENESS AND DISASTER RISK REDUCTION
Disaster risk reduction is a systematic approach to identifying, assessing and reducing the risks of
disaster. It aims to reduce socio-economic vulnerabilities to disaster as well as dealing with the
environmental and other hazards that trigger them. It is the responsibility of development and relief
agencies alike. It should be an integral part of the way such organizations do their work, not an add-
on or one-off action.
In our current times, to communicate risks effectively with populations, communities, families and
individuals is essential for everyone to be better prepared when disaster and crisis hit. This is a
challenging task, as normally people don’t want to hear about “dangerous things”. Some are afraid of
even thinking about the possibility of an earthquake, a tropical cyclone, floods, landslides, tsunamis
or even the most common household hazards, such as fire, hitting their homes.
Every organization and government engaged in disaster risk reduction awareness must plan and
communicate harmonized messages – a key element to avoid confusion. As a consequence, we
increase people’s confidence in acting to make themselves safer. It starts with one individual, a
family, neighbors, the whole community, a city, a country and even the whole region.
There are four key approaches to community awareness for disaster risk reduction:
1. Campaigns
2. Participatory learning
3. Informal education
4. Formal school-based interventions.
Approach 1: campaigns
The focus of campaigns is to provide uniform, large-scale impact with standard messages. There are
many examples of large-scale national and international public awareness campaigns that have led to
massive social change. Examples include childhood immunization, the wearing of seat belts in cars,
and smoking restrictions. Campaigns comprise a set of activities that may include:
 Publications, including billboards, posters, newspaper or magazine Coverage, information
cards, flyers, bookmarks and brochures
 Curricula, modules and presentations, including slide presentations and oral presentations

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 E-learning
 Performing and cultural arts
 Games and competitions
 Audio and video materials
 Web pages and activities
 Social media and telecommunications.
The key components of campaign approach and variations of this approach, for disaster risk
reduction shown in table.
Key components of campaigns and variations
Table: Key components of campaigns and variations
Most successful campaigns require a sustained, repeated and consistent thematic set of messages
repeated over a long period of time, through activities in the public, education, private and civic
sectors. Others are ongoing, and select an annually changing sub-theme, or a monthly calendar with
10–12 messages per year.
The strongest, and most memorable, campaigns have been built around a single unifying and
enduring slogan, expressed and delivered in a multitude of creative ways through both predictable
and recurring outlets as well as new surprises. A good example is ‘Clunk Click Every Trip’. This
slogan was at the heart of road safety in the UK from 1971, and laid the groundwork for compulsory
seat belt legislation introduced in 1983. Some campaigns have an enduring mascot. In the United
States, Smokey Bear has delivered the slogan ‘Only YOU can prevent forest fires’ since 1944. About
95 per cent of adults and 77 per cent of children recognize him and his message.

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In addition to Red Cross Red Crescent volunteers, actors such as community coalitions, scouts, civil
defense organizations, university students and members of professional associations are often
enthusiastic participants. Campaigns can also make excellent use of participatory learning
approaches. Use the simple campaign-planning template below to help you get started.
Campaign-planning template
The advantages and disadvantages of campaigns are set out in Table below.
Table: The advantages and disadvantages of campaigns
Approach 2: Participatory learning
People are especially motivated by approaches in which they themselves participate in a solution,
and especially when they believe it is their own idea. The focus of participatory learning is to engage
people in discovery and problem solving for disaster risk reduction. At the heart of all of these
activities is the community’s own experience of empowerment. This involves using language,

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stories, songs and traditions to strengthen the emerging culture of prevention. This is typically
accomplished through tools such as:
 Action-oriented research such as vulnerability and capacity assessment
 Disaster management planning
 implementing risk reduction measures
 Monitoring and improving on plans through drills and simulations.
These four elements of participatory learning can be applied at three levels:
 The organizational level – headquarters, branches, schools, businesses, workplaces, homes
 The community level – being scaled up to reach villages, towns, cities, school
 systems, and regions-
 The population level – being expanded to incorporate entire urban populations, by taking
advantage of internet-based tools and social media. Parallel tools specifically for use with
children and for marginalized populations can be valuable as well.
Specific tools within Participatory learning approach include:
 publications such as booklets
 curricula, modules and presentations
 participatory activities such as transect walk, risk and asset mapping,
 seasonal calendar, group discussion, drills, simulations and tabletop exercises
 audio and video materials, including videos, audio clips and songs or other music
 web pages and activities such as workspaces
 Social media and telephone-based initiatives, such as text messaging and polling.
Participatory disaster management planning takes the VCA approach forward one more step by
establishing a model for the long-term ongoing process of planning for risk reduction and response.
Step-by-step guide: Planning participatory disaster management
Step 1: Develop guidance and training materials Guidance and training materials are needed for the
following reasons:
 To evaluate and apply appropriate physical and/or environmental protection measures
 For risk reduction
 To develop disaster response skills.
Step 2: Learn and practise skills Participatory learning takes place as skills are learned and practised,
for example, in the following areas:
 Evacuation route planning
 Cyclone and flood shelter construction and maintenance

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 creating rainwater drainage channels and harvesting rainwater
 assenting furnishing and equipment against earthquake shaking
 Response simulation drills.
Step 3: Provide training
The need for disaster response skills may be met through training in:
 community first aid
 mass casualty triage
 response organization
 light search and rescue
 fire suppression
 emergency communications
 psychosocial support
 Family reunification.
Step 4: Carry out drills and simulations
At their best, drills and simulations provide much more than simply an occasion for professional
responders to practice their skills and monitor their plans. They also offer an opportunity for the
public to do some reality testing, allowing lessons to be learned in advance of hazard impacts.
The advantages and disadvantages of this approach are set out in Table below.
Table: Advantages and disadvantages of Participatory learning

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Approach 3: Informal education
The focus of informal education is taking advantage of brief moments and encounters to stimulate
thinking and engage people in discovery of actions and behavior’s to increase safety and resilience.
Informal education in communities and schools is the most flexible of all approaches with respect to
setting, audience and timeframe. The various types of informal education are shown in table.
Table: The various types of informal education
Specific tools that can be used for informal education include:
 Publications – posters, guidelines, flyers, brochures, booklets, activity books, paper models,
comic books, story books, colouring books, assembly kits and teacher resources
 Curricula, modules and presentations – teacher briefings and community training
 E-learning – self-study curricula
 Performing and cultural arts – plays, dances, poems, songs, street theatre, puppet theatre
 Games and competitions – card games, board games, cooperative, activities role play,
drawing competitions, writing competitions, tournaments, radio quizzes
 Audio and video materials – short videos, radio programmes, television programmes
 Web pages and activities – web sites, online games, online quizzes
 Social media and telecommunications – SMS, early warning.
Informal education involves disseminating standard messaging but with the flexibility to
accommodate the needs and concerns of specific local audiences. This is particularly effective
because peer information, social proof and social support are vital to shifting human behavior.
Volunteers are leaders and role models that offer powerful examples as they engage the wider public.
Tools focused on stimulating discovery and problem solving allow scope for endless creative
activities and materials to appeal to various target-audience segments. Many facilitation tools from
the IFRC’s Community-Based Health and First Aid in Action initiative are familiar models,
including the facilitator’s guide. Other examples include the Caribbean Red Cross Societies’ Better

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Be Ready campaign kit and expect the Unexpected: Facilitator’s guide by the Canadian Red Cross.
These include:
 presentations
 brainstorming
 guided discussion
 small group discussion
 demonstration, visual aids
 question box
 role play
 dramatization
 storytelling
 simulation
 Case studies.
The advantages and disadvantages of this approach are set out in Table, below
Table: Advantages and disadvantages of Informal education
Approach 4: Formal school-based interventions
The focus of formal school-based interventions covers two areas: school disaster management and
disaster risk reduction in school curricula. These are considered to be formal because accountability
and responsibility for school safety and curricula belong exclusively to education authorities, so they
require support for long-term planning and capacity building. Whether there is one such authority,

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many, or seemingly none, the same issues of caution remain.Unless efforts are being officially and
systematically piloted or tested, inconsistency may undermine rather than support the goal.
The primary goals of school disaster management are to ensure the safety of students and staff, and
for education to continue. Sustained school disaster management requires the familiar participatory
and ongoing process of identification of hazards and risks, mitigation and reduction of risks, and
developing response capacity. In order to be effective, these need to be led by school staff and
supported by consistent policies throughout the jurisdiction.
A school disaster management plan, developed at the school level, should be the living document
that expresses this. Standard operating procedures in response to various hazards should be
consistent. Training in response skills is vital. The following elements are essential:
 An incident command
 Community-based first aid type of system to organize
 mass casualty triage the local responder
 light search and rescue
 Fire suppression
 Communications
 Psychosocial support
 Shelter
 Sanitation
 Nutrition
 Evacuation
 Student–family reunification procedures.
A recent global mapping of the Red Cross Red Crescent initiatives shows several elements of school
disaster management have been successfully piloted, including:
 The Safer Schools campaign
 School disaster management training materials for teachers and students
 Schools as emergency evacuation centers
 School first aid
 Community maintenance of schools.
Guidance materials for school is beginning to emerge and will play an important role.

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School drills
School drills form a vital part of the school disaster management process, and provide an intensive
learning experience. They should be followed by reflection and assessment by all members of the
school community. Lessons learned are incorporated into the school disaster management plan, and
goals set for improvement next time. Depending on hazards faced, there several major types of drills
that can be practised:
 Building evacuation (if the building is unsafe)
 Site evacuation (if the site is unsafe)
 Shelter in place (a procedure for taking shelter if the outdoors is unsafe)
 Lockdown (keeping students inside in case of violent attack).
 Many individual skills and protocols can also be practised separately, and as part of more
complete simulation drills:
 Student release procedures (safe family reunification)
 Drop, cover and hold (for earthquake)
 Putting on life jackets and practising water safety (for flood or tsunami)
 Extinguishing small fires stop, drop, and roll (when on fire)
 Light search and rescue
 Lightning strike safety
 Mass casualty non-medical triage
 First aid
 Emergency communications
 Incident command systems
 Flexible organization and
 Availability of response provisions assignment of response roles • transportation and
procedures
 Public relations, communications for locations away from school and documentation •
reverse building evacuation.
Schools need to master building evacuation rules such as those shown in the box below to ensure that
staff and children can respond safely if an emergency arises.

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Table: School building evacuation drill rules
Curriculum work
School-based curriculum work in disaster reduction takes three main forms, each appropriate to
different context:
 Standalone courses
 Integrating short modules (specific subjects and grade levels)
 Infusion throughout the curriculum (multi-subject, using readings, examples,
 Problems and activities).
 Tools in this area fall into the category of curricula, modules and presentations, including:
 Textbooks
 Modules
 Case studies
 Exercises
 Hands-on learning materials
 Informal education tools, as listed earlier in this chapter (see page 29). Standalone courses are
much easier for ‘outsiders’ to contribute to, but much harder to incorporate into the available
time in the curriculum.
The advantages and disadvantages of this approach are set out in table, below.

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Table: The advantages and disadvantages of this approach