Safe Schools to Reduce Vulnerability of Children to Earthquakes

Abstract eng:
Like other infrastructure, school buildings are subject to damage and collapse in the event of earthquakes. The recent earthquakes have exposed vulnerability of school buildings disproportionately compared to the other infrastructures. Vulnerable school buildings in seismic regions resulted in the loss of many lives of children and teachers in addition to the potential damage to the property. On the other hand, earthquake resistant schools have serves as various emergency functions in the community and helped people to recover from the calamity in the aftermath of earthquakes. Recognizing the nature of schools as center of community and their contribution to community development, United Nations Centre for Regional Development (UNCRD) conducted a research project in Asia-Pacific region to ensure safety of school buildings through seismic retrofitting and to utilize it for the capacity building and awareness raising of the community. It is observed that the process of making safe schools can be an effective demonstration to introduce the earthquake-resistant technology to the local government officials, engineers or masons and to facilitate implementation of capacity building training programs. Additionally, having seismic retrofitting at schools can be easily recognized by the community and became an opportunity to raise their awareness of disaster prevention and mitigation.

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