This booklet follows the COPE Squad—four disaster-risk-reduction-trained teens (Candy, Ollie, Ping, and Eddy) along with their mentor Grand Mistress Fu and animal companions Sense the snake and Rescue the dog—as they travel from their base on Mount Emei, China, to Trinidad and Tobago to judge a lightning-safety video competition, and then to Uganda for Lightning Safety Day. Along the way they visit a refugee settlement where a tragic lightning strike had recently killed and injured children, meet farmers who lost livestock to storms, and help a village football match evacuate safely when thunder rolls in.
The booklet is focused on teaching kids that lightning can strike unexpectedly and that hearing thunder means you're already at risk, so shelter should be sought immediately rather than waiting. It covers practical before/during/after guidance: identifying safe places (houses, cars, schools) versus unsafe ones (open fields, trees, water, tents), staying away from windows and unplugging electronics, waiting 30 minutes after the last thunderclap before going back outside, and knowing that touching a lightning-strike victim is safe so bystanders shouldn't hesitate to help and call emergency services. It also introduces the different ways lightning can injure people (direct strike, ground current, side flash, contact, and upward leader), the value of early-warning systems and lightning protection systems, and inclusive messaging—like sign-language safety symbols and looking out for people with disabilities during a storm—to underscore that disaster preparedness should protect everyone in a community.
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