International day for disaster reduction: Making the youth partners in disaster risk reduction - Philippines

Quezon City - The Philippines joins the international community in celebrating today the International Day for Disaster Reduction with the theme "Making Youth Partners for Disaster Risk Reduction."

According to the United Nations, 66.5 million children across the globe are affected annually by disasters. Children find it difficult to cope with unexpected and painful interruptions to their lives.

On December 21, 2009, the United Nations General Assembly designated every 13th day of October as International Day for Disaster Reduction.

The objective of the observance is to raise the level of awareness of people on how to take actions to help reduce their risk to disasters.

This year, the observance takes place within the framework of the “Step up for Disaster Risk Reduction!” campaign.

United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said vulnerability to disaster is growing faster than resilience.

“Disaster risk reduction should be an everyday concern for everybody. Let us all invest today for a safer tomorrow,” said Ki-moon.

Disaster risk reduction is about understanding our personal and environmental risks of a hazard, like an earthquake, flood, hurricane/cyclone, and landslides and finding ways to reduce this risk.

During the Third Global Platform for Disaster Risk Reduction held earlier this year in Geneva, Switzerland, three young people expressed to more than 2,600 representatives from governments, the private sector, and civil society why and how children can be involved in reducing disaster risk, and keeping themselves and their communities safe.

André and Tricia, 14 years olds from the Philippines, and Johnson, 17, from Kenya, were selected to participate in the Platform by their communities because of their keen interest in risk reduction.

They also launched a five-point Children's Charter for Disaster Risk Reduction. The Charter highlights five priorities identified through consultations with more than 600 children in 21 countries. Education, child protection, and access to basic information were the main issues the children believed necessary to reduce the impact of disasters and climate change on their families and communities.

The five priorities in the Children's Charter for Disaster Risk Reduction are:

· Schools must be safe - education must be uninterrupted.
· Child protection must be a priority, before, during, and after a disaster.
· Children and young people have the right to participate and to access the information they need.
· Community infrastructure must be safe, and relief and reconstruction must help reduce future disaster risk.
· Disaster risk reduction must reach the most vulnerable.

The Charter is based on the feedback from more than 600 children in 21 countries who identified education, child protection, and access to basic information as the main needs to reduce the devastating impact of disasters and climate change upon their families and communities.

Meanwhile, Makati has also lined-up various activities to involve its youth with the city’s disaster risk reduction initiatives and programs.

The local government ensured the participation of all 65 public and private elementary, as well as 41 high schools in Makati.

Activities include banner signing for officials and faculty members, on-the-spot Poster Making Contest, training on basic first aid for student leaders, lectures, and hands-on training on basic fire prevention and response.

Disasters don't have to happen. We can all do something to reduce our risk!

(UN/RJB/JEG-PIA NCR)