School Safety

Schools are one of the most critical institutions of society which  host a majority of vulnerable sections of the society every day. The  safety of school children has always been of utmost priority  for GeoHazards Society (GHS). GHS has been instrumental in creating a  comprehensive safe school program in Delhi that has become model for  school safety projects nationally. GHS has been working with schools  since its inception. Here is a list of a few of our projects.

Working with National Disaster Management Authority:

• NDRF (National Disaster Response Force) conducts many school  safety training. However, it was GHS that trained them on school safety  way back in 2009. 
• We conducted a three-day Training of Trainers in ‘School Disaster Preparedness’ for NDRF in partnership with the National Disaster Management Authority,  Government of India. The training was carried out centrally at the NDRF  camp at Gandhi Nagar. Representatives from all battalions of NDRF  participated in the programme. 
• GHS worked closely with NDMA in  an Inter-Agency Group (IAG) of various agencies to formulate the  National School Safety Policy, and assisted in the National School  Safety Programme.  

Working with SAARC Disaster Management Authority

• GeoHazards Society facilitated a three-day Non-Structural risk  Mitigation training program for SAARC countries. The training was  attended by a group of three members from each SAARC nation where they  were briefed about various hazards that can affect these regions and how  schools are vulnerable to such hazards. The participants spent quality  time in the classroom as well as in the field where they were taken to a  nearby government school and identified a number of falling hazards.  Following this, the members participated in a mitigation training  program where they physically fixed a number of falling hazards in the  training institute itself.

Working with State governments: 

Government of Kerala

• Idukki District Administration and GeoHazards Society jointly  organised a ‘Disaster Preparedness and School Safety Training Programme’  for the educational institutions in Munnar. The project helped in the  capacity building of 106 participants including teachers from 11 schools  in Munnar, 15 staff members from the Block Resource Centre (BRC Munnar)  and faculty and students from 2 colleges viz. Government Engineering  College and Govt Arts College, Munnar. Along with providing basic  disaster awareness training, practical group exercises for hazard  hunting, resource mapping and evacuation planning were conducted. This  helped the trainees imbibe the concepts well and do a similar hazard  hunting in their own schools and colleges. Major outcomes of the  programme includes
• a) Preparation of the Disaster  Management Plans for 11 schools and 2 colleges
• b) Evacuation drill exercise in all 13 institutions  involving 4151 students, 298 teachers and 68 non-teaching staff members
• c) Preparation of multilingual IEC material for  dissemination of disaster safety lessons to schools, colleges and  community including cartoon videos and educative posters in Malayalam,  Tamil, and English and
• d) Training of  Block Resource Centre (BRC) team who can disseminate the learnings to  other schools/BRCs in the district. Click here to read the report

Delhi Disaster Management Authority: 

• In Delhi, GHI and GHS have been working together on a project  called the Delhi Earthquake Safety Initiative for Lifeline Buildings’,  in which we provide technical support for the assessment and  earthquake-resistant retrofitting of five lifeline buildings including  the Government Ludlow Castle School in Raj Nivas Marg. Our work at this school included training of all students and staff in basic earthquake  preparedness planning, demonstration of methods of preventing falling-hazards (non-structural hazards) in earthquakes, and conducting  periodic preparedness drills. GHS along with its partner GHI also published a manual on Non-Structural Risk Reduction handbook for schools where all the falling hazards found inside a school facility were identified and mitigation measures for the same were identified and shared. Besides this GHS also implemented similar mitigation measures in the school which are present to this day.
• A number of schools participate  every year in the 4th April School Safety Preparedness Drill organized  by GHS to commemorate the 1905 Kangra Earthquake.
• Training of  Trainers (ToT) in ‘Comprehensive School Disaster Preparedness’ (October  2009) a training programme for school safety advocates for Delhi  Disaster Management Authority was conducted and was attended by  decision-makers from various Govt. and private schools in Delhi.
• GHS  conducted a series of two to four days Training of Trainers on  ‘Comprehensive School Safety’ under the National School Safety Programme  (NSSP) for DDMA (East Delhi) for 200 Head of Schools.

Sikkim Disaster Management Authority (SSDMA)

• Conducted two continuous orientation training programme before the North East Mega Mock drill on 4th & 5th March 2014 organised by SSDMA. 

West Bengal State Disaster Management Authority: 

• Series of two days ToT on ‘Comprehensive School Safety’ under  the National School Safety Programme (NSSP) was organized by West Bengal  SDMA at Jalpaiguri on 20th & 21st December 2013, Siliguri on 23rd and 24th Feb 2013 and Cooch Behar on 24th & 25th Sept 2013.  

Tripura State Revenue Department and State Institute of Public Administration & Rural Development (SIPARD)

• 20 schools non-structural (Falling) hazards risk mitigation conducted under National School Safety Programme (NSSP).
• 400 schools Rapid Visual Screening (RVS) conducted under NSSP programme. 
• Two simultaneous 3 days ToT programmes were conducted by GHS resource persons from 10th to 12th July 2013. 
• A  daylong ToT for the school administrators on School Safety was  conducted at SIPARD, Agartala on 21st January 2012. The programme was  organized by SDMA Tripura.  
• Training for school administrators  and Education department officials on ‘School Disaster Preparedness’ was  conducted (Agartala, March 2010) in coordination with the Education  Department, Govt. of Tripura and Revenue Department.

Himachal Pradesh

• One day training programme for the Special Educators engaged in  Special Needs Schools in Shimla organized by SSA with support from UNDP  India on 15th Nov 2014. 
• Series of two ToTs on School Safety organised in Kullu and Chamba districts in Sept 2014 in partnership with UNDP India. 
• A daylong orientation programme on school safety and school preparedness drill was organised on 19th March 2013. 
• A  daylong training programme for the school administrator was organised  in partnership with SDMA Himachal Pradesh and SCERT on 20th December 2011.  

Assam State Disaster Management Authority: 

• Facilitated a non-structural (Falling) hazard risk mitigation project in 20 schools of Guwahati under the NSSP project from 20th to 30th Jan 2014.  
• Training  of school administrators and Education department officials in ‘School  Disaster Preparedness’ (Guwahati, July 2009): Training on Comprehensive  School Safety in coordination with the Education Department, GoA, and  ASDMA.

Odisha State Disaster Mitigation Authority

• Training of school administrators and Education department  officials in ‘School Disaster Preparedness’ (Bhubaneswar, April 2009)  was conducted which was organized by the Education Department, OSDMA. 

Kerala State Revenue Department

• Training of school administrators and Education department  officials in ‘ Comprehensive School Disaster Preparedness’ (Cochin,  November 2010) Training on Comprehensive School Safety in coordination  with the Kerala Education Department, KSDMA at Kochi

Uttar Pradesh District Revenue Departments

• School Disaster Safety Training of Trainers for school  administrators in Ghaziabad district under UNDP & Govt of India  Urban Disaster Risk Reduction Programme in January 2012. 
• School  Disaster Safety Training of Trainers for school administrators in  Kanpur district under UNDP & Govt of India Urban Disaster Risk  Reduction Programme in October 2011. 
• A similar two-day training was organised in association with Meerut DDMA at KK College Meerut in November 2011.

Working with UNDP

Bhutan: 

• Training conducted at Trashigang Middle Secondary School to  develop the school as a model for comprehensive school safety. GHS  partnered with GeoHazards International and developed the training  module and trained the teachers, staff, and selected students in  disaster awareness, Non-structural risk mitigation, school disaster  management planning, personal preparedness, etc. and involved the  participants in group activities. The training was a joint venture by  the Department of Disaster Management, MoHCA, and UNDP. 
• Training  in collaboration with GeoHazards International was conducted in Thimphu  to develop a group of trainers in every district of Bhutan to train the  school safety advocates throughout the country regarding comprehensive  school safety initiatives. We conducted a 4 days training covering all  the aspects of school safety involving the participants in group  activities to make them leaders of school safety. The training was a  joint venture by the Department of Disaster Management, MoHCA, and  UNDP. 
• Training on the Comprehensive School Disaster  Preparedness Programme in Muenseling School for the Blind in Bhutan was  conducted over a span of three days in 2015.
• GHS partnered with  GeoHazards International and conducted a 3-day training programme in  Trashigang and Sandrupjhongkar in Bhutan on Falling Hazards Mitigation.  The programme involved 2 days of mitigation demonstration along with  training. The programme was attended by more than 70 participants along  with the Director of the Disaster Management Department of Bhutan. The  programme was highly appreciated by everyone. As a part of the  programme, GHS is also preparing a falling hazard mitigation manual for  the country which can be adopted by schools across the country to  mitigate such kind of hazards. 

School Safety Preparedness Drill: 

• India: The School Safety Preparedness Drill was  initiated by GeoHazards to commemorate the Kangra Earthquake of 1905  which killed over 19,000 people on April 4th, 1905, as it is important  to keep the memories of past disasters alive to avoid repeating the  mistakes of the past. Since 2009, GHS has been organising the School  Safety Preparedness Drill in various States to get schools in  earthquake-prone regions started on their path towards preparedness.  Starting with a drill across a few north Indian states in which 10,000  people took part, the number of people taking part grew to 50,893 in the  5th drill and on 4th April 2014 drill, 726,651 people in more than 1100  schools across the country took part in the drill. 
• Bhutan:  Worked with the Department of Disaster Management and Department of  Education to facilitate the Annual Bhutan School Preparedness Drill  organized on 20th September 2013 where all 553 schools participated in  an earthquake drill. The drill couldn’t have been possible without the  support of the Embassy of the Czech Republic. 

School Contents Hazards Mitigation and Earthquake Preparedness Training (2008, 2009, 2010 & 2011) 

• The Project was undertaken to support Corporate Social  Responsibility (CSR) efforts of the Bechtel Foundation in Gurgaon.  GeoHazards conducted Training of Trainers programmes for employee  volunteers of Bechtel to enable them to carry out school safety efforts  in various Schools in Gurgaon & Delhi, India. The volunteers  underwent three-day training in basic disaster awareness, falling  hazards assessment and mitigation, development of Preparedness plans for  schools, and conduct of Preparedness drills.
• For the first time  in the country, an earthquake risk mitigation project considered  aspects of falling hazards mitigation. As a result, GHS assisted by  developing the country’s first Non-Structural Risk Mitigation Manual and  demonstrated falling hazards mitigation in many school buildings around  the country. Manual on falling hazards mitigation in schools developed  by GHI & GHS is available for free download.

Working with differently-abled children

 Blind Relief Association Campus

• GHS and Blind Relief Association (BRA) have been working  together to make their campus which includes a school, a college, a  technical workshop, and four residential hostels self-reliant and  prepared from any kind of disaster. The GHS initiative covers every  aspect of the safety of the visually challenged occupants inside the  campus from awareness generation about the earthquake hazard actions to  proper evacuation from the building.

Action for Autism

• GHS partnered with Action for Autism (AFA) in New Delhi to make  their special education campus (school) prepared to encounter any  disastrous event and to make the autistic children safer. We have  trained the Teaching staff, Caregivers, and non-teaching staff to help  the autistic children to learn preparedness.  

Working with Private Schools

• GHS has partnered with many private schools across India during  the last years to conduct comprehensive school safety activities. Some  of the schools are –  Aditya Birla World Academy, Mumbai; Delhi Public  School Srinagar; DAV Public School, Chiranjiv Bharti School, American  Montessori School in Gurgaon; Modern School, Queen Mary’s School, Happy  School in Delhi, etc.
• GHS did Hazard Vulnerability Risk and  Capacity Assessment in three schools (St. Paul’s Diocesan School, Don  Bosco School, and Tagore International School, Father Agnel School). The  reports of these included structural and non-structural assessment, the  preparedness initiative which has already been initiated in these  schools and recommendations to ensure the safety of students.
• GHS conducted a workshop on Disaster Preparedness for the teachers of St. Paul’s Diocesan School in Delhi. 
• GHS  worked closely with DAV Public School, Sector 48, Gurgaon, and has  conducted training for teachers and non-teaching staff on disaster  management. GHS also demonstrated how to fix falling hazards within the  schools and sensitized more than 500 students from class 6th-9th on various hazards and how they can assist the school in being prepared for disasters.

National Bal Bhavan

• Children and Directors Workshop on Disaster Risk Reduction (New Delhi, June 2010)
• Children ‘s Workshop on Disaster Risk Reduction (New Delhi, January 2010)
• Three  workshops for children from all over India and Directors of Bal Bhavan  on Disaster Risk Reduction (New Delhi, November 2009)
• Children’s’ Summer vacation  Assembly Sensitization on DRR (New Delhi, June 2009)
• Training for Bal Bhavan Directors from all over India (March 2009)

GHS and Save the Children India

• Save the Children partnered with GHS to prepare its volunteers  and help them conduct a school safety programme in the city of Delhi. As  a part of the programme, more than 50 teachers and volunteers were  trained in the city. The trainings were followed by the development of a  disaster management plan. The plan was tested when the school practiced  earthquake preparedness drills in two pilot schools.
• GHS  assisted Save the Children by organizing a day-long program on Urban  Disasters and Climate Change Resilience which was attended by teachers  and various staff members from South Delhi Municipal Corporation.

GHS and World Vision India

• World Vision India partnered with GHS to prepare school teachers  and volunteers on school safety. GHS conducted a number of programmes  in various states for the same and trained more than 150 people across  the country. Along with this GHS also provided 10 visual aids that the  trainers can utilize in their schools to sensitize the other teachers  and students. 

GHS and Thales Foundation

• GHS with support from Thales Foundation worked in Tibetan  schools in the Kangra District of Himachal Pradesh. GHS has conducted a  number of school safety programme for Tibetan Children Village schools  and many other local schools. To reach out to the Tibetan Population,  GHS has hired a Tibetan employee who is able to spread the message of  safety to those who are not fluent with Hindi or English. 
• GHS  also developed India’s first school safety mobile application as part of  the project wherein any android user can download the application to  develop a basic school disaster preparedness plan. The app was  officially launched in the National Institute of Disaster Management in  Delhi and is available for free on the Google Play Store.

GHS and Pithoragarh District Disaster Management

• GHS has carried out two-day non-structural training programs  with the Pithoragarh District Disaster Management Authority. In this  programe, two key representatives from various schools were invited and  trained on basic school safety practices with a special focus on  Non-Structural Mitigation (NSM) through comprehensive hands-on training  sessions.

GHS and University of Delhi

• GHS has conducted a one day workshop at Kamla Nehru College with  the Department of Geography and a similar exercise was carried out at  Rajdhani College of the University of Delhi. In this workshop, the  participants (mostly students and staff members) were sensitized about  various hazards and the workshop also helped students learn about the  college disaster preparedness planning.  

GHS and Peteon School in Dharmshala, Himachal Pradesh

• GeoHazards Society (GHS) has partnered with Central Tibetan  Administration (CTA) and Social and Resource Development Fund (SARD) to  carry out model disaster preparedness planning with a series of  activities largely with CTA and its associated institutions, Peteon  School, Delek Hospital and the Tibetan community. There were 4 training  programs conducted in Peteon School in between 13th – 15th  March 2019. Of the four training programs, two were provided to teaching  and non-teaching staff members (in two separate batches), one training  was delivered to the junior section and one was given to the senior  section. For the teachers, the training emphasized on understanding the  hazards, steps to a safe school, helped form a school safety committee,  and formed various teams with clear roles and responsibilities. 

GHS and Takshila Educational Society

• GHS has partnered with the Takshila Education Society (TES) to  carry out a comprehensive school safety program in DPS Coimbatore  (October 2018), DPS Pune (May 2019), and DPS Patna (June 2019) and DPS  Ludhiana (June 2016) over a period of three years. As a part of this  program, week-long training programs with teaching, non-teaching staff  members, and students were organized. The school’s staff members were  sensitized for various hazards and GHS assisted the school to develop a  school disaster preparedness plan. A similar program was organized for  students of the schools.
• GHS conducted a detailed non-structural  risk assessment study of all the schools and gave hands-on training to  the school staff members on mitigating such hazards. The schools were  assisted in developing a school disaster management plan along with  school evacuation plans which were then tested in the form of school  preparedness (mock) drills.
• GHS has been supporting TES and the  schools by organizing periodic checks and assessments each year to  ensure the school remains prepared and the message of safety doesn’t  fade away.