As they took the pledge together, promising to act wisely and carefully in the event of a disaster and abide by the instructions given to them by the concerned authorities, the kids seemed to send a message to everyone to be prepared because a disaster can strike us unexpectedly.
The students of Government Higher Secondary School for Girls, Cotton Hill, Thiruvananthapuram, took the pledge in connection with the International Day for Disaster Reduction observed on October 13.
They also participated in the earthquake mock drill session, which would help them understand the basic safety measures to be taken in the event of a natural disaster.
This year, the State-level observance of the day took place within the framework of the campaign — “Step up for Disaster Risk Reduction” with the theme, “Making Children and Young People Partners for Disaster Risk Reduction”.
Mock drills
Ashna Shajim, a Std VI student, was one among those who attended the earthquake mock drill session at the school. She reluctantly bends her knees, places her hands on head protectively and explains, “If an earthquake hits this school I would drop, hold and cover my head like this so that I can protect my brain”.
She sure seems to know the basic safety measures to be taken in the event of an earthquake.
“As soon as the ‘alarm' was heard, we had to run outside. It was our responsibility to see that we help the younger students,” added Anagha Krishna T., a NCC student at the school.
The students had to crawl under the bench or move to the corners as these would act as methods to reduce the impact of the disasters.
For the younger students it was fun rather than an exercise during emergency situations. But they were also briefed about the seriousness of the situation later, she added.
The members of the school safety clubs were also directed to conduct certain studies at home like collecting details from newspapers about the previous disasters that had occurred in the city, which can greatly aid in research work.
A second activity is to collect rainwater in a bottle and record the measurement of rainfall, which provides basic information that helps to determine and foresee nature of floods in the state.
