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"Improving disaster preparedness by sharing information, strengthening communities and working together"
Leading organization : Austrian Red Cross;
Project partners : Bulgarian, French, Romanian and Latvian Red Cross and the French Ministry of Ecology, Sustainable Development, Transport and Housing;
Project duration : April 2013 - March 2015
Background :
In recent years, the European Union has implemented a number of activities related to disaster prevention and preparation. However, it is still clear that citizens, and especially younger people, do not know their role, or the contribution they could make to disaster prevention. In addition, it is still common practice for organizations and public authorities to conduct disaster preparedness classes without the active involvement of community citizens. Several European Red Cross societies have already developed approaches to raising public awareness of disaster preparedness, as well as to actively involve communities in this work.
Goals and objectives :
The overall goal of the Informed and Sustainable project is to raise the awareness of citizens, in particular young people, about the value and usefulness of disaster preparedness and networking between people in the community.
Main tasks :
(a) to inform citizens about the basic elements of disaster preparedness and the role they can play in protecting themselves and others;
(b) to improve stakeholder relations at community level;
(c) to share, translate and adapt awareness-raising tools already developed by various Red Cross companies so that they can be used in other European countries.
Main activities and expected results
1) On the basis of material prepared by the French Red Cross, a one-hour session will be developed to raise citizens' awareness of disaster preparedness, which will be tested in the partner countries. Trainers will be trained to organize this basic awareness raising session and the training materials will be publicly available.
2) The existing online training game "Worst Case Hero", developed by the Austrian Red Cross, will be translated and will be available online in all partner countries. The purpose of this tool is to test people's knowledge of disaster preparedness in three different scenarios: flood, complete power outage and influenza pandemic. The integration of the tool in "Facebook" facilitates multi-directional communication with target groups. It is a valuable asset for disaster management organizations and their social media communication strategies.
3) In one local community in each partner country will be held a lesson based on the lessons of a previous European project - "Informed. Prepared. Together. " The classes will be one-day interactive events with the participation of citizens and key institutions and organizations. The aim is to gain practical knowledge of the effective response to accidents and disasters and to achieve a common understanding of citizens and stakeholders about their respective roles. A guide will be developed and made available to other communities wishing to conduct such an activity.
Website: http://www.ar-project.eu/bg/
Contact: l.karakanovski@redcross.bg, tel .: 02/49 23 070
