[U-01] Great Debate: Geohazards, societal risks and the development of resilience

[U01-02] The role of education and educators in developing societal resilience

★Invited Papers

*Decibel Villarisco Faustino-Eslava^1,5, Maria Victoria O Espaldon¹, Antonio P Contreras¹, Loucel E Cui¹, Juan Miguel R Guotana¹, Rosemarie Laila D Areglado-Dimasuay¹, Maria Regina V Regalado¹, Eduardo C Calzeta¹, Danesto Anacio¹, Graciano Jr. P Yumul², Carla B Dimalanta³, Jenielyn T Padrones⁴, Thaddeus P Lawas¹, Cherry S Padilla¹, Charles John C Gunay¹, Sofia A Alaira¹, Janice B Sevilla-Nastor¹ (1.School of Environmental Science and Management, University of the Philippines Los Baños, 2.Cordillera Exploration Company, Inc., 3.National Institute of Geological Sciences, College of Science, University of the Philippines Diliman, 4.Institute of Renewable Natural Resources, University of the Philippines Los Baños, 5.Geological Society of the Philippines)

Keywords:DRR education, societal resilience

While high-level discussions on improving societal resilience dominate global north platforms, the global south still struggles with basic concerns such as how to improve awareness and understanding of natural hazards, exposure, risks, and resilience, among others. Regardless of the amount of scientific and technical know-how, knowledge on disaster risk reduction (DRR) often fails to make its way into practice, especially at the community or individual levels. In particular, low levels of awareness have undesirable multiplier effects that often result in some reluctance to believe or subscribe to science-based management plans and an overall lack of community-scale risk-reducing behaviors. In order to address this very fundamental requirement for societal resilience, systematic disaster risk reduction education must be mainstreamed. DRR education channels through both school and community-based education the paradigm shift needed to achieve a culture of safety by changing habits and behaviors for the long term. It must become an integral part of disaster risk management policy, planning, and implementation. However, some obstacles for countries such as the Philippines include the low foundational skills of students, specifically in literacy and numeracy, despite the overloaded school curricula. Hence, one approach would be to dovetail DRR into the overall education goals and not crowd out the focus on foundation skills. For example, DRR topics can be mainstreamed into literacy and numeracy instruction. Educational materials should also be practical, actionable, and contextual. More importantly, DRR education should start by strengthening the capacity of teachers to deliver the topics.