Teaching students preparedness for natural disasters
Sunshine Coast Council’s Disaster Management Team are running the Get Ready Schools Program to teach students about how to prepare, cope and recover from stressful weather events.
Weather events such as storms, fires, heatwaves, wild seas, flooding and landslides are part of living on the Sunshine Coast.
To familiarise children with severe weather and its potential impacts, Sunshine Coast Council’s Disaster Management Team have been running the Get Ready Schools Program for the last five years.
In 2023 around 1,500 students from 15 Sunshine Coast schools participated.
Disaster Management coordinator Jason Membrey said Council’s free school program is an important part of educating the whole community about natural disasters.
“The more schools educating their students about disaster and emergency preparedness, the more resilient our region will become overall,” Mr Membrey said.
“Children can have a limited understanding of what is happening during a disaster or emergency.
“Being prepared before a weather emergency can make a big difference to how children will respond and cope.
Council's Disaster Management Coordinator Jason Membrey presenting to a group of students.
Mr Membrey started off this year’s Local Disaster Management’s Get Ready Schools Program with a visit to Burnside State Primary School.
The interactive video presentation also gave the Year 6 Burnside students an opportunity to share their own wild weather experiences.
“At Sunshine Coast Council, the Disaster Management team is committed to building a resilient region that encourages all its residents – no matter how young or old – to understand, prepare for, respond to, and recover from the effects of disaster events.
“From term two, school students in Years 5 and 6 will have the opportunity to learn about different natural disasters and find out how to prepare, cope and recover from the stressful weather events we can face here on the Sunshine Coast.
“This is another example of how we are connecting and engaging with our communities to build a better future for everyone.”
Council’s Disaster Hub has all the latest news updates from the team.
To find out more about how you can prepare yourself, your business and your family, head to Get Ready Queensland.
The Disaster Management team will also be offering educational workshops for other community groups throughout the year.
This article Teaching students preparedness for natural disasters has been supplied from the OurSC website and has been published here with permission.