In September 2023 the region of Thessaly in Greece was struck by two different floods within 20 days. Both floods had a sever effect on infrastructures, social life and schooling. Drawing from a disaster education (Preston, 2012) theoretical framework, this research focuses on the effects of disaster education regarding preparedness to Greek primary education students. In particular, it explores the role of acquired knowledge on preparedness in addition to the role of information as coefficients for action during a disastrous event. According to (Clausen, Conlon, Jager, and Metreveli, 1978 cited in Preston, 2012, p. 3) ‘whether human or anthropogenic in origin the designation of ‘threat’ or ‘disaster’ implies a discontinuity with previous social relations’ and the notion of ‘disaster’ is perceived predominately as a social category. Within this framework disaster education can be ‘delivered’ via diverse pedagogies (Preston, 2012, p. 3).

Recently it is observed the increase of a set of diverse natural disasters such as floods, earthquakes, extensive fires etc. Based on this the United Nations (UN) (United Nations Office for Disaster Risk Reduction, 2023) intensified its efforts aiming to raise public awareness of natural disasters and to increase and improve information and education. Within context Prevention and early warning systems were strengthened, as were emergency response, damage recovery and reconstruction procedures (Yusuf et al., 2022). In terms of education, previous research has indicated that children who have been taught about the phenomenon of disasters and how to react to these situations have been shown to be able to respond promptly and appropriately to the specific disaster context, to be able to warn others and to protect themselves in times of emergency (Shaw et al., 2011, Torani et al., 2019).

Even though in 2006 the UN launched a campaign promoting disaster education in school curricula (UN/ISDR, 2006) in Greece disaster education is mainly focused to earthquakes. In Thessaly prior to the two flooding events in September 2023, the region also faced an extensive fire that lasted four days and led to the explosion of military ammunition. All three instances affected and destroyed infrastructures, family homes and cultivations, farms and businesses. All events led to invacuations, and during the floods a large amount of population was left without drinking water, electricity and access to communications (internet and land line telephone). The population was largely unprepared, and both adults and children had to respond to unknown circumstances. Social life was interrupted and the schools year in the area begun with a two-week delay than the rest of the country. These events led to the exploration of possibilities of disaster education for diverse events within primary education starting with the exploration of knowledge and understandings of the students in affected and non-affected areas. The aim is to identify disaster education pedagogies (Preston 2012, Kitagawa, 2021) that are locally targeted and specific event orieneted as the means to enhance students and schools prepardness.  

Methodologically, this research follows an ethnographic approach utilising Focus group interviews with Greek primary education students in school years four and six and individual interviews with their teachers. The data collection is conducted in schools in two different regions Thessaly and Achaia. The selection of areas is based on the diversity in the experiences of disastrous events. In Thessaly, the schooling population has experienced floods though Achaia is one of the most earthquake affected areas in Greek mainland. Both areas have experiences of fire events. The data collection is taking place in four primary schools in Thessaly and two schools in Patras, aiming to identify possible differences in students understanding of disaster events and their preparedness based on their prior skills developed through the national curriculum. The research instrument is focused on a) key words used during the disastrous event and b) students’ actions and reactions to those key words. It aims to identify knowledge and understandings but also to explore the skills to set that knowledge into action during a critical event. This research has been approved and follows the ethical guidelines of the University of Thessaly

Even though the research is currently ongoing, initial findings point to fact that knowledge about disasters is not easily, or not at all, transferred to everyday life context and it is not translated into action. Children may theoretically know what is appropriate to do before and during a critical event and they act accordingly while being at the school classroom, they do employ that knowledge and skills outside the classroom. Further to this, the data present that primary school students may know a specific term used in a critical event, such as ‘evacuation’, in terms of their meaning however when they are asked regarding specific guidelines for evacuations e.g. the text message: you need to evacuate, they are not clear as to what they have to do or how are expected to act. Finally, school and other social parties offer to students’ different approaches to specific critical events leading to confusion regarding their appropriate reaction.

Kitagawa, K. (2021). Conceptualising ‘disaster education.’ Education Sciences, 11(5). https://doi.org/10.3390/educsci11050233 Preston, J. (2012) Disaster Education. Race, Equity and Pedagogy. Chapter 1: What Is Disaster Education? Sense Publishers, Netherlands. http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/978-94-6091-873-5 Shaw, R., & Kobayashi, M. (2004). The role of schools in creating an earthquake-safer environment. Educational Facilities and Risk Management: Natural Disasters, 9789264028, 41–48. https://doi.org/10.1787/9789264028340-en Shaw, R., Takeuchi, Y., Gwee, Q. R., & Shiwaku, K. (2011). DISASTER EDUCATION: AN INTRODUCTION. Community, Environment and Disaster Risk Management, 7, 1–22. https://doi.org/10.1108/S2040-7262(2011)0000007007 Torani, S., Majd, P., Maroufi, S., Dowlati, M., & Sheikhi, R. (2019). The importance of education on disasters and emergencies: A review article. In Journal of Education and Health Promotion (Vol. 8, Issue 1). Wolters Kluwer Medknow Publications. https://doi.org/10.4103/jehp.jehp_262_18 Yusuf, R., Razali, Sanusi, Maimun, Fajri, I., & Gani, S. A. (2022). Disaster education in disaster-prone schools: A systematic review. IOP Conference Series: Earth and Environmental Science, 1041(1). https://doi.org/10.1088/1755-1315/1041/1/012034 UN General Assembly, Resolution 44/236, International Decade for Natural Disaster Reduction, A/Res/44/236 (March 1990), https://digitallibrary.un.org/record/82536. UN/ISDR. (2006). World disaster reduction campaign. Disaster risk reduction begins at school. Available at http://www.unisdr.org/eng/public_aware/world_camp/2006-2007/pdf/ WDRC-2006-2007-English-fullversion.pdf United Nations Office for Disaster Risk Reduction, 2023, https://www.undrr.org/publication/undrr-work-programme-2022-2023