In 1933 an earthquake caused severe damage to dozens of school buildings in the vicinity of Long Beach, California. Fortunately, the earthquake happened when schools were not in use, but if they were we would have occupied a great loss of lives. The protest that followed this event prompted the State of California to adopt some of the first anti-seismic building standards (the famous Field Act of 1934). However, the problem persists elsewhere: a study done in 1995, the seismic risk in metropolitan Boston, Massachusetts, has indicated the school buildings in seismically vulnerable structures, particularly the fact that they normally contain a large number of people.
In 1966, 116 children died and 29 were wounded in Aberfan, a small mining town in South Wales. They were pupils of two schools, which were partially destroyed by a mudslide that occurred at 9:15 in the morning on a weekday and they swept through the halls of assembly.
In 1986 in San Salvador in Latin America some children were crushed under their desks in their school collapsed during a severe earthquake. Again, in 1995 an earthquake that struck the Cairo caused tens of deaths among school children when they tried to escape out in conditions of extreme danger, panic and chaos before the end of shaking. All of these tragedies could have been avoided with better planning and more careful management of the emergency.
Whatever type of danger that prevails in the local area, schools, require special protection, both in terms of structural measures with regard to planning might protect pupils and staff at the time of the disaster.
The following considerations also arise from participating in a project which had as its aim the improvement of emergency planning in five high schools located in the Berkshire Mountains of western Massachusetts (USA). This area is subjected to a very high risk of tornado, and also the dangers of earthquakes, floods, fires, ice storms, blizzards, and release of toxic materials. The project revealed that the emergency planning in schools is a problem far more complex than previously thought.
If an area is threatened by well-known dangers, particular attention should be paid to the preparation of evacuation plans for schools. In the short term evacuation remains the most effective non-structural method to ensure the safety of pupils and staff. To ensure that it works and is not a source of additional problems, not only is it necessary to plan carefully, but it is essential to a program of frequent exercises.
In certain respects the development of a contingency plan for a school is a microcosm of the disaster planning in a broader sense. In fact, where possible, the resulting plan should be integrated with plans to coordinate the emergency level of the entire municipality or other local area, especially in an emergency because it is necessary which received support from outside the confines of school.
The planning process begins with the assessment of the threats to the school and its surroundings. This information is transformed into a scenario to describe the impact of the dangerous phenomenon and is then drawn up an emergency response scenario designed so as to reduce its human impact.
If more than one type, or a source of danger threatening the area, you may need the installation of multiple scenarios, which, however, would certainly have much in common. For example, you may want to evacuate a school building through a particular path in the event of an earthquake or a fire but per via di un'altro quando l'adiacente fiume minaccia allagamenti. Come nel caso della pianificazione di emergenza in genere, il piano dovrebbe affrontare non soltanto il rischio dominante ma tutti i pericoli significativi in modo da poter ottenere economie di scala.
Lo scenario di pericolosità dovrebbe indicare i possibili modi in cui si ipotizza che un disastro possa colpire la scuola, con riferimento anche ai rischi di impatto secondario, come un incendio che segue a un terremoto, oppure il crollo di una struttura danneggiata in precedenza da un sisma. Lo scenario di risposta dovrebbe prendere in considerazione la difficoltà del mantenimento della sicurezza durante l'intervento che segue immediatamente l'impatto. Ad esempio: avendo deciso di evacuate the school and the students gather in a green space outside, there may be risks such as electrocution from power lines falling or being crushed by falling trees? The way out of the building would be sprinkled with broken glass or debris?
apply the very simple precautions in classrooms and corridors. Backpacks, books and clothing should be filed to rule against the walls or other living areas and not among the banks, where they could impede the rapid evacuation. The colored arrows to help guide children exit if they are disoriented or confused by fear. Where necessary, furniture, furnishings and equipment should be attached to the walls so that da non cadere sulle persone e non bloccare le vie di uscita.
Uno scenario è una costruzione ipotetica di una probabile futura realtà e come tale non può essere verificato fino a che gli eventi che esso prefigura accadono veramente. Data questa incertezza, alcuni dilemmi seri possono sorgere nella costruzione dello scenario di risposta all'impatto. Ad esempio, la American Rescue Organization ( http://www.amerrescue.org/ ), in base a numerose esperienze in passato, consiglia di non ripararsi sotto i banchi quando accade il terremoto, a meno che questi non siano molto solidi e resistenti. A livello mondiale, molti bambini sono stati schiacciati per la caduta di travi e muri sulle scrivanie sotto le quali hanno cercato di ripararsi dal terremoto. Ma quale altra soluzione esiste? La ARO consiglia di rannicchiarsi negli angoli tra il pavimento e il muro, dato che anche il crollo totale della struttura lascerebbe circa il 15% di spazi vuoti, che molto probabilmente sarebbero concentrati in quei punti. D'altra mano, il riparo dei bambini piccoli sotto le scrivanie evita che essi possano correre in giro e rischiare di ferirsi.
Bisogna prendere in considerazione il fatto che l'evacuazione di una scuola può richiedere due rifugi nel caso che non sia consigliabile rientrare l'edificio dopo l'impatto. Il primo di questi sarà probabilmente uno spazio verde, un campo sportivo o un posteggio di automobili dove i bambini e i loro insegnanti possano radunarsi per verificare le presenze. Nell'eventualità di un attesa che potrebbe essere lunga, questo spazio necessiterebbe di servizi igienici, quando è possibile fornirli.
Il secondo rifugio dovrebbe essere un luogo dove bambini possano essere trattenuti in sicurezza prima di essere consegnati ai loro genitori. È generalmente riconosciuto che il processo di evacuazione debba condurre gli evacuati in luoghi progressivamente più sicuri e non attraverso le aree di maggiore pericolo. Nel piano è quindi necessario controllare che i percorsi scelti per l'evacuazione non siano soggetti a pericoli e determinare quali siano i mezzi di trasporto o di movimento più sicuri (sarà rischioso, ad esempio, portare i bambini al rifugio negli scuolabus?). È also essential to ensure adequate separation between the location of evacuees and the emergency vehicles arriving at the school (see points 6 and 11 in the attached table).
The problem of housing (in loco parentis ) can be especially difficult if the school buildings are deemed unsafe for the duration of the period immediately after the impact. Children may need to be calmed, or at least be kept in order. They would also need protection from the risks that remain after the first impact, to be kept busy and to be constantly reassured that their parents do not arrive.
The U.S. Federal Emergency Management Agency should give each student evacuated from a school badge bearing the name, address and telephone numbers, and also the particulars of the school, who attends the class and the teacher responsible. These badges would be prepared in advance and to be distributed after the evacuation.
is of course essential that teachers bring with them records of their students when they conduct class outside of school and are satisfied that the attendance upon arrival. In addition, children should not be indiscriminately sent home without being certain of the presence of a parent or someone who can accept them. In a recent earthquake in California was estimated that of 12,000 children evacuated from schools, 6,500 were stati possibilmente in pericolo se fossero stati spediti a casa senza gli appositi accertamenti.
La cooperazione dei genitori nel processo di pianificazione dell'emergenza è davvero preziosa. Per primo, i bambini dovrebbero essere rilasciati soltanto ai genitori o membri della famiglia che sono autorizzati a prenderli. Altre persone, come baby sitter, tate o collaboratrici domestiche, dovrebbero essere muniti di un'autorizzazione scritta e approvata dalle autorità scolastiche e verificate dagli insegnanti.
In secondo luogo, la piena partecipazione dei genitori nel piano di emergenza è l'unico modo per evitare il totale sovraccarico delle linee telefoniche della scuola e un massiccio ingorgo di traffico ai suoi ingressi: in as a critical period that follows the impact will be necessary to keep the phone lines that the access roads free for emergency traffic. So, in the preparation of the plan, must recommend to the parents (by letter) not to call the school and not come directly into the car for the duration of certain times when it seems that such actions could affect the management of emergencies (hopefully the same parents follow the rules given).
The emergency plan should include some procedures to take account of when, where and as a member of his family, each child was released after the evacuation. In the event that is expected to impact, perhaps very localized, which will not be immediately recognizable outside the immediate vicinity of the school, you will need to contact parents by phone even when it can not be done by the offices of the school. So it may be necessary for the secretary of the school left the building carrying a phone and a list of telephone numbers of parents of children evacuated. In any case, the plan could involve some parents, who live or work near the school, as helpers for the duration of the emergency.
In all schools except the smallest will be a division of roles during an emergency. The principal and teachers, of course, the primary responsibility for l'evacuazione, ma sarà molto importante che qualcuno sia competente in pronto soccorso. Probabilmente anche i conducenti degli scuolabus saranno da indicare come operatori essenziali.
Quando il disastro avviene, è molto probabile che vari lavoratori di emergenza, come poliziotti, vigili del fuoco, membri di equipaggi medici, o volontari della protezione civile, arriveranno in fretta alla scuola. Il piano dovrebbe specificare le forme di collaborazione tra lo staff della scuola e i professionisti pervenuti dall'esterno, ad esempio per controllare che nessun bambino sia rimasto dentro gli edifici evacuati, o per valutare i possibili danni strutturali. I piani di evacuazione della scuola dovrebbero essere depositati con le autorità locali civil protection and should form an integral part of the project to manage emergencies at local level.
The best emergency plans for schools require adequate motivation on the part of teachers. These should be encouraged to take seriously the preparation for the emergency and to play a positive role in both the planning control in the following exercise. Is it necessary to test evacuation plans at regular intervals, perhaps once every three months: in the intervals between exercise and the next, the conditions can change, can reach new students or teachers, and procedures may be forgotten.
According to sociological studies of the behavior of people evacuated during the emergency, they do what they were trained to do, since there is insufficient time and information necessary to decide rationally what is best to take action. It is therefore very important to renew the training regularly and rigorously. Adequate support from teachers is the key to this process and its success.
Despite the evacuation planning for schools is a rather complex process, it is extremely important and fundamental, not only for its ability to save the lives of children and teachers, but also because it can have much larger effective that of a simple emergency procedure. In the constant battle to improve public safety against disaster, children are catalysts. They are often more receptive to new ideas than adults and are therefore an ideal channel to bring their families and introduce the concepts of security and the idea of \u200b\u200bparticipating in civil protection. The school offers a good example that can have the effect of get used to the families that citizens have a role to play in preventing disaster.
the topic requires much more space, but for the deepening further information can be found in Addendum list of international publications on disaster prevention in schools and on children in emergencies: some of these works can be purchased via the Internet, as shown in the list. Links a very useful resource is the website of the U.S. Federal Emergency Management Agency ( http://www.fema.gov/ ), which contains, as listed, other instruction manual to assess the risks and organize civil protection in schools. Finally, the attached table shows some features of procedure for planning the evacuation of schools. Although the whole process may seem a counsel of perfection, "is to be used as a set of proposed procedures to be adapted or modified to local conditions and possibilities.
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