Earthquake destroys in seconds. Bangladesh, a proximate place
to the red zone, indicated by the geologists and earthquake specialists, are
very much in potential earthquake danger. Dhaka, specially the Old Town part of
it, is much more vulnerable than any other areas of the country in case of
future earthquake occurrence as most of the structures of this territory are
old and archaic. Many people of the country are ready to talk about
its possibility in our capital city, Dhaka, while a rare exception among them
are prepared to show the ways in which the loss or damaged can be minimized if
this devastating natural calamity take place anytime in near future. With
volunteering spirit and determination in their heart and mind, members of House
of Volunteers Bangladesh (HoV BD) have shown this bright example recently in
their Earthquake Awareness Campaign (EAC) which was kicked off on 7th
September, 2013 at 2 schools of Old Dhaka which is followed by other four
sessions. Government has been conducting campaigns regarding earthquake
awareness for a few years. But, HoV is the first youth-led organization to run
campaign concerning it which was made possible because of the outstanding
assistance provided by EMK Center. City FM 96 is the FM media partner of this
unique campaign.
HOV started taking necessary steps to materialize the project
since February 2013. Among several important undertakings, mentionable are
University selection & workshop arrangement, Content & resource
development, School survey & selection based on earthquake vulnerability.
In first phase, HoV
arranged a networking event for its
volunteers at BUET on March 25, 2013. General discussion on upcoming
activities, formation of social media groups and delegation of work
responsibilities amongst members were highlights of the proceedings. A total of
25 members were present. April 7, 2013 saw the project kick off formally at a
group meeting with core members in attendance at EMK center.
In second phase,
university level workshops for creating volunteer Presenter were arranged.
A total of five universities have been selected for training
volunteers to present at campaign events. These are Ahsanullah University of
Science & Technology, Bangladesh University of Engineering and Technology, BRAC
University, Dhaka University and East West University.
Three workshops were conducted for Dhaka University and
Bangladesh University of Engineering and Technology during July and August,
2013. The three major components of these workshops were sharing basic content
with participants, finding improvement potentials in group work, discussing
effective way of communication and interaction.
The first workshop was held at EMK center on 6 July, 2013 for
BUET students with 25 participants, facilitated by senior HoV BUET members with
previous experience from last year’s pilot project. The second workshop, held
at RC Majumder Auditorium, for students of Dhaka University on 7th July, 2013,
was followed by an orientation of new members. The
third workshop was a 2.5 hour session held for 11 Dhaka University students on
24 August, 2013, at EMK Center.
The third phase was content development phase
The
initial content for the project was developed by HOV BUET members using MS
PowerPoint. It kicked off via a brainstorming session held on April 20, 2013
with 20 members in attendance. A series of follow up meetings were later held
to continue the work.
The Fourth Phase was Resource development Phase
According to the project plan one laptop was purchased which was
used as important project resource during content development and volunteer
presenter workshop. Considering important means of project communication one
mobile set with sim card was also purchased. It’s add on for the project and
also planned to buy another two mobile sets with sim card for making the
communication easy and cost effective during project. Purchasing of
multimedia projector is under process and has been planned to buy at the beginning
of second phase of the project.
In phase five Schools for implementing the campaigns were
selected
To select the target schools, HOV had conducted a survey engaging
its Dhaka University chapters on 19 schools from Old Dhaka by June 2013.
Among those 19 schools, 10 schools were selected for the purpose
of program activation. The selection criteria were infrastructural damage of the
school, number of students of the school , Location of the schools; preference given on densely populated
area, earthquake vulnerability of the proximate locality, due support of the
school authority.
In Sixth phase, the Project was activated in with all its
vigor and vitality
The most important part of the project is executing
earthquake awareness campaign at selected
schools. The successful activation of the program was organized on 7 September,
2013 by conducting campaign at two schools in parallel session. They are Bhasha
Prodeep High School and Cotton Mill Adarsha High school, Postogola, Dhaka.
Later
on, another 4 schools namely UCEP School, Faridabad High school, Nabokumar
Institute and Udayan Higher Secondary School are also covered under the
schedules of the campaign. So far, total
40 volunteer presenters and organizers from Dhaka University Chapter conducted
the day long program. Total 4500 students and 40 teachers actively attended
those sessions.
The enthusiasm and support from both were mentionable. The only
challenge was having expected number of participants due to suddenly scheduled
exam of several classes in both schools. HOV Bangladesh officials were also
present on that important event and holding very interactive discussion among
young HOV members and school authority. Documentation of the program activation
has been done by listing participants (students, volunteers), taking photograph
and capturing video which will be used later in project communication along
with the grand launch of a website solely based on the EAC.
While executing each of the events, HOV had to delay or sometimes
changed its event’s schedule due to strike, detention and other political
indiscipline and violence in Bangladesh during that period along with the
problem of being rainy weather. Besides, most of the university conducted
semester final examination. Moreover, the Holy Ramadan and other vacations made
it delay in perform
HoV doesn’t believe in one day show; rather their EAC is a
continuous process to protect the next generation from the virulent natural
calamity which could show its ugly face in near future. The first 3 sessions
covered around 2500 students from 5 schools. The interest and inquisitiveness
shown by the participating students have created great enthusiasm among the
volunteers and organizers. They are now eagerly looking forward to the future
sessions of the campaign.
Quick Facts of the Campaign
● Trained 62 volunteer presenters in 3 workshops
●
Conducted survey in 19 schools
●
Selected 10 schools for campaign
●
Completed off School Campaign at 6 schools
●
Covered 4500 students along with 40 teachers
