“It’s beautiful because it’s safe. Yay!” The weather in late December was approaching the dead of winter. The temperature in the unheated classroom was quite low, but the children were enthusiastic and still immersed in the excitement of learning and experiencing safety knowledge when taking a group photo.

“Through this study, I learned not to panic too much when an earthquake comes, but to hide in a solid triangle area.” 

“If you are buried in a collapsed building, keep your breathing open and tap hard objects against the wall to send out a distress signal.”

“When someone is drowning, do not rescue him alone first, but call 120 and then try to rescue him.”

“In case of fire, cover your mouth and nose with a wet towel. Do not take the elevator to escape.”

......

The children scrambled to speak. 

On December 25, the first “Children Disaster Prevention and Reduction Classroom” donated by China Children and Teenagers’ Fund (CCTF) and Douyin was completed in Wenhua Primary School of Chishui, Guizhou. As the education activity site of children’s disaster prevention and reduction public welfare program safety science popularization, “Children’s Disaster Prevention and Reduction Classroom” combines immersive experience with static teaching, organically integrates disaster prevention and reduction science popularization with daily education, so as to bring safety education closer to children and teenagers.

Participating leaders jointly unveiled the “Children Disaster Prevention and Reduction Classroom”

China is one of the countries with frequent natural disasters and accidental injuries. In order to minimize losses and injuries, it is necessary to strengthen the publicity of the concept of safety, enhance the awareness of disaster risk prevention and resistance, and improve the public’s skills of emergency avoidance and self-rescue and mutual rescue. This is also an important measure to realize the shift from focusing on post-disaster relief to pre-disaster prevention.

Zhu Xisheng, secretary general of CCTF gave a speech

Zhu Xisheng, secretary general of CCTF pointed out in the opening ceremony that, Children Disaster Prevention and Reduction program is good practice of CCTF for a long time. This program will push set up the children’s basic security concept as the core, through donating the disaster prevention classroom, carrying our the theme of safety education activities, helping children master the necessary safety knowledge and skills, to cooperate with all levels of government, primary and secondary schools to further promote children’s disaster prevention skills. 

In August 2018, Douyin donated 5 million yuan to the “Children Disaster Prevention and Reduction Classroom”. In addition to the donation of “Children’s Disaster Prevention and Reduction Classroom”, the program will also provide disaster prevention and reduction teacher training, to train professional teachers for the class. Moreover, the program regularly holds safety knowledge competition, summer/winter camp, holiday safety course and other activities, so that children continue to enhance safety awareness, improve self-rescue and abilities to avoid danger.

The person in charge said that Douyin always uphold the concept of “Record a Better Life”, hoping to do more for “Children Disaster Prevention and Reduction” program by bringing the advantages for the network platform integration, and influence more people together for children’s better lives.

At the activity site, participating leaders jointly unveiled the “Children Disaster Prevention and Reduction Classroom”, and presented the “Children Disaster Prevention and Reduction Education Manual” compiled by CCTF and Douyin. The manual was composed of 8 parts, including fire safety, natural disaster, campus safety, traffic safety, home safety, first aid and mutual aid, network security, and sexual assault prevention.

Chen Li, a senior engineer and member of the popular science committee of the China Seismological Society, taught children about earthquake safety

Chen Li, a senior engineer and member of the popular science committee of the China Seismological Society, taught children a class about earthquake safety. “It is important to teach children the key escape skills in an entertaining way that can be passed on to those around them. Disaster reduction should start and develop the awareness from young age”, Chen told reporter.

After the ceremony, people walked into the newly built “Children’s Disaster Risk Prevention and Reduction Classroom”. The wall has been printed with all kinds of illustrated emergency risk aversion knowledge, leaning against the wall for students to learn the interesting knowledge of protection touch screen, mobile screen beside the podium can be digital teaching.

Experience and learning in the Children’s Disaster Risk Prevention and Reduction Classroom

In the experience teaching, 30 students carried out escape drills in earthquake simulation by learning safety knowledge, interactive safety skills and using VR equipment. Zhang Xiang, a safety education lecturer, said that the ultimate goal is for children to truly protect themselves and help each other.

Wang Zhuocheng from class one, grade five has suffered from flooding in his hometown in 2015, and he and his family luckily escaped. After taking the disaster prevention course, he learned various self-protect knowledge in case of floods, such as how to actively seek for help. “If I had taken such a course before the flood, I would have been better able to protect myself”, he said. When he grows up, he wants to be a scientist, inventing accurate and effective earthquake early warning instruments.

Tang Shiyao from class one, grade five, in the process of learning knowledge of disaster prevention, know that the earthquake was formed by crustal movement. “I’ve always thought that it was underground monster in a fight”. She said when she grows up, she wants to be a paramedic who can help many people in disasters.

Her classmate, Wang Yazhuo, learned about the signs for safe passage in earthquakes and fires and developed the idea of spending a few minutes looking at the floor plan of a shopping mall in response to an unexpected disaster.

The children all said that the knowledge they learned in the disaster prevention and reduction class is very useful, among which the VR experience is particularly impressive. “The 360-degree virtual image is like another world, much more real than a TV set”, said Tang.

In the future, the Children’s Disaster Prevention and Reduction program will be in the role of science promotion, taking the children to drive the family, and from family to radiate the community. The program will build the “Family-School-Community” safety education environment, exploring effective campus disaster prevention and reduction mode. Thus, a good atmosphere will be created for the whole society to learn the knowledge, skills and culture of disaster prevention and reduction.