SOUTH TANGERANG — In order to increase capacity in the school environment regarding earthquake and fire disaster response, Dompet Dhuafa through the Disaster Management Center (DMC) held a Socialization of Disaster-Safe Madrasah to students of Madrasah Ibtidaiyah (Islamic Elementary School) Nurun Najah 1 Pondok Ranji, South Tangerang. On Wednesday (10/05/2023), around 150 students consisting of grades 4-6 participated in this socialization.
The students followed material on disaster basics, how to map evacuation areas, knowledge of how to extinguish small-scale fires as well as earthquake and fire disaster simulations.
“This is a very positive activity. Hopefully with the visit of Tim DMC to overcome disaster, the students will begin to build awareness and know about how we deal with disasters. The hope is that there will be no disaster and if there is a disaster, the children will know how to overcome it,” said Titin as the principal of MI Nurun Najah 1 Pondok Ranji.
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In addition, the students also tried fire extinguishing simulations and simulations if an earthquake occurs. Cherry Kafiana Kintuah, one of the students of class 6-B tried to extinguish the fire with a fire extinguisher. Several friends cheered for her.
“Today the activity is to extinguish the fire. The first way is to turn the gas cylinder off by hand, the second is to put the fire out with a wet towel, and the third is to be a companion to extinguish the fire using a fire extinguisher. I just helped direct my friend to put the fire out and it turned out that my friend directed it to the other friends. So the smoke was going towards them and they coughed,” Cherry said.
“It’s really exciting. I want to try again using the fire extinguisher, because just now I was just helping to direct my friend from behind,” she continued.
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Disaster mitigation education is very important to be taught to school-age children. The purpose of this activity is to provide knowledge to teachers and students when an earthquake and fire disaster occur, what anticipation must be done, both to save themselves and their families, because many children under 15 years old become victims of earthquakes.
According to UNICEF data, in the 5.6-magnitude earthquake in Cianjur, an estimated 100 children under the age of 15 lost their lives. That equates to 37 percent of the 272 total number who died.
Meanwhile, during the Palu earthquake in 2018, the Director of Special Education and Special Services of the Ministry of Education and Culture recorded that 23 children died, 35 were missing and 85 children were separated from their parents. A total of 600 school buildings were damaged, 3,051 classrooms were damaged, while 1,460 of them were severely damaged.
“It needs to be taught from school age to provide deepening of knowledge and preparedness, so that students and teachers are able to act during, before and after disasters. This is also done to minimize the impact that occurs,” explained Achmad Lukman as Humanitarian Academy Manager of DMC Dompet Dhuafa.
“I’d like to thank DMC for providing materials to all of our children. Hopefully the knowledge provided by DMC Dompet Dhuafa is useful for the students, families and in the community,” Titin continued.
In addition, MI Nurun Najah 1 Pondok Ranji also provided humanitarian donations through DMC Dompet Dhuafa in the Indonesia Siap Siaga program. In the donations of parents and teachers of MI Nurun Najah 1 Pondok Ranji school, they saved up a little sustenance for relief services for disaster survivors.
For schools interested in learning disaster mitigation, you can contact us via social media, call center, and email listed on the official DMC Dompet Dhuafa page. Let’s unite forces and strengthen capacity in facing disasters and safeguarding the Mother Earth. Because There is Only One Earth. Let’s be Empowered in Facing Disasters. (Dompet Dhuafa/DMC)