UAE | General
Public lack basic disaster survival skills, study shows
In a recent study it was found most 16-year-olds in Bahrain and Scotland did not know that simply by boiling water it would be made safe to drink.
- By Nina MuslimStaff Reporter
- Published: 01:00 April 11, 2008
Dubai: The public do not have the basic knowhow that can save their lives in a disaster.
In a recent study it was found most 16-year-olds in Bahrain and Scotland did not know that simply by boiling water it would be made safe to drink.
For the study, which will be published in an emergency medicine journal, 590 16-year olds in Bahrain and 450 in Scotland were asked about disaster preparedness.
More than 96 per cent of teenagers surveyed in Bahrain did not know how to make water safe to drink, while 63 per cent in Scotland did not.
Dr. Tudor Codreanu, emergency physician at Dr. Gray's Hospital in Scotland, told participants at the International Emergency and Catastrophe Management (IECM) conference in Dubai the finding was symptomatic of the lack of public knowledge in how to deal with disasters.
"My colleague and I at first did not want to ask the question about making water safe because we thought it might be insulting, but the finding shocked us," he said, adding none of the respondents considered discussing the question with their parents.
In a previous US study it was also found that a majority of the respondents had little to no motivation to prepare for a tornado or hurricane.
He said educating the public on what to do in the event of disasters was crucial, as ignorance could mean death, citing the 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami as an example. More than 280,000 people died in the disaster.
To prepare the public, authorities first have to identify potential hazards and then provide information on how to deal with it. In the UAE, the daily hazards are traffic accidents, chemical accidents, fires and heat-associated medical problems. Uncommon but possible threats include tsunamis and earthquakes.
Authorities should provide the public with low-cost measures to prepare for disasters.
Despite the necessity, Dr. Codreanu said public education was the most neglected area of disaster preparedness, for various reasons. "Disaster preparedness [is that] you have to think of the unthinkable and prepare for it."
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