Learning from Voices in the Field: The Role of Disaster Education in Reducing Vulnerability in Urban and Rural Afghanistan

Abstract

Recent studies have shown that the frequency of natural disasters in the world has been increasing. This trend has had serious consequences for people throughout the world. Many studies have also found that in natural disasters, there is a general tendency that women are at higher risk than men. Several factors increasing the vulnerability of women in disasters have been elucidated. Among these, a lack of disaster education has been identified as a primary factor. This study is a follow up to a previous study carried out by the present authors in January 2017 in rural and urban communities in Afghanistan. In September 2017, a non-profit organization conducted a series of disaster education and risk assessment programs in many parts of Afghanistan, which included communities in both rural and urban areas. The aim of the present study is to understand the effect that the education program had on the two case study communities in Afghanistan. The data was collected by conducting focus group discussions and interviews, and analyzed using grounded theory. We found a positive effect of the disaster education program in the short-term by raising awareness, increasing knowledge and promoting actions. The study confirmed previous findings on disaster education’s role in reducing the vulnerability of women. It also revealed that women can play a very important role at the time of a disaster, and they can be good agents for dissemination of the gained knowledge and information to the whole community. Recommendations include the need for follow-up studies in the near future in order to understand the medium and long-term effects.