This book presents the importance of natural-disaster education for social preparedness. Increasing damage caused by natural disasters around the globe draws attention to the fact that even developed societies must adapt to natural processes. Natural-disaster education is a component part of any education strategy for a sustainably oriented society. In Slovenia, there is an increasingly urgent need for natural-disaster prevention and adaptation measures that would also take into account the characteristics of the society or an individual’s responsibility in addition to natural characteristics; education plays a vital role in this. The purpose of this volume is to present the role of formal education in natural disasters in Europe. To ensure a uniform overview, the study used secondary-school geography textbooks from the collection at the Georg Eckert Institute for International Textbook Research in Braunschweig, Germany. Altogether, nearly 190 textbooks from 35 European countries were examined. The greatest focus on natural disasters can be found in textbooks published in Western Europe (3.8% of pages describing natural disasters), and the smallest in those published in Eastern Europe (0.7%). A share of textbook pages exceeding three percent describing natural disasters can also be found in northern Europe (3.6%) and southeast Europe, including Turkey (3.4%). The shares in central and southern Europe exceed two percent (i.e., 2.8% and 2.3%, respectively). In Slovenia, geography textbooks dedicate above-average attention to natural disasters (i.e., over 4%). This volume presents the types and specific examples of natural disasters most commonly covered in textbooks as well as the type of natural disasters presented in textbooks according to the number of casualties and the damage caused. The results show that the majority of European (secondary-school) education systems are poorly developed in terms of natural-disaster education. If education is perceived as part of natural-disaster management, greater attention should clearly be dedicated to this activity. In addition to formal education, the volume also discusses informal education, raising a series of questions connected with the importance of this type of education. Special attention is drawn to the importance of knowledge that locals have about their region because this aspect of education is important in both traditional and modern societies.
COBISS.SI-ID: 258945280
The book presents a cross section of the scientific work in the field of natural hazards in Slovenia in the last three years, with special emphasis on the importance of prevention as a key segment in the natural hazards management. In the thirteen chapters different natural hazard topics are presented, e.g. earthquakes, landslides, avalanches, floods (with an emphasis on large-scale floods in September 2010), safeguard forests, droughts and education on natural hazards.
COBISS.SI-ID: 254907904
Social capacity building for natural hazards is a topic increasingly gaining relevance not only for so-called developing countries but also for European welfare states which are continuously challenged by the social, economic and ecological impacts of natural hazards. Following an outline of recent governance changes with regard to natural hazards, we develop a heuristic model of social capacity building by taking into account a wide range of existing expertise from different fields of research. Particular attention is paid to social vulnerability and its assessment, as well as to risk communication and risk education as specific strategies of social capacity building. We propose to distinguish between interventionist and participatory approaches, thus enabling for a better understanding of existing practices of social capacity building as well as their particular strengths and weaknesses. By way of conclusion, we encourage more research on social capacity building for natural hazards in the European context which at present is highly diverse and, at least in parts, only poorly investigated.
COBISS.SI-ID: 33028397