Humanitarianism: Education & Conflict: PEAC/EDUC 072 (Amy Kapit)

Complications to Disaster Education and Further Points of Study

So far this what works desk study has found the ability of disaster education to encourage life-saving behaviors may not be as effective as some studies indicate. However, these studies are only looking at one approach to disaster education, disaster education focused on behaviorism. In a 2020 article, Robert Coates describes the two approaches to disaster education, both behaviorism – the type discussed so far, focused on increasing preparation and response behavior – and “‘transformative’, which concentrates on locating the cause of a disaster in socio-environmental vulnerability, and thus aims to educate for reasons of political empowerment and societal transformation” (Coates, 2020). Transformative disaster education both complicates the issue further by presenting a type of disaster education that was not studied in Majd et al.’s review paper, and presents a hopeful alternative to the potential shortcomings of behaviorism. An emphasis on transformative disaster education could unite more stakeholders and community members to analyze and protect themselves from the root causes of natural disasters, but the fact that these causes often include unchecked development and exploitation of land and the people most vulnerable to hazards means support for transformative disaster education is hard to come by. As Coates found while studying this issue in Rio de Janeiro, transformative disaster education creates more political and societal obstacles to funding, as it requires governments to acknowledge the role human industries, often very profitable industries, have on the frequency and severity of disasters as well as the vulnerability of certain groups. In the case of Rio de Janeiro, Coates found that “environmental protection and regulating hazardous development come a clear second to economic growth and ‘progress’” (Coates, 2020).

Opening the definition of disaster education to include transformative approaches that focus on mitigation along with resilience also opens the door for the potential connection between disaster education and environmental education. While this connection is not fully explored in this what works desk study, there is a possibility that improving environmental education could be a good first step towards transformative disaster education and community-based disaster management, as being aware of environmental issues and the human activities causing or exacerbating them can help communities understand the causes of and potential solutions to their vulnerability to disasters. Environment education could also help inform disaster education curriculum, as the frequency, severity, and types of disasters will likely change in coming decades due to climate change. For these reason, the connection between environmental education and DRR should be studied further and considered in conversations and decisions about disaster education.


Coates, R. (2020). Educational hazards? The politics of disaster risk education in Rio de Janeiro. Disasters,
        45(1), 86–106. https://doi.org/10.1111/disa.12399

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