How To: Make a Risk Map of Your Community

You can help your community to realize the risk of a disaster that may happen and take preventative action. One way is to draw up a hazard and risk map of your community. Here are the steps you can follow:

1. Find out what disasters have occurred in your community in the past. Check books and archives. Visit the fire station and police station. Ask people who have lived in the community for a long time.
2. Identify hazards (like floods, earthquakes, storms, landslides, volcanic eruptions or others) that could affect your community.
3. Discuss disasters with the mayor, firemen, the police, emergency personnel, doctors, social workers, and journalists.
4. On a large piece of poster paper, draw the most important buildings; schools, hospitals, fire services, houses, police stations as well as potentially dangerous buildings such as factories, fragile buildings, dams, power plants.
5. Use a different symbol for each building. Map out roads, rivers, power lines, sewage works and dumps. Use different colors to show these areas.
6. For each hazard, identify how buildings would be affected (a little, badly, completely destroyed) and use a different symbol for each degree of damage.
7. Identify where the people are who will need most help in case of a disaster (such as nursing homes, hospitals, nursery schools).
8. Discuss possible solutions to reduce the risk.
9. Share this with your community. Present it at home, in your school, community center and place of worship.

Source:

International Strategy for Disaster Reduction