Jems
As a part of the Interreg VI-A IPA Program Croatia – Bosnia and Herzegovina – Montenegro, the project LADY is being implemented from October 2024 to September 2027. The project aims to strengthen cross-border resilience and prevent landslide risks caused by climate change. It also focuses on improving landslide risk assessments through LIDAR imaging of vulnerable areas and developing a common assessment methodology. One of the key goals is to raise awareness among citizens and schoolchildren about landslide risks.
In accordance with this, the Rescue and Protection Directorate of the Ministry of Interior of Montenegro has started educating primary school students, in order to familiarize children with the concept of landslides. Given that the municipality of Herceg Novi is prone to landslides, this type of education helps raise children’s awareness of what to do before, during, and after a landslide. A presentation tailored to sixth-grade students introduced them to historical data on the world’s largest landslides, including damage and losses. As in previous sessions where children learned about risks such as wildfires, earthquakes, and floods, this program also emphasizes the importance of prevention, which depends on raising awareness.
At the end of the presentation, the children took part in a quiz about landslide knowledge created for the occasion. They also received flyers and promotional materials featuring the project logo. So far, the workshops have been held in two primary schools (“Ilija Kišić” and “Milan Vuković”). On April 30, the third school (“Orjenski bataljon”) will be visited, and in September, students from the fourth school (“Dašo Pavičić”) will be included.
This interactive education included about 110 children who asked numerous questions about landslides and expressed their opinions and concerns. Such training confirm our opinion and efforts that raising awareness of risks should start as early as possible, even with preschool children.
Although the students showed certain awareness of the risk of landslides, it is clear that disaster risk reduction needs greater emphasis in the overall educational curriculum.
