Kid’s Game of Survival: DRR Education and Gamification

Let us take Disaster Risk Reduction (DRR), for example. We usually get information about disasters through weather programs, the government’s DRR text alerts, published articles, or simple conversations with families and friends. 

Through these channels, we bring home certain assumptions about disaster risks and how they impact the lives and well-being of people around us. For generations, these remain the most popular forms of risk communication that influence how we empathize with the gravity of disaster risks across spectrums of society.  

Policy Adoption and School-based Learning 

In recent years, however, the National Government has moved to formalize how disaster risks are being publicly disseminatedor even taught in schools. In 2011, the Department of Education(DepEd) enacted a policy creating the Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Office (later termed Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Service in 2015), upholding the mandate to mainstream DRR into school systems—institutionalize school-based activities like performing emergency simulation exercisesand organizing learning forums during National Disaster Resilience Month every July. 

Despite schools not yet having a separate DRR curriculum, DRR topics somehow find their way into elementary subjects or even extra-curricular activities. Few schools in Metro Manila, for example, would have initiatives like the “Batang Emergency Risk Reduction Team,” or BERT, where groups of student volunteers are trained on basic DRR concepts. They are latermobilized to spread DRR knowledge with fellow students at school. However, since BERT is not a government-mandated pursuit, there is a risk of it not being actively implemented at all times. 

Besides the yearly fire and earthquake drills, children also learn about DRR through other educational means, like skimmingDRR-focused reading materials in school libraries and participating in classroom-based orientations on first aid and early warning systems.

Disaster concepts also get sandwiched into elementary subjects such as Edukasyon sa Pagpapakatao. These are often not the most effective way for children to learn these concepts. Which begs us to ask the question: why should DRR education among children be a concern?

It is because we are living in times when disasters have become an inseparable part of everyday existence. It has taken a toll on everyone’s life, and children are not exempted. Several disaster studies have claimed how children’s risk exposure outpaces the rest of the population. Particularly those unsupervised, ill-informed, or unaware of how to react once a disaster strikes.

Bringing all these pieces together drops a hint somehow. It challenges us to pause and realize how we often take risk communication for granted. Unconsciously unaware that, up to a certain degree, disaster risk illiteracy can be a risk in itself andput lives on the line. Risk blindness further exposes children, among others, to harm, ruining their chance of survival and depriving their right to self-reliance. 

But frankly, risk communication is a complex task. A lot would complain that it is not easy to do. There is no single formula for it, which holds water, especially in places where access to communication is still out of reach due to various circumstances.Engaging children on the frontline of DRR is often easier said than done. Hence, the most sensible and practical option is to rely on old-fashioned lectures that are sometimes overly technical or preachy. 

But if you give it more thought, how else can you make these DRR concepts stick with children? 

Gamification of DRR Education 

In June 2023, Catholic Relief Services (CRS) in the Philippines, with coordinative support from Caritas Pasig Inc., partnered with the Asia Society for Social Improvement and Sustainable Transformation (ASSIST) to pilot some trial runs of the Master of Disaster (MOD) Board Game, which attempts to impart DRR concepts among children through a gamified approach. 

The MOD game was initially developed by ASSIST andintended for children aged seven and above. Having worked with disaster-prone communities, including children, CRS was drawn to the idea, wondering about the promise of gamificationto bridge gaps in children-centered risk communication. 

Contemplating around this hypothesis, two MOD game trials were conducted separately: one in Barangay Aguho and the other in Barangay Sta. Ana in the Municipality of Pateros. Children participants aged 10-12 were invited for the trials, and around 90 were invited in the two barangays combined. 

The board game itself looks simple. It is a tabletop game thatreminds you of the old Snakes and Ladders mixed with some elements of Monopoly. It steps away from the usual digital or video games since the game is played without using anyelectronic devices such as cellphones or tablets. It demands more physical and social interaction among players. 

The catch with this game is that it is not about the fastest player to reach the “safe zone” or the finish line. Because in this game, stepping into the safe zone is not the only condition to win. 

To be declared the ‘Master of Disaster’, the game is designed so players cumulatively obtain prize tokens, which they win byanswering DRR-related knowledge questions or solving how to respond to different disaster situations planted throughout the game. Therefore, the player who gets the most tokens at the end of the game wins. 

Overall, the MOD game attempts to make DRR learning more fun and interactive without deliberately giving a lecture and tiring the players. 

But to further test this assumption, some children players were surveyed at the end of the trials. Most claimed they enjoyed the process. Some preferred this approach over the usual classroom lecture, since they felt more engaged. On the other hand, a fewshared that lectures about DRR are still necessary because lectures supplement, if not enrich, the game experience. 

Despite these varying preferences, one distinct observationappears to arise above the MOD game trials. That gamification gave children enough autonomy to learn compared to the controlled classroom environment. 

Observing the game model alone felt like diverting to the conventional teaching paradigm. Children feel more empowered, understand what is at stake, and somehow build this sense of solidarity or value of responsibility alongside other fellow players. This brings DRR closer to them, shaping their minds without realizing it. 

Popularization and Institutionalization 

Ultimately, gamification offers a refreshing take on DRR Education. It rightly deserves a thought as a risk communicationapproach. It can adapt the message in a child-friendly, interactive, and simplified manner. An approach that centers on the amusement that fuels the entire learning journey. 

It inspires us to rethink how school-based education can further evolve. Be observant of the preference of children and step outside conventions to optimize multiple ways to influence and transform young minds. 

Although to put a caveat, the game trials do not also prove that gamification can entirely replace the conventional lecture type. As some children players have argued, the board game can supplement, not replace, the lectures. Instead, this could be one of the many creative and engaging ways to test DRR knowledge. Much like how students take laboratory experimentations or dissect frogs to operationalize the knowledge they have gained. 

Indeed, the gamification of DRR Education is here to stay. Itoffers some promise, particularly on how it can be institutionalized in education. If not part of the school curriculum, entertain a few practical entry points like hosting a disaster board game Olympics during the DRR Month or havingit part of the intramurals and included in the sports selection. 

Simply put, involving children in DRR only demands that agency and response actions amidst crises do not necessarily need to start from adults alone. To prove, in the end,  thatchildren are not simply helpless victims that need rescuing all the time. 

With proper knowledge, abundant wisdom, and much-needed twenty-first-century skills in DRR, children can take the frontlines, act responsibly, and become young ambassadors of disaster resilience. To serve as inspirations in their communitiesand eventually bring the game into reality. To survive togetherand win at all costs.(By Bonifacio Javier lll, Catholic Relief Services Philippines)