Impact Chain Assessment for Vulnerability of the School Education System to Climate Hazards in the Sundarbans Delta, India

Abstract

The education sector experiences catastrophic effects of hazards in the form of life losses and school infrastructure damage. Safety of children at school is a global priority, which has also been stressed in the Hyogo Framework for Action (2005-2015) as well as Sendai Framework for Disaster Risk Reduction (SFDRR, 2015-2030). Involvement of school children in disaster risk reduction (DRR) initiatives at the local, regional, and global levels is of paramount importance for resilience development in school education. This research aims to explore the impacts of multiple hazards and associated disruptions in school education, and attempts to identify determinants of resilience of school education to multiple hazards. The various stressors of school education vulnerability will be highlighted through impact chain modeling, which will help in identification of gaps in preparedness of school communities and hence will contribute as a reference for disaster management teams and school communities for better response strategies. The impact chain assessment will be performed through the VenSim model to estimate the degree of cascading impacts on other infrastructure and interdependent systems. The input variables will be defined through the outputs of assessment of climate and anthropogenic stressors for school education vulnerability as well as the evaluation of relationships between social vulnerability and school education.    

 

Keywords: Sundarbans Delta, Climate Hazard, Education System Vulnerability, Impact Chain.