TEHRAN –The 27th national earthquake and safety drill will be held on Saturday in schools to raise awareness among students, teachers, and their families, as well as reinforce safety behaviors during and after earthquakes.

The drill is held annually, aiming to familiarize students with earthquakes and prepare them to respond correctly and quickly, empowering them to face such events.

The approach known as ‘safe schools, resilient society’ is organized by the International Research Institute of Earthquake Engineering and Seismology, in collaboration with the National Crisis Management Organization, student organization, the Iranian Red Crescent Society (IRCS), and the Islamic Republic of Iran Broadcasting (IRIB), ISNA reported.

In addition to training the students, the drill aims to improve the preparedness of residents in neighborhoods adjacent to safe schools, and to use the capacity of these schools as a base for prevention and crisis management.

It will also focus on the safety and readiness of students with disabilities and special needs, and teach them how to take proper actions in response to earthquakes.

The International Institute of Earthquake Engineering and Seismology started organizing the drill nationwide in the Iranian year 1375 (1996) in nursery and elementary schools in Tehran. Two years later, it started to be practiced nationwide.

Since the Iranian year 1395 (2016-2017), the Ministries of the Interior, Education,  Science, Research and Technology, and the IRCS  have cooperated with the institute in conducting the drill across the country.

Iran is highly susceptible to seismic events, with earthquakes occurring frequently and resulting in severe humanitarian crises.

The Iranian plateau is located in a very seismically active region of the world and is known not only for its major catastrophic earthquakes but also for the disasters relating to natural hazards, especially earthquakes.

About 2 percent of the earthquakes in the world occur in Iran, but more than six percent of the victims of the world earthquakes during the 20th century are reported from Iranian earthquakes

A total of 6,272 earthquakes were recorded across the country over the past calendar year (March 2024 –March 2025), according to the Seismological networks of the Institute of Geophysics of the University of Tehran.

Out of registered earthquakes, 150 were more than 4 on the Richter scale; at least five earthquakes with a magnitude of more than 4.5 occurred monthly in the country.

Enhancing emergency preparedness for children with disabilities

Under a globally unique program called ‘Earthquake Preparedness Education for Children with Disabilities’, UNICEF and its partners have developed three books, each targeting different stakeholders, including parents/caregivers of children with disabilities, teachers, and policymakers.

Throughout the books, UNICEF and UNESCO, in collaboration with the IIEES, offer guidelines on disaster management, including mitigation, preparedness, response, and recovery, focusing on children with hearing impairments, mobility impairments, and autism spectrum disorder. So far, the UNICEF website announced in a press release on January 19.

The development process of these books involved consultations with children with disabilities and their families, Organisations of Persons with Disabilities (OPDs), teachers from the Special Education Organization, social workers from the State Welfare Organization, and aid workers from the Iranian Red Crescent Society (IRCS).

Furthermore, four consultative training workshops were held, where teachers, social workers, and aid workers learned and provided feedback on strategies for supporting children with disabilities before, during, and after earthquakes.

Looking ahead, UNICEF Iran plans to work with its partners to mainstream these resources in the annual earthquake and safety drill organized each year in schools and develop an inclusive guideline for the drill.

As a first step, and for the first time, an earthquake and safety drill was planned to be organised at a special school for children with mobility disabilities, aiming to advocate for an inclusive drill, strengthen earthquake preparedness for children, and gather feedback on the developed guidelines.

The program’s journey does not stop here. Plans are already underway to update the guidebooks to include guidelines for children with vision impairments and to expand the resources to address all types of disabilities. This initiative represents a significant leap towards inclusive earthquake preparedness, ensuring a safer and more resilient future for every child in Iran, regardless of their disabilities.

MT/MG