Dissemination of information on hazards and risks: the Icelandic experience

Lisbon - Portugal

Co-financed by the EU - Civil Protection Financial Instrument, in the framework the European project ”Urban disaster Prevention Strategies using MAcroseismic Fields and FAult Sources (Acronym: UPStrat-MAFA, Grant Agreement N. 23031/2011/613486/SUB/A5). http://ec.europa.eu/echo/funding/cp_projects2011_en.htm

This paper deals with on-going activities related to the Task Group H activities on "Disaster prevention strategies
based on an education information system", carried out within the project framework of UPStrat-MAFA "Urban
prevention strategies using macro-seismic and fault sources". The emphasis is on the Icelandic experience and
related work. Civil Defence/Civil Protection in Iceland has distributed information to the public about disasters
since the seventies, first about nuclear war and later about natural disasters. For the last decade the Earthquake
Engineering Research Centre of the University of Iceland has used these materials, along with their own material
and technical capacity, to educate school children, aged 10 to 12, and provided information for local exhibitions.
This article presents an overview of these efforts and the factors guiding the development of information
packages to the public, school staff and children, along with a discussion of the challenges and success of these
efforts.