Dissemination of information on hazards and risks: the Icelandic experience

Abstract

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.