Addressing a Key Gap in Post-Earthquake Contingency Plan: Student-Parent Reunification

What humanitarian need is being addressed?

The development of a Student-Parent Reunification Plan aims to secure the safety of students and set out how to reunite students and parents if an earthquake hits while the students are in the school.

This plan will make the reunification process much faster and safer by identifying some important elements such as who will come to fetch a student, what to do for students whose parents fail to show up and get them, and when students need to be evacuated outside the school when the school is no longer safe to stay in.

What is the innovative solution and how will it improve existing humanitarian practice?

The innovative solution is to develop a standardised Reunification Plan to be implemented and used at Pitogo High School and eventually for other schools. This is through consultation with parents, teachers, students, Local and National Disaster Risk Reduction Management (DRRM) and other stakeholders. This innovation will improve the existing earthquake contingency preparation in schools where there are no known existing Student-Parent Reunification Plan, such as Pitogo High School. It is stipulated in the DRRM manual II of the Dep-ed that all schools should include in their School Improvement Plan a Student-Parent Reunification Plan.

What are the expected outcomes?

The expected outcome is  to develop a standardised student-Parent Reunification Plan that is properly validated by key stakeholders, to be used in Pitogo High School and other schools in the future.

The plan contains the process of securing the students and how students and parents reunite in post-earthquake and other calamity event when students are in the school. It should be validated through simulation during earthquake drills.

Loopholes and weaknesses of the plan should be expected to be addressed during the evaluation process. Evaluators will be coming from different stakeholders, specifically experts from PHIVOLCS, DRRM officers, Teacher Leaders, Parent Leaders. This will make the reunification plan more reliable and effective.

A signing of a memorandum of agreement between the school and the parents is also expected to be done to further strengthen the partnership of securing the students safety.