Natural Disasters and School Construction

This is a UNICEF Radio podcast discussion on natural disasters and school construction, with a focus on the recent earthquake in China and the experience of the 2004 Asian tsunami:

With an estimated 10,000 child fatalities from school collapses in the Sichuan earthquake in China, safe school construction has become a central issue for parents, governments and the international development community. Are such catastrophes easily preventable? Why do some schools collapse and not others? Is it simply a matter of better construction?

Earthquake experts, architects and humanitarian aid workers have been working to set higher building standards – especially where children are concerned. What more can they do to ensure communities that their children will be safe at school?