Hong Kong Red CrossCommunity Campaign on Disaster Resilience for Sub-Divided Flat Residences in Yau Tsim Mong District
Leveraging on the penetration of local welfare service centres, the campaign were able to reach those unseen but most needed ones living in the sub-divided flats in Yau Tsim Mong district. Apart from direct campaign intervention (including home visits, fire station visit and workshops featuring a virtual reality (VR) game on fire response), the campaign also brought about more sustainable impact by engaging and empowering grassroot welfare service centres in the implementation process. Participants would be more prepared to respond, with the knowledge learned and the disaster evacuation bag and first aid kit equipped.
You are here
E-learning Platform
E-learning Platform
We welcome participants from around the world to join our online learning platform
2019
14/01/2019
HKSKH Lady MacLehose Centre (Neighborhood Level Community Development Project) Community Campaign on Disaster Resilience for Residences Living in Squatter Houses at Kwong Pan Tin Tsuen (光板田村)
Squatter houses are regarded as unauthorized structures, though they are allowed to remain in existence on a temporary basis. Limited permanent intervention and resources are allocated, to improve their living environment, safety and hygiene condition. Risks on disastrous fire and diseases outbreak are inherited from the historical context. HKJCDPRI and its collaborating partner, HKSKH Lady MacLehose Centre, adopts a bottom-up community based approach to ensure participatory of the villages at Kwong Pan Tin Tsuen throughout the campaign cycle. Fire and hygiene ambassadors were elected from the village, who would lead and mobilize their community members to continuously learn and take preparedness measures towards the 2 more prominent hazards. Relevant workshops were organizaed, and educational materials (including the “Hazard and Resources Map” and “Disaster Game” were produced), to pave their way towards resilience enhancement.
14/01/2019
The Jane Goodall Institute (Hong Kong)Community-based Campaign on Climate-related Disaster Response in the North District
The North District (covering Fanling, Sheung Shui, Sha Tau Kok and Ta Kwu Ling) is another “traditional” flooding blackspot, due to its high coverage of floodplain with inadequate drainage capacity. The government even warns the increasing challenges from extreme weather due to climate change. This campaign, collaborated with the Jane Goodall Institute (Hong Kong), suggested a community-based approach to tackle the issue. Selected youths from the district were capacitated through train-of-trainers programme, who would then further disseminate the knowledge in flood preparedness to other community members. The public education efforts were propagated by means of a virtual reality (VR) game and 4 video clips, specifically produced for residences in the district, with the support from the Hong Kong Observatory.
14/01/2019
Amity Mutual Support Society（恆康互助社）
Community Campaign on Disaster Resilience for People in Recovery with Mental Illness
When facing a disaster, people in recovery (PIR) with mental illness are more vulnerable than the others, likely due to their unfulfilled learning needs and slower response resulted from the medication. HKJCDPRI collaborated with Amity Mutual Support Society（恆康互助社）to conduct first-aid training, using a method that adapt to the learning modes of the members. Vocational training (e.g. preparation of mobile educational booths) and workshops covering common emergency incidents in Hong Kong were also organized. Not only their skills and knowledge are enhanced, the involvement of family members and the general public throughout the campaign has also promoted social inclusion.
Pages
E-learning Platform
This page lists all of HKJCDPRI’s or our collaborating partners’ online learning resources, including Certificate-bearing e-Learning modules, webcasts and case studies.
All resources listed here are freely and publicly available. We ask users to use them with respect and credit the authors as appropriate.
You may have to log onto DPRI’s Moodle Platform in order to access some of the materials.
2019
28/03/2019
We are glad to introduce to you a 1.5 day Training Workshop on Disaster Management on 11 & 18 May 2019 co-organised by the Hong Kong College of Community Medicine and the Hong Kong Jockey Club Disaster Preparedness and Response Institute (HKJCDPRI). The workshop is catered for medical and health professionals, as well as officers and personnel of related disciplines who will be taking a leading or managerial role in disaster preparedness and response. It aims at conferring participants with practical skills and strategies in improving leadership and communication during health crises and disasters.
We are glad to introduce to you a 1.5 day Training Workshop on Disaster Management on 11 & 18 May 2019 co-organised by the Hong Kong College of Community Medicine and the Hong Kong Jockey Club Disaster Preparedness and Response Institute (HKJCDPRI). The workshop is catered for medical and health professionals, as well as officers and personnel of related disciplines who will be taking a leading or managerial role in disaster preparedness and response. It aims at conferring participants with practical skills and strategies in improving leadership and communication during health crises and disasters.
The Workshop will be facilitated by media and corporate consultants with local experience. Please find the full program on the right side menu under "Downloads". Highlights of the program include:
Sharing on leadership at peacetime and wartime – Dr Leung Che-hung
Management of Landslide Disasters – Dr Raymond Cheung
Update on social media landscape & Social listening and monitoring services in Hong Kong - Mr Edmund Lee
Big data mining and show case by recent major hot news – Mr James Leung
Details of the Workshop are:
| Date & Time | 11 May (Sat), 9:00 am – 12:30 pm |
| Venue | Function Room 1&2, 2/F, HKAM JC Building, 99 Wong Chuk Hang Road, Aberdeen, Hong Kong |
| Application | Email completed application form (on the right side menu under "Downloads") to [email protected] Deadline: 26 April, 2019 As the workshop can only cater for a limited number of participants, registrations will be given on a first-come first-served basis. |
| CME | 8 CME points will be award to participants from HKCCM. CME/CPD for other colleges are to be confirmed. Participants are encouraged to attend the full 1.5 day workshop, although partial CME points will also be given to participants who attend either workshop on 11 May or 18 May. |
| Note | Free of Charge Lunch provided on 18 May 2019 |
For any enquiries, please contact Ms Rene Chan at [email protected] or (852) 2871 8844.
28/03/2019
In the event of emergencies, all stakeholders are encouraged to have effective plans which aim at mitigating the social and economic disruption of entire communities. Hence broader community engagement is a key to successful disaster risk management and emergency response. However, there has not been an up-to-date summary of the existing evidence on the enablers and barriers to community engagement in this context.
What did the research involve?
The European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control commissioned a study where Ramsbottom et al. reviewed 35 relevant documents published between 2000-2016.
In the event of emergencies, all stakeholders are encouraged to have effective plans which aim at mitigating the social and economic disruption of entire communities. Hence broader community engagement is a key to successful disaster risk management and emergency response. However, there has not been an up-to-date summary of the existing evidence on the enablers and barriers to community engagement in this context.
What did the research involve?
The European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control commissioned a study where Ramsbottom et al. reviewed 35 relevant documents published between 2000-2016.
Based on an established framework of barriers and facilitators of community engagement in the public health domain1, they qualitatively analysed these documents and classified different factors into three broad aspects, namely “Context”, “Infrastructure” and “Process”.
What Did the Researchers Find?
Across the 3-phase Emergency Preparedness Cycle (EPC): Anticipation, Response, Recovery, most of the literature focused on community engagement during the anticipation phase, and findings were:
Trust between the communities and institutions is a prerequisite of successful engagement across all phases of the EPC. When designing emergency preparedness programme, it is important to consider local convention and practices, such as methods of obtaining information of decision-making. It is also crucial to understand local culture and value systems. For example, there may be competing priorities, such as social- or healthcare issues, that prevent communities from engaging in emergency response preparedness.
It would be favourable to start by identifying local capacities (e.g. networks of mutual support) and needs to inform planning and prioritisation. Appropriate community empowerment, which would enhance their sense of ownership, would facilitate effective community engagement. In particular, a decentralised approach to allow communities to lead in some planning activities (e.g. identifying priorities) would incentivise sustained action and involvement. Hence, flexible funding allocation is especially favourable, because it could facilitate the development of locally relevant partnerships and programmes.
To build engagement change over different phases of the EPC, communication methods should be tailored to:
- the demographics and cultural characteristics of different community groups across different stages;
- recognise the diversity of the community and dedicate special effort to engage vulnerable sub-population (e.g. linguistically isolated population); and
- ensure the delivery of coherent and consistent information to establish reliability and trust.
What Does it Mean?
Institutions should understand clearly their existing relationships with the targeted communities and reach out to build trust as the foundation of successful engagement.
While it is crucial to identify community-specific resources, needs, and enablers and barriers of engagement at an early stage, engagement should be made throughout the EPC by culturally competent staff, with special dedication to vulnerable groups.
The Way Forward
A two-way communication between institutions and communities should be in place to understand the needs and capacities of communities and promote a sense of ownership, and building a partnership between institutions and communities.
Finally, more research is necessary to understand the enablers and barriers to community engagement during the response and recovery phase of the EPC.
---------------------
1 IHHD. (2015). Review 5: Evidence review of barriers to, and facilitators of, community engagement approaches and practices in the UK. London: Institute of Health and Human Development.
This article is summarised from: Ramsbottom A, O’Brien E, Ciotti L, Takacs J. Enablers and barriers to community engagement in public health emergency preparedness: A literature review. Journal of community health. 2018 Apr 1;43(2):412-20.
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5830497/pdf/10900_2017_Article_415.pdf
28/03/2019
The Government of Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (HKSAR) has a comprehensive emergency services system, a variety of contingency plans and guidelines to safeguard the safety and wellbeing of the citizens in Hong Kong.
*The documents are not owned by the HKJCDPRI, and are freely and publicly available, unless specified otherwise. We ask users to use them with respect and credit the authors as appropriate.
Publication
Publication Year
Author
The Government of Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (HKSAR) has a comprehensive emergency services system, a variety of contingency plans and guidelines to safeguard the safety and wellbeing of the citizens in Hong Kong.
*The documents are not owned by the HKJCDPRI, and are freely and publicly available, unless specified otherwise. We ask users to use them with respect and credit the authors as appropriate.
Publication | Publication Year | Author | Description |
The Hong Kong Emergency Services
| 2018 | The Government of HKSAR | An overview and some quick facts on the Emergency Services in Hong Kong. |
Hong Kong Emergency Response Management
| Last revised 2018 | Security Bureau, The Government of the HKSAR | The Emergency Response System of Hong Kong and the specific Contingency Plans stipulating the roles and responsibilities of different government departments on various disasters. |
Guidelines for health professionals of Hong Kong on health protection
| Updated regularly | Centre for Health Protection, Department of Health, The Government of the HKSAR | Recommendations for health workers on the treatments and protocols of dealing with various infectious diseases, non-communicable diseases and laboratory testings. |
21/03/2019
The Black Death, Spanish Flu, SARS, Ebola ... In the history of mankind, deadly infections and appalling disasters are inseparable. Science has given us the ability to hunt down the pathogens. However, pathogens – new and old – keep emerging and evolving in every corner of the planet. In today’s highly interconnected world, a single sneeze may set off a global pandemic.
Are you prepared for the next pandemic? How can we prepare for disasters caused by infectious diseases? This e-learning module is about biological disasters, the third in our series of e-learning modules on CBRN emergencies.
The Black Death, Spanish Flu, SARS, Ebola ... In the history of mankind, deadly infections and appalling disasters are inseparable. Science has given us the ability to hunt down the pathogens. However, pathogens – new and old – keep emerging and evolving in every corner of the planet. In today’s highly interconnected world, a single sneeze may set off a global pandemic.
Are you prepared for the next pandemic? How can we prepare for disasters caused by infectious diseases? This e-learning module is about biological disasters, the third in our series of e-learning modules on CBRN emergencies.
To learn more and enroll to the course
