The Paré pas Paré (Ready or Not) project is an educational programme in Réunion Island designed to increase awareness of natural hazards and teach safe behaviors before, during, and after disasters. Activities are carried out within schools, integrated into the curriculum, and through extracurricular initiatives such as competitions, interactive games, prevention stands, and field trips. The programme targets students aged 8–12.
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Paré pas Paré (Ready or Not)
General Information
Disaster preparedness educational programmes for children and youth.
The Réunion Island is located in the Indian Ocean, making it particularly vulnerable to powerful cyclones that bring destructive winds and torrential rains, often followed by flooding in rivers and low-lying areas. The steep volcanic terrain, combined with heavy rainfall, frequently causes landslides that threaten villages and infrastructure, while the active volcano Piton de la Fournaise poses additional risks through eruptions, lava flows, and ash emissions. Seasonal forest fires endanger biodiversity and communities living near natural reserves, and although earthquakes are generally moderate, the island’s volcanic nature means seismic activity can still cause significant damage and trigger landslides. Finally, as a coastal territory, Réunion is also exposed to tsunamis generated by distant undersea earthquakes, a rare but potentially devastating threat.
Needs Addressed
Inhabitants in Réunion Island, including children, are exposed to 7 different types of natural hazards. The island is particularly threatened by cyclones, landslides, flooding, volcanic eruptions, forest fires, seismic activity, and tsunamis. An unstable living environment in Reunion Island can decrease children’s confidence in the future and negatively affect their mental health.
Students aged 8 to 12 years old, corresponding to Cycle 3 in the French education system, participate in the educational programme on Réunion Island. In terms of school grades, this includes CM1 and CM2 (the last two years of primary school) and 6ᵉ (the first year of middle school, or collège).
Réunion’s governance functions as a multi-stakeholder system where central authorities, local councils, schools, NGOs, and communities collaborate, though key decisions remain guided by the state.
Réunion has well-established and advanced emergency preparedness system. Early warning mechanisms and public awareness programmes help residents prepare for the natural-hazards.
Critical facilities like hospitals, schools, and evacuation centers are well-developed, but the Réunion’s steep terrain and exposure to multiple hazards create ongoing challenges, especially for remote communities. Continuous investment and community engagement remain essential to maintain resilience.
The programme aims to:
- Raise students’ awareness of natural disaster risks
- Teach appropriate behaviors to adopt before, during, and after disasters.
- Collaborate with local authorities to organize community-based preparedness and natural risk prevention activities.
The programme engages students through interactive booklets, games, comics, storybooks, competitions, and prevention activities, combining hands-on, visual, and social methods to teach safe behaviors before, during, and after natural hazards.
Through modules, games, comics, and interactive activities, children and youth acquire knowledge, interpret risks, and consider appropriate actions. This gives them a moderate degree of influence in decision-making: while final policies or technical measures are set by authorities, students can shape their own preparedness behaviors, influence school-level safety practices, and provide insights that inform broader community awareness.
Engaging children and youth in these education programme strengthens long-term resilience by helping them understand the area where they live and the hazards specific to it, develop practical skills, and build confidence in making informed decisions. Through active participation, they adopt a culture of preparedness and can influence safety practices within their schools and communities, creating a lasting impact on both personal and collective resilience.
Hazard Type
Geographical Scope - Nuts
Geographical Scope
Population Size
Population Density
Vulnerable Groups
Governance
Emergency Preparedness
Infrastructure Readiness
Engagement Level
Empowerment Level
Implementation
The educational programme was integrated into the official curriculum of La Réunion. The programme is supported through specific booklets and learning materials, where natural hazards characterised on the island are described and also behaviours to have before, during and after natural hazards. Spaces spaces for students’ observations and thoughts are included as extra-curricular activities together with exercises and games. Besides these modules, the project had also developed:
- The board game “Risk Peï” links each square to questions about Réunion’s environment, hazards, protection measures, and historical events.
- Harry Trotter postcards feature a virtual character who asks hazard-specific questions to prompt reflection.
- Comics explain the seven main hazards and the correct measures to take before, during, and after each event.
- The serious game “A zot et les zinondations” focuses on correct behaviors related to floods.
- Posters provide prevention instructions in a comic-strip format.
- The animated storybook “The Island of 1000 Dangers” introduces preparation and prevention measures for five key hazards.
- Natural hazard model competitions engage cycle 3 students in creating models of events like volcanic eruptions or landslides, with top classes winning field trips to technical partners.
French
The educational program is created jointly by the French Ministry of Education, the French Red Cross (FRC), the Indian Ocean Regional Intervention Platform (PIROI) and their technical partners.
- French Ministry of Education: provides expertise in educational program design, curriculum integration, and child-focused learning, ensuring DRM content is age-appropriate and pedagogically sound.
- French Red Cross (FRC): brings practical experience in humanitarian response, community preparedness, volunteer mobilization, and training in first aid and disaster response.
- PIROI (Indian Ocean Regional Intervention Platform): offers regional expertise in natural hazards specific to the Indian Ocean area, coordination of multi-agency DRM interventions, and field-tested tools for preparedness and response.
- Technical partners: provide specialized knowledge on environmental hazards, monitoring, early warning systems, and scientific guidance to inform both educational content and community preparedness strategies.
PIROI-FRC trained volunteers intervene directly in the target schools to animate the booklet developed with the French Ministry of Education in Reunion Island on natural hazards and indications on what to do in the event of a disaster and additional resources. From 2020 onwards, teachers from schools are trained on DRR by PIROI-FRC staff and volunteers run the sessions within their academic curricula.
The educational program takes place over 3 school years. CM1/4th-grade students in public and private schools receive, each year a printed student booklet which follows them until 6th grade. In CM1, students focus on the general natural disaster risks module, and cyclones and landslides modules, in CM2 on flooding, volcanic eruptions, and forest fires modules, in 6e on seismic activity, and tsunamis module. To further increase knowledge and awareness of the natural disaster risks, the booklet is accompanied by an interactive local risks board game “Risk Peï” and Harry Trotter postcards. To further learn about the correct behavior before, during, and after natural disasters, comics, serious games, posters, and an animated storybook are used. To strengthen students’ engagement in this learning, PIROI-FRC staff and volunteers organise each year during the extra-curricular time in schools. For instance, a natural hazard model (e.g. volcanic eruption or landslide) is open to all cycle 3 students and prevention activities in schools and prevention villages.
Implementation requires educational materials (booklets, games, comics, posters, digital storybooks, and competition supplies), trained personnel (teachers, volunteers, technical partners), digital tools (computers, tablets, projectors, software), and logistical support (classrooms, activity spaces, transportation, storage, printing, and communication) to deliver interactive and engaging natural hazard education.
The programme began in 2011 with the development of learning materials and pilot school activities. From 2020 onwards, teachers are trained by PIROI-FRC to deliver Disaster Risk Reduction lessons within the curriculum, complemented by extracurricular activities and interactive learning.
Experience of the Implementing Organisation in DRM
Target Audience
Resources Required
Timeframe & Phases
Participation Results
Information about the lessons learned from the implementation of the programme is not available.
Specific information on challenges and adaptive strategies is not publicly available. General challenges in implementing an educational program like this could be:
- Fitting the program into already full school schedules can be difficult, especially when balancing core subjects with extracurricular activities. For this reason, the educational programme has been officially included in the school curriculum, ensuring that the main topics on natural hazards are systematically covered while also allowing the possibility of extracurricular activities to reinforce learning.
- Ensuring all students actively participate can be challenging, especially for those less interested or with learning difficulties. Therefore, creative and interactive learning materials have been developed to engage every student and make the content more accessible and enjoyable.
- Continuing the program over time requires ongoing funding and regular updates to materials and activities. Therefore, strong institutional support is essential, alongside technical expertise, to maintain the quality, relevance, and effectiveness of the educational programme.
In each grade, a knowledge assessment with a survey of 10 questions is done before and at the end of the intervention to quickly measure the impact of awareness-raising activities on a class. Correspondence of the education kit provided by PIROI-FRC to the official French Ministry of Education curriculum for cycle 3. Teachers run the sessions within their academic curricula.
Risk & Mitigation Plan
Scalability and Sustainability
Following the educational programme, students have shown measurable improvements in knowledge and preparedness for natural hazards. These gains highlight the programme’s effectiveness in teaching safe behaviors, increasing awareness of local risks, and reinforcing disaster-ready attitudes, thanks to its well-managed governance, resources, and integration into the school curriculum.
The Paré pas Paré programme has been successfully maintained over time through sustained operational and financial support. Since its launch in 2011, the programme has reached more than 200,000 students, a significant portion of Réunion’s population of under 900,000, demonstrating both its scale and continuity. Its long-term maintenance relies on a combination of institutional support, structured governance, and partnerships with organizations such as PIROI-FRC and the French Red Cross, which provide technical expertise, volunteer coordination, and operational oversight.
The Paré pas Paré project is scalable because its core materials, such as printed booklets, interactive games, comics, and storybooks, can be reproduced and adapted for other schools or regions. It is scalable through flexible delivery, using classroom lessons, extracurricular activities, and community events, and through partnerships with local authorities and NGOs, which provide a model for replication in similar educational and hazard contexts.
Technology and innovation in this project are therefore less about digital tools and more about creative and interactive educational design. The innovative aspect lies in how learning is made hands-on, engaging, and participatory: students learn through playing games, completing challenges, and interacting with physical models of hazards, which helps them understand complex concepts and practice safe behaviors in a tangible, memorable way.
Specific information on direct costs for the Paré pas Paré project is not publicly disclosed.
Specific information on operational costs for the Paré pas Paré project is not publicly disclosed.
The strengths of this educational program are the reality of knowledge, the existence of study materials in various forms adapted to the target child population, training and supporting resources for teachers implementing the program, and correspondence of the education kit provided by PIROI-FRC to the official French Ministry of Education curriculum for cycle 3.