Abstract:

Every day, the community faces various disasters: from minor thefts, traffic accidents, floods, prolonged droughts, to terrorism or cyber-attacks. However, coping with one disaster assumes that the community can better prepare to cope with another disaster in the future. Residents have the right to assistance from the state, but at the same time they have a duty and coresponsibility for their protection. Therefore, nowadays there is a need to focus more on community education and to ensure the functioning of this community during local disasters without relying on state assistance. Community education can play an important role in preparing, dealing with, and reducing the negative impacts of disasters. The main reason for enlightening and educating the community is its own increase in resilience and reduction of vulnerability at the local level, with an emphasis on socially vulnerable groups. Furthermore, the level of education improves the socio-economic status and thanks to this it is possible to better prepare (funds, insurance, and quality housing) for local threats. In addition, these people may have better communication links and thus have much better access to quality and relevant information. Within the Czech Republic, there are a large number of tools used to educate the community about disaster protection. The aim of the presented article is to get acquainted with the tools and methods of community education in the field of disaster preparedness in the Czech Republic and the subsequent evaluation of selected educational tools using SWOT analysis.

Keywords:

Education, community resilience, preparedness, disaster.