By:
Arkoneil Ghosh, Founding Editor of Junior Champion Magazine, Regional Coordinator, and IAD4AD Administrator
Anushka Konar: Co-editor of Junior Champion Magazine, Design Coordinator
To mark the United Nations International Day for Disaster Risk Reduction (IDDRR) 2026, under the theme “Resilience Starts at Home”1, Volume 6 of the ADN Junior Champion Magazine (ISSN 2759-0380) brings together 11 stories written by young people in Viet Nam, connecting lived experiences of disaster loss and damage with preparedness, early warning and resilience.
For children and young people, home is the center of everyday life. However, when dangerous weather phenomena such as storms and floods occur, this environment becomes vulnerable. Homes are destroyed or damaged, electricity and water supplies are cut off, studies are interrupted, and families have to take urgent measures to ensure safety. UNDRR highlights the home as “a place where disaster impacts are acutely felt” and “where resilience must begin”, emphasising household preparedness, early warning, risk knowledge and the capacity to act.
The stories demonstrate the impact of severe storms, typhoons, and floods on children’s lives and illustrate how families deal with power outages, damaged homes, limited access to food, water, and education, and other challenges. It is remarkable that they reflect not only the consequences of one disaster but the impacts of disasters that occurred in different years and seasons and affect not only the children’s homes but also their studies and daily routines.
Thus, the theme of resilience is expressed in the stories through the actions of families, children, and volunteers in the conditions of disasters. One of the authors describes how his family prepared to leave their flooded house: “As the water level rose, we went upstairs, and my father tied up the food, water, medicines, torches and batteries in a waterproof bag…”. Besides, several young authors also propose practical measures to reduce disaster risk, including disaster drills for children and early warning systems that help communities know when and where to evacuate.
The impact of disasters on children’s lives is particularly severe in the context of recurrent extreme events, such as Super Typhoon Yagi in Viet Nam in 2024. According to UNICEF, 1,607 schools were damaged, and more than 960,000 children experienced learning disruption.2
UNDRR describes children and young people as powerful agents of change. This is also reflected in The Sendai Framework for Disaster Risk Reduction 2015–2030, which calls for their “full, equal, meaningful and inclusive participation in building a safer and more sustainable world”.3 Volume 6 puts this principle into practice by giving 11 young people space to document their experiences and articulate what safer, better-prepared communities could look like.
Children reflect on their experiences and write about many aspects of post-disaster recovery, such as volunteer support, restoration of utilities, and repairs of homes and schools. They describe rebuilding their lives with optimism and resilience: “Life was being reborn out of the very ruins around us”.
We invite readers to explore Volume 6 and listen closely to the 11 young voices it brings together. Their experiences remind us that disaster risk reduction is not only about policies and infrastructure, but also about the knowledge, choices and preparedness developed within families and communities.
References
- United Nations Office for Disaster Risk Reduction (2026) UNDRR announces “Resilience Starts at Home” as the theme for the 2026 International Day for Disaster Risk Reduction. Available at: https://www.undrr.org/news/undrr-announces-resilience-starts-home-theme-2026-international-day-disaster-risk-reduction
- UNICEF (2024) One month since Super Typhoon Yagi: Learning loss affecting 1.3 million children across South East Asia. Available at: https://www.unicef.org/vietnam/press-releases/one-month-super-typhoon-yagi-learning-loss-affecting-13-million-children-across-sout
- United Nations Office for Disaster Risk Reduction (n.d) A Safer Future Starts with Children. Available at: https://www.undrr.org/implementing-sendai-framework/sendai-framework-action/children-and-youth
Acknowledgments
The authors would like to thank Professor Nibedita Ray Bennett for her constructive comments on the earlier version of the blog.
Read the newest volume of the Junior Champion Magazine: https://www.avoidable-deaths.net/adn-junior-champion-magazine-volume-6/
Read the previous 5 volumes of ADN Junior Champion Magazine: https://www.avoidable-deaths.net/junior-champion-magazine/