Yasamin O. Izadkhah - Research Associate, Risk Management Research Centre, and Member of Centre of Excellence on Risk Management, International Institute of Earthquake Engineering and Seismology (IIEES)
Mahmood Hosseini - Associate Professor, Head of Lifeline Engineering Department, and Member of Centre of Excellence on Risk Management, IIEES

Community education programmes can be more effective when they target specific groups or sectors of the community. Typically "targeting" will focus the education effort on the potentially most vulnerable in society such as children, women, elderly and disabled, and will do so through the use of specific mechanisms and methods, most appropriate to each target group. However, the targeting may focus on particular and appropriate training and capacity building of community and vocational groups likely to be involved in “disaster firs responses", such as emergency and crisis management authorities, lifeline systems personnel, telephone taxi drivers, etc. Also there are some other specific groups of people which their work is directly related to disaster issues. Each target group can be a subject for an individual detailed case study - some have been studied previously and others are in progress. The objective of this paper is to identify and discuss specific issues relating to the education and capacity building of these three different categories. This paper discusses aspects of training programmes and their implementation. It also suggests appropriate methods and tools for training these groups in enhancing their ability to provide assistance in times of emergency. The paper also seeks to promote consideration of how safety strategies can be developed and implemented within various social groups to form the basis of a network which addresses the common needs and priorities of the entire community.