Tragedies like last year's Pakistan quake, when collapsing classrooms killed 16,000 children, underlined the urgent need for action, U.N. disaster reduction chief Salvano Briceno said.

The two-pronged campaign will also push governments to make risk reduction part of the curriculum.

"More than 200 million people are affected by disasters every year, a third of them are often children ... Educating about disasters can make the difference between life and death," Briceno told a launch ceremony in Paris."