july 2011 southasiadisasters.net 1€¦ · risk through the twelfth five year plan. in any given...

southasiadisasters.netJuly 2011 1

southasiadisasters.net July 20112

DISASTER RISK MANAGEMENT

Emerging Issues of CMDRR in DDMPs

Background:

The District DisasterManagement Plan (DDMP) of Indiado not fully take up CommunityManaged Disaster Risk Reduction(CMDRR) in its plan or planningprocess. What are emerging issues?

Making India safe from naturaldisasters is high priority for theGovernment of India. The NationalDisaster Management Authority(NDMA) has paid increasingly moreattention to local action after theguidelines and policies have beenworked out. The PlanningCommission of the Government ofIndia has set up a Working Groupto suggest ways to incorporateDisaster Risk Reduction (DRR) intothe 12th Five Year Plan. This articleaddresses the points discussed onJune 7, 2011 Sub-Group meeting anddraws from a recent review ofDDMP in Madhubani districtorganised by Bihar State DisasterManagement Authority and Delhi-based Sphere India. The article alsodraws from All India DisasterMitigation Institute (AIDMI)’songoing work since 2010 with fivepartners to review District and CityDisaster Management Plans in sixlocations which suggested manyareas for capacity building andinformation sharing.

Disasters and Economic Growth:

It is a fact that disasters slow downIndia's economic growth. Moregrowth cannot be achieved ifdisasters slow it down. A way out isbuilding national capacity to reducerisk through the Twelfth Five YearPlan.

In any given year an estimated one-fifth of India's districts face disasters:droughts, floods, cyclones,landslides and more adding up to13 natural hazards. In any given yearnew community based initiatives to

reduce risk and build resilience againstdisaster are undertaken across districtsand small towns throughout India.Though UN agencies, international andlocal NGOs, local authorities, andcommunities have put inunprecedented efforts, especially sincethe establishment of the NDMA fiveyears ago, there still remains a longway to go to make India safer. TheTwelfth Plan can give a big pushtowards making India safer byinvesting in the capacities of district,village, and local authorities to planand manage disaster risks. This isbecause, as AIDMI’s work since 1995has found, all disasters are local, and itis local capacities—urban and rural—that mitigate and reduce risk. AIDMI'songoing review show that best returnon plan investments can be realised atdistrict and local level.

Areas for Plan Intervention:

First, the district authorities struggle alot to know how to measure andanalyse risk or its reduction, especiallyin their own district where it mattersthe most. Many efforts are made withlimited resources by district and localauthorities. Claims on their capacityfor development work do not leavespare capacity to address risks. MostDisaster Risk Reduction initiatives areplanned and resourced at the nationallevel, not at the state or communitylevel. Districts hardly have any say insuch national initiatives. Directinvestment by the national and stategovernments in district capacities forDisaster Risk Reduction is rare. As aresult, DDMP prepared under NationalDisaster Management Act remain ingeneral, mainly focused on responseeven though National Institute ofDisaster Management (NIDM) andUnited Nations DevelopmentProgramme (UNDP) has put in manyefforts to make these planscomprehensive. The Twelfth Planshould allocate resources for buildingdistrict and city capacity to make

District Disaster Management Planand City Disaster Management Planbased on analysis and measurementof risks. What the Government ofIndia should support and what statesshould support needs to be workedout for such an initiative. AIDMI'songoing national study has somepossible suggestions for this divisionbetween SDMAs and NDMA.

Second, the district and localauthorities struggle to addressinequality in communities whichmakes any disaster risk reductioneffort weak. The poor are morevulnerable to disasters. Women anddalits almost always get delayedrelief. Small businesses get left outof the compensation packet. These aresome examples of exclusion. TheTwelfth Plan can directly invest incivil society in making District andCity Disaster Management Plan moreinclusive of dalits, women, smallbusinesses and the poor. This can bedone in several ways and must bediscussed in more detail. Some toolsare developed by National DalitWatch for such inclusive response.

Third, district authorities have fastdeveloping information systems butthey do not have integrated andcoordinated monitoring andevaluation systems that localcommunities and Panchayati RajInstitutes can use to target vulnerableand at risk communities before andafter a disaster. Neither the risks arewell known nor those who are at risk.Though information is available ingeneral it is not context-specific andcommunities-specific. The TwelfthPlan can launch Government-civilsociety awareness scheme to bringkey elements of District and CityDisaster Management Plans on line,updatable and usable bycommunities and local district, city,and panchayat institutions. Theabove mentioned pilot in Bihar must


be reviewed to find ways to detailthis recommendation.

Fourth, national initiatives are goodat developing approaches andconcepts but not on targets andestimating costs of reducing risks inthe districts. Most targets are, ingeneral, shifting and often non-existent. When targets do exist, theyare based on poor information andno baseline data. So who can tell ifrisk is in fact reduced? Who can tell ifthe school is safe? How many schoolsin a district or city are safe? TheTwelfth Plan should demand specifictargets for risk reduction fromdistrict and city authorities viaSDMAs and provide funds for thecost of setting up such a system. Howmany schools will be safer? Howmany hospitals will be safer? The 12thPlan should build capacity to settargets and share information on thetargets. All risks can not be reducedby all stakeholders with given timeand resources. Prioritising andtargeting is an important issuecoming out of AIDMI review.

Fifth, points 3 and 4 mentioned abovelead to developing national statisticalsystems that help move district andcity plans ahead. Now more is knownabout the national cost of disastersbut still there is a lack of informationon what is rebuilt, by communities,with their own contribution. The costto the community (in money andother resources) of rebuilding shelter,livelihood, and infrastructure isunknown and so a little is knownabout how to plan—for resources andlong term recovery—at the districtlevel. The Twelfth Plan shouldallocate resources for ongoingnational studies of costs of recovery,response, preparedness, and morewith NIDM for the next five yearsthrough an Expert Group.

Sixth, there is uneven and scatteredpublic spending on disaster riskreduction across communities,authorities, UN system and INGOs.There is an opportunity to combinefunds, and to sustain and target thosefunds at local levels for District andCity Disaster Management Plans and

Almost all states in India arefacing or faced disasters in the

form of flood, cyclone, drought, cloudburst or even Tsunami. Tsunami wasthe disaster which hit more than onecountry in 2004. That was an "alarm"for our Government and also fordevelopment agencies like us. Thatwas the time, when efforts startedshifting from "Rescue and relief" to"Disaster Risk Reduction".

Cordaid, with the help of ten partnerorganisations is trying to build theresilience capacities of communitiesmainly in Bihar, Rajasthan,Tamilnadu, Orissa and Andaman andNikobar Islands. The main emphasisis to make this intervention truly"Community Managed" where mostmarginalised are engaged in eachstage not just as "respondent" but alsoas "decision makers". The whole focusis on "reducing the vulnerability" and

Promoting Community Managed Disaster Risk ReductionINTRODUCTION

"Increasing the Capacity" ofCommunity so that RISK can bereduced. It is important that "relief"should not be considered as"charity" or a service for "first comefirst serve". It is indeed a matter of"Right". It is encouraging to see thatAIDMI is promoting through thispublication and workshop. Thereare agencies which are fighting forthe entitlements of the poor, I amsure this effort of AIDMI is goingto strengthen their efforts as well.

In this direction, engagingGovernment, mainly localGovernance such as Panchayats andGram Sabhas is one of the mainpriorities of intervention. It isimportant to engage Community,Government and other civil societyorganisations in all stages ofmovement to make the interventionmore effective, efficient and sustainable.

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community initiatives whileleveraging more funds fromgovernment and private sectors. TheTwelfth Plan should converge alldirect and indirect investments indisaster risk reduction in District andCity Disaster Management Plans. Thismay also include civil society andinternational aid agencies' spending.How to do so? What is effective? Whatare past expenses of convergence? Thismust be discussed. AIDMI ongoingreview found that this issue ofconvergence is now falling in-between SDMAs and DDMAs.Neither have skills or mechanisms toconverge investments in riskreduction.

The above six areas of CMDRR inIndia offer, as explained, keyopportunities for the Twelfth FiveYear Plan to invest resources inDistrict and City Disaster Managementto reap robust returns of disaster safeeconomic growth for community.

– Mihir R. Bhatt,All India Disaster Mitigation Institute

With the efforts of AIDMI and otherpartner organisation, we hope, wewill be able to achieve true RIGHTSperspective in near future.

– Munish Kaushik,Cordaid Advisor, India


KNOWLEDGE SHARING

Making CMDRR Inclusive

It has been observed that Dalits havebeen systematically excluded from

relief and rehabilitation efforts, andthe specific vulnerabilities faced byDalit communities affect and impacttheir coping mechanisms to disasteras well as their access to response andrecovery. An understanding andrecognition of these factors can helpbuild the necessary mechanism toprovide adequate and efficientdisaster mitigation and responsemechanisms. The long term issues ofchronic poverty, malnutrition, illhealth, migration, inability to accesseducation, child labour, otherexploitation among vulnerablecommunities, and inter-communityconflicts are accentuated byinappropriate disaster responses.

With this background, a workshop on"Vulnerability Mapping andInclusion Monitoring in the Contextof Disasters, from a Dalit Perspective"was held on 10-11 March 2011, in NewDelhi, for its state and CMDRRnetwork partners. The objectives of

the workshop were (i) to develop aclear conceptual and practicalunderstanding of exclusion of Dalitcommunities in disasters and learnmethods to monitor and record suchpractices of exclusion; and (ii) toequip the state/organisationalrepresentatives to train their frontlinestaff in inclusion monitoring duringand after disasters.

The workshop intended tocollectively evolving a much refinedmethodology/tool of vulnerabilitymapping and inclusion monitoring,incorporating experiences andlearning from different regions of thecountry, exposed to disasters ofdifferent kinds. The workshop alsoaimed at capacitating the frontlinepersonnel who are in direct touchwith the communities at risk. In anutshell, the overall envisagedoutcome of the training was tostrengthen the existing skills set ofthe participants and equipping thefield staff with the understanding ofvulnerability from the Dalit perspective.

The participants hailed fromKarnataka, Andhra Pradesh, Assam,Gujarat and Rajasthan. Theorganisations they represented wereHuman Rights Forum for DalitLiberation-Karnataka (HRFDL-K),Unnati, Dalit Watch-Andhra Pradesh,Rural Volunteers Centre (RVC) andHelpAge. Continuous referenceswere brought in of Bihar Kosi floodexperiences by representative fromHelpAge, while Unnati shared aboutits valuable ongoing interventionswith the communities living throughdrought conditions in different partsof Gujarat and Rajasthan, and floodmonitoring experiences werebrought out by Dalit Watch AP,HRFDL-K, and RVC.

The outcomes from the workshopwere:• Participants were enabled to

identify the vulnerability of theDalit communities in the contextof disasters, also encapsulatingthe dimensions of exclusionbased on gender, disability, oldage etc.

• A framework (tool) wascollectively developed throughthe workshop to record thevulnerability of these socialgroups, in order to communicatethe same to the duty bearers(state & CSOs) to respond to it.

• Participants were enabled toorient the field staff with themutually evolved frameworkand get it going at thecommunity levels; get theirinputs and further incorporatetheir fine knowledge from thefield into the preliminaryframework.

• A community friendly methodevolved to enable the communitymembers (task force) to recordvulnerabilities of theircommunities.

– Lee Macqueen, NCDHR, New Delhi

In the year 2010, a similar kind of national two-day event was organisedby National Dalit Watch on June 18-19 in New Delhi. It was a national

consultation on "Exclusion of Dalits from Disaster Response and RiskReduction Interventions: Advocacy for Effective Civil Society Monitoring,Enabling Policy Regime and Well Defined State Entitlements to EnsureInclusion". It was very much inspiring to many participants since the peoplehad been much active on the issue at the state level. The participants wereable to consolidate the learning that emerged from five states towardsbuilding up a methodology for Vulnerability Mapping and InclusionMonitoring. Besides the National Dalit Watch partners in Andhra Pradesh,Karnataka and Assam, Unnati from Gujarat and HelpAge from Delhi alsoparticipated, bringing in the experiences from Rajasthan and Bihar, bothfrom flood and drought responses. Even flood or drought relief can excludedalits as often they do not have title to land. The participants collectivelydeveloped a basic framework for Vulnerabiltiy Mapping and InclusionMonitoring to be done at the community level in a community friendlymanner. These tools were to be piloted in Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka andAssam and shared in a follow-up workshop at a later stage, if time andresources permit.

– Prasad Chacko, National Co-ordinator,National Campaign on Dalit Human Rights (NCDHR), New Delhi


EXPERIENCE SHARING

CMDRR: A Focus Area for HumanitarianAgencies

A two - day National Conferenceon CMDRR was conducted by

Caritas India at Yusuf Sadan in NewDelhi on 24 and 25 March 2011. Theconference was attended by variousorganisations, national andinternational active in the field ofDRR in India. The two day conferenceserved as a platform for all theorganisations to share theirexperiences, viewpoints and activitieswith all the other participants.

Ms. P. Jyoti Rao, Hon'ble Minister,National Disaster ManagementAuthority, Government of India wasthe chief guest on this occasion. In herinaugural address, Ms. P. Jyoti Raoexpressed her perspective on disastermanagement, and what has been therole of the government in thisdomain. She also pointed out the factthat Disaster Audit conducted byNDMA is a commendable act in thisarea. She made the gathering realisethat everyone present at the conferenceis a stakeholder in this area andshould act responsibly in this sphere.

She stressed on key elements whichif incorporated within theprogramme efforts, will add greatervalue:

• Engaging Civil SocietyOrganisations in DisasterManagement, since they are thedriving force for implementationduring emergencies.

• Gender mainstreaming is a mustand it should be inclusive in allthe interventions related toHazards.

• There is a need for holisticinvolvement of DM in all fields.

• Decentralisation of initiatives toenhance participation from allgroups is essential.

• Quality and human dignityissues rising during disastersneed to be addressed.

• Documentation is a must to shareand record the processes, practiceson Disaster Management.

• Validating them with science.• Generating Capacity at the micro

level.• Awareness mobilisation and

sharing of knowledge.• Alternate livelihood, has to be a

part of the mitigation process.• Skill development programme

should be introduced from theMinistry of Labour.

Caritas India also launched a videodocumentary on "Minimising Risks"and a book on "Most SignificantStories of Change" during the eventthat capsules the changed influencein the lives of the people.

– Babita Alick, Team Leader,Disaster Management, Caritas India.

National Conference on CMDRR, March 24-25, 2011, New Delhi.

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Local Capacity that Led Towards Risk

Reduction of Children

Ademonstration on fire safety was conducted by AIDMI inpartnership with Mahila Vikas Ashram (MVA), a local in partner of

AIDMI, for students, teachers and staff members in the KGBV school inRahika, Jhanjharpur wherein the usage of fire extinguishers was alsodemonstrated. The students were also given practical training for using thefire extinguishers effectively.

After few days of the training there burst a fire because of short circuit inone of the room of the school and the furniture caught fire. Soon otherthings also started catching fire. Seeing the smoke and fire, some of thestaff members came running near the burning room. At that time, thewarden, Miss Kundan immediately took out the fire extinguisher and usedit tactfully to extinguish the fire. Soon the fire was in control. Thus, thetraining which she had received became very helpful. After this incidentteachers and students of the school have regular discussion on fire safety.And other schools also learned lessons of fire safety.

(A case study from Mahila Vikas Ashram, Bihar)


COMMUNITY ACTION

Making Relief Inclusive

RUC with the support of Cordaid, The Netherlands, supplied relief materials to 1600families in Kanyakumari District worth rupees twenty eight lac after floods in 2010.

COMMUNITY RECOVERY

Building Resilience to Disasters in Bihar

The state of Bihar happen to behighly prone to floods related

hazards and disasters primarily dueto existence of number of rivers likeGanges, Ghagra, Gandak, Sone,Kamalabalan, Falgu, Budhi,Chandan, BurhiGandak, Kosi,Mahananda etc. And floods havebecome annual phenomenon fordistricts on Indo-Nepal borders. Thefloods in 2007 were most devastatingin recent history. Madhubani andDarbhanga districts were the worstaffected districts. Since then HelpAgeIndia is continuously involved inhelping most vulnerable anddisadvantaged segments of thesociety (elderly, widow and disabled)to improve their resilience andprepare them to for flood related

disasters. The approach is to establishand institutionalise communitymanaged structures towardscollective advocacy and socialprotection in 38 villages. The elderlyin all the 38 villages have access toprimary and emergency medicalhealth care through Mobile MedicalUnits. Through networks of eye carehospitals HelpAge is helping elderlyto get operated for cataracts andrestore vision. To improvepreparedness among communities atrisk, more than 300 Elderly Self HelpGroups (ESHGs) have been formedand working to enhance the qualityof life through inter-loaning andlivelihood generation. All the 38villages are having DisasterPreparedness and Mitigation

Committees looking afterMultipurpose Community Centers,Grain Banks, and Fodder Banks. Theyare also taking care of measuresnecessary for immediate rescue andrelief including Boats (jointlyprepared by community andHelpAge India), life jackets and PAsystems.

It is through ESHGs, Village LevelFederations and local support thatelderly are able to raise theirdemands for rights & entitlements atvillage, district and state level. Theefforts of HelpAge India aresuccessfully replicating within and bythe local communities.

– Sushil Kumar,HelpAge India

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In December 2010, the CollectorRajendra Ratnoo had constituted a

flood relief coordination committeeconsisting of A. Maria James of RuralUplift Centre (convener); AhmedKhan, president, district unit of IndianRed Cross Society; Rajendran of LionsClubs International; Sivananthan ofRotary Club; Celine Mary of SocialAction Movement; Angelus of KottarSocial Service Society and ArulKannan, secretary, Disaster ResponseTeam, to provide flood reliefassistance to flood victims in thisdistrict.

The Rural Uplift Centre haddistributed relief materials worth Rs.2,200 each to 580 families atEzhudesam and Mankadu panchayatswith the aim of making relief effortboth, inclusive and leading to disasterrisk reduction. Each member ofaffected community was reached outand community committees came upas an outcome of this relief process.Community committees will nowtake up disaster risk reduction and

also interact with District DisasterManagement Planning process atdistrict level. Experience of thiscommittee will be put into the DistrictDisaster Management Plans (DDMPs)to make it better prepared for reliefnext time. Another 600 families wouldbe provided relief at the rate of Rs.1,400 each.

John Joseph, MLA, inaugurated therelief programme at Ezhudesam. Therelief materials consisting of cloth,utensils and healthcare goods weredistributed to flood affected persons.The Red Cross supplied mats and bedsheets to 800 families in Ezhudesamand Mankadu panchayats.

– A. Maria James,Rural Uplift Centre, Tamil Nadu, India


CYCLONE RECOVERY

CMDRR Issues from Aila Cyclone in Sundarbans

Background:

In May 2009, Cyclone Aila sweptthrough the Indian state of WestBengal. Concern Worldwide India,which supports partners initiatives inIndia to help people living in extremepoverty achieve major improvementsin their lives, provided immediatesupport to its local partners for reliefoperations in Aila affected areas ofSundarbans. Two years after theCyclone Aila, AIDMI was asked tocarry out an evaluation of thehumanitarian response supported byConcern Worldwide India.

The purpose of the evaluation was tomeasure whether the project activitiesin the cyclone-affected project areashad been implemented effectivelyand efficiently and to identify goodpractices, document lessons learnedand identify issues that requirefurther examination.

The project had been implemented inNorth and South 24 Parganas byConcern through its local partnerorganisations – Association ofBengal Collaborators forDevelopment (ABCD) and SabujaSangha respectively. Panchayatsin these districts were severelyaffected by the cyclone especiallyby the tidal surge from thesurrounding rivers.

The overall objective of theproject was to provide earlyrecovery assistance to the mostvulnerable people affected by Aila.Thus, the project aimed atimproving food security athousehold level, providing semi-permanent shelters to extremelypoor families, creating access tosafe drinking water and latrines,and enhancing disaster resilienceat community level.

Findings:

Given the available means, targetingof villages was accurate in terms ofneed and impact. Beneficiariescovered were the poorest of poor.Cash transfer through infrastructureimprovement and development aswell as the provision of alternativelivelihoods was well received incommunities and played animportant role in overall recovery ofthe communities. However, GoWBand NGOs including ConcernWorldwide were not adequatelyequipped to provide relief in urbanareas as well as communities onisolated islands in Sunderbans.

Involvement of local partners incarrying out project activities wasimportant and so was their presencein the communities for possiblefuture activities. However, projectenhancement, apart from sharingexperiences and consultation, had nottaken place with other agencies

working in the area or governmentagencies like DDMA.

Integrated farming as an instrumentfor recovery was well received by thetarget community and provided foodsecurity and livelihood options. Italso proved to be an effectiveinstrument for economicempowerment of women. Though,task forces were not particularlyenthusiastic about it and they alsolacked plans to spread awareness incommunities beyond those alreadytargeted.

Another evaluation criterionconsidered the integration of DisasterRisk Reduction (DRR) measuresduring recovery. Concern has a DRRpolicy and strategy which iscompletely aligned to the HyogoFramework for Action. However,under this specific project, the riskreduction activities should have beenexecuted earlier. For example, micro

credit is now spreadingthroughout the targetcommunity, yet micro financesuch as micro insurance was notconsidered as a potential DRRmeasure.

Recommendations:

Communities can preparethemselves more effectively byreviewing village riskassessment more regularly andsharing them with PRIs forintegration in Village DisasterManagement Plans (VDMPs).Humanitarian agencies andgovernments should encouragetarget communities to make andregularly update recovery plansfor better preparedness againstmultiple hazards.

Local partners should focus moreon coordination in future events.

Image: AIDMI.

CMDRR Approach: High trust in people’s ability to

manage structural risk reduction measures.


Moreover, as good practices arescattered in different communities,good results achieved through theimplementation of project activitiesshould be well documented anddisseminated among all thestakeholders, including thegovernment authorities.

The local implementing partner ofConcern Worldwide India, SabujSangha, is recommended toestablish a community evacuationcenter in the target communities,providing emergency shelterduring future disasters.

The Government of West Bengalcan improve its disaster relatedactivities on several points. It isimportant for the state governmentto train PRIs how to prepare VDMPsand contribute to making DDMP. Itis recommended that the local stategovernment should incorporate thegood practices learned from Ailawork into its DM policy at statelevel. The state disastermanagement agency can invite keyagencies like Concern WorldwideIndia to incorporate their inputsinto the district to state disastermanagement plan and DRRplanning for the state.

Integrated farming anddemonstration plots for organicfarming had received a goodresponse from the targetcommunities. The district and stategovernments should encourageimplementing agencies andpracticing communities to sharesuch green livelihood practices inmaking or updating climate changeadaptation policies.

Part of Concern's response was theformation and training of task forceteams. Task force teams need to beintegrated with District DisasterManagement Authorities for theirplanned activities.

– Aparna Shah,All India Disaster Mitigation Institute

DISASTER MANAGEMENT

District Disaster Management Plans(DDMPs): Early Findings

India is increasingly subjected tonatural disasters, but these have

never been adequately factored intothe planning process either at nationallevel or more importantly at localdistant level. Role of civil society andlocal authority is crucial in makingimpact sustainable and inclusive todevelop and nurture culture of safety,where it matters the most:communities.

AIDMI has conducted a DDMP reviewof disaster preparedness and capacityof small sample of disaster-prone areas– Villupuram and Cuddalore in TamilNadu; Bhuj and Ahmedabad city inGujarat; Darbhanga in Bihar andAndaman and Nicobar Islands in India.The objectives of conducting studywere: a) to review a sample of DDMPsin India to map achievements andchallenges; and b) to develop longterm systematic action plan to makeDDMP work. 9 key questions wereidentified for data collection fromexisting status to response,coordination, partnership, capacitybuilding and review of needs in DDMPmaking process and products.

Data was collected through literatureresearch, field visits, interviews, andlimited but effective groundassessments; and a comparison of themandated plan outline with the actualrealities on the ground fromgovernment, community groups andlocal organisations. First responders arealways the disaster-affected peoplethemselves, and all disasters affect alocality and the people in it.1 For thesereasons, AIDMI chose to emphasise theneed for strong, effective, coordinated,efficiently managed and well-designedDDMPs in assessment. While reviewingthe accessibility of the plan, it is observedthat citizens have hardly any access toDDMPs on state or city websites.Citizens can not access these plans inperson either without connection.

Generally the process of DDMPpreparation was found administrativewith top down approach rather thanparticipatory. No many consultationswere made to make DDMPs moreusable and up-to-date. Informationsharing is found mainly acrossgovernment departments eliminatingrole of other key stakeholders such asprivate sector or business. Thissomewhat closed and inward lookingprocess has resulted in lower levelawareness on existence of informationabout DDMP among at risk citizens.Information like important contactnumbers of the key contact persons andauthorities in the time of emergencyis crucial, but not updated, which isvery important.

Outstanding issues that came out areinclude slow change of focus fromresponse to DRR; delivery toempowerment and design todevelopment for better sustainability.Direct focus on poor and excluded is themost important and unaddressed issuethat came out in discussions.Involvement of PRIs and citizens,sharing responsibility with privatesectors and strengthening communityprotection systems are important areasto be addressed in future DDMPs.Linking with key entitlements like rightto information, food, health, educationand many more is missed in DDMPs.To increase the performance of DDMPand DDMA, need to prepare mitigationand preparedness plan components inDDMP. But skills, knowledge, andattitudes of staff lack at local level.Programmes of Government andINGOs/CSOs should be framed to reduceimpact of climate change risks anddevelopment of ecosystems such aswetlands area development inupcoming DDMPs in areas such asSunderbans or Kutch. The review workis continuing with CordAid support.

– Arpita Chhatrapati andVandana Chauhan, AIDMI

1 UNISDR, "Local Governments and DRR," 2010.


DISASTER RECOVERY

CMDRR Lessons from Aila Cyclone inSundarbans

Introduction:

The one-year project 'Post AilaRecovery' – implemented byAdventist Development and ReliefAgency (ADRA) with support fromthe European CommissionHumanitarian Aid and CivilProtection (ECHO) in Sundarbans,West Bengal, India from February2010 to January 2011 – sought to helpcyclone-affected vulnerable familiesrebuild their lives and increase theirresilience to future disasters.

Shortly after the project's conclusion,in January 2011, AIDMI conducted animpact evaluation of the project todetermine if, and to what degree, theproject had met its goals andgenerated positive impacts on targetcommunities. The evaluation mainlyfocused on the organisations formedby the project i.e. Village DisasterManagement Task Forces (VDMTFs)and Village WASH Committees(VWCs).

Evaluation process/Methodology:

The impact evaluation involved areview of the project and relevantdocumentation and reports, field dataof target communities, interviews ofkey stakeholders, and other toolsdesigned and implemented by AIDMIteam in the 5 selected projectcommunities out of 18 in 3 GPs of 3blocks in North 24 Parganas district,as well as a review of other keyinitiatives in Sundarbans forrecovery and disaster managementof the communities affected by theAila cyclone.

Key Findings:

The evaluation found multiplepositive impacts generated by theprogramme. The key findings arelisted below:• Active community participation

in salinity clearance from ponds,

water bodies' restoration, andother disaster response activitiesled to strong feelings of personalresponsibility for communitydevelopment and risk reductionactivities.

• Safer buildings for communitymembers (men and women) willensure greater protection ofthemselves and their possessionsduring disasters.

• The project team inspired andguided local target villages tomake their plan of action. Someof these villages couldsuccessfully convince their GPsto grant and allocate Rs. 640,000for resilient communitydevelopment purposes.

• The evaluation found localempowerment of task forcemembers as a result of trainingand socio-economic developmentwith significant femaleparticipation. The taskforcesformed included women andprovided added support for themto participate in project activitiesat various levels.

Recommendations:

In line with the Hyogo Frameworkfor Action, the following keyrecommendations are provided fordifferent stakeholders of the project:

For Target Communities:• The communities need to build

on ADRA's risk reduction workby sharing these risk reductionpractices and activities withother communities.

• Taskforce members shouldarticulate challenges faced andbuild on lessons learned to meettheir future needs. This mightpoint to a need for greaterengagement and joint visioningand sharing at taskforcemeetings on the ground.

For ADRA:

• ADRA should focus on disastersbeyond than the Aila cyclone andmake the communities moreaware of multi-hazard riskreduction.

• Risk transfer tools such asinsurance (e.g. life, property),savings, and more may beexplored as ADRA hassignificant capacity as well asexperience with similar activity(sheep insurance) in the existingproject.

For ECHO:

• A regional workshop with ADRA– as a practitioner; targetcommunities; and local, stateand/or national authorities asstakeholders on 'ResilientLivelihoods to ChangingClimate Risk and ChangingDisaster Risk Landscape' byECHO and UN – may be timely.

• Sundarbans is one of the mostclimate sensitive areas in theworld. More should be investedinto long-term projects that focuson climate risk reduction andeco-friendly developmentactivities such as kitchen garden,sheep rearing and duckery.

For Government:

• Livelihood recovery and school-based disaster risk reductionactivities carried out under thisproject should be better linkedwith Mahatma Gandhi NationalRural Employment GuaranteeAct (MGNREGA) and SarvaShiksha Abhiyan (SSA).

• Task force teams formed in thisproject should be integrated withDistrict Disaster ManagementPlan activities.

– Sanchit Oza,All India Disaster Mitigation Institute


The population of ANIs lives in agroup of 36 inhabited islands of

the total number of 572. The islandsare located in the Seismic Zone V. Oneof the largest fault lines in the tectonicplates identified, line in the regioncausing severe turbulence in the 10degree channel separating the 2groups of islands. Additionally,being islands, surrounded by seasmakes islands prone to floods,cyclones and cyclonic storms. Islanddisaster management is quite differentand more further compounded by thedistance from the mainland and thedifficulty in movement betweenislands especially during monsoonsand high wind seasons because ofextremely choppy seas.

Recently, AIDMI with WBVHA (WestBengal Volunteer Health Association)with support from CORDAid carriedout assessment of school safetysituation. All covered 53 schools arelocated in Andaman Islands. Theassessment from school safetyperspective assumes significanceespecially because of the isolated andextremely vulnerable islands thatchildren and communities reside in andthe need for more intensivecommunication with thechildren for promoting theculture of preparedness andmitigation.

Teacher's views were incentral during the assessmentprocess. The focus of studywas to assess the knowledgeof teachers on DRR and schoolsafety; preparedness andsafety; impact of projectcarried out by outsideagencies related to DRR andschool safety; and currentneed of the schools by safetypoint-of-view. Initial findingsand recommendations arelisted below for educators andhumanitarian agencies.

RISK ASSESSMENT

Joint Efforts with Teachers for Safer Educationin Andaman and Nicobar Islands (ANIs)

Key Findings:

• 2004 earthquake and tsunamipush the school community tobuild awareness about both thedisasters. However, stakeholdersdo not have any kind of regularpractices or/and platform forDRR awareness creation.

• Schools lack basic safetyequipments like first aid kits andfire safety equipments. Severalschools do have fire safetyequipments but do not knowabout how to use and maintainsuch equipments.

• Locally some school networks doexist, but integration of thesenetworks with DRR and SchoolSafety is not there.

• In terms of awareness specific toDRR aspects, school staff has goodawareness about early warningsigns, do's and don'ts, and impact.However, they require moreknowledge on preparedness, riskreduction and scientificknowledge of occurrence.

• Teachers recognised theimportance of practical exercisesbut were unknown about how toconduct such exercises like

disaster specific mock drills, firesafety, first aid treatment etc.

• Basic education related todisasters has been introduced insyllabus but importance of DRReducation and practices areneeded for long-termperspectives.

• According to teachers, majorityof school buildings are not safeagainst natural disasters.

Key Recommendations:

• There is high difference in termsof risk perspective of one schoolto another. The action planshould be made based on thedetailed school safetyassessment.

• It is clear that teachers are primetarget group who can makeschool safer effectively. Thusbased on above-mentioned riskscenario, more investmentshould be made for teachers tomake them DRR leaders ineducation field.

• We should not wait for anothertragedy in ANI as itlocated in Zone V andschool buildings are notsafe against earthquake.The schools should bemade safe structurally andnon-structurally as earlyas possible.

Involved agencies areplanning to take more actionson capacity building ofteachers with practicalexercises and follow-upactions which will be designedwith the school stakeholders.Some actions are made tomake ANI schools safer likeToTs on School Safety,awareness material, anddisplays, which will promotea culture of safety in 64schools.

– Vishal Pathak, AIDMI

Mr. Bishnu P. Roy, M.P. discussing school safety issues

with teachers during consulation at Rangat, Andaman &

Nicobar Islands.

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ORGNISATIONAL EXPERIENCE SHARING

We are Prepared: People Centered Approachin Disaster Management

"We build resilient communitycommunities" a slogan

which got uttermost response fromthe people was the center of focus ofthe entire programme. CommunityBased Disaster Preparedness project,a three phase project createdthousands of task forces specialisedin several disciplines. Participatoryapproaches in disaster managementensured the owning up of the entireproject by the coastal communitiesunder the reference area of thesociety. A new breeze of disasterinduced development had beencarried out in the entire areas as a partof the first phase and second phaseprogrammes. Consortium of CaritasIndia, Kerala Social Service Forum(KSSF) and Quilon Social ServiceSociety (QSSS) is introducing the thirdphase of CBDP project with newwindows for community managedDisaster Risk Reduction programme(CMDRRP).

Coastal communities of 15 wards ofAlappad Panchayath, Thanni ward ofKollam Corporation and 13 wards ofArattupuzha panchayath wereempowered to cope with and takeaction to effectively reduce theadverse impact of disasters and topromote sustainable developmentand envisages up scaling the variousdisaster risk reduction activitieslaunched in the earlier phases withmore focus on local developmentplanning ensuring good governancein the region.

Community initiated a Plethora oftask forces capable of reducing therisks associated with the futuredisasters. The main target of thecommunity was peddling up of thedevelopment of the region throughpeople's participation namely

through task forces such as emergencyresponse teams (ERTs), DisasterManagement Teams (DMTs),Kuttikuttamm (children's group), SelfHelp Groups (SHGs), youth clubs,community leaders, social activists,and general community.

Task force actively took part in thelocal level developmental processmaintaining effective linkage withthe Panchayati Raj Institutions (PRIs)and other players. They were alsoinvolved in capacity enhancement ofthe community on good governance,legal instruments, RTI andMGNREGA. Trainings on theinformation communicationtechnologies associated with disastermanagement were also effective.

The following were the results of theprogramme:• Effective lobbying and

networking ensuring moreparticipation of PRIs in thecommunity based disasterpreparedness project and therebyeffective disaster managementsystem in place.

• Community consciousness oneco-restoration and communitybased sanitation and wastemanagement practices resultingin increased good heath of thepeople.

• Increased awareness among thecommunity to preserve andpractice sanitation for healthywell being resulting in arrestingwater borne diseases.

• Effective dissemination andchannelisation of disasterwarning into the communityresulting in evacuating peoplefrom vulnerable area to saferzones and hence reducing therisks - both human and material.

• Appropriate bio-diversitypromotion and social forestryprogrammes resulting inrejuvenation of the ecology.

• Communities in the targetvillages enabled to enhance theirlivelihood options throughparticipatory analysis,entrepreneurial developmentaland effective linkages.

– Rineesh Antony,Quilon Social Service Society, Kerala

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An ongoing platform to community for sharing, learning and planning development

work is very crucial.


PRINTED MATTERBook-Post

Ms./Mr.

ALL INDIA DISASTER MITIGATION INSTITUTE

411 Sakar Five, Near Natraj Cinema, Ashram Road, Ahmedabad–380 009 India

Tele/Fax: +91-79-2658 2962E-mail: [email protected], Website: http://www.aidmi.org, www.southasiadisasters.net

CASE STUDY

Risk Transfer for Risk Reduction

Do you wish to receive this publication regularly? Write to AIDMI ([email protected]). The publication will be sent byE-mail. Your comments help southasiadisasters.net remain an effective and informative resource for regional issues of disasterrisk management. Please contribute comments, features, reports, discussion points, and essays about your work. Today!

Mahila Vikas Ashram (MVA),a local partner of AIDMI in

Bihar, is an NGO working in floodaffected areas of Bihar since last 21years. AIDMI, in partnership withMVA since 2007, held the schoolsafety trainings in various schoolsin these villages through MVA. Asa part of Safer Schools Campaign,while giving the knowledge ofschool safety, AIDMI also focuses onschool safety insurance. InDarbhanga and Madhubani districts,students, teachers, and staff of 14schools have been covered underthis student safety insurance policy.

MVA is running education supportcenters in Darbhanga district wheremost students come from Dalitfamilies and other schedule tribes.These education support centers arealso covered under insurance. Oneof such education support centers ofHanumannagar of Chanaurpanchayat of Manighachi block ofDarbhanga district was also coveredunder insurance. This insurance wasstarted in 2007 and all the studentsand staff were covered. The supportcenter also continued renewing theinsurance. In this education supportcenter, a girl student named SangitaKumari Kundan Saday was studying.On October 5, 2009, she died becauseof snake bite at 10 o'clock night. Shewas immediately rushed to the

Manighachi referral hospital by herparents and the school committeemembers. But as the hospital did nothave the injection related to snakebiting, she was taken to the primaryhealth center of Manighachi. Thoughtreatment was given in the healthcenter, she could not survive.

After official declaration of death ofSangita Kumari, MVA informedabout this tragedy to AIDMI. Afterany death, few documents such asprescription of MBBS doctor andpostmortem report need to besubmitted to claim the compensationfrom the insurance company. Allother reports were available withSangita's parents but because of

unavailability of postmortemreport, her parents were not allowedto claim the total insurance coverageamount of Rs. 25,000 but still theywere able to receive an amount ofRs. 18,750 from United IndiaInsurance Co., Ahmedabad throughAIDMI. This amount was credited inthe account of her school and thenthe school gave the money to herparents.

After knowing this case, otherschools in the district are also goingfor school insurance and are keen tomarch towards the safety of childrenand school.

– Vishwanath Mishra, Secretary,MVA, Bihar.

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School staff handover insurance amount to parent.

july 2011 southasiadisasters.net 1€¦ · risk through the twelfth five year plan. in any given...

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