Sustainability in Community-Based Disaster Management (CBDM) 2005-2008

Location: Bangladesh, Nepal, Sri Lanka, Turkey

Goal & Objectives:

The project will work with the main objective of researching and analyzing “Community Based Disaster Management (CBDM) and urbanization”, with a specific view point on “Gender”. We will focus on implementing projects on CBDM in gender and urbanization, through workshops and training sessions, and dissemination of best practices and knowledge to local policy makers, developers, etc, in the four project countries; Bangladesh, Nepal, Sri Lanka, and Turkey.

Background:

Natural disasters are recurring events in many countries. Earthquakes, floods, and cyclones occur every year throughout the globe, causing significant damage to lives and properties. Different countries have their respective cultural and social backgrounds, and disaster mitigation and management processes differ from country to country.

While it is very important to consider disaster issues at the national, provincial, or city-level, it remains less effective, as long as there is no penetration to the community and individual levels. The key aspect of a successful project is the partnership participation, empowerment, and ownership of the local communities. This, inturn, transfers to the sustainability issue in a long-term perspective. Unless the disaster management effort is sustainable at the local level, the tragedy and loss will continue.

There are many Community Based Disaster Management (CBDM) initiatives in different parts of the world. Many of them produce very tangible results. However, many of the projects are related to external funding, and often the end of funding means the end of the initiative. So long as the communities are not the owners of the projects, the projects cannot be carried out in a sustainable way. Useful lessons of different organizations in different socioeconomic circumstances are very important.

However, there is a need for a framework of sustainability. A strategic framework for the sustainability in CBDM should be established, and the best practices should be widely disseminated among various stakeholders through training programmes.

Activities

During the three years of the programme, the following activities were conducted:

Year 1 (year 2005)
Field survey for location setting in urbanizing areas such as Kathmandhu, Nepal, and Dhaka, Bangladesh, were conducted. We also held workshops on CBDM in Sri Lanka and Bangladesh.

Year 2 (year 2006)
Start focusing on the aspect of “gender” within CBDM. In Sri Lanka and Nepal, we held workshops to discuss, realize, and disseminate the importance of gender-free participation in CBDM, and to advance networking among national and international organizations and participants. In Bangladesh, we held courses on Gender and CBDM, and also training programmes for local construction work related people, to train and advance their knowledge and skills on earthquake resistant houses and construction.

Year 3 (year 2007)
We conducted a field survey to analyze the post- disaster needs, and the level of awareness among the local people on community disaster management and disaster risk. The survey was taken from 200 people each in all four project countries. We had dialogue sessions with the local residents, and held workshops and training sessions in learning and disseminating necessary knowledge and techniques in disaster management.

Outputs

• Report on "Urbanization and Community Based Disaster Management"
  complete file (Japanese) (1.03MB)

Project Partners

Bangladesh:

• Bangladesh Disaster Preparedness Centre
• UNDP Bangladesh
• Dhaka Municiple Government office
• Bangladeshi Red Cross

Nepal

• Red Cross Society in Nepal
• UNICEF
• National Society for Earthquake Technology
• Community Learning Centre

Sri Lanka

• Colombo Community Based Organization; Street Drama Group
• Prarthana Children's group
• UNDP Sri Lanka
• JICA
• Ratnapura Municiple Government office
• Ratnapura Disaster Management Centre

Turkey

• Emergency Relief Foundation