CBDRM-Community Based Disaster Risk Management, Disaster Risk Reduction

India 's unique geo-climatic conditions make it traditionally vulnerable to natural disasters.

Disaster Facts
	The Orissa Supercylone of 1999 claimed over 10,000 lives and thousands left homeless. Nine years down the line they are still trying to rebuild and restore their lives.
	Floods in India affect nearly 6 lakh ha of land and on an average 1,300 lives are lost to floods annually.
	India is the worst cyclone-affected part of the world. Five to six tropical cyclones form in the Bay of Bengal and the Arabian Sea every year of which two or three are severe and adversely affect the densely affected population of coastal India causing irreparable damage.

Cyclones, storms, floods, earthquakes and landslides strike different parts of the country every year with mind-numbing regularity. For the millions of poor and dispossessed living in these regions, every calamity is a disaster spells death, destruction and deprivation.

According to the Government of India, 22 of the 28 states in the country are estimated to be prone to disasters of different nature. Nearly 60% of India 's landmass is prone to earthquakes of varying intensities, and around 40 million hectares are prone to floods. Nearly 8% of the country's total area, especially the coastal regions, is vulnerable to recurrent cyclones; and 68% to droughts . (Govt. of India , Disaster Management in India , Status Report 2004)

In the decade 1990-2000, major disasters in the country killed nearly 43,000 people and adversely affected over 30 million people, both in terms of loss of property and livelihoods.

The Orissa super cyclone of 1999 and the Bhuj earthquake in Gujarat 2001 underscored the increasing need for a multi-disciplinary and multi-sectoral approach in the developmental plans and strategies towards risk reduction. Relief and voluntary organisations are beginning to realise that besides relief work it is also imperative to reduce the vulnerability of people by adequately preparing them to face these disasters.

Germany-based Welthungerhilfe (formerly called German Agro Action) has initiated a Community-based Disaster Risk Management

(CBDRM) intervention in some of the most vulnerable and disaster prone areas in West Bengal and Orissa. The organisation is working with the local community in West Bengal's Sunderbans region-a highly dynamic ecosystem facing storms, high tidal waves and water flushes from inland-and Orissa's Cuttack district, on the banks of the Mahanadi River, which is hit by floods, droughts and cyclones every year.

Welthungerhilfe, along with Ramakrishna Mission in West Bengal and Sambandh in Orissa, is helping the local community in build effective preparedness to face the consequences of recurrent disasters and minimise loss to lives and property.

The initiative is supported by the European Commission's Humanitarian Aid Department (ECHO) under the DIPECHO (Disaster Preparedness ECHO) 4 th South Asian Action Plan.