Right at the beginning of the project the project staff and key persons of the villages were oriented in community based disaster risk management and they were trained in practical skills to implement the project. This included general issues on disasters and disaster management as well as Participatory Learning and Action (PLA) and community training. The knowledge of the team is refreshed and updated through regular trainings.

PLA

PLA is the process were the community members are motivated to assess, reflect and present the village situation through different tools like community mapping, transect walks and problem identification. In the context of this project PLA was used to work out the need of preparedness and the first steps in the approach as perceived by the directly affected people.

Plan of action

The final output of the PLA is an action plan which contains not only the background information about the village and its vulnerability but also allocates responsibility sharing among different sections of the community. This addresses mainly the tasks of individuals, families, communities and institutions. It also defines the linkages of the communities to local administration, government bodies and other organisations.

Awareness

People in disaster prone areas are used to receive benefits out of relief programmes after a disaster has hit them. Often this leads to a dependency on such programmes (relief prone communities). With this mind set they often do not accept the need of an own contribution to make them less vulnerable to disasters. Without a change of mind set it is almost impossible to get people preparing themselves. Within the project we carry out several activities to show people that preparedness will help them to save their life and livelihoods and to get less dependent on help from outside. The main activities are drawing competition in schools, cycle rallies, drama performance, creation and distribution of information, education and communication material and discussions with villagers in awareness camps.

Training of communities

Within the communities different groups are trained in mechanisms of disaster risk reduction. Household members are trained in preparation of survival kids, water and sanitation and first aid. The capacity of Existing Self Help groups was build in preparation of life jackets, rescue boat making and also survival kid preparation. Groups with special tasks (task forces) like early warning, first aid, search and rescue, shelter management and security have been formed and trained. The different groups are managed by the people themselves and practical trainings are held on a regular base.

Mitigation Work

Mitigation works means mainly improvement of infrastructure like embankment, roads, buildings for rescue, models of disaster adapted houses, adapted agricultural systems and afforestration. In a short term programme like this it is not possible to carry out these works to the full extent needed. We want to give some examples of what can be done aiming to start a process where the communities take up the responsibilities for such activities and carry them out in cooperation with local and state level government institutions in a long term process.

Networking

The above mentioned activities need a good understanding and cooperation of communities with local government and other organisations. But often the communities are not aware of the locally available sources or feel not in a position to approach these institutions for support. Therefore it is important to strengthen the linkage between villages, Gram Panchayat (lowest level of self government) and Block administration as well as to establish a network between Panchayat and Block institutions with higher administrative levels. We do this through regular meetings.

Ielusive Approach

Disable people are often not recognized in disaster mitigation plans and adequate measures are not foreseen to provide them the required support during a disaster. In cooperation with Handicap International ( New Delhi ) we assess the number and kid of disable people in our project villages and assure that their concerns are recognised in all activities undertaken.

Research

For the implementation and for a sustaining (effective) operation of a CBDRM project it is needed to acquire knowledge about peoples perception of disasters and their role in people livelihood. We therefore have a small research component in the project that studies the role of embankments in the livelihoods of local people and tries to point out possible ways to reduce their vulnerability.