(Natural Disaster Research, Prediction and Mitigation) R. Osti, K. Miyake - Forms of Community Participation in Disaster Risk Management Practices (Natural Disaster Research, Prediction and Mitigation

NATURAL DISASTER RESEARCH, PREDICTION AND MITIGATION
FORMS OF COMMUNITY
PARTICIPATION IN DISASTER RISK
MANAGEMENT PRACTICES
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NATURAL DISASTER RESEARCH, PREDICTION AND MITIGATION
FORMS OF COMMUNITY
PARTICIPATION IN DISASTER RISK
MANAGEMENT PRACTICES
R. OSTI
EDITOR
K. MIYAKE
ASSOCIATE EDITOR
Nova Science Publishers, Inc.

New York
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Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Forms of community participation in disaster risk management practices /

editors, R. Osti and K. Miyake.
p. cm.
Includes index.
ISBN 978-1-61122-700-0 (eBook)
1. Emergency management--Citizen participation. 2. Disaster
relief--Citizen participation. 3. Risk management. I. Osti, R. (Rabindra)
II. Miyake, K. III. Title.
HV551.2.F67 2010
363.34'6--dc22 2010038628
Published by Nova Science Publishers, Inc. † New York

CONTENTS
Preface vii
Chapter 1 Implementation of Community Based Disaster Risk
Management in Indonesia: Progress, Issues and Challenges 1
Krishna S Pribadi, Teti Argo, Aria Mariani, and Hening Parlan
Chapter 2 Lessons Learned from Community Based
Early Warning System in the Philippines 17
Susan R. Espinueva and Prisco D. Nilo
Chapter 3 Building for Floods in the Hindu Kush Himalayan Region –
Local Knowledge and Community Innovation 31
Mats G. Eriksson
Chapter 4 Community-Based Disaster Risk Management
Can Lead to Good Urban Governance 39
Gabrielle Iglesias
Chapter 5 Methodology Used for Community Based Multi-Hazard Risk
Management in Garhwal Himalaya, Uttarakhand State, India 55
Surya Parkash
Chapter 6 Reducing Disaster Damage through People‟s Participation in
Emergency Response in Bangladesh 73
Giasuddin Ahmed Choudhury and Motaleb Hossain Sarker
Chapter 7 Disaster Risk Reduction as an Integral Part
in Microfinance Capacity Building: Lessons Learned
in the Aftermath of Cyclone Nargis, Myanmar 93
Drew Bishop, Kurt MacLeod, Erica Tubbs, and Anne Coghlan
Chapter 8 Sustainable Community Empowerment
Against Mt. Merapi Volcanic Disaster 107
Djoko Legono, Darmanto, Teuku Faisal Fathani,
Radianto Triatmadja, Joko Sujono, Rachmad Jayadi,
Budi Kamulyan, and Sri Puji Saraswati
vi Contents
Chapter 9 Community Based Disaster Risk Management in Vietnam 119

Huy Nguyen, Hoang Minh Hien, Rajib Shaw and Tong Thi My Thi
Chapter 10 Flood Risk Management Culture and its Role in
Changing Natural and Physical Environments of
Lower West Rapti River Basin in Nepal 133
Mahesh R. Gautam, Rabindra Osti, Dhruba R. Gautam,
Hironori Inomata, Samir Dhakal, and Katsuhito Miyake
Chapter 11 Participatory Water Management: Bangladesh Model 149
Abu Taher Khandakar
Chapter 12 Use of Community Based Disaster Risk Reduction
Tools in Community Action; Perspective from Asia 157
Sisira Kumara
Index 171
PREFACE
Disaster management, which involves prevention, mitigation, preparedness, response and

rehabilitation efforts, has been discussed for a long time. In short, such management stages
can be classified into before, during and after event activities. Disaster preparedness can be
referred to as all measures taken to prepare in advance aiming at reducing the impact of
possible disasters. Although all preparedness activities aim at reducing the damage at
community, on-site practicality, which concerns the full utilization of the capacities
particularly at the time of emergency, has not been well documented, possibly because of
difficulties in visualizing emergency contexts to be faced by local communities. This book
focuses on the methodological approach of CBDRM that has been practiced in different parts
of the world, mostly in highly disaster-prone Asian localities.
Chapter 1- Community based disaster risk management as a form of people cantered,
participatory and bottom-up approach disaster risk management has been introduced in
Indonesia since the early 2000s, when different organizations, academic as well as non-
government organizations implemented some pilot projects in various places in Indonesia,
focusing on different hazards such as flood, drought, land slide, volcanic eruption etc. The
country officially supports community based approach in disaster management when the
National Law on Disaster Management was made effective in 2007, where the right and the
responsibility of the community in disaster management are stipulated in a chapter. Efforts to
identify and formulate the characteristics of CBDRM model for Indonesia which are currently
being attempted by the Indonesian Society for Disaster Management through a participatory
process of compilation of best practices in the country will be described, which eventually led
to the development of CBDRM frameworks. Some models of community based disaster
management approach implemented in the country will be discussed, exemplified by some
pilot project implementations on CBDRM in various flood prone villages in different parts of
Indonesia by the Centre for Disaster Management of the Bandung Institute of Technology.
One of the main challenges of the CBDRM implementation in Indonesia is its sustainability.
Learning from past experiences, some issues on developing an enabling policy which
promotes CBDRM as the national disaster management strategy are discussed. Challenges for
future adoption of CBDRM as part of development planning and implementation are also
identified.
Chapter 2- Early warning systems are non-structural disaster mitigation measures
designed to save human lives by enabling local authorities and the community to plan and to
act accordingly in the event of a disaster. When applied to the flood hazard, such early
viii R. Osti and K. Miyake
warning would require facilities to measure rain data and upstream catchment and river
behavior so that timely warnings from a possible flood can be provided to the downstream
communities. Hence, the design of the early warning system on flood should adopt a river
basin or a watershed approach to essentially account for the upstream, midstream and
downstream aspects of the basin. Within the framework of disaster management system in the
Philippines, emphasis is made on “self reliance”, “self help” and “mutual assistance” at the
local level, particularly in the utilization of resources. It is against this backdrop that the
community based flood early warning system (CBFEWS) is developed and anchored on the
existing local disaster coordinating council that is inherent in the institutional set-up of every
local government unit (LGU). The Philippines has already implemented quite a number of
CBFEWS since 1999. The earlier flood early warning system were demand driven while the
recent CBFEWS initiatives were funded by foreign donors. Experiences in implementing
early warning system are quite varied and these challenges are reflected in the issues and
concerns as well as lessons learned derived in the various engagements with the LGUs.
Chapter 3- In the Hindu Kush – Himalayan region, people have adapted to challenges
related to too much and too little water for generations. Will these adaptive mechanisms be
enough in the current rapid pace of change in both climate and society? The impact from
climate leads to increased water induced hazards. New infrastructure being built will have to
adapt to increasing hazards. This is not always the case. New private and public buildings are
being constructed in hazard prone areas, against local knowledge and common sense.
Traditional knowledge on where and how to build houses safely need to be acknowledged,
and policies allowing access to safe land for public buildings need to be put into place.
Cultural norms hampering parts of the society to shift to more hazard resistant housing and
livelihood practices need to be supported, particularly among the younger generation.
Chapter 4- Community involvement is recognized as essential in the disaster risk
management process. Community participation is able to improve the understanding of the
sources of disaster risk, raise the awareness of local capacities to reduce risk, and strengthen
the consensus over reducing disaster risk and the commitment to disaster risk management
goals. This chapter presents another dimension in that the community-based disaster risk
management process can also meet the goals of good urban governance by being consistent
with some of the principles of governance, namely civic engagement and citizenship,
subsidiarity, and transparency.
Chapter 5- Uttarakhand in India is a newly established hill-state which largely occupies
Garhwal and Kumaon Himalaya. In the past, many communities in this region suffered from
major earthquakes, landslides, debris flows, flash floods, forest fires, hailstorms and lightning
etc. During the last one decade, the interventions made by the governmental and non-
governmental organizations through various disaster risk reduction projects as well as some
pilot programmes undertaken under the leadership of local community-based organizations
have built the communities‟ capacity to prepare themselves against such disasters and reduce
the risks by appropriate planning, development and management at local levels. It is believed
that well aware, informed and prepared community is better able to avert, prevent and react to
disasters than otherwise. Learning from the field experience, a universal methodology has
been developed to empower communities through training and field demonstrations to initiate
local actions for multi-hazard risk management by the inhabitants of 50 villages in
Rudraprayag District in Uttarakhand State, Garhwal Himalaya. The chapter elaborates the
Preface ix
activities undertaken in developing the methodology for community based disaster risk
management, the process of operation, the outcome and its sustenance.
Chapter 6- Bangladesh, due to its geographical setting and climatic condition, is the most
disaster prone country in the world. Substantial loss of agricultural production, disruption of
communication, damage and economic loss take place due to such disasters every year. Over
the periods, risk reductions programmes have been carried out by individual organizations
with the development partners according to their own views and targets focused on relief and
rehabilitation. A Public - private partnership approach is now felt necessary to achieve the
national goal. The cyclone SIDR hit the coast of Bangladesh in 15 November, 2007 and
caused severe damage to the lives and properties of thousands of people of the coastal
districts. Among these, five districts namely Patuakhali, Barguna, Bagerhat, Jhalokhathi and
Pirojpur were the worst affected. A study was conducted in the SIDR affected area through
people‟s participations/households survey and a sustainable management information system
was developed to reduce the risk during emergencies. For better planning, management and
monitoring of Water Supply, Sanitation and Hygiene (WASH) related activities, a GIS based
Management Information System (GMIS) was required for the emergency WASH cluster in
Bangladesh. And to fulfill this requirement UNICEF assigned CEGIS to develop a GIS based
MIS, to collect and analyze the data for meaningful information generation to improve
interventions by the WASH cluster member agencies in the SIDR affected districts. The study
area covers 16 upazilas (sub-district) of SIDR affected five districts- mainly focusing on
people‟s participation in emergencies during disasters to reduce the associated risks and
damages.
Chapter 7- Pact, Inc. had been working in Myanmar for 10 years prior to Cyclone Nargis,
which struck the Irrawaddy Delta in May, 2008. Microfinance in the Irrawaddy Delta in the
south of the country was a major element of their work. This project was significantly
impacted both during the storm and in its aftermath. This article will look at the impact of the
storm on Pact‟s microfinance program and the benefit of large community based structures
like the microfinance program in quickly reaching disaster survivors. It will highlight how its
program infrastructure was instrumental in helping other NGOs respond. And, finally, it will
explore how Pact has begun to integrate disaster risk reduction strategies into its local
capacity building programs to enhance and strengthen local ownership for village level
planning. It explores the importance of putting communities at the centre of disaster
preparedness and response. The chapter will also document how capacity building in disaster
risk reduction is important not only for the people who live in zones at risk of water-related
disasters, but also how it can mitigate the financial and personnel impacts on agencies that
work in these regions.
Chapter 8- It is known that Mt. Merapi of Java, Indonesia, is an active volcano which
erupts frequently and threats downstream residents lives and assets, due to either pyroclastic
flow or debris flow phenomena. The frequent eruption of Mt. Merapi volcano which is
approximated to occur once in 1 to 3 years (for small and medium eruption) and once in 9 to
16 years (for big eruption) should make the people, who live near by, worried on how they
save their lives in emergencies. Although the government has already built various
infrastructures (e.g. sabo, early warning system, etc.), community awareness and ownership
in adapted systems seems to be an effective way to mitigate Mt. Merapi disaster. This
situation is proven by the fact that the number of casualties of each eruption is still
significant. One critical reason behind such losses is the low level of disaster awareness
x R. Osti and K. Miyake
among community members. This chapter presents the experience on the development of
community awareness against the Mt. Merapi disaster through the processes of understanding
the community aspirations, capacities, locality (social, culture, and environment condition),
followed by building the capacity of the community. The key activities under the community
empowerment programme were the development of education material for the kindergarten
school and the evacuation drills. Related studies to support and inspire the community
empowerment program include the study on current public participation in disaster
management as well as current disaster education program that has formally been applied in
the area. Moreover, the process of the community empowerment involving the direct
community participation is the feature to be promoted as a lesson-learned for further
development of the similar disaster mitigation activities.
Chapter 9- This chapter provides the information about the status of activities of
Community¬ Based Disaster Risk Management (CBDRM) in Vietnam and case studies that
was the success measures on disaster management. The Natural Disaster Risk Management
Project (NDRMP) adopts an innovative approach to disaster risk management in Vietnam and
provides support for disaster prevention and mitigation measures at all levels of government,
including at community level where vulnerability prevails. The CBDRM is one component of
the NDRMP which aims at strengthening the capacity of villages and communes. It also aims
at the disaster management institutions to become more responsive to the short term and
longer¬ term needs of the vulnerable communities through participatory risk assessment and
identification, prioritization and implementation of risk reduction measures. The project
intends to help communes implement activities that deal with natural hazards through
capacity building in participatory planning and management. Safer village and commune
plans that focus on long term intervention and preparedness measures were developed. The
project has been building on existing community based disaster management and risk
reduction models, and found empower flood ¬prone communes to prevent and reduce the
impact of disasters and secure and protect their livelihoods. The CBDRM activities directly
support government efforts for sustainable development by helping reduce human, economic,
and financial losses from disasters caused by nature in the target communes. In this chapter,
the roles of the local communities, community facilitators, provincial level and central level
were defined; this chapter also described how the CBDRM approach could be used to build
the capacity of the most vulnerable populations to carry out risk mitigation measures at all
levels.
Chapter 10- There is a consensus that conventional flood management with attributes
such as techno-centric, top-down, and focused on reactive intervention, has proven ineffective
to deal with floods problems. Instead, community based flood risk management (CBFRM)
with attributes such as people-centric, bottom-up, and focused on preparedness, has been
advocated as an approach that can build the capacity of the community, and help them
manage the floods sustainably. Local knowledge and capacity are the key foundations of such
approach on which an elaborate framework for resilience enhancement can be based. Using
participatory research tools, a case study from lower West Rapti River Basin is presented here
elucidating the local knowledge on flood management on various stages of flood disaster risk
management cycle. The study analyzed the vulnerabilities and capacities of the community
under changing natural and physical environments, elucidated the local flood management
practices including coping and adaption measures, and advocated the need for strengthening
the existing informal CBFRM approach in the study area. Capacity building of community
Preface xi
level organizations, improvement of people's livelihood assets, scientific inputs for improved
flood warning and management systems, co-ordinated support mechanism for relief and
rescue at the time of major flood events are some of the key actions felt needed in the study
area for enhancing effectiveness of the CBFRM approach.
Chapter 11- Water is a very precious wealth. Over this planet Earth, the balance of water
contained on about three-fourth surface area is covered by water body. Humans should have
been very much pleased having so much water without any labour or investment. Fact
remains that in nature available water may be put under two broad categories: (i) sweet water
(or fresh water) and (ii) saline water. Fresh water are contained in rivers, lakes, underground,
and in mountain as snow or glassier or in cloud in gaseous form while saline water is
contained in the oceans and seas. Water has multiple uses. Demand for fresh water have
registered sharp rise world over for human consumption; for cattle, for industry, agriculture
and fishery. It is now recognized that fresh water has been becoming scarce, in regions and in
communities, even for drinking and sanitation purposes. Hence there is an obvious urgency
for economic and wise use of this resource.
Chapter 12- Community based disaster risk reduction is a well known thematic focus of
many regional, national and sub-national organizations to build capacities and to strengthen
existing disaster management structures, whilst emphasizing the contributions made by
communities and to advance the creation of safer communities. CBDRR program should
emphasizes its efforts on, Institutionalization of CBDRR into the policy, planning and
implementation; Implementation of innovative programs to explore new dimensions in
CBDRR practice; Development of frameworks and tools to support the work of decision-
makers and practitioners; Development of new training tools to enhance the capacity of
practitioners; Continued support to the regional entities for promoting CBDRR practices.
However limited knowledge on the use of CBDRR tools in CBDRR and rural development
programs is still a challenge. Most of the development and CBDRR practitioners are yet to
acknowledge and appreciate those tools that have been tested and proven effective in
reducing disaster risks in the region. For effective implementation of CBDRR programs in the
region, national governments need to perform a facilitative role and establish an enabling
environment for community based disaster risk reduction. In addition, the CBDRR
practitioners should be well equipped with CBDRR tools such as field practitioner‟s
handbook on CBDRR, Critical Guidelines for CBDRR, Media Kit on CBDRR, and Guidance
on CBDRR for local authorities and Guidebook for integrating CBDRR into local
government policies and programs. This paper provides a brief discussion on several CBDRR
tools that can readily be used in community action in the region.
In: Forms of Community Participation… ISBN 978-1-61122-303-3
Editors: R. Osti and K. Miyake © 2011 Nova Science Publishers, Inc.
Chapter 1
IMPLEMENTATION OF COMMUNITY BASED

DISASTER RISK MANAGEMENT IN INDONESIA:
PROGRESS, ISSUES AND CHALLENGES
Krishna S Pribadi1, Teti Argo2, Aria Mariani3, and Hening Parlan4

1
Faculty of Civil Engineering, Institut Teknologi Bandung,
Jl Ganesa 10, Bandung, Indonesia
2
School of Architecture, Planning and Public Policy, Institut Teknologi Bandung,
3
Centre for Disaster Mitigation, Institut Teknologi Bandung,
4
Humanitarian Forum International, Jl Menteng Raya No. 62,
Jakarta 10340, Indonesia
ABSTRACT
Community based disaster risk management as a form of people cantered,
participatory and bottom-up approach disaster risk management has been introduced in
Indonesia since the early 2000s, when different organizations, academic as well as non-
government organizations implemented some pilot projects in various places in
Indonesia, focusing on different hazards such as flood, drought, land slide, volcanic
eruption etc. The country officially supports community based approach in disaster
management when the National Law on Disaster Management was made effective in
2007, where the right and the responsibility of the community in disaster management are
stipulated in a chapter. Efforts to identify and formulate the characteristics of CBDRM
model for Indonesia which are currently being attempted by the Indonesian Society for
Disaster Management through a participatory process of compilation of best practices in
the country will be described, which eventually led to the development of CBDRM
frameworks. Some models of community based disaster management approach
1
Tel:62-22-2502272, Email : ksuryanto@si.itb.ac.id.
2
Tel:62-22- 250 9171, Email : targo@pl.itb.ac.id.
3
Tel:62-22-93373751, Email : aria@pmb.itb.ac.id.
4
Tel/fax 62-21-3923316, Email: hening@humanitarianforum.org .
2 Krishna S Pribadi, Teti Argo, Aria Mariani et al.
implemented in the country will be discussed, exemplified by some pilot project

implementations on CBDRM in various flood prone villages in different parts of
Indonesia by the Centre for Disaster Management of the Bandung Institute of
Technology. One of the main challenges of the CBDRM implementation in Indonesia is
its sustainability. Learning from past experiences, some issues on developing an enabling
policy which promotes CBDRM as the national disaster management strategy are
discussed. Challenges for future adoption of CBDRM as part of development planning
and implementation are also identified.
Keywords: Community-based disaster risk management, project framework, policy,

Indonesia
1. INTRODUCTION
Important works on community-based disaster risk reduction by many authors and
organizations, such as Maskrey (1989), Abarquez and Murshed (2004), UNCRD (2004),
Davis and Murshed (2006) have been considered as the corner stones by the community of
practice, in particular in Southeast Asia. Community-based disaster risk management
(CBDRM) is basically a people cantered approach aiming at reducing disaster risk through “a
broad range of interventions, measures, activities, projects and programs, which are primarily
designed by people in at-risk localities and are based on their urgent needs and capacities”
(Victoria, 2002). CBDRM can be considered as a mechanism of choice for building
community resilience at the local level, by empowering people to plan and decide on actions
to reduce disaster risks by their own resources. Capacity building is the heart of the process,
by mobilizing the community to be able to understand their own risk situation and build local
awareness, by learning from past mistakes, and by looking for ways to reduce their own
vulnerabilities so they will be able to cope with, prevent or minimize loss and damage to life,
property, and their environment. By CBDRM, people are also empowered to quickly spring
back and recover from disasters, not only depending to outside support and relief aids but
benefiting from their strengthened capacity.
In particular, for flood disasters involving complex factors within a river basin, which
could not be dealt solely by local people in the affected areas, CBDRM approach can help
build the capacity of the local people to “live with floods”, as an alternative to “keep the flood
away from people” or “keep people away from the flood”, by promoting community
preparedness (DoCoutto and Rouhban, 2004).
2. CBDRM PRACTICES IN INDONESIA

Water induced hazards in Indonesia have been acknowledged as the highest contributor
of the disaster events in the country, an archipelagic nation of more than 17.000 islands and
more than 230 millions populations. Data from EM-DAT (2010) shows that from 1900 to
2010, water induced disasters which consist of drought, tsunami, flood, landslide, and storms
accounted for almost 55 % of the total number of disaster events (Table 1), if (water borne)
epidemic diseases are not included in the category.
Implementation of Community Based Disaster Risk Management … 3
Table 1. Disasters in Indonesia, 1900- 2010
Population Damage (000

Hazard type # of Events Killed Affected US$)
Drought 9 9,329 4,804,220 160,200
Earthquake 96 29,947 8,463,540 7,053,476
Tsunami 7 167,841 568,561 4,506,600
Flood 135 5,902 8,731,109 2,418,553
Landslide 42 2,250 393,652 121,745
Storm 10 1,992 19,698 -
Volcano 48 17,945 1,015,453 344,390
Wildfire 9 300 3,034,478 9,329,000
Total 356 235,506 27,030,711 23,933,964
Adopted from EM-DAT, 2010.
In the past few decades, unchecked development activities have brought tremendous
pressure to the natural resources, resulting in a serious degradation of the environment,
increase in vulnerability to various water-induced hazards and sensitivity to climate change
and climate variability.
In the past, water-induced disaster mitigation efforts have been carried out by the
government through various structural and non structural interventions. Only by the
beginning of this decade that some initiatives involving the participation of communities at
the grass root level have been introduced, as policy makers start to understand the complexity
of water induced disasters and that structural measures sufficient to deal with community
vulnerability issues.
As community-based approach in disaster risk management has been introduced in
Indonesia for more than a decade, this chapter discusses the progress of its implementation
through some examples and its future prospect in building the resilience of the country
against various natural hazards, and in particular water induced disasters.
2.1. CBDRM Framework in Indonesia
2.1.1. National Policy on Disaster Management

The Act No.24/2007 on disaster management was enacted in April, 2007, initiated by the
parliament and supported by a coalition of civil society organizations (Government of
Indonesia, 2007). In essence, the act adopts new paradigms marking the shift of emphasis
from:
 post-disaster reactive response only to a more proactive, comprehensive risk-

management approach
 people protection as charity of central government to mandate of local governments
 government responsibility to “everybody‟s business”, meaning that participation of
all stakeholders in disaster management is essential in the policy and institutional set
up as well as in the coordination mechanism
The act covers stipulations on role and responsibility of the government (national and
local) and the citizens in disaster management, institutional set up, stages in disaster
management which include disaster reduction and disaster response and recovery, various
funding schemes and the management and role of various parties in relief aid.
Despite its comprehensiveness, the act does not explicitly consider CBDRM approach in
its description of disaster reduction stages. Instead, some articles supporting the role of the
citizens (i.e. the community) in disaster management are elaborated, the most relevant being
article 26.e, which stipulates the right of citizens to “participate in decision making on
disaster management activities, especially when having relevance on self and his/her
community”, and 26.f quotes: “conduct monitoring over implementation of disaster
management in accordance with regulated mechanism ”.
Nevertheless, the act has provided the foundation for a more proactive risk management
approach in disaster management in Indonesia, where both government and citizens,
including the civil society organizations, share responsibilities.
2.1.2. Actors in CBDRM in Indonesia

The meaning of “community-based” in CBDRM is that the community plays the key role
in managing the disaster risk. As a matter of fact, it is agreed upon that in this approach,
community is the main actor who develops and implements their own approaches to
managing disaster in managing their risk. This argument implicates that the role of CBDRM
practitioners is always as „outsider‟ of the community, although he/she may come from and
live in the areas, assisting the communities to deal with local disaster issues, on which their
services are defined by limited spatial dimension and time availability. It is then necessary
that the practitioners have to build their own entry and exit strategy.
In reality, CBDRM practices in Indonesia have been initiated by some non-government
organizations and university-based researchers through action research in the field of disaster
risk management in the beginning of the last decade. Later on, CBDRM initiatives flourished
when a huge flow of relief aids arrived in the aftermath of the Great Indian Ocean Tsunami
on the 26 December, 2004, which has raised the awareness of many parties of the need to
build the community resilience to disasters. Many humanitarian organizations implemented
the concept of community-based approach, first for managing the emergency relief and early
recovery efforts, and later to help the communities in building up resilience toward disaster.
It is worth noting that some pioneering works on community based flood mitigation have
been done by researchers from the Centre for Disaster Mitigation at the Bandung Institute of
Technology (CDM-ITB), collaborating with the Asian Disaster Reduction Centre, working in
East Bandung area (Rudyanto et al., 2007), and in Bidara Cina area, Jakarta, in collaboration
with UNESCO (UNESCO, 2004), which will be described in more detail later.
Other organizations include the Indonesian Society for Disaster Management (MPBI) and
the Yayasan IDEP, which promote actively CBDRM approach in the country. On the other
side, government agencies at the national as well as local levels have initiated various
community-based approaches in their program related to disaster management (ADPC, 2008).
The Indonesian Red Cross (PMI) has also adopted community-based disaster risk reduction
and preparedness approach since year 2002 in their works, a shift from a traditional
emergency response to a more proactive stance. (PMI, 2010).
2.1.3. Development of CBDRM Framework

There were concerns that in the absence of proper standards and frameworks, the
CBDRM could become a trap of mediocrity or even counter-productive to the communities
concerned. Consistent with its goal, i.e. to continuously improve disaster management
practices, the Indonesian Society for Disaster Management has initiated, in 2004, a series of
CBDRM annual symposiums where CBDRM practitioners meet to strengthen their work by
taking stock of field practices, review their framework and tools, and build network. (ADPC,
2008)
As a result of the process, there were agreements that implementing CBDRM should
consider the following issues (MPBI,2008): (i) integration of climate change and disaster risk
reduction; (ii) disaster risk reduction in urban communities; (iii) building awareness and
preparedness; (iv) children in the context of disaster vulnerable groups; (v) local government
policy in CBDRM institutionalization; and (vi) sustainable livelihood improvement.
Institutionalization of CBDRM needs to consider issues relating to (i) institutionalization of
CBDRM through Musrenbang (local development planning meeting); (ii) planning and
budgeting of CBDRM; (iii) schemes for sustainable CBDRM institutionalization; (iv) to
create independence by relying on strengthened local institutions, resources and knowledge
within the community.
Several documents on CBDRM in Indonesia have been published, such as those by Boli
et al. (2004), Paripurno (2006), IDEP (2007), Pribadi et al.(2008), and Lassa et al.(2009).
Most prominent issues discussed in the documents include mainly concept and definition of
CBDRM; objective, norms and values ; process and mechanism; tools, methods and skills;
role of multi-stakeholders (Government, NGOs/ INGOs, community, private sector);
sustainability and exit strategy. An example of a framework of process for implementing
CBDRM is proposed in Pribadi et al. (2008), as presented in Figure1.
3. SOME EXAMPLES OF CBDRM ON WATER-RELATED DISASTER

3.1. Community-Based Flood Mitigation in Bandung City and Jakarta
A community-based flood mitigation project was implemented by the Bandung city and
Jakarta city. The initiative on community-based flood mitigation (CBFM) was implemented
in Bandung city in 2001, focusing on two pilot villages, each representing a peri-urban village
and an urban residential area respectively (ITB-ADRC, 2001). Participatory rural appraisal
and hazard-vulnerability-capacity (HVC) analysis were among the tools used for assessing
the community flood risk, as well as to raise the community awareness on the flood hazard
and their vulnerability situation. Community organizing and community action planning
helped the people in implementing appropriate structural and non-structural flood mitigation,
using local knowledge and material.
Another CBFM type initiative was also implemented in Bidara Cina Village, East
Jakarta, (ITB-UNESCO, 2004), collaborating with UNESCO Jakarta, aimed at minimizing
disastrous impact of recurrent floods on urban community in the Municipality of East Jakarta.
Similar community risk assessment method as the one used in Bandung was also used to
assess hazard, vulnerability and capacity.
The community were encouraged to organize themselves and develop and implement
their own action plans, geared towards non-physical and non-structural aspects, which include
community waste management system, improved community flood preparedness such as
local flood warning system, measures for protecting valuable assets during floods, search and
rescue, organizing emergency relief aids etc.
In both cases, local authorities were very supportive and communication means between
the local communities and local government agencies were established for synergic actions
from both sides. Figure 2 shows a facilitated community meeting in a participatory HVC
assessment. Vidiarina (2006) described another model of a community based flood disaster
risk management conducted by the Action Contre le Faim (ACF), a French NGO, in the
Kampung Melayu village, East Jakarta, to reduce the vulnerability of the people affected by
floods and to strengthen the capacity of these communities and local authorities to
understand, monitor and react to the flood impact, through baseline studies, grass roots
awareness raising and empowerment and coordination within the community itself.
3.2. CBDRR Initiatives in Aceh and West Sumatera
Lessons from CBFM initiatives in Bandung and Jakarta were adopted to implement
another Community-Based Disaster Risk Reduction (CBDRR) initiative in West Sumatra and
Aceh provinces, supported by United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) fund,
focusing on multi-hazard disaster and aimed at improving community resilience toward
disaster, through enhancing awareness, and organizing disaster planning and preparedness at
the local community level. Similar process was used in its implementation, which eventually
evolved and was then developed into a model of CBDRR implementation process framework,
presented in Figure1.
Figure 1. Steps in CBDRM implementation.

Figure 2. A community facilitation meeting in Bidara Cina village, Jakarta.
Figure 3. A disaster awareness session at a village mosque in Pariaman, West Sumatra.
Figure 4. Survey to identify an alternative evacuation route at Paya Kelembu, Suak Timah Village,
Aceh Province.
Experiences in West Sumatra and Aceh showed that local culture defines the
communication means within the local community which can be used for enhancing the
community mobilization and awareness process, varying from informal discussions in the
village café, village meetings, traditional festivities and religious gatherings. Involvement of
the local government authorities (village head, sub-district officials, municipal agencies) in
the process proves to be useful in getting support from the whole community members for
different actions (ITB-UNDP, 2007). Figures 2 shows an example of a community meeting in
the mobilization process, while Figure 3 and Figure 4 show respectively an example of
community awareness session and a community field survey for identifying tsunami
evacuation routes in the field.
3.3. Other CBDRM Schemes in Indonesia
Some other initiatives on community-based approaches have also been developed in

Indonesia to deal with landslides, debris flows and wildfires induced drought impact. For
landslides and debris flows, community-based early warning systems have been introduced
by university researchers in collaboration with the relevant agencies.
A pilot project community based landslide early-warning system has been implemented
in the Banjarnegara Regency, Central Java, as described in Karnawati et al. (2009), Fathani et
al. (2008) and DRH (2010). The system consists of extensometers to measure soil movements
and rain gauges to measure rainfall intensity. The measuring system is connected to a siren
warning which will alert the community to evacuate when a potential landslide is likely to
occur. Village action plans for disaster prevention and response (including contingency plan)
are developed with the community participation. Public education and evacuation drills are
part of the process. The community is also responsible for maintaining and operating the
system.
A similar system based on wire sensors and rain gauges connected to transmitters and
siren system was also developed to monitor and provide warnings to imminent debris flows to
communities in Merapi volcano villages. Preparing the community to operate and maintain
the system as well as conduct training and education to benefit from the system is also part of
the community-based early warning mechanism (Legono et al., 2008).
Abberger et al., (2002) reported that a community-based approach has been used in the
management of wildfires in Indonesia, as the case of village level community-based fire
management in East Kalimantan province, initiated within the framework of Integrated Forest
Fire Management Project (IFFM) in the early 2000s, as a response to the devastating 1997/98
worst wildfire ever recorded in Indonesia due to El Nino draught. The scheme consists of
institutional development, fire management training, equipment use and maintenance, an
extensive awareness program involving village communities as well as larger public audience
in the province. Volunteers from village fire brigades coming from 11 villages, were selected
from high fire risk areas based on a fire risk map of the province. Standard Operating
Procedures were introduced by training them and then they are equipped with hand tools for
fire fighting at the community level.
4. FROM PRACTICE TO POLICY

4.1. Learning from Past Experiences
One of the main roles of community based disaster risk management is to introduce
disaster as a manageable event in the community livelihood. Introducing about minimizing
the number of victims and damages, and continuing planning for the future as the major
activities in people‟s lives remain a challenge. CBDRM found its major supporters during the
periods when disasters just strike or when post disaster activities require involvement of many
parties. However, it is one of the dependable activities that governments rely upon, especially
when the areas prone to disasters are remotely located and when outside helps may come in
late. CBDRM however, and its term coined, has been closely related to the format that is
externally invented, or do not come from the local communities themselves. CBDRM tends to
be introduced as either a pilot project, or as a limited term projects to the communities, with
the understanding that the projects will be duplicated in other areas once introduced. The case
study of community based flood management in Kelurahan Bidara Cina, Jakarta was
emulated in the neighbouring community, using their own local resources. In other cases
there is expectation that the government involvement in CBDRM would lead them to initiate
similar projects in other areas. It is not about duplicating that becomes the problems.
Resources in terms of capacity of facilitators as well as knowledge in DRM are scarce in
comparison to areas to be empowered. Opportunities to involve in training on CBDRM
remain scarce at the local level and people have to do learning by doing in order to support
community in taking their responsibility of disaster management.
Concentrations of implementing CBDRM are thus taking place in disaster prone areas
when the disaster leads to attention at the national level. Some of disaster events take
attentions only at the local level. The province of East Nusa Tenggara (NTT), which observes
disasters on a regular basis, including flood in Benanain watershed that leads to food
shortage, has limited access towards CBDRM (Usfomery, 2007). Despite the development of
a CBDRM guideline by Boli et al. (2004) in Kupang, NTT, spreading out CBDRM to the
local level has not been noted much in NTT as late as 2007. Thus CBDRM, introduced as
project-based activities in many locations that lead to a national level attention, is a strategy
used to promote awareness in which the community can be a partner in disaster risk reduction
at the policy level. This is to imply that in the absence of the government involved in disaster
risk management, the community with outside help takes the roles to manage the risk.
However, the positive side of these CBDRM practice is to promote policies at the national
level that need to be revised in line with practice of disaster management that has occurred in
the society.
CBDRM is replicated by various organizations dealing with charity works such as World
Vision, Catholic Relief Services, etc. and religious social organizations in Indonesia such as
Nahdlatul Ulama (NU), Muhammadiyah etc., who in the past did not have track record in
community based disaster management, adopted CBDRM as a formal approach within the
organizations in order to mobilize local resources and to use their influences to help others
(ITB-AUSAID, 2008). Variants of CBDRM are especially adopted by organizations who
have specific missions such as Red Cross organizations, or psychology focused organizations
or social work based organisations.
During its course, methods of CBDRM evolves to be more systematic, process oriented
and becomes more measurable. CBDRM found its formats as it specializes in convincing the
community that they play major parts in disaster risk reduction. CBDRM becomes more
participatory as the bulk of activities rely on the facilitators who have experiences in
facilitating the communities in other areas of expertise. At the local level, with limited human
resources, such facilitators that specialize in disaster risk management come from other areas
of expertise.
During the course of experiences, the CBDRM format has to be accountable and
measurable. In the mechanism of CBDRM there are monitoring and evaluation phases, which
aimed at ensuring the activities reach its intended goals. Some would include transparency in
terms of funding being used, and various networking efforts, and resource persons invited in
the course of the activities. Others would include accountability from the sides of actors
involved. Some would include participatory based monitoring and evaluation phase, which
means the community members monitor and evaluate CBDRM that took place within their
communities. Other types of scheme depend on outside sources for monitoring and evaluation
of the activities.
4.2. Formulating Enabling Policy
Expansion of CBDRM takes the meaning that preparedness towards the disaster is more
important than response during the disaster. This is a departure from the previous emphasis
on response capacity. Efforts to upscale CBDRM have taken place. LIPI (the Indonesian
Institute of Sciences) initiates programs on community-based disaster preparedness, focussing
on developing education and awareness materials for school children and communities in the
country. LIPI together with NU organization even developed specific booklets that include
adoption from religious verses in order to ensure that disaster risk reduction is in line with
religious practices (LIPI, 2010).
Furthermore, in health sector, Emergency Preparedness and Response (EPR) program are
launched by the Ministry of Health of Indonesian government. Desa Siaga Bencana (Disaster
Preparedness Village) is an effort to equip villages including its institutional arrangement so
that it is prepared to deal with disaster at the local level. Concerns about disaster preparedness
have also been part of the discussion with the Ministry of Social Works, Indonesia. In 2003,
they establish Tagana (Taruna Siaga Bencana/ Disaster Preparedness Youth). This is a part of
Youth organizations (Karang Taruna) that have been established at the village level. Tagana
contributes resources that are responsive and handy in dealing with disaster preparedness and
response. They work together with local radio organizations (RAPI), Red Cross, international
aid agencies and different ministries at the national level to establish their part of disaster
preparedness (TAGANA, 2010).
At the local level, invention has taken place in order to ensure that issues of disaster
preparedness remains relevant. Aceh introduces Index Siaga Bencana or Disaster
Preparedness Index (DPI ) that will assess the preparedness at the village level (Nasution,
2010). DPI consists of assessment of the community members‟ parameters regarding their
preparedness in early warning system, school system, health care system, evacuation zones,
and communication to the governments. Assessment using DPI helps the government to
comprehend what is lacking in promoting CBDRM to the communities and what to do about
it. The case of Meuraxa sub district of Banda Aceh for example, shows that participatory
approach, especially on data accuracy and in evacuation phase, is lacking (Nasution, 2010). It
shows of which social institutions such as health facilities or school facilities have prepared
themselves to deal with disaster. Despite the fact that invention at the village level to
introduce disaster preparedness concept, the results of the assessment are limitedly
transformed into development programs or projects at the local level. The local governments
remain limited in their capacity to address a lack of resources at the village level. The
community attempts to protect themselves with several initiatives. Villages with their limited
budgets and resources develop their own community plan to prepare themselves. Cases of
CBDRM in the villages in Aceh and West Sumatera conducted by ITB-UNDP show that the
community leaders are capable to channel community initiatives to be a part of the
government initiatives. In other case, they become the major drive in the community
preparedness at the city level.
In rural areas, up-scaling village initiatives to be a part of the government initiatives
prove to be more challenging. Distance from the location of government offices as well as
limited communication between them restraints efforts to adopt local initiatives. Rural
villages rely on local traditions such as using the lowest lying part for non settlement,
partaking in specific types of tree planting to develop their own disaster preparedness. Such
practices are often transmitted through local dialogue with the elderly or bedtime storytelling
to the children. In fact, some local traditions have been key in saving lives. The case of
Simeulue island in North Sumatera, using local traditions in the form of storytelling to remind
the younger generation of what had happened and what to do in order to save our lives
(Yogaswara and Yulianto, 2008) can save lives. Of 80,500 people, only seven died, and leads
to a prestigious UN Sasakawa Award (deLeon et al., 2007). Local traditions and wisdom that
are aimed at protecting the environment in some ways promote disaster reduction as well.
Local wisdom in NTT and Papua on protecting trees from being cut or fishing at certain time
frame provides indication on how vulnerable the environment if disturbed (Pristiyanto, 2009).
Such uses of local knowledge and wisdom can be a powerful tool at the local level when
preparing the community. Unfortunately the position and integration of local knowledge and
wisdom are often not part of the framework of CBDRM when introduced at the village level.
Local traditions and wisdom are at the fringe of CBDRM framework. This is to say that
CBDRM are framed with knowledge that is codified and well understood in modern
framework of thinking.
At the policy level, up-scaling does not end with introducing local wisdom as an asset at
the local level towards disaster preparedness. The relation between CBDRM and development
policies and programs are a concern. With the enactment of the National Act No 24/2007 on
Disaster Management, which was then followed by various implementing regulations and
decrees from related ministries, local authorities can formally engage in the management of
pre, during and after disaster. Some local authorities are inventive with promoting CBDRM
and allocate funding towards these activities. It is interesting to note that the National Disaster
Management Plan 2010-2014 already mentioned two relevant strategies on disaster risk
reduction (DRR), i.e. mainstreaming DRR into development planning and community-based
disaster management, each with budgeted programs amounting respectively to Rp 6.16
billions (approx. US$ 0.65 millions) and Rp 110 Billions (approx. US$ 12 millions) (BNPB,
2010). However, it is still to be seen how they can be implemented effectively, as although
disaster management is one of the national priorities, it often relates more on preparing at the
national level on promoting procedures and knowledge, sometimes high tech, and managing
funding in disaster response. In post recovery period, integrating disaster risk reduction is a
challenge, particularly as often resources in post recovery periods may pour in from various
sources including from out of the countries. This leads to disaster management in post
recovery period becomes an accelerated development period where development activities
take its course in different standards and procedures to those of „normal‟ development period.
The case of Aceh with BRR Aceh - Nias (Rehabilitation and Reconstruction Agency of Aceh
- Nias) shows that accelerating processes were needed with specific procedures to ensure the
success of the recovery process, but on the other side these were also questioned whether
disaster risk reduction has been prioritized or not in the process.
In accordance with the DM Act, all provinces and many districts in Indonesia are
currently establishing their Local Disaster Management Offices (BPBDs) that specifically
monitor and promote disaster management using local resources and allow practitioners and
local institutions to be involved. However in practice, the BPBDs are still constrained to build
their capacity and to operate as the current regulatory procedures limit the options for
developing their human resources and even some contradictory notions between different
regulations still confuse the local government authorities, as such is the case with the current
government funding regulation which does not support the financing of BPBDs‟ operation, in
particular for risk reduction purpose.
Definition of the roles and responsibility of the communities as the subject in disaster
management in the regulations is not well defined, in contrast to the roles and responsibility
of the government. This gives doubt to the legitimacy of CBDRM practice as to whether
giving more authorities to the communities would reduce the roles of the government.
Usfomeny (2007) argued that the strengthening of the position of CBDRM relies on a strong,
determined local government leader that would make CBDRM parts of development policies.
Government leaders become the focal point to promote that BPBDs can function as it is
intended and thus promote the existence of CBDRM. At the local level, local government
institutions that deal with disaster risk management should not be limited to BPBDs, and
should involve other agencies such as the environmental management Office or local
development planning agency and spatial planning division as well as health and social work
division. These local institutions have their parts in contributing to CBDRM through their
own programs at the community level, thus engaging disaster risk reduction with sectoral
development programs. However, how much will they involve will still depend on the leader
in order to mobilize resources needed to do the engagement.
CONCLUSION
CBDRM emerges from practice using participatory approach to promoting community
oriented management. When it is up-scaled, CBDRM frameworks have been codified in order
to find similarities and differences in order to be adopted by provinces/districts with vast
different characteristics. At the early phase of introducing CBDRM, emphasis is on disaster
preparedness which allows the community to learn about managing disaster ahead of time.
With limited resources dedicated to maintain disaster preparedness coupled with limited
capacity to maintain the momentum of preparedness, many communities would balk at the
efforts as they are faced with more critical priorities. Disaster preparedness cannot be left to
the community to maintain its momentum. Except for some communities whose disaster
occurs on regular basis, other communities may take chance instead of maintaining resources
just to be prepared when disaster strikes.
CBDRM can resolve some causes of disaster especially human induced. However relying
heavily on CBDRM to reduce damages in society would never be adequate. For water
induced disaster, CBDRM can only do so far with managing disaster preparedness for
response. Insensitive decision making in development process may lead to serious water
induced disasters. Deciding on which development can take place should mean deciding what
kind of disaster related risk that may be tolerated, and at the local level, CBDRM provides an
appropriate approach for a more participative decision making resulting in a more sensitive
development decision. However, if CBDRM may not be a part of decision making related to
development, then CBDRM would be alien in the terrain of constructing development.
Integrating community based disaster risk management as part of development process
either at the national or local levels are promising. As a country prone to water induced
disasters, decisions on development means that consensus who gain and who losses would be
important. Tools such as Regulatory Impact Assessment (RIA), or Strategic Environmental
Assessment (SEA) that help the decision makers to measure such gains and losses have been
in place. If CBDRM would not be left to the fringe of development, it requires specific
approaches catered to the context of Indonesia in order to make it part of a more sustainable
development program.
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Chapter 2
LESSONS LEARNED FROM COMMUNITY BASED

EARLY WARNING SYSTEM IN THE PHILIPPINES
Susan R. Espinueva1 and Prisco D. Nilo2

Philippine Atmospheric, Geophysical and Astronomical
Services Administration, Philippines
ABSTRACT
Early warning systems are non-structural disaster mitigation measures designed to
save human lives by enabling local authorities and the community to plan and to act
accordingly in the event of a disaster. When applied to the flood hazard, such early
warning would require facilities to measure rain data and upstream catchment and river
behavior so that timely warnings from a possible flood can be provided to the
downstream communities. Hence, the design of the early warning system on flood should
adopt a river basin or a watershed approach to essentially account for the upstream,
midstream and downstream aspects of the basin. Within the framework of disaster
management system in the Philippines, emphasis is made on “self reliance”, “self help”
and “mutual assistance” at the local level, particularly in the utilization of resources. It is
against this backdrop that the community based flood early warning system (CBFEWS)
is developed and anchored on the existing local disaster coordinating council that is
inherent in the institutional set-up of every local government unit (LGU). The Philippines
has already implemented quite a number of CBFEWS since 1999. The earlier flood early
warning system were demand driven while the recent CBFEWS initiatives were funded
by foreign donors. Experiences in implementing early warning system are quite varied
and these challenges are reflected in the issues and concerns as well as lessons learned
derived in the various engagements with the LGUs.
Keywords: early warning system, community based approach, flood, network design,
disaster management, partnership, sustainability
1
Tel: +632-9294065, 9282754, Email: susan.espinueva@pagasa.dost.gov.ph.
2
Tel: +632-9294065, 9282754. Email: pdnilo@pagasa.dost.gov.ph.
18 Susan R. Espinueva and Prisco D. Nilo
1. INTRODUCTION
Early warning system in the Philippines started in 01 January 1865 when the
Observatorio del Ateneo Municipal was set up by the Jesuit fathers. But prior to this date,
meteorological observations were being made by using systematic recording of
meteorological observations by the Jesuits to forecast the weather. For floods, coping
strategies covering both indigenous and conventional ways have long been practiced and
these are inherent in any community that is highly susceptible to flooding.
The vulnerability of the Philippine archipelago to hazards is defined by its location and
natural attributes. It is located along the typhoon belt in the Western North Pacific Basin in
the Pacific where 33 percent of tropical cyclones develop. On the average, the country faces
20 tropical cyclones annually, of which 5 to 7 are destructive. Tropical cyclones along with
other severe weather systems such as monsoons and the inter-tropical convergence zone,
among others, oftentimes produce heavy rainfall that trigger floods and rain induced
landslides.
Due to the various weather causing phenomena in the Philippines, flooding is not a recent
hazard in the Philippines but one that has occurred throughout the recorded history of the
archipelago (Bankoff, 2003). Floods are „one of the greatest natural calamities that may occur
in any place‟, while typhoons are responsible for much of the rain that makes the climate so
ideal for agriculture.
These natural disasters which are hydro-meteorological hazards related cost the
Government an average of PhP15 Billion per year in direct damages, or more than 0.5% of
the national GDP, and indirect and secondary impacts further increase this cost (Rabonza,
2010).
The disaster management system in the Philippines is governed by issuance of national
policies and adjustments are done in consideration of regional and international frameworks.
In 1978, Presidential Decree 1566 was passed for strengthening the Philippine disaster control
and capability and establishing the national program on community disaster preparedness.
Under the decree, disaster management, specifically disaster preparedness and emergency
operations is to be pursued with a heavy emphasis on “self reliance”, “self help” and “mutual
assistance”. This means that maximum utilization of resources at every politico-
administrative level is enjoined before assistance is sought from higher levels. Primary
responsibility for disaster management is placed upon line agencies of the government. The
exercise of leadership responsibilities is expected from the local government executives
(Governors, Mayors, Barangay Captains). The main role of the national government is to
provide support to the local government units. Both planning and real operations are to be
carried out in an inter-agency multi-sectoral basis to optimize the utilization of Resources.
Every agency of government is directed to prepare its disaster preparedness plan. It is within
this framework that early warning systems for flood were developed to capacitate the
communities at risk.
Flood early warning in the Philippines started with the introduction of tele-metered
system in 1973 in the Pampanga river basin in Luzon Island as a pilot area. The effectiveness
of the system in mitigating the impacts of flooding paved for the establishment of similar
early warning systems in three other major river basins in Luzon in 1983. In the late 90s, this
system was extended for reservoir operation in 5 major dams in Luzon.
Lessons Learned from Community Based Early Warning System… 19
However, during the 1990s, the increasing incidence of flooding has been noted in
various parts of the country. Since tele-metered flood early warning system requires
considerable investments, the Philippine government restored the low cost and simple early
warning systems as non-structural measure in mitigating the impacts of flooding.
In addition, the top-down approach type of development that was popular in the 1960‟s
where rapid rural appraisals were employed was no longer effective (Amadore et al., 2003).
Most of the projects failed and the donors realized that development was not easy. As a result,
the bottom up approach was introduced where consultations were made at the community
level before project implementation. Consequently, the community based flood early warning
system (CBFEWS) was conceived and applied in medium size river basin. After the success
of the pilot project on community based flood early warning system, the system was
replicated in other catchments.
2. METHODOLOGY
The early warning system on flood employs a community based approach that integrates
the installation of monitoring instruments, and activities undertaken by the community and
the local as well as national governments. In the CBFEWS, the national government
facilitates the implementation of the project while the local government and the community
managed the operation and maintenance of the installed facilities (Espinueva, 2007).
2.1. Strategies in the Establishment of CBFEWS
Most often the local government units (LGUs) assume that the installation of flood
monitoring devices in their area will equip them with an early warning device without
considering the effect of the upstream condition. However, with the intervention of the
Hydrometeorology Division, Philippine Atmospheric, Geophysical and Astronomical
Services (PAGASA), the LGUs were made to understand the importance of lead time in any
early warning system in order to enable communities to undertake preparedness measures
before a disaster strikes.
The first strategy in the establishment of a flood early warning system (FEWS) is the
consideration of the basin or catchment in designing the network of observation equipment.
Given the geographic setting and physiographic features of the watershed, the LGUs and
communities should view the early warning system in the context of a river basin approach
where upstream, midstream and downstream activities affect the time of concentration and
the volume of runoff as reflected in the shape of the hydrograph. Given the fact that most
flood prone communities are aware that heavy rainfall intensities upstream may result to
flooding in the downstream area, FEWS will systematize or enhance the existing coping
mechanisms of communities.
The second strategy is that the FEWS must be managed by the community. The residents
near the rivers or in flood prone areas are the best people who can cope with the flood hazard
because they are equipped with indigenous technical knowledge (ITK) on the behaviour of
the rivers. The enhancement of the ITK of the community in coping with flooding in their
respective area through FEWS and their participation in the operation and maintenance of the
monitoring equipment will inculcate in them a sense of ownership (Nilo et al., 2007). This is
one of the issues crucial in the sustainability of the FEWS.
The third strategy is the mainstreaming of FEWS in the disaster contingency plan of the
community in order to ensure the sustainability of the FEWS. Through this scheme, the
budgetary requirement for operation and maintenance (O & M) activities are programmed and
sourced out from the 5% calamity fund allocation in every LGU. Although the process will
require approval of the municipal/city council through a resolution, such scheme is
underscored during consultation meetings and stipulated in the Memorandum of Agreement
between the PAGASA and the LGUs which is usually signed before the implementation of
the project.
2.2. Activities in the Establishment of CBFEWS
In general, a CBFEWS consists of two distinct groups: one <that> is involved in

monitoring the natural phenomena and the other in assessing the hydrometeorological
conditions and mobilizes the necessary resources and executes an emergency plan. To
establish a CBFEWS, the PAGASA follows six basic components namely: i) consultation
with local government units (LGUs), ii) design of hydrological network following a river
basin approach, iii) acquisition and/or fabrication of monitoring facilities, iv) ocular survey of
proposed sites (derived from a table top survey), v) installation of facilities and hydrographic
survey, and vi) training of observers and dry run on the operation of the CBFEWS. The
implementation of the system is culminated by the turnover of the CBFEWS to the LGUs.
2.2.1. Consultation with Lgus

The identification of the most appropriate type of FEWS in a certain locality or
community must be based on the community‟s cultural values, beliefs and personal
experiences. It is crucial to present the plan to the LGUs and identify their needs and assess
their interest and acceptability of the project through participatory discussion (Perez et al.,
2007).
The consultation meeting is designed to bring together the stakeholders to discuss the
feasibility of implementing a CBFEWS and to assess the existing facilities that can be utilized
for the CBFEWS. The concept of CBFEWS will be introduced as well as the roles and
responsibilities of the stakeholders through a draft Memorandum of Agreement (MOA) for
comments and review.
There is also a need to identify the Disaster Operation Center (DOC) which is in place in
every municipality and normally headed by the Deputized Civil Defense Coordinator
(DCDC). Very often, the most downstream municipality in a river basin is designated as the
DOC, in case two or more municipalities encompassed a river basin.
2.2.2. Network Design

The networks design of the CBFEWS includes a table top survey on where to position the
monitoring stations for rainfall and water level. Following the river basin approach, the
design of the network is prepared using a flood hazard map and a topographic map (Figure 1)
which identifies the boundaries of rivers and tributaries.
Figure 1. A sample topographic map (left) and the network design (right).
The CBFEWS is designed based on typical conditions of the study area and the
indigenous practices of the communities. Among the factors to be considered in the
implementation of the CBFEWS are: 1) technical capability of the community to operate and
maintain the installed equipment; 2) economic capability of the community to purchase or
acquire the equipment and spare parts to ensure the continuous operation of the system; and
3) availability of volunteers or LGUs from the community to operate the instrumentation.
2.2.3. Acquisition and Fabrication of EWS Instruments

The basic instruments of a CBFEWS are rainfall, water level gauges and flood markers.
Although there are sophisticated equipments available for flood forecasting and warning, the
maintenance cost for such equipment is high and most often not affordable by the LGU and
the community. As much as possible, PAGASA recommends locally fabricated instruments
in order for the community to easily replace defective instruments in the future. The use of
simple technology permits observers to carry out measurements of hydrometeorological
conditions in a practical way. Therefore, the technology to be employed must satisfy the
following requirements: 1) low cost and available locally; 2) practical and simple to use; and
3) modular units for easy maintenance.
A. Rain-Gauge
The project recommends a combination of digital and manually operated rain-gauges
(Figure 2).
The standard 8-inches rain-gauge (Figure 2) is recommended by the World
Meteorological Organisation (WMO). It is composed of a collector tube and a collector
funnel made of Gauge #26 Galvanized Iron, a measuring tube made of brass or Polyvinyl
chloride (PVC) pipe and a measuring stick made of wood or metal (Figure 3) and can be
easily fabricated using local materials.
Figure 2. Standard 8-inches manual rain-gauge (left) and the digital electronic rain-gauge (right).
Figure 3. Specification of a Standard 8 inches manual rain-gauge.
B. Water Level Gauge

A water level gauge is a simple staff gauge usually painted in semi-permanent structures
such as pier of concrete bridges. A template is prepared using a cardboard as shown in figure
4. The scales in the template are in centimetres and one full template measures one meter.
C. Communication System
The communication network is the heart of the CBFEWS. The system will adapt the
existing communication system in order to achieve a sense of community participation in the
transmission of observed data to the disaster operation centre. The use of radios is
recommended because of its reliability even when commercial power fail and guarantees
availability of communication in case of emergency. Mobile phones can also be use as an
alternative form of communication. For warning purposes, fabricated bells are provided in
addition to the existing warning equipment being utilized by the community.
Figure 4. Preparation of a water level gauge template.
2.3. Ocular Survey of Proposed Sites
After establishing the network density, the proposed sites are verified through actual
survey in coordination with the LGUs. There are criteria that are considered in choosing the
sites of the proposed monitoring stations such as the presence or availability of an observer,
access to the site and the availability of communication facilities as indicated in the report.
The ocular survey is usually undertaken in coordination with the LGUs. All feasible sites are
plotted on a map and presented to the LGUs. The survey team also conducts a needs analysis
survey in the form of questionnaires.
2.4. Installation and Hydrographic Survey
Standard rain-gauges are installed in open areas where there are no obstruction like big
trees and buildings of more than 10 meters high from the installation site. The instrument is
normally mounted on a concrete platform (Figure 5) to make it stable and enclosed by a fence
to protect it from stray animals.
The digital rain-gauge can be installed on the roof of houses, buildings and other
structures. The rain-gauge is battery operated and connected to the monitor through a wire
(Figure 6). The monitor is usually installed inside the building or house where the rain-gauge
is installed for easy reading and monitoring of the rainfall intensity even during night time or
heavy rains.
The water level gauge is painted on the pier of a concrete bridge using the template as
shown in Figure 7.
Figure 5. Installation of a standard manual rain-gauge.
Figure 6. Installation of digital electronic rain-gauge (left and centre photos) and the monitor (right).
Cut out pattern

Ladder made of cardboard
Spray paint
Figure 7. Fixing water level gauges on bridge piers.
The hydrographic survey consists of discharge measurement and cross-sectioning (Figure

8) of the river channel. These are done by PAGASA to determine the carrying capacity of
rivers and to derive the assessment levels at the particular cross section. Discharge
measurement activities are undertaken to establish correlation of river heights with the flow
of the river.
Figure 8. Measurement of river cross-section.
The assessment levels are divided into Level 1, Level 2 and Level 3 which will be the
basis in issuing flood advisories/warnings. Each warning level corresponds to a particular
situation in the river which necessitates the issuance of an alert to the community. The flood
advisories for the community are also classified into READY (Level 1), GET SET (Level 2)
and GO (Level 3). The meanings of each level of flood advisory are listed in Table 1.
Table 1. Meaning of flood advisories
Assessment River height Flood Meaning

Level Warning
Level 1 The river at a reference point READY Awareness -that flooding is possible within
is about 40% full. the next 24 hours.
Level 2 The river at a reference point GET SET Preparedness- that flooding is threatening
is about 60% full. within the next 12 hours.
Level 3 The river at a reference point GO Response - that flooding is expected to
is 100% full. occur/or will persist within the next 12 hours.
2.5. Training for Observers
The training module is composed of formal lectures and actual observation of rainfall
data using the manual and digital rain-gauges. The second part of the training is mostly a
table top exercise on the operation of the CBFEWS. The observers should know where and
whom to send the observed data. The person in-charge in the operation centre conducts the
analyses and interprets the data reported by the observers or volunteers and then issues alerts
or flood advisories/warnings to the communities at risk.
The operation of a CBFEWS will be integrated into the existing activities and set-up of
the DOC. It is crucial that the DOC will be able to understand the operation of the CBFEWS
since the DOC will decide on the interval of data transmission during inclement and
emergency situations, interpret the observed data and issue the corresponding flood warnings.
2.6. Pilot Testing/Dry Run
A dry run is conducted to check that the activities are carried out in accordance with
existing protocols and following the communication scheme in Figure 9.
Figure 9. Communication scheme.
2.7. Other Activities
2.7.1. Agreement among Stakeholders

For the implementation of CBFEWS, there is a need for the stakeholders to agree on the
activities to be undertaken, the cost sharing scheme among the key players as well as the roles
of the community and the institutions involved. All these are stipulated in a Memorandum of
Agreement (MOA) which is signed before the installation of facilities to ensure the smooth
implementation of the CBFEWS.
2.7.2. Enactment of a Local Ordinance for Operation and Maintenance

The MOA signed during the implementation of the system is binding within the tenure of
the local chief executive who signed the MOA. To address the issue on sustainability, it is
crucial that a local ordinance be enacted by the city or municipal council that stipulates the
allocation of a reasonable amount of budget for the operation and maintenance of the system.
A sample of the ordinance enacted by the municipal council of Dumangas, Iloilo, Philippines
is shown in Figure 10.
LEGISLATIVE SUPPORT (Dumangas, Iloilo)
• ORDINANCE NO 2005-01 entitled, “AN ORDINANCE

PROVIDING AN ANNUAL APPROPRIATION FOR THE
MAINTENANCE AND OTHER OPERATIONAL EXPENSES
OF THE COMMUNITY-BASED FLOOD AND DROUGHT
FORECASTING AND WARNING SYSTEM IN
DUMANGAS, ILOILO”.
Figure 10. Agreement sample.

3. LESSONS LEARNED
Although the CBFEWS was conceptualized in 1999, among the first projects to be
established are located in Bulacan and Dumangas in Iloilo which were initiated and funded by
the LGUs in 2005 and 2006, respectively. By the first quarter of 2006, the most
comprehensive multi-hazards mapping and assessment for effective community based
disaster risk management project (READY project) was launched in the Philippines by the
United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) with funding from the Australia Agency
for International Development (AusAID). The READY project is an offshoot of the flash-
floods that occurred in December 2004 in the provinces of Quezon and Aurora. The
immediate benefits of FEWS are manifested in several project areas.
In August 2004, Typhoon Marce brought heavy rains in the province of Bulacan that
resulted in the swelling of the Angat river and its tributaries. But with the data observed from
the FEWS coupled with the storm warnings, the people in the province were able to harvest
their aquaculture products before the fishponds were overflowed (Hernando, 2008).
The passage of Typhoon Fengshen (locally known as typhoon Frank) in June 2008
caused the worst flooding that devastated the island of Panay. Hundreds of people died and
damage to infrastructure and agriculture was estimated to be more than one billion pesos.
However, in the municipality of Dumangas, Iloilo where a CBFEWS is in place, there was no
casualty reported and their emergency team even assisted the neighbouring towns in rescue
operations.
In August 2009, Typhoon Morakot brought intense rains causing the breaching of dikes
that resulted to massive flooding and destruction of school, buildings, houses and roads in the
province of Zambales in the Philippines. Fortunately, there were no casualties and the local
officials utilized the CBFEWS facilities in warning to evacuate people to safe areas. Similar
incidents also have taken place in Olongapo City and Vigan City where the CBFEWS were
established.
Implementing a science-based project for the benefit of the community and designed to
be operated by the community is a most challenging but satisfying feat. Although indigenous
practices and beliefs as well as cultural background were considered in the design of
CBFEWS, there are issues and concerns to address, challenges to hurdle and good practices
that need to be replicated.
Operation and Maintenance
The responsibility of O &d M of the adapted CFEWS is of the LGUs, specifically the
deputized Civil Defence Coordinator (CDC) who also heads the Disaster Operation Centre.
However, the CDC is appointed by the local chief executive. Budget for O and M is subject to
scrutiny and audit and it is not automatic especially on pre-disaster activities. It is therefore
critical for the CBFEWS to be mainstreamed in the planning process of the LGU‟s.
Institutional Stability of CBFEWS
The operation of the CBFEWS is integrated in the functions of the DCC which is an
organic part of the institutional set-up of every local government unit. However, depending
on the priorities of the local chief executive, the DCCs are organized but not always
functional. In addition, local chief executives are elected every 3 years and the fast turnover
of local officials is a major constraint in the continuous and smooth operation of the
CBFEWS. Under this situation, the community being one of the stakeholder and direct
beneficiary of the CBFEWS should demand from the LGU for its continued operation.
Differences in Political Affiliation
The political situation in pilot tested areas generally dominates every activity at the local
level. The effectiveness or benefits of undertaking a community based system maybe
disregarded due to differences in political parties and their working agenda and priorities.
This is the general trend in most areas. But there are a few exceptions that need to be
emulated. For instance, in Dumangas, Iloilo, even if there was a change in leadership and
initial resistance from the newly elected chief executive, the intervention from the national
agencies enabled the local executive to be appreciative of the benefits of the CBFEWS in the
community. As a result, the O & M of the CBFEWS was sustained and further enhanced.
Sustainability
Based on extensive experiences in dealing with communities in the implementation of

CBFEWS, the most effective mechanism to ensure its sustainability is the passage of a local
ordinance by the city, municipal or provincial council allocating budget for O & M. Since the
local ordinance goes beyond the tenure of he local officials, it indicates that the CBFEWS has
been mainstreamed into the contingency and development plans of the locality.
Acceptability of the CBFEWS
Despite the increasing frequency of intense disasters from hydrometerological related

hazards such as floods, initiatives on early warning as an effective mitigating measure has just
started to gain recognition. Often, communities that have experienced major disasters are
more receptive and appreciative in sustaining the CBFEWS. There is now a paradigm shift in
disaster mitigation towards giving focus on disaster preparedness and prevention instead of
limiting it to disaster response, recovery, and rehabilitation.
Institutionalization of Partnership among Stakeholders
The implementation of CBFEWS involves several stakeholders such as technical

agencies from the national government, local governments, private sector, academic
institutions, non-government organizations and even the media. Each entity plays a critical
role in the implementation, operation and maintenance of the early warning system. In an area
where a CBFEWS is in place, a monitoring team composed of the various stakeholders is
organized and convene regularly to discuss the issues and concerns and limitations of the
system. The Office of Civil Defence at the regional and provincial and even at the city and
municipal levels must take the lead since disaster management is within their mandates. The
local CBFEWS team should conduct regular assessment of activities, re-training of observers
and post-disaster meetings, public information drives, etc.
Role of Volunteers and School
The very basic activity of the CBFEWS is the observation of rainfall and water level data
by observers designated by the LGus. However, the most effective observers are volunteers
and / or school children who are supervised by their teachers. The involvement of volunteers
and school children will significantly boost the observation of rainfall and water level and
greatly reduce the cost of operations. Hence, school grounds are the preferred sites for the
installation of manual rain-gauges.
CONCLUSION
The increasing frequency of flooding in rural and urban areas in the Philippines as
manifested in the recent flood events has transformed the mindset of communities and local
officials in their preparedness and mitigation efforts. The people and the national government
are becoming more appreciative of the benefits of early warning system as a non-structural
flood mitigating measure. The request for technical assistance in the establishment of a
CBFEWS from NGOs and LGUs both in rural and urban areas has increased to the point that
PAGASA need to re-train more technical personnel.
Since it is the community who will bear the brunt of nature‟s extremes, they will always
take up the challenge within their own capacities to undertake any measure to protect
themselves against hydro-meteorological hazards. And due to its simplicity and cost
effectiveness, the adoption of early warning system on flood will be a preferred option of the
community.
As more LGUs adopt CBFEWS in their communities, more lessons are learned and the
PAGASA is working on documenting the best practices of the LGUs in operating and
sustaining the CBFEWS. To increase the effectiveness and to upscale the CBFEWS in other
areas, the strategies will continuously be modified to suit the needs of the LGUs and the
community. Recently, a city council initiated the establishment of CBFEWS through the
enactment of local resolution by the city council even before the implementation of the
project. This is the best way to start the CBFEWS whereby the LGUs do the planning based
on their needs and provide the budget while the PAGASA will guide and facilitate the
establishment of the CBFEWS. Another strategy to stir the interest of the LGUs is to conduct
public information drive on CBFEWS at communities in flood prone areas.
For PAGASA, the establishment of CBFEWS has extended the coverage of its flood
forecasting and warning service, improved its observation network and most of all, enhanced
its partnership with the local government units and the community. In due time, the LGUs
and the community will realize that meteorology, particularly rainfall forecasting where flood
forecasts are based, is not an exact science and that flooding is a result of the interplay
between nature and society. Moreover, the PAGASA advocates that the system should be
demand driven whereby the LGUs provide the funding to impress a sense of ownership which
is an important condition that will ensure sustainability of the system. The CBFEWS is a
classic example that showcase how science works at the community level
REFERENCES
Amadore L. A., Encarnacion R. P., Bautista M. J., Espinueva S. R. 2003. Multi-sectoral
Partnership for Sustainable Disaster Prevention, Mitigation and Preparedness: A
Government Agency’s Perspective. Country Report for Philippines presented in the
World Water Forum Meeting in Kyoto, Japan.
Bankoff G. 2003. Vulnerability and flooding in metro Manila. International Institute for
Asian Studies (IIAS) Newsletter, 31 July, 2003. http://www.iias.nl/iiasn/
31/IIASN31_11.pdf (Accessed on July 10, 2010).
Espinueva S. R. 2007. Establishment of Community Based Flood Early Warning System
(CBFEWS) in the Province of Surigao del Sur, UNDP Ready Project under the Philippine
Atmospheric, Geophysical and Astronomical Services Administration. Manila, the
Philippines.
Hernando H. T. 2008. Typhoon committee general guidelines for setting-up a community-
based flood forecasting and warning system (CBFFWS), Typhoon Committee Report by
United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (UNESCAP)
and World Meteorological Organisation (WMO). Thailand.
Nilo P. D., Espinueva S. R., Subbiah A. R., Bildan L., Rafisura K. 2007. Taking up flooding
through a community-based early warning system. Asian Disaster Preparedness
Resources. ADPC, Bangkok, Thailand. http://www.adpc.net/. (Accessed July 10, 2010).
Perez R. T., Espinueva S. R., Hernando H. T. 2007. Community-based flood early warning
system. Briefing paper for workshop on the science and practice of flood disaster
management in urbanizing Monsoon Asia/ 4-6 April 2007, Chiang Mai, Thailand .
(Accessed July 12, 2010)
Rabonza G. 2010. Eighth meeting of the regional consultative committee on disaster
management (RCC-8), Manila, the Philippines.
Chapter 3
BUILDING FOR FLOODS IN THE HINDU KUSH

HIMALAYAN REGION – LOCAL KNOWLEDGE
AND COMMUNITY INNOVATION
Mats G. Eriksson1
International Centre for Integrated Mountain Development (ICIMOD)
Khumaltar, Kathmandu, Nepal
ABSTRACT
In the Hindu Kush – Himalayan region, people have adapted to challenges related to
too much and too little water for generations. Will these adaptive mechanisms be enough
in the current rapid pace of change in both climate and society? The impact from climate
leads to increased water induced hazards. New infrastructure being built will have to
adapt to increasing hazards. This is not always the case. New private and public buildings
are being constructed in hazard prone areas, against local knowledge and common sense.
Traditional knowledge on where and how to build houses safely need to be
acknowledged, and policies allowing access to safe land for public buildings need to be
put into place. Cultural norms hampering parts of the society to shift to more hazard
resistant housing and livelihood practices need to be supported, particularly among the
younger generation.
Keywords: Traditional knowledge, culture, building against hazards, Hindu Kush Himalaya,
adaptation to floods
1. INTRODUCTION
The vast Hindu Kush – Himalayan (HKH) region is characterized by many different
climate and cultural environments. It spans from the Pamir, Hindu Kush, and Karakoram
1
Author is currently affiliated with Stockholm International Water Institute (SIWI), Stockholm, Sweden. Tel: +46 8
52213960, Email: mats.eriksson@siwi.org.
32 Mats G. Eriksson
ranges in the west along the main Himalayan range to the Hengduan Shan and other ranges in
the east. However large the area is, people in all corners of the region faces the problem of
having either too much or too little water at any point in time. The South Asian monsoon
regime determines the climate and brings huge amount of water in the summer to the central
and eastern part of the region, while the long dry winter season poses severe challenges to
water availability (Eriksson et al., 2009; Xu et al., 2009).
Despite the region having ample amount of rainfall, measured on an annual basis, water
scarcity is profound throughout the region during large parts of the year. The arrival of the
rainfall is often connected with severe challenges as well. High intense rainfall events create
havoc when leading to rapid increase of pore water pressure in the soil in steep terrain, and
consequently triggering debris flows and slope failures. Similarly, the water level in streams
and river beds may increase rapidly causing flash floods with the threat to destroy farm land
and infrastructure. On a larger scale, and on the foot-slopes and plains below the mountains,
the monsoon rainfall brings thousands of river courses in the large river basins to the limits of
their capacity. Eventually the levee‟s confining the water to the river courses will be
overtopped or breached leading to widespread flooding and inundation.
The arrival of the monsoon and the high intense rainfall events, leading to flash floods,
riverine floods, and inundation are part of the natural climate regime dating back to
geological time scales. Thus, the people living in this region have, of necessity, adapted their
livelihoods, agriculture and cultural practices to these pre-conditions.
However, the current rapid changes in climate and its variability is increasing constrains
to access to water and may exacerbate the frequency and severity of flash floods, riverine
floods, and inundation. Therefore, people‟s ways and means to live with floods and droughts,
developed over generations, become increasingly important to sustain the resilience of the
communities in the HKH. To this end, the rapid changes in the society as well as in the
climate, puts increasing constrains to life style and livelihoods in these communities, and
local knowledge and practices on how to respond to climate related stressors may need
external support in order to be sustainable over time (ICIMOD, 2009).
Conceptually reducing the risk of disasters is closely associated with adaptation processes
(Moench, 2009). Thus, by strengthen better preparedness for disasters, improved adaptation
to climate induced hazards will be achieved, and a gradual shift towards more resilient
communities will take place. The concepts of disaster risk reduction and climate adaptation
embrace a broad scope of the society including both structural and non-structural dimensions.
This chapter will provide some examples on how local communities have developed ways to
adjust their housing in flood prone areas, as well as examples where people live with risk.
Both challenges related to flash floods as well as inundation will be highlighted.
2. “READING” THE LANDSCAPE

Living in the HKH means living with risk. Mountain regions are inherently hazard prone
areas and planning and construction of the society and its infrastructure inevitably has to
follow the law of nature and the preconditions provided by the landscape and its physical
features.
Building for Floods in the Hindu Kush Himalayan Region 33
In Chitral district in northern Pakistan, and similar remote and high altitude areas of the
region, good options for suitable places for house construction is limited. The landscape in
Chitral is characterized by steep rocky slopes beneath which flood plains host braided and
meandering rivers. One of the main landscape features then left for house construction, as
well as for agriculture, orchards and vegetable gardens, are the alluvial fans occurring at the
mouths of stream gorges, or valleys, descending from the high mountains (Figure1). These
are extremely prone to flash floods. In fact, alluvial fans are formed from such events and
living on these is therefore connected with a high risk level (Figure2). Thus, local knowledge
on how to find the least vulnerable spots on these alluvial fans becomes highly important. In
most cases this boils down to staying away from the main flood paths of potential flash
floods. An elder in the Krakal village in the Kalash valley in Chitral summarized this as: “We
take two things into account when we build our houses. We don‟t build houses in the way of
floods and in places where stones may fall down”. This in turn means finding places to live
on the sides of the fan, which would be somewhat sheltered from a flood path, or at the very
edges of the fan, where a flash flood would have lost much of its energy and destructive
force, as well as having been diluted over a larger area. Some villages are built on fossil,
inactive alluvial fans which then are safer. Other settlements are built in clusters and slightly
high up on mountain slopes not only to be safe from floods, but also to save suitable land for
agriculture.
In a smaller scale it becomes useful to understand the physical behaviour of stream
courses. This is something that inhabitants of Chitral also have learned over time (Dekens,
2007a). “Water always remember its path” is a local expression that has been useful when
guiding the location of new house constructions. The expression aims to describe the nature
of flowing water on an alluvial fan, where a stream can be confined to a certain channel for a
long time, only to suddenly abandon this channel and take a new course, normally as part of a
flood event. Sooner or later it is likely that the stream again reverts back to the original
channel, which then has been dry for a substantial amount of time. An alluvial fan is normally
characterized by numerous such dry fossil channels, all of which, however, may become
active again at a certain flash flood event. Therefore, staying away from old channels has
proved to be a successful survival strategy in Chitral as elsewhere. However, such old
channels may be very subtle and difficult to detect in the landscape and it may take either a
scientific scholar trained in geomorphology, or local knowledge based on experience, to
detect such paleo-channels.
Lately, population increase and pressure from the society for additional land for house
constructions and public buildings have forced people to push the limits of physical landscape
safety. In Chitral district and many other areas in the region, houses, schools, and other
buildings are increasingly being located in vulnerable, or even extremely vulnerable, spots.
This is often due to a combination of lack of suitable land or lack of access to suitable land,
lack of proper knowledge on physical landscape hazards, and ignorance. Corruption may also
at times lead to buildings being located in unsuitable places.
34 Mats G. Eriksson
Figure 1. In Chitral, Pakistan, alluvial fans, occurring at the mouth of stream gorges and valleys,
provide one of the few areas for settlement.
Figure 2. Huge boulders transported and deposited by a flash flood have miraculously spared the houses
built on the side of an alluvial fan in Chitral.
In Chitral, for instance, one can find several recently constructed public schools located
in the uppermost part, in the hydrographic apex, of recent active alluvial fans. These are
extremely vulnerable spots, witnessed for instance through the absence of trees and large
shrubs in these areas, since they are washed away from time to time (Figure3). The exact
reason for why schools are located in such areas is not fully known and addressed.
In Nepal, along main river valleys, schools are also found to be located in precarious
positions in the landscape. For instance, along the Bhote koshi river course in north-central
Nepal schools and other buildings are located very close to the water level (Figure4). This
river course has been subject to glacial lake outburst floods (GLOF) in the past causing
substantive destruction. Presently, nine potential GLOF lakes have been identified in the
uppermost part of the basin, in the Tibet Autonomous Region in China. If any of the moraine
ridges damming the lakes would burst, the propagating flood wave would travel across the
border to Nepal and inflict considerable damage and destruction along the river course,
including damaging the buildings recently built near the stream course, and of course putting
the people in these buildings into immediate danger.
Figure 3. In Chitral, schools and other public buildings are sometimes built in the most vulnerable
areas, on the uppermost parts of alluvial fans (white circle).
Figure 4. A school built on low lying vulnerable land, close to the Sun-Bhote Koshi river, Nepal.
In order to rectify such trends it becomes increasingly important to a) acknowledge and

build upon local knowledge and experience, developed over generations; b) create awareness
among district government officials on risks related to floods and flash floods, and other
landscape related hazards; and c) counteract corrupt behaviour in processes of allocating land
for public buildings, like schools and hospitals.
36 Mats G. Eriksson
3. CULTURAL TRADITIONS AND HOUSE

CONSTRUCTIONS IN ASSAM, INDIA
The tradition to build houses on plinths has been developed over generations as an
effective way to adapt to recurrent floods and periods of inundation. This is practised in
places in the Terai in Nepal (Dekens, 2007b), and it is the traditional way of living in Assam
(Das et al., 2009). Here, the design and construction of the plinth house is often dependent on
the economic status of the family. Some soil plinths are walled with bricks to make them
stronger and endure inundation better, and bamboo poles might be used as a measure against
soil erosion. The heights of the plinths are often reflecting the financial situation of the
family, where wealthy families are better protected in terms of floods than poor. However, a
plinth house can only be raised to a certain level, normally 0.5-1.5 m, which may not always
be high enough to stay above the flood level. Therefore, it is common to also build platforms
inside the house to be used for storage. In times of long term inundation these platforms may
also serve as living platforms where families may stay for several weeks. People decide to
leave their houses only when it is absolutely not possible to live in them due to the
inundation. This reluctance to leave the houses is mainly due to the efforts and hardship
coming with shifting place to live.
An alternative way of constructing houses in Assam is to build them on stilts made from
wood and bamboo, or concrete (Figure5). Such houses, named „chang ghar‟, built and used by
the so called Mishing tribal community (Das et al., 2009), are even more effective in times of
floods since the houses can be elevated to higher levels (2-2.5 m) than plinth houses. It
contains living room, kitchen and food storage, and can even accommodate small livestock.
Life can thereby proceed more or less as normal even during times of inundation. This house
is innovative with multipurpose functions, and a classical example of physical adaptation over
long time periods, based on local knowledge, which in turn is based on observations and first
hand experience of river behaviour during generations.
Figure 5. Houses built on concrete or bamboo stilts provide a classical and proven technique to increase
the resilience to seasonal floods in Assam state, India. (Photo: P. Das).
Although proven to be better adapted to floods, the non-tribal Assamese community does
not construct these kinds of houses. They are of the opinion that these houses are less able to
provide conditions for cleanliness, hygiene and sanitation, and that stilt houses are connected
with a lower rank in the society. These opinions prevail despite the stilt houses proven to
withstand floods better than the plinth houses. The mishing population on the other hand,
think that the Assamese are too conservative, holding on hard to their traditional customs, and
sometimes accusing them for being self-destructive since it has happened that Assamese have
drowned during times of floods, as a result of inadequate adaptation.
The two different types of house constructions described above are closely linked to
cultural traditions and norms. The decision to rely on plinth houses, and reject stilts, is
particularly strong among the older generation, which is more conservative. This generation is
also in general often making key decisions in the families and is thereby also influencing the
adaptive capacity in the families and community. The younger generation is less conservative
and prepared to step away from the cultural norms and adapt to new ways of living, even if
these are against engraved traditions and connected with lower status in the society.
CONCLUDING REMARKS
The HKH region, and the world at large, is currently experiencing large changes, some
related to climate, and some related to society. Growing populations are putting ever
increasing constraints on available resources, including access to land.
As the frequency and magnitude of floods and flash floods are likely to increase in HKH
in the future, it becomes increasingly important to find ways and means to adapt to such
changes. There are strong evidences that poor countries are disproportionately affected by
climatic hazards. Much is related to the rapid increase of population which mean that in many
cases new land and landscape areas are occupied which were previously vacant because they
are hazardous (Handmer, 2009). Adapting to flood hazards will automatically reduce the risk
for disasters to happen, and adaptation thereby becomes a way to manage disaster risks.
As highlighted, understanding better the factors that determine where and how people
settle in the landscape becomes important. To this end it is crucial to know better the policies
and cultural norms influencing the construction of new houses, particularly public buildings
like schools and hospitals.
Here, important work is currently being done to improve the safety of schools and
hospitals from earthquakes. However, much needs to be done to also safeguard buildings, and
thereby people, from flood hazards. This is particularly the case in mountain areas where
access to safe land is scarce, and where policies supporting safe construction might be weak.
Access to sufficient financial resources to acquire safe land might also be a limiting factor as
well as corruption and other un-official drivers that may influence access to land, and
people‟s adaptive capacity (Handmer, 2009).
Similarly, a better understanding of the cultural norms determining people‟s choices on
community level is beneficial when for instance designing projects and interventions
targeting and supporting community adaptation to climate induced and other hazards. Here,
support of the parts of the society that dare to challenge well established norms and practices,
when they are contra-productive, in the efforts to reach more resilient communities might be
38 Mats G. Eriksson
needed. Working with, and support, youth and the younger generation becomes particularly
important.
REFERENCES
Das P., Chutiya D., Hazarika N. 2009. Adjusting to floods on the Brahmaputra plains, Assam,
India. International Centre for Integrated Mountain Development (ICIMOD) Publication,
Kathmandu.
Dekens J. 2007a. Herders of Chitral, the lost messengers? Local knowledge on disaster
preparedness in Chitral district, Pakistan. International Centre for Integrated Mountain
Development (ICIMOD) Publication, Kathmandu, Nepal. ISBN 9789291150267.
Dekens J. 2007b. The snake and the river don’t run straight. Local knowledge on disaster
preparedness in the eastern Terai of Nepal. International Centre for Integrated Mountain
Development (ICIMOD) Publication, Kathmandu, Nepal. ISBN 9789291150274.
Eriksson M., Xu J., Shrestha A.B., Vaidya R.A., Nepal S. 2009. The changing Himalayas–
impact of climate change on water resources and livelihoods in the greater Himalayas.
International Centre for Integrated Mountain Development (ICIMOD) Publication,
Kathmandu, Nepal. ISBN 9789291151110.
Handmer J. 2009. Adaptive capacity: What does it mean in the context of natural hazards? In
the Earthscan reader on adaptation to climate change. Schipper ELF. Burton I. (Eds).
Stockholm, Earthscan Publishers.
ICIMOD. 2009. Local responses to too much and too little water in the greater Himalayan
region. International Centre for Integrated Mountain Development (ICIMOD).
Kathmandu SBN 9789291151288.
Moench M. 2009. Adapting to climate change and the risks associated with other natural
hazards: methods for moving from concepts to action. In the Earthscan reader on
adaptation to climate change. Schipper, ELF., Burton I. (Eds.) Stockholm, Earthscan
Publishers.
Xu J., Grumbine R.E., Shrestha A.B., Eriksson M., Yang X., Wang Y., Wilkes A. 2009. The
melting Himalayas–cascading effects of climate change on water, biodiversity and
livelihoods. Conservation Biology 23(3), pp. 520-530.
Chapter 4
COMMUNITY-BASED DISASTER RISK MANAGEMENT

CAN LEAD TO GOOD URBAN GOVERNANCE
Gabrielle Iglesias1
Asian Disaster Preparedness Center
Bangkok, Thailand
ABSTRACT
Community involvement is recognized as essential in the disaster risk management
process. Community participation is able to improve the understanding of the sources of
disaster risk, raise the awareness of local capacities to reduce risk, and strengthen the
consensus over reducing disaster risk and the commitment to disaster risk management
goals. This chapter presents another dimension in that the community-based disaster risk
management process can also meet the goals of good urban governance by being
consistent with some of the principles of governance, namely civic engagement and
citizenship, subsidiarity, and transparency.
Keywords: community-based disaster risk management, governance, urban environment
1. INTRODUCTION
Dagupan City is a sub-regional center for trade and commerce, finance, high-level health
and education services in Northern Luzon Island of the Philippines (Figure 1). It is located
along the sea coast on an eastern margin of the delta of Agno River. It lies just a meter above
sea level and is traversed by Pantal River, a major tributary of the Agno River. Flooding in
Dagupan is a common problem and the situation is further aggravated by the onset of high
tide. Tidal back flow has created secondary rivers that in turn made islets out of the eastern
settlements featured in this chapter.
1
Email: iglesias@adpc.net.
40 Gabrielle Iglesias
Figure 1. Location map of Dagupan city. (Image courtesy of ADPC).
Like many cities in Asia, Dagupan also has its share of poor communities, and their
homes can be found in the areas at high-risk to the city‟s annual floods. This is the story of
eight communities (and a supportive city government) who decided to systematically plan and
prepare for flood disasters. The PROMISE-Philippines Project (2006 to 2009) opened a new
door for the city to advance the culture of safety and disaster resilience by putting forward the
significance of community participation. The experience in Dagupan City captured in this
chapter showed that getting (poor) communities involved in reducing their own disaster risk,
through the process of community-based disaster risk management, can simultaneously
promote good urban governance.
1.1. Hazard Profile
There are seven river systems that traverse Dagupan, all draining into Lingayen Gulf.
Most of the rivers are heavily silted due to upstream riverbank erosion and proliferation of
informal settlements along riverbanks, and is the cause of heavy flood in the city in the past
years. Typhoons pass through often, create heavy rains in the upper catchment of the Agno
river basin, and subsequently the waters reach Dagupan city and can cause floods (Figure 2).
The city is also exposed to water release from the Binga and San Roque dams. Furthermore,
the 7.8-magnitude North Luzon earthquake of 16 July 1990 caused not only widespread
damage in the city, it also created a dynamic lateral shifting of Pantal River that left numerous
abandoned channels and a low-lying terrain made up of levees and back-swamps that are
inundated during floods and high tides, altering the flood hazard-scape.
Community-Based Disaster Risk Management … 41
Figure 2. Dagupan city flood hazard map 2006. (Image courtesy of Dagupan City Government).
1.2. Initial Community Profile
During a participatory risk assessment conducted in 2006 at the community level, the
communities realized they had neither a system for early warning of an oncoming flood, nor a
system for evacuation. People just lived with risks and either fled to higher grounds or stayed
in their inundated house every time the city flooded. Using a hazard such as floods due to
monsoons and typhoons as take-off point for disaster risk reduction is strategic it would be
recurring, and so people have a high incentive and repeating reminder to reduce their risks.
The community referred to in this chapter is the barangay, the smallest administrative
and political unit of the country. Dagupan City is comprised of 31 barangays. Each barangay
has an elected council headed by a chair, and a budget for development work, including an
annual automatic setting aside of 5% from the barangay funds for disaster preparedness
(known as the calamity fund).
Before the year 2010, part of the mandate of the barangay is to form a Barangay Disaster
Coordinating Council (BDCC) from among its residents, also headed by the barangay chair,
with the authority to plan for disaster response coordination. (These mandates come from the
Presidential Decree 1566 of 1978 on the National Program on Community Disaster
Preparedness, and Republic Act 7160 of 1991 on the decentralization known as the Local
Government Code. The mandates have just recently expanded with the passage of Republic
Act 10121 last May 27 to include a mandate for disaster risk reduction; the law‟s
Implementing Rules and Regulations that contain exact mechanisms and scope are yet to be
developed).
At the beginning of this story in 2006, the city government‟s assessment of community
preparedness had reflected the capacity gaps in the barangays. All of the city‟s 31 barangays
had inactive BDCCs (Iglesias, 2007a). They needed training in emergency response, had no
inventory of emergency equipment, no stockpile of relief goods (food, medicines etc.), no
standard operating procedures (SOPs) to rely on during emergencies or disasters, and would
have to reach out to their community members to raise awareness levels on hydro-
meteorological, seismic and other disasters. This was the situation because the city authority
and the city‟s barangays are mandated to concentrate on responding to hazards such as
flooding (evacuation, search and rescue operations, emergency medical treatment, providing
security) and on being prepared for emergencies (stockpiling and maintaining emergency
equipment). They were engaged in a drainage system maintenance and river dredging as
mitigation, but nothing towards vulnerability reduction.
The city government identified disaster response activities that BDCCs should perform.
The list included search-and-rescue operations (SAR), evacuation, relief distribution,
emergency medical treatment, and security and other police action. The identified post-
disaster recovery activities included damage assessment, debris-clearing operations,
rebuilding or repairing, and psychological rehabilitation. The barangay’s role in disaster risk
mitigation was not recognized at this early stage.
2. CBDRM FOR GOOD URBAN GOVERNANCE

2.1. The Concept
The United Nations Human Settlements Programme (UNHABITAT) promotes the

following definition of good urban governance: “Urban governance is inextricably linked to
the welfare of the citizenry. Good urban governance must enable women and men to access
the benefits of urban citizenship. Good urban governance, based on the principle of urban
citizenship, affirms that no man, woman or child can be denied access to the necessities of
urban life, including adequate shelter, security of tenure, safe water, sanitation, a clean
environment, health, education and nutrition, employment, public safety and mobility.
Through good urban governance, citizens are provided with the platform which will allow
them to use their talents to the full to improve their social and economic conditions.” Good
urban governance is associated with the eight principles of sustainability, subsidiarity, equity,
efficiency, transparency and accountability, civic engagement and citizenship, and security;
these norms are regarded as interdependent and mutually reinforcing (UNHABITAT, 2002).
Certainly, disaster risk management also has the goal of assuring that people‟s access to
the basic necessities are assured, and any sustainable economic growth does not backslide
with every disaster event. Disaster risk management is not just a function of government, but
it can be a responsibility of the private sector within their own businesses, and even the poor
and underserved can take it on their shoulders for their own safety, welfare and continuing
livelihood through community participation in risk management. In this work, three principles
of good urban governance appear to have been reinforced: civic engagement and citizenship,
subsidiarity, and transparency.
Community-based disaster risk management (CBDRM) is a process in which at-risk
communities are actively engaged in the identification, analysis, treatment, monitoring and
evaluation of disaster risks in order to reduce their vulnerabilities (Abarquez and Murshed,
2004). This cannot be achieved without enhancing their capacities for recognizing the hazards
that surround them, acknowledging their strengths and weaknesses against the hazards, and
fostering a positive attitude to undertake mitigation and emergency preparedness. This

approach has been evolving since the 1990s to recognize the community‟s resource potential
and indigenous knowledge base, and to correct the defects of the top-down approach in
disaster management and development planning. This chapter proposes that if an examination
is made of the CBDRM process and we find that at least some of the principles of good urban
governance can be found after its introduction into the community, then we may be able to
make a case for good urban governance being assisted or helped along by CBDRM.
2.2. The CBDRM Process in Eight Barangays
The case study will not be clear without a description of the process undertaken. In the
case of this specific project in Dagupan City, the city government proposed to work on the
high risk communities as the pilot for their CBDRM activities. Eight barangays were
eventually identified as at high risk to flooding, based on the frequency and severity of
flooding, flood depth, and the length of time that a flood would stay. These eight barangays
(Bacayao Norte, Bacayao Sur, Lasip Chico, Lasip Grande, Mangin, Pogo Grande, Salisay and
Tebeng) are located along the creeks of Pantal River.
2.2.1. Training and Workshop on CBDRM

After an orientation of the selected communities about the project and getting their
agreement to participate, the first activity was a training and workshop on the concepts of
CBDRM and participatory risk assessments. The first to be trained were city officials who
were to be closely involved in the project; underwent training first as a participant, and later
as trainer. The city officials trained, in turn, identified peer trainers from each of the
barangays, and also in the same two-stage process. Finally, the peer trainers conducted the
CBDRM training and workshop for all members of their communities. The technical resource
persons came from the trained city officials as well as representatives of the national flood
control station and national weather service. The participation of the city and national
officials in this training will become important later when the principle of transparency of risk
is discussed.
During the workshops, the trainers found that the residents in these eight barangays were
apparently resigned to the idea that there was not much that they can do about it. After
undergoing the CBDRM training and workshop sessions and engaging in participatory risk
assessment sessions of their neighborhoods, they came to several (common) realizations
about their vulnerabilities that could be corrected to reduce their flood risk (Luneta and
Molina, 2008): (1) Community members could not tell when they were at low, medium or
high risk to floods, and so were not appropriately prepared for floods when needed. (2) The
communities were vulnerable to flooding at night when no one was watching the river water
level. (3) The eight respective BDCCs were not familiar with their roles and responsibilities
in emergency response coordination and lacked the necessary equipment and facility for
emergency preparedness. (4) Finally, the various livelihood activities were in jeopardy during
flooding episodes.
The communities were guided by the project to develop the appropriate mitigation
projects and activities to reduce the identified vulnerabilities. The mitigation measures were:
(1) With the help of the city government, evacuation plans were developed that had
appropriate responses per flood level. (2) A community flood alert system was established
that, with the corresponding system development at the city level and coordination with the
national meteorological service, became a true end-to-end early warning system (EWS). (3)
The BDCCs and volunteers were given several training sessions on their roles in emergency
response and the necessary skills. (4) Alternative livelihood options were set up for poorer
members of the community that were still connected to flood disaster preparedness. All these
mitigation measures were developed simultaneously over the span of three years, and the
main features will be explained in the rest this section.
2.2.2. Evacuation Planning

The city government and the eight BDCCs developed their respective emergency
response plans. The plans had to consider several points: (1) the lowest areas that easily get
inundated; (2) the number of flood gauges needed for the EWS and appropriate locations; (3)
pick up points and safe routes for evacuation; (4) safe temporary and permanent evacuation
centers; (5) people‟s roles and responsibilities in an evacuation; and 6) validating and revising
the EWS.
The plans provided the BDCCs and residents with a framework for how to systematically
deal with the factors that increase their susceptibility to the harmful effects of flood episodes.
It gave a clear overview on their vulnerable situation, the capacities available in their
barangays to cope with it, and familiarity with the city‟s overall emergency response strategy.
The plans had several important features:
 Classifying homes and other buildings by flood risk level (low-, medium- and high)
based on the structure and material of the building.
 The location of the community‟s critical infrastructure if present, and plans to
develop them if absent. These included health centers, day care centers, schools, the
barangay‟s Emergency Operations Center (EOC), evacuation routes, the temporary
and the permanent evacuation centers, and the means to communicate the alerts of
possible floods.
Existing structures (the barangay office, homes, health centers, schools, day care centers,
roads and lanes) were assessed if they could serve as part of the network of critical
infrastructure network.
 Developing and maintaining the community‟s method of receiving flood alerts from
the national government and transmitting the same to its residents (EWS).
 Key roles during floods, who would fulfill them, and training needs to ensure the
effectiveness of the responder.
 Testing and improving the plan and its features through flood monitoring, drills and
simulation exercises, and periodic review of the data in the participatory risk maps.
2.2.3. End-to-End EWS

Early warning had been thought to have three parts: (1) technical monitoring of hazards
and warning where the hazards are modelled and the risk is assessed to determine when a
warning should be sent out; (2) the communication and dissemination of warnings; and (3)
the development of appropriate responses from individuals and communities (such as get
ready and stock up on necessities, secure one‟s home or work place, evacuate to a safe place)
through drills and clear signs to show safe evacuation routes. However, ISDR in 2006
published a checklist for developing an EWS that promoted the idea of a system centered
around people. In addition to the three aforementioned parts, it added a fourth that
emphasized risk knowledge of the individual and communities. Further, it placed the
communities as one of the key stakeholders in the establishment and operation of an EWS.
The flood EWS installed in the high-risk communities of Dagupan was not developed as
a stand-alone system. The city government did the coordination with the relevant government
office (the PAGASA Flood Control Office) so that the city could directly receive flood alerts
(Iglesias, 2007a). The city also took the role of monitoring and recording river water levels,
flood heights and durations, of relaying these to the PAGASA Flood Control Office to
improve their river model, and used the same to periodically assess and update the flood
hazard map for Dagupan.
The role of the barangays in the establishment and operation of the EWS was formalized
in several ways as activities that supported their BDCCs and evacuation plan: (1) they used
their risk maps and update the list of residents living in the high-, medium- and low-risk
zones; (2) they developed local or indigenous equipment for warning dissemination (such as
bullhorns and bamboo instruments) with the corresponding warning sounds or messages; (3)
each community developed flood gauges that were color-coded to correspond to alert levels,
monitored these continuously once a flood alert has been raised, and transmitted the data over
radio to the city government‟s EOC where the flood situation and overall emergency response
is being coordinated; (4) the barangay councils had billboards set up in various points of their
respective barangays that had the legend of the flood gauges to indicate the alert and the
expected response from the communities; and (5) the BDCCs developed communication
protocols for communicating with the city‟s EOC. Clearly, this flood EWS requires the
integration of the barangay within the system, and can be classified as “people-centered”.
2.2.4. Improving the Emergency Response

The BDCCs and volunteers were given several training sessions on their roles in
emergency response, in first aid, SAR, and in water-based SAR. These training sessions were
conducted with the technical assistance of the Philippine Red Cross chapter in Pangasinan
province and the city health officer. Each barangay conducted flood drills, and each
participated in the city‟s test of their communication equipment and information relay
protocols. One barangay (Mangin) participated in Dagupan city‟s flood simulation exercise
conducted in May 2007. All these were monitored and timed so that each BDCC and the
city‟s EOC could improve their effectiveness in times of floods.
Some rescue equipment were distributed to each barangay based on needs identified in
their action plans. These equipment included boats, bamboo raft, road guides to demarcate
safe routes that avoid open canals, flashlights, hard hats, raincoats, boots, ropes, megaphones,
emergency lamps, bamboo warning devices (kanungkong), two-way radios for city-wide
communication, cameras, radio transistors, heavy duty lamps, farm tractor and others. Each
barangay supplemented the equipment by purchasing flashlights, two-way radios, and
megaphones from their own budgets.
2.2.5. Connecting Livelihood with Disaster Risk Management

Some of the livelihood activities in the high-risk barangays were vulnerable to disruption
during floods so that the provision of alternative livelihood options was also a priority of the
communities in their action plans. Each community had set up a process for screening and
approving small-scale disaster mitigation projects, and alternative income generating
activities were submitted as a mitigation project. Approved projects included rice retailing, a
community pharmacy, and operating pedicabs where community members could rent
pedicabs from the BDCC on a daily basis. These were small income generating projects that
not only created income for the poor community members, but also provided the BDCC
either with operating funds (from the pedicab rental fees) or with relief goods (rice and
medicine) that was replaced with fresh stock before they expired (and the old stock sold
through the community stores).
2.3. Civic Engagement and Citizenship
Armed with the information that they collected about their own risks, the residents of the
eight barangays participated in their disaster risk management from the very beginning. They
undertook several activities to build community awareness of the risks around them, to create
ownership over solutions that they can implement by themselves, and to promote the spirit of
cooperation between them, the city government, and civic organizations such as the Red
Cross.
The emergency plan, in particular, served as a catalyst for the communities to become
concerned with early warning and evacuation, and advanced a culture of safety (Luneta and
Molina, 2008). Civic groups and private entrepreneurs would also contribute to the execution
of different parts of the emergency plan, either as trained rescue volunteers, crowd control, or
providing relief goods. The local print and radio media in the province were also briefed on
the city and barangay emergency plans, and they participated in public awareness drives.
The PROMISE Philippines project came with an opportunity to use a fund for small-scale
disaster mitigation projects that must be accompanied by resource inputs from the city
government and the community residents. The total amount available was only USD 30,000,
and a single project could use no more than USD 5,000. The fund was divided into eight
mitigation projects, one for each barangay, based on the identified needs that came out during
the action planning workshops. Four of the projects were the physical improvement of the
EOC of the barangay, three projects were the improvement of the barangay evacuation
center, and one project was a small dike. The money from the project was used to buy
construction materials. The residents of each barangay contributed their labor for free, and
the work was done under the supervision of the city engineer.
The project had several unintended but welcome outcomes insofar as civic engagement is
concerned. The residents of the high-risk barangays became active advocates for disaster risk
management, and would give presentations on their respective community‟s work to
Philippine and foreign visitors of the city government. They were regarded as earnest
advocates who were practicing what they were preaching. The PROMISE Philippines project
was extended by one year wherein the city government and barangays helped establish the
Northern Luzon Disaster Risk Reduction Network, and the Region 1 Disaster Coordinating
Council (whose area of responsibility covers Pangasinan province) invited Dagupan City and
its barangays to be resource persons for its advocacy efforts directed at the four provinces in
the region.
Perhaps the best example of an outcome of the project showing engagement was when
the barangay residents joined up with the city government to advocate in front of the city
council (Sangguniang Panlungsod) that enacts legislation and budget resolutions applicable
only to Dagupan City. In 2007, they lobbied together for the creation of a permanent EOC for
the city (Figure 3), and the city council passed City Ordinance 1908-2007 that created the
EOC, defined its mandate, and provided for the initial capital outlay and annual operating
budget.
Figure 3. Barangay residents are seated in the left-hand section during the city council‟s deliberations
on disaster preparedness (Image courtesy of PROMISE/Dagupan City Government).
2.4. Subsidiarity through Stakeholder Involvement
The principle of subsidiarity is the placement of authority and resources to the closest
appropriate level. This principle encourages decentralization of government functions as well
as local democracy to improve the reach of public service towards those who need it, and to
make public service as responsive as possible. The urban governance process encourages
local governments to engage in a constructive dialogue with stakeholders on development
issues, and involving them in decision-making through a sustainable and proactive risk
reduction approach. In many countries, the national legal mandates of cities do not include
such processes but fortunately that is not the case in the Philippines.
Prior to RA 10121, the barangay was already responsible for disaster response
coordination in its area, but not for all aspects of disaster risk management that must include
vulnerability reduction, structural mitigation, and non-structural mitigation. (Risk
management is not mentioned specifically in current Philippine laws, but is implied as part of
the considerations for development planning, land use planning, zoning, physical
infrastructure planning, and construction regulation; these activities are part of the scope of
city and municipal governments, and of provincial government and national government as
far as some infrastructure planning are concerned.)
In fact, this particular example of CBDRM has made a case for how the paradigm can be
changed from response to risk management. The paradigm shift occurring in all eight
barangays under the project, wherein the BDCCs were transformed from mere emergency
response coordination bodies to what may be considered as local risk management
committees. When the barangays are not facing a crisis, they are updating their list of
households and the risk to floods, refreshing their inventory for relief, training people in
search-and-rescue, briefing children and new community members on the flood alerts, and
cleaning their drains in preparation for rainy season. Figure 4 is a photo of the two Disaster
Data Boards on display in the Barangay Mangin EOC, used to track families in their
jurisdiction, and to keep an inventory of relief goods.
CBDRM can also ensure that community people can use coping and survival strategies to
respond to an emergency situation even before outside help from the government or NGOs
arrive, and thereby averting a potential disaster. One of the objectives of the barangay
emergency plans was that each of the eight should be self-sufficient for at least three days as
part of their flood disaster preparedness. The communities were encouraged to have enough
relief goods in stock, to be prepared to evacuate themselves, to rescue themselves, and to
know first aid to be prepared for an extreme situation where the emergency response from the
city, provincial or national government are severely strained. By August 2008, the level of
community disaster preparedness in the eight barangays was a stark contrast to how the
barangays were at the start, when their BDCCs were inactive, had no inventory for relief, and
no trained volunteers in their communities.
Figure 4. BDCC members of Barangay Mangin explain their Disaster Data Board that keeps track of
the number of persons and families affected by a hazard event and their needs. (Image courtesy of
PROMISE/Dagupan City Government).
2.5. Transparency of Risk
Transparency means "sharing information and acting in an open manner"; it enables

stakeholders to gather information that may be critical to defending their interests, such as
information concerning disaster risk that could enable them to protect themselves. A
transparent disaster risk management system would have clear procedures for public decision-
making and open channels of communication between stakeholders and officials.
Participatory hazard and vulnerability mapping with the subsequent participatory risk
assessment are considered to be the starting point in the process. These assessments are
carried out using participatory tools and trained volunteers to facilitate inputs from a wide
range of community stakeholders. Figure 5 is a photo of the typical participatory risk map.
The communities were guided to indicate the risk (low, medium or high) of a neighborhood
within a barangay, and that neighborhood‟s priority for evacuation.
Figure 5. Flood risk map of Barangay Mangin prepared through the participatory approach (Image
courtesy of PROMISE/Dagupan City Government).
Risk would be based on the data collected by each community during transect walks and
workshops. The data would be processed into useful information, such as: 1) flood zones
based on the community‟s collective memory of the periodicity, depth, and duration of
floods; 2) the location of houses, classified by quality of construction and ability to withstand
strong winds, and or by number of storeys that can afford the resident family some protection
from high water; 3) the location of individuals with special needs in emergencies (invalids,
the elderly, with physical disabilities, babies and children); 4) the location of the community‟s
critical infrastructure such as wells, health centers, day care, schools, Barangay Hall,
churches/mosques and other evacuation areas, and even strong multi-storey houses that can
serve as temporary evacuation areas/shelters. (Agricultural communities in Asia would also
indicate temporary shelters for their livestock).
At the municipal level, the assessment is integrated into other municipal maps, such as
land use, human settlement data, etc.. using GPS and GIS technology, transforming the
community knowledge into formal products (Iglesias, 2007b). At the community level, the
assessments are the basis for community action plans to reduce their own risks. At the city
level, the city also has a risk assessment to cover the entire area.
Both geographic levels of risk assessment were interlocked in the CBDRM process so
that one assessment informed and validated and updated the other. A key ingredient to
making this happen was the presence of city officials during the CBDRM workshops in each
barangay. They were able to give technical resource inputs, to observe the participatory
assessments of hazard, vulnerability, capacity and risk, to give guidance and clarification
when requested or needed. At the same time, the city government had direct knowledge of the
process of the assessments and action planning, and therefore knew the degree of reliability of
the same.
Thanks to the CBDRM process, the city gained additional manpower for flood data
collection. The trained volunteers of the barangay who were monitoring flood gauges in
rivers and flood markers in their communities were relaying data to the city government on
depth, date and time of reading, flood duration and extent. This voluntary community effort is
continuing up to today, and contributes to the improvement of the flood model for the city.
Finally, barangay action plans were based on their respective residents‟ assessments and
perceptions of risk. The goals were owned immediately by the community that framed them.
In their own words and amateur map symbols, they were able to describe which areas are
exposed to floods, to identify their own resources that they can mobilize, and to decide upon
the steps they would undertake to reduce their risk. This is an important point about risk
perception because the communities developed self-motivation to protect themselves during
the CBDRM process, and this motivation could be said to contribute to their actions to reduce
their risks.
3. THE REAL TESTS

Dagupan City experienced severe floods from several typhoons within the last decade.
These typhoons included Typhoon Babs (local name Loleng) in 1998, one of the most
destructive typhoons that hit the Philippines, and Typhoon Linfa (local name Chedeng) in
2003 whose precipitation measured in Dagupan reached 723 mm and is one of the wettest
typhoons so far. We can reasonably consider the community response to floods from
typhoons that passed over them after the CBDRM process began as tests of how well they
managed their risk. (Note: The source of the data for the impacts of the typhoons is the
Dagupan City Government.)
3.1. Typhoon Halong 2008
Typhoon Halong (local name Cosme) hit Dagupan City on May 17, and resulting in
severe damage to 3,349 houses and partial damage to 15,034 houses, affecting 24,973
families. Damage to public infrastructure (school buildings, day care centers, health centers,
barangay and city offices, lighting) was pegged at USD 0.69 million. There was no rain in
Dagupan, but the city had some flooding due to dam water release and high tide. Estimated
losses for the local fishing industry were at USD 13 million.
The city and barangay disaster coordinating councils were all activated, and the flood
early warning system was monitored non-stop. Barangay Mangin had the highest flood risk,
and yet it managed to evacuate its residents, distribute its own relief goods in addition to the
relief goods from the City, and ensured that all its residents were reached. The city‟s relief
work and the Dagupan Red Cross began immediately after the typhoon passed, as well as
recovery efforts to purify water, clear roads and restore water and electrical services. It would
seem that the city and barangays were able to work well together for early warning.
No one died from the eight barangays covered during Typhoon Halong. Unfortunately,
there were casualties from other barangays during the Typhoon Halong event. Three children
that lived next to Pantal River and were swept into the waters and drowned, and one adult
male died from exposure.
3.2. Typhoon Parma 2009
On October 8, about a month after the PROMISE Philippines project ended, Northern
Luzon was submerged by the worst flooding in its history with over 500 casualties and at
least PhP 7 billion-worth (about USD 150 million) of damage to properties. Most cities and
municipalities were badly affected by floods that came from a combination of rain from
Typhoon Parma (local name Pepeng) and emergency dam water release. Unlike the
neighboring localities, Dagupan City was well-prepared even before the storm entered the
country and had no casualties because of its CBDRM work in spite of being entirely covered
in flood water.
The eight high-risk barangays had undergone two pre-emptive evacuations triggered by
the end-to-end flood early warning system; this system was previously reinforced by
community-based disaster risk management processes, several evacuation drills and flood
simulations. Dagupan City government was therefore able to concentrate on the medium- and
low-risk barangays, since the week-long flood managed to cover the entire city at one point.
The BDCCs were able to prevent death and major damage while waiting for other rescuers to
reach their areas during the crucial hours. The city‟s EOC had to manage 18 evacuation
centers sheltering 155,000 people, and some high-rise buildings that became temporary
shelters for 30,000 people. The evacuation centers, in turn, in the eight barangays were
prepared with supplies, and thanks to their SOPs they continued to monitor survivors‟ relief
needs and convey the data to the city government for them to put out an appeal for additional
relief.
4. HALLMARKS OF SUCCESS
4.1. Institutionalization of DRR Efforts
Institutionalization is shown when the barangay develops the necessary organizational

body with a focus on DRR, allocates part of its budget for DRR on an annual basis, develops
SOPs for emergency response, and engages in policy-making for DRR. All of these will
contribute to a modification of the disaster readiness of the community for several reasons:
 The successful activation of the BDCCs for emergency and disaster response during
floods and typhoons was observed during the major typhoons of 2008 and 2009. This
has raised the expectations of barangay residents that preparedness must be done
every year, and evacuation is a necessary step when the flood alert level is high.
 The creation of the SOPs will turn preparedness tasks into a routine of the barangay
and BDCC, and will be a reference for future barangay residents and BDCC
members.
 The annual use of the barangay’s budget for its EOC, evacuation center, mitigation
activities, risk assessment and disaster preparedness will stabilize the acceptance of
DRR.
 The participation of the barangay residents in policy-making at the city level implies
that they possess some solidarity and public spiritedness in promoting DRR.
However, an important test of institutionalization is if the residents periodically conduct a

risk assessment so that they can capture any changes in vulnerability and capacity, and
therefore changes in the level of risk.
4.2. Local Recognition
On 12 August 2009, Dagupan City was awarded the national-level Kalasag Award for
disaster preparedness. Dagupan City was the demonstration site of PROMISE in the
Philippines. The award was presented by the President of the Republic of the Philippines on
behalf of the National Disaster Coordinating Council and Department of the Interior and
Local Government. The citation reads:
“In recognition of its people-driven local governance, providing vast opportunities for a
well-prepared and empowered community.
Dagupan City's nationally and internally-funded disaster mitigation projects anchored on
the local socio-economic development efforts and plans are testaments of an exemplary
leadership of the local government.
These commendable efforts earned them not only this recognition but also the greater
unquantifiable benefit of providing security and peace of mind for their people that Dagupan
City is and will always be a community that is resilient and safe from disasters.”
The citation was specific in the contribution of people-driven local governance as having
improved the city‟s disaster risk management. One can infer that during the process of
CBDRM, local governance processes improved, and this led, in turn, to the improvement of
the city‟s disaster risk management.
In fact, Barangay Mangin of Dagupan City also won the regional-level Kalasag Award
for disaster preparedness, too, for both 2007 and 2008. In 2008, Barangay Mangin was also a
national finalist for the award. PROMISE Philippines had a partner, the Center for Disaster
Preparedness (CDP) (who provided both technical and organizing inputs for the city and
project barangays) who was also awarded the 2008 regional-level Kalasag Award for best
performing non-governmental organization. These awards to Barangay Mangin and CDP also
help validate the idea of how a city working with its community stakeholders towards a
common good like disaster management can redound to improving the relationships among
the three actors and increase civic engagement.
4.3. Documentation by International Organizations
The CBDRM work has been documented by ADPC to promote methodologies developed
and insights gained into disaster risk management. However, it has also been recognized by
others (such as the United Nations, Oxfam GB and the Philippine media) as having some of
the good or best practices in various aspects of disaster risk management. The list of the
documentation where the CBDRM work was recognized can be found after the references.
The recognition of their good practices is another form of validation of the approach.
CONCLUSION
Disaster management approaches had traditionally been done by national government or
state government, with top-to-down flows of decisions. A rethinking of the approach emerged
when this was proven ineffective, since decisions were made using assessments, priorities and
perceptions of people who were not among those who were directly affected by the positive
and negative impacts of decisions.
CBDRM puts community participation at the heart of the process so that the main
stakeholder and the most vulnerable to disaster will have greater roles over the decisions and
mitigation activities. The experience with the selected communities of Dagupan City has
shown precisely this subsidiarity of the role of preparedness as the people are volunteering to
be first responders, giving their time to be trained and drilled, and supporting the
institutionalization of theEOC in the community.
CBDRM promoted greater sharing of the information between city government and
community, to enable both set of actors to make their respective decisions and implement
mitigation activities. The eight barangays in Dagupan City are contributing to the flood early
warning system by providing their own monitoring and alerting schemes, and worked with
the city government to align their local systems and infrastructure for evacuation and
emergency management with the city‟s emergency management plan. This reflects the
principle of transparency.
The communities of the barangays have also demonstrated greater civic engagement by
supporting the advocacy for disaster preparedness at the city-level legislation process.
Sustainability of CBDRM and good urban governance will be the main challenge that
remains for the communities of Dagupan. They have already been trained to teach others
about the process, so it will be up to them to continue the work. Future research could revisit
the city and the eight barangays after five years, to see if greater scope for disaster risk
reduction from R.A. 10121 has interacted with the process.
ABOUT THE PROMISE PROGRAM (2005 TO 2010)

The Program for Hydro-Meteorological Disaster Mitigation in Secondary Cities in Asia
(PROMISE) was funded by USAID/OFDA to contribute towards reduction of vulnerability of
urban communities through enhanced preparedness and mitigation of hydro-meteorological
disasters in South and Southeast Asia. The Philippines was one of six project countries; the
other countries were Bangladesh, Indonesia, Pakistan, Sri Lanka and Viet Nam, Each had one
or two demonstration cities that were selected for their high vulnerability to hydro-
meteorological disasters. Kindly contact the author for more information about the program,
or check the URL: http://www.adpc.net/v2007/Programs/UDRM/PROMISE/Default.asp
REFERENCES
Abarquez I., Murshed Z. 2004. Field Practitioners’ Handbook. Bangkok: Asian Disaster
Preparedness Center (ADPC), p. 29.
Iglesias G. 2007a. Cooperation Between Local Authority and Communities Reduces Flood
Disaster Risk in Dagupan City, Philippines. Safer Cities series, April 2007.
Iglesias G. 2007b. Community Risk Mapping. GIM International, 21(12), December 2007, p.
49.
Luneta M., Molina J.G. 2008. Community Based Early Warning System and Evacuation:
Planning, Development and Testing. Safer Cities series, March 2008.
United Nations Human Settlements Programme-UNHABITAT. 2002. The Global Campaign
on Urban Governance, Concept Paper, UNHABITAT, 2nd ed, Nairobi, Kenya.
BEST PRACTICES DOCUMENTATION OF CBDRM EFFORTS

OF DAGUPAN CITY
“Local Knowledge and Practices for Disaster Preparedness and Mitigation,” Tropical Coasts,
14 (2), Dec. 2007.
“Mainstreaming Community-Based Mitigation in City Governance,” Building Disaster
Resilient Communities: Good Practices and Lessons Learned published by UNISDR and
UNDP, Jun 2007.
"Preventing Armageddon," report by ABS-CBN News, Oct. 2009.
"Strength in Numbers: The Barangay as Building Block," video documentary by Oxfam GB,
2008.
BEST PRACTICES DOCUMENTATION OF THE CBDRM

EFFORTS IN OTHER PROMISE DEMONSTRATION CITIES
"Many partners, one system: An integrated flood early warning system for Jakarta" Local
Governments and Disaster Risk Reduction: Good Practices and Lessons Learned
published by UNISDR, Mar 2010.
“Micro-credit scheme for better livelihood for communities living in disaster prone areas of
Kalutara, Sri Lanka,” Private Sector Activities in Disaster Risk Reduction: Good
Practices and Lessons Learned published by UNISDR,: Dec 2008.
Chapter 5
METHODOLOGY USED FOR COMMUNITY BASED

MULTI-HAZARD RISK MANAGEMENT IN GARHWAL
HIMALAYA, UTTARAKHAND STATE, INDIA
Surya Parkash1
National Institute of Disaster Management, 5-B, I.P. Estate,
M.G. Road, New Delhi-110002, India
ABSTRACT
Uttarakhand in India is a newly established hill-state which largely occupies Garhwal
and Kumaon Himalaya. In the past, many communities in this region suffered from major
earthquakes, landslides, debris flows, flash floods, forest fires, hailstorms and lightning
etc. During the last one decade, the interventions made by the governmental and non-
governmental organizations through various disaster risk reduction projects as well as
some pilot programmes undertaken under the leadership of local community-based
organizations have built the communities‟ capacity to prepare themselves against such
disasters and reduce the risks by appropriate planning, development and management at
local levels. It is believed that well aware, informed and prepared community is better
able to avert, prevent and react to disasters than otherwise. Learning from the field
experience, a universal methodology has been developed to empower communities
through training and field demonstrations to initiate local actions for multi-hazard risk
management by the inhabitants of 50 villages in Rudraprayag District in Uttarakhand
State, Garhwal Himalaya. The chapter elaborates the activities undertaken in developing
the methodology for community based disaster risk management, the process of
operation, the outcome and its sustenance.
Keywords: Community, Vulnerability, Hazards, Capacity, Disasters, Risk Management,

Action Plan
1
Tel.: +91-11-23724310, Email: suryanidm@gmail.com.
56 Surya Parkash
1. INTRODUCTION
Every corner of the earth is in some way or other, prone to natural hazards that can
adversely affect the life, livelihoods, economy and environment. But these hazardous events
become catastrophic and termed as disasters when they strike any built environment and
affect population that is not prepared against hazards. Thus, disasters of any kind may inflict
the safety and quality of life in an unprepared society. Despite all the scientific and
technological innovations, it has been difficult to reduce the impacts of these disasters.
Governmental or institutional interventions for disaster management too, do not succeed due
to lack of considerations for community dynamics, perceptions and priorities in local context.
Rather the vulnerability to disasters sometimes may rise due to increase in population density,
poverty, occupation of hazardous areas, unplanned/fast developments, human fault and
hostile actions, neglect of unforeseen hazards like climate change, global warming and so on.
Since most of our concerns are anthropocentric and relate to development of a sustainable
environment, most hazards in remote and unpopulated areas are not cared for and all our
efforts focus towards disaster management of populated and built areas. India‟s most
population (about 70% as per Census Report 2001) lives in villages and hence, the present
attempt is primarily oriented towards a rural community to reduce disaster risks.
Disasters are linked not only to hazardous events but also to the vulnerabilities of the
exposed elements and capacities within the society to cope with them. Thus, there are three
major operating factors that influence the degree of disaster risk in any area i.e. hazard factor
(magnitude, frequency, time of occurrence, duration and extent), vulnerability of different
elements exposed to hazards (degree/duration of exposure, proximity to hazardous sources,
degree of vulnerability and its value) and the capacities (techno-economic status, socio-
political system and coping mechanisms). The chapter focuses on possible methods of hazard
identification and assessment by the community in its locality, by virtue of their experiences
with these disasters in the past/present that affect their lives, livelihood, livestocks, living
places and lifelines besides the physical assets and the environment.
As a first step, a history of these disasters and their impacts on community, its resources
and environment is recorded through a community meetings in 50 villages in Uttarakhand
state, India (Figure 1) for spatio-temporal assessment of all the hazards (H) and depicted in a
sketch called community based multi-hazard risk assessment sketch map (Figure 2). The
sketch shows not only the hazards (indicating the place and year of occurrence) but also the
physiographic details, natural and social resources, infrastructure and community facilities.
The second step in the approach relates to collection of information and data on different
exposed elements (physical, human, livestock, environment etc.) in a presentable form i.e.
Tables or Charts, thus, providing an idea of degree of vulnerabilities (V) of different elements
to all the hazards collectively as well as individually. In the third step, capacities (C) within
the community in terms of skills, technology, resources, knowledge, experiences and
information to face or cope with the disaster are evaluated. These three steps (HVC) give a
very good assessment of the potential risks due to possible disasters in any locality. The
assessed risks are ranked, categorized and prioritized by the community based on certain
parameters and perceptions at local level. An action plan is then prepared to avert, prevent,
mitigate or manage these potential disasters for reducing the risks/losses.
Methodology Used for Community Based Multi-Hazard Risk … 57
The planning strategy was then worked out on the basis of the aforementioned three
steps. The fourth step (first in the planning strategy) makes an attempt towards hazard
management i.e. to explore if the hazard can be avoided, prevented, mitigated, or monitored.
The community looks for various options/alternatives that can be applied using the local
skills, resources, knowledge and techniques. In the fifth step, an attempt to strengthen the
existing vulnerable elements or reduce their degree of vulnerabilities through the use of anti-
disaster or disaster resistant technologies will be promoted or encouraged. The sixth step,
which envisages that despite all the efforts, disaster may continue to inflict upon the society,
ensures that the community is aware and prepared to face the remnant disasters in a planned
way rather than being caught suddenly in a rash manner. It assumes that an informed, aware
and prepared community will be better able to cope with disasters than otherwise.
Figure 1. Location map of study area-50 villages in Rudraprayag district, Uttarakhand, India.
Figure 2. Community based multi-hazard risk assessment sketch map of Senna Village, Rudraprayag
district, Uttarakhand state, India.
58 Surya Parkash
2. WHY COMMUNITY BASED DISASTER RISK MANAGEMENT?

The need for a Community Based Disaster Risk Management (CBDRM) can be
highlighted by pointing out the shortcomings in the existing approach and stating the
advantages of CBDRM.
2.1. Shortcomings in the Existing Approach
a. Same plan regardless of the regional characteristics is implemented/imposed

everywhere.
b. Local/indigenous knowledge, experience, skills, resources and techniques are not
given due importance. Rather external resources and techniques are proposed to be
utilized.
c. Negligence on local cultural instincts and heritage.
d. Prioritisation is decided by an outsider and not the stakeholders or the community
itself.
e. Local community does not have any information about the disaster management
plans for their area and the role of different sectors in helping the community during
disasters.
2.2. Advantages of Community Based Disaster Risk Management
a. Feelings of coordination and self belonging to the society are developed. As the plan
is prepared in local laymen‟s language, it is better understood by the community
(including the illiterates).
b. Local geo-climatic and socio-economic characteristics get attention of the people in
development and disaster management.
c. Local initiatives begin and community provides assistance to the executing agencies
involved in disaster management.
d. There is exchange of knowledge, information, skills and techniques between the
community and the experts involved from outside.
e. Community comes forward to put its ideas and suggestion for selection of
appropriate programs suitable to their locality and society.
f. Community can keep a watch/monitor the quality of works being done in its locality.
It will also generate a sense of responsibility among the community.
g. It will lead to capacity building of the community on issues of disaster safe
developmental activities.
3. DEVELOPMENT, TESTING AND APPLICATION

OF COMMUNITY METHODOLOGY
The inception of the idea that CBDRM would be rational and beneficial for the society,
led to development of a suitable methodology for use by the community in its aim to reduce
disaster risks. Although several scientific and technological methodologies exist for hazard
identification, assessment, monitoring and control; yet the community is barely involved or
benefited by their application. Therefore, an attempt has been made to involve and use the
community‟s experiences and knowledge in dealing with the issues of disaster assessment and
management while applying scientific principles of disaster management in a broader sense.
Basically, six steps were identified – three of which involve assessment of hazards,
vulnerability and capacity within a locality and the other three steps deal with action planning
for modification, monitoring or management of the first three issues. A tool called
participatory learning and action (PLA) was applied during development of the said
methodology to make it practical and easier for the community to adopt. The draft of this
approach was taken to an interior village and discussed with the community there about its
objectives and usage (Figure 3a). The village community took keen interest in the proposed
activity and carried out the whole task without much difficulty in less than two days at a
community gathering. The results of this test were quite encouraging and hence, it was
planned to extend the methodology to the community in other villages through a training of
master facilitators from the members of task forces for disaster management in these villages
(Figure 3b).
(a) (b)
Figure 3. a) People participating in discussion and b) village level training for member of local disaster
task force.
The format of the methodology was designed in a way so that it can cover all the
necessary steps in community based action planning for disaster risk management. However,
the format was kept in an open style so that the community should be able to add or alter any
information necessary to make it more effective and relevant as and when required. Some of
the critical issues like climate change, global warming and environmental degradation as well
as the development pressure and population stress due to poverty, hunger and demographic
growth in a locality may also significantly affect the incidences and impacts of disasters.
After drafting the plan, it was proposed that it should be presented before the community
through a gathering of all the villagers and then tested and reviewed. The work plan and
schedules of these plans were made available for public information. Further, the roles,
60 Surya Parkash
responsibilities and operational procedures of the community members involved in planning,

testing, review, implementation, monitoring and evaluation were also well defined.
4. PROCEDURE FOR USING METHODOLOGY FOR CBDRM

The following paragraphs discuss about the procedure to adopt this methodology for
other areas and reap some benefits from this approach for communities in other parts of
world.
At the onset of this process, some key actions are required to be taken by the community
to initiate the work in an organised and systematic way. It involves formation of task forces
and supporting groups, their affiliation with village development committee, community
mobilization and disasters related sensitization. In the present case, such task forces for
disaster management were formed at village levels through Disaster Risk Management
Programme of United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) and Ministry of Home
Affairs (MHA), Government of India.
A dedicated village level disaster risk management committee should gather necessary
information about disasters and their impacts in their locality to sensitize people through
awareness campaigns. In order to involve the whole community in the process of disaster
assessment and preparation of plan for disaster management, it would be essential that people
are made aware about the impacts of hazards and need for preparedness to reduce losses.
Community mobilization or motivation can be done through street plays, drama, songs, skits,
posters, meetings, interactions, Sandesh Yatras (Message trips) and video documentaries etc.
It should gain confidence among community and involve all the stakeholders in drafting,
testing, review, monitoring, revision, implementation and evaluation of CBDRM plan. The
process is briefly explained below.
4.1. Drafting the Plan
It involves the following activities:
 Disaster campaign and community mobilisation / sensitization

 Information about locality, community and the environment
 Multi-hazard identification and assessment
 Vulnerability and capacity assessment
 Risk categorization and prioritization
 Existing protection systems and safety/risk management plan
 Where are gaps in protection and safety? - Identify what is not being done
 What options are available and what action can be taken? – Brainstorming
alternatives
4.2. Testing and Review
After the action plan is drafted, it should be tested and reviewed with the community for
its practicability and acceptability by all stakeholders. It may invite attention to following
important issues.
 What is practically feasible and acceptable? Evaluate Actions

 Who else is doing this? – Coordinate with others
 How the implementation priorities will be set? – Define Action Plan
 Who administrates the plan and implements actions? – Develop a Strategy
 How the actions will be done? – Standard Operating Procedures
 When the actions will be started and completed? – Implementation Plan
 Monitoring and Evaluation scheme? – Adopt and Monitor
4.3. Implementation Strategy
Through the process of plan preparation, community determines the WHY, WHAT and
WHERE of the plan; WHY damages occur, WHAT to do to achieve safety goals, and
WHERE to implement the measures to reduce losses. To ensure that the plan will be
implemented effectively, the following additional questions like WHO, WHEN and HOW
should be answered.
Who will lead the implementation efforts? A committee responsible for managing the
implementation activities can be established. It will be responsible for ensuring that
project/plan continues to make progress. The manager of the unit should dedicate a significant
amount of time to this task and should have the ability to obtain assistance from others.
When will these activities be implemented, and in what order? A proper implementation
schedule should be prepared defining top priorities, vital, essential and desirable actions with
place, time and duration. Some activities may be implemented simultaneously. The following
pre-requisites must be met to initiate ground actions.
 Identify all implementation tasks.

 Determine needed order of completion.
 Coordinate with other community activities and determine any special scheduling
needs (e.g., seasonal climatic conditions).
 Determine start date and completion date.
How will community fund the implementation of envisaged actions? An appropriate

budget and potential source(s) of funding should be identified. Identification of suitable
technical and financial assistance sources is also important. Sometimes, the implementation
of actions may require permits or approvals, which should be discussed at planning stage. The
number of human resources, the time and skills required to execute the work should also be
pre-determined.
62 Surya Parkash
5. RISK ASSESSMENT PROCESS

It includes compilation of information on disasters (past, existing and potential) and
preparation of multi-hazard risk depicting sketch map along with data on seasonality and
statistics of disaster. It is followed by vulnerability and capacity assessment through
collection and analysis of data on population density/distribution, age distribution, ethnicity,
mobility, vulnerable groups, and emergency resources etc. It also includes environmental
information like water sources, climatic conditions, landforms, fauna and flora.
5.1. Compilation of Data/Information related to Past, Existing and Potential

Disasters
Before embarking upon the spatial assessment on a chart or a sheet of paper, it is

advisable that a list of the past, existing and potential disasters that have affected or may
affect the life, economy and environment in the locality is prepared. The list would serve as a
basis for indicating the affected or susceptible elements and collection of necessary
information on these disasters and their impacts on the community which will ultimately help
in planning and management.
The planning committee can identify hazards in the community by using the following
methods:
a. Involve the whole committee in the planning process.

b. Research the history of previous hazards in the community. Consult local historical
records, old newspapers, local administration etc, for evidence of previous
emergencies.
c. Ensure both „natural‟ and „man-made‟ hazards are identified. Be completely
objective.
d. Brainstorm, using the complete planning committee, to ensure that no hazard has
been overlooked.
e. Draw information from emergencies in other comparable communities and localities.
f. Consider hazards identified by higher level planning committees.
The output of this step is a list of hazards, including those which have no history of
occurrence in the locality. List hazards randomly; do not attempt to rank them at this stage.
5.2. Preparation of Multi-Hazard Risk Management Sketch of the Locality
Based on knowledge and experiences of local people, an attempt is made to depict the
village boundaries, physiographic features, natural resources, social or individual resources,
community facilities, infrastructure and hazards of all kinds (Figure 2). Such a sketch displays
a very good picture of the resources, hazards and the development in the locality. A transect
survey of the locality may also be organized to gather more information about the present
conditions of the terrain. Following steps are taken to achieve this goal.
i. Village territory (boundaries) and physiography (drainages, ridges, valleys, slopes,

lake, ground cracks, landforms, rivers etc.)
ii. Natural resources–forests, mines, water sources such as falls, springs, lakes,
medicinal plants
iii. Social/individual resources or properties – human population, live-stocks,
agricultural fields, cowsheds, watermills, open lands, building sites, houses, shops,
factories
iv. Community facilities – Panchayat Bhawan, community centre, temples, schools,
society or govt. offices, police station, forest post
v. Infrastructure/basic amenities–roads, hospitals, electric lines, telecommunication
(phones, mobiles, wireless, post office), water pipelines
vi. List of disasters (past, existing and potential). All information and data on the past
disasters and their impacts are collected in a tabular form. The table provides the
community a complete idea of the damages suffered by them in previous disasters
and the degree of potential risks from future disasters. The details of lives lost,
livelihood, resources, environment etc. are well illustrated through this exercise
vii. Hazardous areas/susceptible zones – indicate areas that are or may be affected by
any hazardous event and put a symbol for that disaster e.g. landslide, earthquake,
forest fires, hailstorms
viii. Risk management features indicating existing preventive and mitigative measures,
safe/unsafe shelters and routes, evacuation scheme (Figure 4), proposed development
and disaster resistant features
Reference marks such as north direction arrow on the village sketch and some standard
legends (wherever possible) would always help villagers orient better.
Figure 4. Community prepared safe route evacuation sketch map of Senna Village, Rudraprayag
district, Uttarakhand State, India.
5.3. Hazard Analysis and Disaster Sensitive Periods (Seasonal Calendar)
Hazard analysis is that part of the planning process which identifies and describes
hazards and their effects on the community. The analysis involves: identifying hazards,
describing a) hazards (their frequency, distribution and impacts), b) effects (susceptible zones,
64 Surya Parkash
vulnerable persons and properties, facilities and services that likely to be affected and the
potential problems), and c) community and environment (vulnerability and capacity
assessment); and Prioritizing hazards; and determining planning objectives and scope for
prevention, mitigation, preparedness, response and recovery. Hazard analysis provides the
basis for emergency planning and arrangements.
Temporal analysis of the data on disasters will also reflect the vulnerable periods of the
year or time of the day that may be more sensitive to a particular disaster compared to other
periods/times. Accordingly strategies for prevention, mitigation or preparedness can be
planned.
5.4. Disaster History
Since most of the information get collected during the last step, the same can be used to
write a history of disasters in the locality. The community can add versions of people‟s
experiences with the disasters and the lessons learnt or problems faced prior, during or after
the disasters. This will be quite useful to record lessons learnt, good and bad practices as well
as to avoid any mis-happenings
5.5. Vulnerability and Capacity Assessment
Vulnerability analysis is done by assessing the proportions of each group as part of the
whole population, identifying any specific localities where there are concentrations of
vulnerable people or other elements, e.g. schools, temples, in proximity to a hazard source.
For each group identified, problems which might be expected under emergency conditions are
noted. Community information also provides data on those groups in the community that
have specialist skills or knowledge which may be useful in emergency management.
In order to bring a sense of belonging to the document by every individual in the
community and to evaluate overall vulnerabilities and capacities, detailed information from
each household/family should be suggested. The basic information gathered from each
household include a reference to the households, the name of its family head, income levels
and sources, age groups and physical/health conditions, skills/trainings in disasters
management, emergency facilities and so on. Among the data on households, an attempt was
made to identify insecure and vulnerable people who will need special and urgent attention in
case a disaster strikes.
After an analysis of human and livestock vulnerabilities is completed, the next most
important element is structural vulnerability of buildings. It is often seen that the impacts of
disasters become high due to structural collapses particularly during earthquakes, landslides
and floods. Thus, an attempt is made to collect data pertaining to vulnerability of buildings in
the locality. It depends on the type of structure, year of construction (age of building), design
and construction practice, and so on. Besides considering the vulnerability aspect, it also deals
with the capacities within the structure that may be used for safety, search and Rescue during
disaster times. A mention of emergency requirements during disaster times would be helpful.
Just like people and livestocks in households, prepare a separate list of vulnerable
buildings so that utmost care can be taken of the people who are resident in such buildings or
may get affected by damage or collapse of these vulnerable buildings. The list should be
available at Emergency Resources and Operations Centre (EROC) and distributed to
responsible members of the task force and supporting groups. It will help them to take quick
actions in saving lives as the information would be useful in locating the potential structures
that may suffer severe damages during a disaster.
The community can also prepare a sketch map showing the various life line and critical
facilities as well as basic amenities available in the village or in its vicinity that can be
affected or utilized during a disaster. The contact details of the emergency personnel during
emergency should be made known to the community.
6. RISK CATEGORIZATION AND PRIORITIZATION

Prioritising hazards enables a planning committee to concentrate efforts on those hazards
which may have the greatest effect on the community. Prioritization can be assisted by using
certain tools like matrix analysis and „Hazard Scoring and Ranking System‟.
Based on the cumulative risk determined on the basis of degree of severity of the hazards
and the class of vulnerability of different elements, the various levels of risk can be defined as
acceptable, tolerable, adaptable, and non-acceptable or intolerable risks. The categorization
will also help prioritizing the focus of disaster risk management actions as vital, essential and
desirables within a given span of time.
7. ACTION PLAN FOR MULTI-HAZARD RISK MANAGEMENT

The procedure for use of CBDRM methodology involves application of the maps,
information and data obtained through the process of risk assessment for management of risks
/ losses in the locality in a way so that disaster incidences as well as the impacts can be
minimized.
7.1. Hazard Avoidance and Prevention Plan
It may involve the following activities.
 Hazard zonation – incentive zoning and performance zoning

 Regulating development and landuse controls/standards
 Enforcement of building codes/byelaws
 Promotion of disaster resistant technologies
 Awareness and dissemination of safety guidelines / best practices
 Awareness campaign about hazards and their impacts
 Structural mitigation measures
 Non-structural or regulatory measures
 Loss sharing measures
66 Surya Parkash
7.2. Hazard Mitigation and Vulnerability Reduction Plan
Disasters that can not be avoided or prevented are considered for mitigation and
vulnerability reduction planning. Activities, often long-term, which aim to reduce the impact
of a hazard on vulnerable communities, and address the related vulnerable conditions and
their underlying causes are known as mitigation. Mitigation planning may include
 Reducing the frequency, severity, duration, extent of hazards by various possible

means
 Diversification of incomes / livelihood alternatives
 Food and water security
 Training for community in disaster planning and management
 Disaster resistant housing, infrastructure and services programmes
 Advocacy to government and community
 Environmental protection
7.3. Preparedness Plan
The disaster preparedness aims to:
 Ensure that appropriate systems are in place to provide prompt and effective
assistance to disaster victims.
 Prepare the community to handle the disaster in the first 48-72 hours or so when
outside help has not reached and the local administration is itself affected by the
disaster.
It includes community awareness/education, disaster plans, training/test exercises,

emergency communications, evacuation plans, public information, warning systems, resource
inventories, provision of special resources.
The planning committee will need to determine whether any specialist functions will be
required to be performed in support of the main community plan. These functions may
include medical, communications, search and rescue, welfare, transport, engineering, and
agriculture.
These proactive plans should aim to develop a culture of prevention and preparedness
against disaster risks among the community leading to adaptability and resilience in an agile
manner.
7.4. Establishment of Emergency Resources and Operations Centre
The community should establish a local emergency resources and operations centre to
meet its vital needs to manage the disaster risks. It may include the following.
 List of skilled and trained human resources in and around village

 Available emergency resources – list and storage
 Information and data on past, existing and potential disasters
 A copy of the community based disaster management plan, its schedules and
progress with time
 Training materials for disaster management
 Active stockpiling of emergency resources (This approach for providing supplies
usually is more effective than the massive, post-disaster influx of supplies. It also
does not tie up capital on stocks that may have a limited shelf life or never be used)
 Facilities for collection and maintenance of disaster funds
 Disaster reduction day/week celebrations
7.5. Warning, Drills and Exercises
Methods used for disseminating the warning may include media messages, door knocks,
community networks, audible and/or visual signals. Consideration should be given to warning
special needs groups like visually challenged, hearing impaired and physically unfit.
a. The stages of evacuation are: warning, withdrawal, shelter, reunion, and return.
b. Identification of:- sites suitable as assembly areas, sites suitable as evacuation
centres, evacuation routes between the above, organisations/committees responsible
for conducting and assisting with the evacuation, registration teams.
c. Organisations/committees responsible for arranging and coordinating transport, and
d. Organisations/committees responsible for operating evacuation centres.
7.6. Response Plan (with Local Capacities)
Response is the activation and implementation of operational systems which includes

activating and staffing the Emergency Resources and Operations Centre (EROC), activating
the communications system, collecting, processing, and disseminating information, alerting
support organisations, preparing and disseminating warnings and other public information,
activating liaison arrangements, coordinating and deploying resources and arranging outside
assistance, and providing assistance to other areas. The response plan should include
information on
 Reflex action to disaster and information

 Emergency communication and transportation
 Search, rescue, emergency relief and first aid
 Safe/alternate routes for evacuation
 Safe accommodation, temporary shelters with basic amenities like food, water, light,
ventilation (air), communication, health facilities (medicines), sanitation etc.
 Security of private properties and weaker sections particularly young women
 Carcass disposal, disinfectant spray and immunization
68 Surya Parkash
 Consolation (psycho-social counselling) to the victims

 Rapid damage assessment and relief distribution
 Repair, re-strengthening, retrofitting, reconstruction, resettlement, rehabilitation,
recovery, redevelopment.
7.7. Reacting to Disasters
In order to respond properly to disasters, it is vital to know how to react to disasters. The
task forces will identify appropriate reaction measures for each hazard and make the
community aware and prepared with this information. In order to make it more effective,
practical rehearsals in the form of mock drills and simulation exercises can be conducted with
different target groups for ensuring the right kind of response by all.
7.8. Emergency Communication and Transportation Plan
Since immediately after the disaster happens, one need to communicate with others who
can be at risk or who can help; communication strategy should be prepared to trigger the
Incident Command System (adopted recently by Government of India for Disaster Risk
Management). Most often, the routine communication systems fail during such disasters,
therefore, alternative arrangements that can be depended upon during disaster should be
made. Transportation is also affected during disasters. So it becomes difficult to reach to the
victims in time. An alternative emergency route and conveyance method can be thought of for
operations during such emergencies.
A list of important individuals, authorities and offices related to disaster risk management
should be kept ready along with their names, designation, addresses (both official and
residential), phone numbers, mobile, fax, email etc. in easily accessible manner.
7.9. Search, Rescue, and Relief
A separate group of people can be assigned the task for carrying out
search, rescue and relief operation during any disaster. Persons with background in army,
civil defense, home gaurds or police can be helpful in doing such activities. Nurses and
medical practitioners can guide and help in emergency relief and first aid to the victims.
7.10. Evacuation Plan, Safe Accommodations and Sites for Temporary

Shelters
Since a large population of the village may be affected during disasters, a sketch of the
village territory showing safer buildings and sites should be prepared during plan formulation
to indicate the places and the evacuation routes to be used during disaster periods. The plan
map should not only show the emergency exit routes but also indicates the access routes that
may be used by outsiders for providing relief to the victims. The access route is connected to
main road. The evacuation routes are normally the alternate footpaths/roads leading to an area
away from the vulnerable structures and susceptible locations.
7.11. Consolation (Psycho-Social) Team
Generally, there is a panic and trauma during and after the disaster. Victims need to be
properly consoled and inspiration from local known person gives them more solace compared
to outsiders. The consolation (psycho-social) teams may consist of respected aged persons,
religious priests, school teachers or community leaders.
7.12. Disposal of Corpses and Carcasses
Proper disposal of dead bodies at the earliest possible time is essential to avoid outbreak
of any epidemic in the disaster affected area. A group of persons may be assigned this duty
and trained in proper recording and disposal of dead bodies, particularly from the inhabited
areas.
7.13. Immunization and Infection Control
Due to large number of deaths and injuries during disasters, the potential
of getting affected by any contagious disease are very high. To control this, a team should be
dedicated to immunize people and livestock against possible diseases and those affected by
such diseases should be treated under control and given a separate facility.
7.14. Water and Sanitation
Drinking water supply may be affected during disasters. The water may be polluted by
sewerage damage or due to some other reasons. Necessary precautions should be taken to
keep a check on water quality and in case it is found polluted, proper treatment of the water
sources and supplies should be done. Any leakage of drinking water supply that may occur
during disaster should be immediately checked. Proper sanitation should be planned around
temporary shelters where large number of people may reside together temporarily.
7.15. Rapid Damage Assessment and Relief Distribution
Appropriate objective kind of rapid damage assessment criteria should be well set for
assessing the degree of damages and distribution of relief to the affected people. A team
consisting of reliable, honest and justified persons can be kept ready for this kind of work.
70 Surya Parkash
7.16. Rehabilitation Plan
This is the phase in which the community is back on the normal life process and in fact is
fine tuning their resources to deal with other emergencies. They are, thus, also in a position to
provide help to some other disaster affected area in the manner that they received help and
assistance. The rehabilitation plan shall include the following sub-plans.
 Shelter Rehabilitation
 Livelihood Rehabilitation
 Psycho-social Rehabilitation
7.17. Recovery and Redevelopment Plan
Recovery is restoration of the community structure and facilities, and support provided to
affected people. It may include providing short-term emergency accommodation, counseling
emotionally-affected people, establishing and managing emergency financial relief schemes,
repairing or replacing damaged public utilities, services, and assets, surveying and assessing
damage to public and private property.
Rapid steps must be taken to establish a system of continuous contact with the families
stricken by the disaster. A system of this kind makes it possible to:
 collect information on requirements,

 route instructions and information,
 distribute where necessary the means of survival (clothing, blankets, food, etc.).
 Transport and highway maintenance; communications and information,
 Water supply, food, means of survival,
 Sanitation
 Health,
 Public law and order.
 The mid-term and long term recovery plan will include
 Relief and compensation
 Repair, re-strengthening, retrofitting and reconstruction
 Resettlement and relocation
 Loaning, compensation, insurance and tax exemptions
The redevelopment plan of the locality should include the lessons learnt from the
disasters, thereby discouraging the bad practices and encouraging the good practices for
redevelopment in the affected area.
8. EXPERIENCES AND LIMITATIONS OF METHODOLOGY

The experience of local community can help in developing a formally structured
information infrastructure. Implementing such a process, however, will not be so simple. It
will take time and commitment on the part of all those involved because there are some
sources of frustration that will need to be addressed before it can become a reality. For
example, a recurring view was expressed by the village community that they had „heard it all
before‟ at various times, but nothing practical had ever eventuated. They are looking for a
worked-through example that they can follow and the resources to do it. It can not be
achieved in any meeting, training or workshop; it can only be achieved on the ground in a
real-world situation.
The lack of communication reaching both top-down and bottom-up at the village level
was also seen as a major source of frustration, and consequently a major hurdle. For a process
that is all about information and improving the effectiveness with which it may be
disseminated and used, the sharing of information about the process is critical – and that
depends on communication.
Another frustration revolves around a stated lack of coordination and cooperation
between the people and agencies that should be working together to improve community
safety. This was seen as part of the power and political processes that tend to build barriers,
rather than bridges. Frustration also relates to the perceived lack of resources – human,
financial and technical. This is probably a universal frustration for all disaster managers.
Typically, they are allocated only limited resources as well as limited time because a vested
senior group seem to hold a different view (a disaster is unlikely to happen during their term
in office, so why spend too much money on a disaster management system that does not bring
significant political/economic gains with it). This may be a simplistic and cynical view, but it
seems to correlate well with reality. These are not just technical issues but also socio-
economic issues. Fortunately, frustrations can be overcome through strong will and
determination by the public, even those as seemingly intractable as the ones identified here.
These established foundations are very sound indeed, and provide an excellent base on
which to build an appropriate and sustainable information infrastructure may address issues
from the village level to the level of the district and beyond. There are undoubtedly
frustrations and problems that will need to be addressed along the way; however, it is clear
that the communities are committed to embarking on this journey for a safer sustainable
environment.
Another limitation of CBDRM lies in the fact that the local knowledge at the level of
community can not always be sufficient to assess large scale phenomena especially if their
origin lies away from the zone of perception of the community or if it results from an
exceptional situation (e.g. flooding due to bursting of a landslide dam on upstream side of the
community). Therefore, the logic of the concept should clearly indicate the possibility of
integrating information received from outside the community (national/state/district level
disaster warning centers), even if it is of scientific origin and not expressed in terms to which
the community is used to, as another major contribution to the re-assessment of a hazardous
situation.
The most important limitation of this approach is sustenance of initiatives and actions for
adapting to a culture of disaster prevention and risk reduction. It has been found that the
72 Surya Parkash
efforts at community level dropped gradually when the support from the external stakeholder
was withdrawn. Therefore, a proper sustenance mechanism for continuity of the initiatives
and actions towards community based disaster risk management must be well worked out at
the time of its implementation as long term strategy.
CONCLUSION
The successful application of this methodology in more than 50 villages by the
community itself is evidently a good indicator of the acceptability and practicability of the
approach as well as its outcome in the forms of large amounts of actual data and information
generated through the process. The approach seems more rational and context specific for
socio-cultural as well as geo-climatic condition. Its participatory nature and learning
dynamics helps in deeper penetration of the efforts among the community. The approach
gives an opportunity to community for self help rather than being dependent on outside
resources/expertise during an actual disaster, thus eliminating the chances of delays and
wrong-doings. It also provides information to outsiders about the community‟s needs and
strengths, enabling an appropriate aid acceptable to the affected society.
It is essential that local capacities be further strengthened to assess and manage disaster
risks as well as to utilize indigenous knowledge, resources, skills, experiences, information
and ideas. The approach considers varied factors like age, gender, geographic location, caste,
ethnicity, literacy, community structure/dynamics, local politics, economic disparities and
decision making in this process. These factors when accounted in disaster risk management
strategies and action plan become a great asset in execution and implementation at ground
level by the affected community.
If the methodology is applied in other areas in a similar fashion, it will have, no doubt, a
very large database on disasters and a culture of aware and prepared communities in all
villages. The approach is open for further modifications to suit to specific requirements of any
area/ community as is permitted in any context specific approach. Technical and financial
support from outsiders will serve as a catalyst to further boost the efforts of these villagers in
fully implementing their strategies for disaster risk management at local levels.
ACKNOWLEDGMENT
The author is thankful to Mr. P.G. Dhar Chakrabarti, Executive Director, NIDM for his
kind support and encouragement to publish this chapter.
RESOURCES USED
Methodology for Community Based Disaster Risk Management, Community Based Disaster
Risk Management Society, Dehradun, Uttarakhand, India (unpublished).
Village Level Multi-hazard Risk Management Action Plan, Senna Village, Rudraprayag
District, Uttarakhand, India (Unpublished).
Chapter 6
REDUCING DISASTER DAMAGE THROUGH PEOPLE’S

PARTICIPATION IN EMERGENCY RESPONSE
IN BANGLADESH
Giasuddin Ahmed Choudhury1 and Motaleb Hossain Sarker

Centre for Environment and Geographic Information Services (CEGIS), Dhaka
ABSTRACT
Bangladesh, due to its geographical setting and climatic condition, is the most
disaster prone country in the world. Substantial loss of agricultural production, disruption
of communication, damage and economic loss take place due to such disasters every
year. Over the periods, risk reductions programmes have been carried out by individual
organizations with the development partners according to their own views and targets
focused on relief and rehabilitation. A Public - private partnership approach is now felt
necessary to achieve the national goal. The cyclone SIDR hit the coast of Bangladesh in
15 November, 2007 and caused severe damage to the lives and properties of thousands of
people of the coastal districts. Among these, five districts namely Patuakhali, Barguna,
Bagerhat, Jhalokhathi and Pirojpur were the worst affected. A study was conducted in the
SIDR affected area through people‟s participations/households survey and a sustainable
management information system was developed to reduce the risk during emergencies.
For better planning, management and monitoring of Water Supply, Sanitation and
Hygiene (WASH) related activities, a GIS based Management Information System
(GMIS) was required for the emergency WASH cluster in Bangladesh. And to fulfill this
requirement UNICEF assigned CEGIS to develop a GIS based MIS, to collect and
analyze the data for meaningful information generation to improve interventions by the
WASH cluster member agencies in the SIDR affected districts. The study area covers 16
upazilas (sub-district) of SIDR affected five districts- mainly focusing on people‟s
participation in emergencies during disasters to reduce the associated risks and damages.
1
Tel: + 8801711-592558, Email: gchdhury@cegisbd.com.
74 Giasuddin Ahmed Choudhury and Motaleb Hossain Sarker
Keywords: Disaster, GMIS, Vulnerability, People‟s Participation, WATSAN, WASH,

Livelihood, Hygiene
1. INTRODUCTION
The geographical setting of Bangladesh makes the country vulnerable to natural disasters.
The major disasters concerned here are the flood, cyclone, storm surge, flash flood, drought,
tornado, riverbank erosion, salinity and landslide. These extreme natural events are termed
disasters when they adversely affect the whole environment, including human beings, their
shelters, or the resources essential for their livelihoods resulting in loss of agricultural
production, disruption of communication, injury, damage and destruction of immobile
infrastructure, disruption to essential services and national economic loss. Major disaster
prone areas of Bangladesh are portrayed in the figure 1.
Figure 1. Major disaster prone areas of Bangladesh.

Reducing Disaster Damage through People‟s Participation … 75
1.1. Cyclone
Tropical cyclones from the Bay of Bengal accompanied by storm surges are one of the
major disasters that frequently occurred in Bangladesh. The country is one of the worst
sufferers of all cyclonic casualties in the world.
The funnel-shaped northern portion of the Bay of Bengal causes tidal bores when
cyclones make landfalls, and thousands of people living in the coastal areas are affected.
Some recent cyclones and number of death is given in Table 1. Figure 2 shows major
cyclones that hit Bangladesh Coast.
Table 1. Major cyclones that hit the Bangladesh coast (Sarker et. al. 2008)
Date Death
November 12, 1970 167,000
April 29, 1991 138,000
November 15, 2007 10000
May 26, 2009 330
Figure 2. Major cyclones hitting the coastal zone.

1.2. Flood
Major portion of Bangladesh is part of the Ganges Delta, one of the largest flood plains in
the world. The total catchment area of the major rivers in Bangladesh is more than 12 times
the size of Bangladesh. Floods are annual phenomena mostly occurring during the months of
June to October. Most of the water comes from neighbouring countries. Regular river floods
affect 20% of the country increasing up to more than 68% in extreme years. The floods of
1987, 1988, 1998, 2000, 2004 and 2007 were particularly catastrophic, resulting in large-scale
destruction and loss of lives.
Approximately 37%, 43%, 52% and 60% of the country is inundated with floods of
return periods of 10, 20, 50 and 100 years respectively (MPO, 1986). Generally four types of
floods occur in Bangladesh.
 Flash flood caused by overflowing of hilly rivers of eastern and northern Bangladesh
(in April-May and September-November).
 Rain flood caused by drainage congestion and heavy rains.
 Monsoon flood caused by major rivers usually in the monsoon (during June-
October).
 Coastal flood caused by storm surges.
In the year 2000, Bangladesh faced an unusual flood over its usually flood-free south-
western plain, which also caused loss of life and massive damage to property.
1.3. Initiatives for Reducing Risk Induced by Disaster
Bangladesh government has developed different mechanism for the emergency response
during natural disasters. For the purpose of emergency information exchange and relief
management, an Emergency Operations Centre (EOC) has been established at the Ministry of
Food and Disaster Management (MOFDM) as operational unit. EOC gets activated with the
first information of the disaster emergency situation and works on the overall direction from
MOFDM for handling all aspects of emergency situation. The emergency and relief
management system during disasters recognizes the key role of the Cabinet Secretary in the
Inter-Ministerial Co-ordination and in supervising the district administration and ensures the
services of the Armed Forces as well as Non-governmental Organisations (NGOs) working in
the country. Under the system, Directorate of Relief and Rehabilitation (DRR) within the
administrative control of the MOFDM acts during emergency situation and operates relief
activities for distribution to the remote field levels. A dynamic professional and well known
organization which is called Disaster Management Bureau (DMB) has been established under
the MOFDM to perform specialist functions at the time of emergency to help EOC by
extending technical support services through MIS/GIS for information exchange. In addition,
there exists Cyclone Preparedness Program (CPP) which plays very useful role during
cyclone. Further different development agencies like UNDP, WFP, DFID and UNICEF have
developed emergency WASH (Water Supply Sanitation and Hygiene) cluster for emergency
disaster responses. However, the most effective process is the People‟s Participation in
emergency response to reduce the disaster damages in Bangladesh.
1.4. People’s Participation in Risk Reduction
People‟s participation in disaster risk reduction refers to the assessment of hazards,

vulnerabilities and risks, developing the ability to cope by preparing coping strategies and
finally preparing implementation plans of risk reduction options by the local community.
Rural people, especially the poor, landless, fisher-farmers, women and disable are highly
vulnerable to hazards. The increasing frequency of hazards and subsequent loss of lives and
resources are making them more vulnerable. Since the adaptive capacity is essential to reduce
the vulnerability, therefore, it is necessary to ensure an effective people‟s participation in all
stages of disaster risk reduction. Considering all these factors, the need to practice wider
participation in preparing risk reduction actions is inevitable, where all the stakeholders and
their representatives participate in planning and implementation processes through consensus.
2. METHODOLOGY
In order to assess the role of community participation in natural disasters risk reduction
particularly in emergency response management, CEGIS has employed following
methodology in the Cyclone SIDR affected areas.
2.1. Households Survey to Assess the Peoples’ Response during Emergencies
The process consist of several sub-activities (i) household survey questionnaire design
and development, (ii) field test of the questionnaire, (iii) update and finalizing questionnaire,
(iv) determining sampling techniques and size, (v) conduct HH survey, (vi) database
development and data analysis.
A Flow Chart showing the methodology is shown in the Figure 3.
2.1.1. Household Survey Questionnaire Design and Development

For collection of WASH related household data, a well-defined questionnaire is
necessary. Several consultation meetings with UNICEF were also done during questionnaire
development. The questionnaire has been developed covering all the aspects of water supply,
sanitation and hygiene status in the SIDR affected area. The major attributes of the
questionnaire are (i) Household location, (ii) household head and occupation, (iii) sources and
types of the water sources, (iv) fetching of water, (v) affected status of water point by SIDR,
(vi) sanitation status (which includes types of latrine, damage by SIDR, repairing status so
on), (vii) Hygiene practices and awareness status of the SIDR affected area and (viii) overall
observation of the study area.
Figure 3. Methodology of the case study.
2.1.2. Field Test of the Questionnaire

The developed questionnaire has also been tested through reconnaissance field survey at
Manikganj to find the additional and surplus item, understanding ability of the respondents
and the surveyors etc .This area is chosen because it is a highly disaster prone area and
tornadoes, Norwester and flood hits this area frequently.
2.1.3. Update and Finalizing Questionnaire

The questionnaire was then updated and finalized discussing with UNICEF and based on
lesson learnt from the reconnaissance field survey at Manikganj.
2.1.4. Sampling Techniques and Size

Determination of sampling techniques is an important issue. For this study the normally
distributed “Multi-stage Systematic Random Sample” technique has been used to conduct the
household survey because it is unbiased. The ArcGIS software has been used for properly
randomly distribution to make it unbiased and as well as well distributed.
Further, the sample size is an important factor for any survey, as sampling in research is
unavoidable, since time, money and efforts do not allow studying all possible members of a
population. To determine the sample size for this study the following formula has been used,
where the sample size n and margin of error E are given by:
x  Z(c /100)2 r(100 r) (1)
n  Nx/{(N 1)E2  x} (2)
E  [(N  n)x /{n(N 1)}] (3)
where N is the population size, which is about 6,90,347 households of the SIDR affected five
districts, r is the fraction of responses that we are interested in, and Z (c/100) is the critical
value for the confidence level c. (Ref: Basic Statistics: A Modern Approach by Morris
Hamburg). Thus, the largest sample size 384 is determined at 5% margin of error, 95% of
confidence level and 50% response distribution. This calculation is based on pre-assuming
that the sample distribution follows normal distribution.
2.1.5. Conduct Household Survey

The field data were collected through door to door survey in sampled and selected
households using developed questionnaires.
2.1.6. Data Matrix Development for Monitoring the Disaster Response Activities
The 4W matrix of WASH intervention reflects Who is working Where, When and What.
The major information collected under 4W matrix are water supply and sanitation access or
coverage to the population through different mode of WATSAN technologies and as well as
hygiene practices. The 4W matrix data collected from different sources are:
i. Local Government (Upazila Parishad and Union Parishad),

ii. Department of Public Health Engineering (DPHE) field offices,
iii. Local Administration Offices and
iv. WASH cluster partner agencies.
Further, damage of household and affected population of different districts under the
study area was also collected. During the survey period (February – May 2008) the 4W
matrix data have been updated through several visits and meetings with relevant agencies in
the field area.
2.2. Database Development and Data Analysis
After collecting and processing household and 4W matrix data, a well organized data has
been developed. Then all the data were converted into GIS format for spatial analysis and
mapping purposes using different GIS techniques. After database development different types
of data analysis were performed based on the following indicators:
2.2.1. Analysis Gender Status of Surveyed Household Head

From the collected and processed sample field survey data, the district wise household
heads gender data was analysed for the study area and presented. It is observed that the only
6% of the total surveyed household‟s heads is female and substantial percentage (94%) is
male.
2.2.2. Analysis of Water Supply Data

Source of water supply is one of the important parameter of the household survey. A brief
description of the district wise water supply status is given below in Table 2.
Table 2. Availability of drinking water sources
Pond Sand
Tube River/ RainWater
District Filter Pond Tap Other Total
well Khal Harvesting
(PSF)
Bagerhat 25 8 11 40 11 2 3 100
Barguna 37 2 20 36 1 4 - 100
Patuakhali 48 - 15 36 - 1 - 100
Pirojpur 34 3 21 37 1 4 2 100
Frequency of drinking water collection in a day is an important issue in the water scarce
and severe affected areas. Therefore, frequency of drinking water collection data were
collected and processed for the study area and presented in Table 3 below.
Table 3. Frequency of drinking water collection
Range 5 -
District Range 0 Range 1-2 Range 3 - 5 Range >10 Total
10
Bagerhat 104 97 77 24 2 304
Barguna 4 79 64 39 3 189
Jhalokati 5 17 3 3 28
Patuakhali 8 71 66 54 9 208
Pirojpur 2 75 97 20 194
Total 118 327 321 140 17 923
%of total 13 35 35 15 2 100
Furthermore, District-wise functional and non- functional status of water points are
described below for the study area in Table 4.
Table 4. Status of drinking water points
District Functional Non Functional Total

Bagerhat 98 2 100
Barguna 93 7 100
Patuakhali 99 1 100
Pirojpur 96 4 100
Ownership of the water point data were collected and processed for the study area. From
the collected and processed sample field survey data, the water point ownership data were
analysed for the study area and presented in Table 5 below.
Table 5. District-wise ownership status of drinking water points
District Own Neighbour Community Total

Bagerhat 135 79 90 304
Barguna 54 51 84 189
Jhalokati 9 3 16 28
Patuakhali 70 46 92 208
Pirojpur 79 37 78 194
Total 347 216 360 923
% of total 38 23 39 100
Water point damage data is crucially important for the present study and damage data
were collected through the household survey. From the collected and processed sample field
survey data, the district wise water point damage data were analysed and presented in Table
6.
Table 6. District wise water point damages status in the study area
Pond Sand Filters

Tube-Well River/Khal Pond
District (PSF)
Af N-Af Af N-Af Af N-Af Af N-Af
Bagerhat 11 60 20 3 19 14 74 35
Barguna 26 44 4 - 33 4 50 6
Jhalokati - 14 - - 4 - 10 -
Patuakhali 27 71 - - 14 17 56 14
Pirojpur 8 47 4 - 40 - 70 -
Total 72 236 28 3 110 35 260 55
Af=Affected, N-Af=Not Affected
Table 7. District wise water point repairing and reconstruction status
District Repaired Not Repaired Not Affected Newly Built Total

Bagerhat 118 20 3 1 142
Barguna 93 22 2 3 120
Jhalokati 7 3 4 - 14
Patuakhali 74 23 - - 97
Pirojpur 66 45 16 - 127
Total 358 113 25 4 500
% of total 72 23 5 1 100
Water point repairing data is very important for the present study and repairing data were
collected through the household survey. From the collected and processed sample field survey
data, the district-wise water point repairing and reconstruction status data were analyzed for
the study area and presented in Table 7. A summery of district wise water coverage is shown
in Table 8.
Table 8. District wise water coverage summarized from 4W matrix data
Item Bagerhat Barguna Jhalokati Patuakhali Pirojpur

Population 1,120,181 782379 160,900 891,938 780,620
Affected population 889,960 674,420 159,222 336,345 708,296
Water Coverage (%) 39 50 24 65 28
Damage (%) 47 61 64 54 44
Proportion of WS
35 12 3 29 25
restored (%)
2.2.3. Analysis of Sanitation Data

Types of latrines usage in the SIDR affected area are one of the important parameter of
the household survey. Data analysis result on the latrines usages status for study area is
described below in Table 9.
Table 9. Latrine usages in the study area
Pit latrine Pit latrine Anywhere/

Latrine with Hanging
District with ring and without ring no specific Total
septic tank latrine
slab and slab place
Bagerhat 5 78 11 5 1 100
Barguna 6 69 16 9 1 100
Patuakhali 5 63 14 17 2 100
Pirojpur 6 81 9 2 1 100
Information on repair/newly built Latrines after SIDR in the surveyed areas is given
below. From the Table 10, 45% of latrines are repaired, 5% are newly built and 30% of
latrines are still needed to be repaired.
Table 10. Summary information of repair/newly built latrines due to SIDR
District Repaired Not repaired Newly built Not applicable Total

Bagerhat 62 45 5 36 148
Barguna 41 28 5 15 89
Jhalokati 4 1 1 8 14
Patuakhali 48 42 4 17 111
Pirojpur 45 27 4 20 96
Total 200 143 19 96 458
% of total 44 31 4 21 100
2.2.4. Analysis of Hygiene Data

Hygiene practice in the SIDR affected area is another important parameter of the
household survey. Summary of hygiene practice is depicted in the Table 11. From the table,
the 98% of households use ash, 97% use washing soap and 92% use bath soap.
Table 11. Summary information of soap and ash users by district
District Total HH Bath soap Wash soap Ash

Bagerhat 140 125 137 134
Barguna 84 76 79 83
Jhalokati 14 14 14 14
Patuakhali 98 87 95 98
Pirojpur 91 90 91 90
Total 427 392 416 419
% of Total 100 92 97 98
2.3. GAP Analysis and Vulnerability Mapping
2.3.1. Gap Analysis

During the post SIDR period, WASH related services provided by different agencies to
the SIDR affected areas were not sufficient or does not cover 100% area or households.
Baseline information is a pre-requisite for any kind of gap analysis. Due to lack of sufficient
base information, the GAP analysis has been carried out for the present study, considering
available data parameters collected from the sampled field survey (DPHE-UNICEF, 2004).
The GAP analysis has been done under this study using (i) the data from household survey
and (ii) the data from public water point survey. The detail description of GAP analysis using
these two types of data has been briefly described below:
A. Gap Analysis Using House-Holds Survey Data

During this WASH related households survey, several important information on water
and sanitation collected are (i), affected water points, (ii) rehabilitated water points, (iii)
newly built water points, (iv) affected latrine, (v) rehabilitated latrines and (vi) newly built
latrines etc and these parameters are used to analyze the for water supply and sanitation.
B. Gap Analysis for Water Supply

From the collected sampled household level water sources data, the district wise gap of
water point has been analyzed using the equations and the result is presented in Table 12. The
table shows that the highest percentage of gap is at Pirojpur district, which is 39% and lowest
percentage of gap is at Bagerhat district, which is 21%.
C. Gap Analysis for Sanitation

Further, District-wise affected versus gap for sanitation facilities has been analyzed and
presented in Figure 4. It has been found that at Pirojpur district the gap versus affected ratio is
1:2.30, at Bagerhat the ratio is 1:9, at Barguna the ratio is 1:2.30, at Patuakhali 1: 2.15 and at
Jhalokati 1:1.5 only.
Table 12. District- wise water sources gap using household survey data
Newly
District Total Affected Repaired Gap % of Gap
built
Bagerhat 284 144 119 1 24 21
Barguna 177 121 87 7 27 25
Jhalokati 18 14 7 2 5 36
Patuakhali 202 99 67 32 32
Pirojpur 141 127 65 2 60 39
Figure 4. Affected Vs gap for sanitation facilities (latrines) using household survey data
2.3.2. Vulnerability Analysis and Mapping

The goal of this research is to reduce vulnerabilities during the disaster and enhance the
resilience of poor people and ecosystems impacted by water scarcity, floods, SIDR and other
water-related shocks. Vulnerability (V) is a dual concept which entails the likelihood of
events that may result in a series of negative livelihood outcomes, as well as the coping
mechanisms that people employ to face risk events such as floods, cyclones, arsenic hazard,
etc. To identify the degree of vulnerability, a vulnerability mapping exercise has been carried
out for the present study. Steps followed for this WATSAN vulnerability mapping are:
A. Selection of Vulnerability Indicators

The degree or magnitude of WATSAN vulnerability calculated as for this study
considering several factors or indicators.
The indicators used for this study are: (i) proportion of elderly people (age => 60 years),
(ii) proportion of landless households, (iii) proportion of female widow, (iv) presence of
water scarcity, (iv) severely affected unions, (v) NGO services, and (vi) percentage of shelter
less people during Sidr etc. All these above indicators were taken into consideration in
conceptualizing the vulnerability index calculation for this study based on the union wise
available data. The indicators used for vulnerability computation has been presented in Table
13. The table explains the relationship between the indicators and the vulnerability to risk.
Table 13. Indicators used for vulnerability computation
SL Indicator Degree of vulnerability

Proportion of elderly people Higher the % of elderly people, higher the
1
(age => 60 years) vulnerability
Proportion of landless
2 Higher the % of Landless HH, higher the vulnerability
households
Higher the % of Female widows, higher the
3 Percentage of widow
vulnerability
4 Water scarcity Presence of water scarcity, higher the vulnerability
5 Severely affected by SIDR Severely affected indicating higher the vulnerability
Presence of NGO services indicating lower the
6 NGO services
vulnerability
Percentage of shelter less Higher the shelterless people higher the vulnerability
7
people during Sidr etc.
B. Vulnerability Index Calculation

Individual tables 14a-g were generated for different indicators containing the indicator
parameter and their score values. The relative score value has been used for the calculation of
vulnerability with the upper limit value of 3 and lower limit value of 1 at different scale of
interval. It can be mentioned that in the lookup table higher the score the higher the
vulnerability.
Table 14a. Proportion of elderly (age => 60 years) people (V1)
Percentage (%) of elderly people Score

<4 1
>= 4 to <=8 2
>8 3
Table 14b. Proportion of landless households (V2)
Percentage (%) of landless households Score

< 30 1
>= 30 to <=50 2
>50 3
Table 14c. Percentage of widow (V 3)
Percentage (%) of widow Score

< 0.5 1
>= 0.5 to <=3 2
>3 3
Table 14d. Water scarcity (V4)
Water scarcity Score

Not water scarce (Value = 0) 1
Water scarce (Value = 1) 3
Table 14e. Severely affected by SIDR (V5)
Severely affected by SIDR Score

Value = 0 (not affected) 1
Value = 1 (affected) 3
Table 14f. NGO services (V6)
NGO services Score

NGO services (Value = 1) 1
No services (Value = 0) 3
Table 14g. Percentage of shelter less people during emergencies (V7)
Percentage (%) of shelter less-people Score

< 80 1
>= 80 to <=90 2
>90 3
After calculating the individual score, combined vulnerability for each administrative unit
were calculated using following formulae:
(4)
where,
VI = Final vulnerability Index
V1 = Individual score for proportion of elderly (age => 60 years) people
Weights for V1 = 0.15
V2 = Individual score for proportion of landless households
V3 = Individual score for percentage of widow

V4 = Individual score for water scarcity area Weights for V4 = 0.20
V5 = Individual score for severely affected by SIDR
Weights for V5= 0.20
V6 = Individual score for NGO services
V7 = Individual score for percentage of shelter less people during emergencies
From calculated scores, the three major classes were generated as (i) High, (ii) Medium
and (iii) Low. The class with the score has been presented in Table 15.
Table 15. Vulnerability index (VI)
Vulnerability type Index

Low 1.00 to 1.50
Medium 1.51 to 2.00
High 2.01 o 3.0
Figure 5. Cyclone SIDR response in Bangladesh.

C. Vulnerability Mapping
After calculating union wise vulnerability index, the union-wise vulnerability data were
linked with spatial data of the study area unions. Further these vulnerabilities were classified
into three classes (low, medium and high) using ArcGIS software. The sample vulnerability
map is presented in Figure 5. It may be noted that the classification that has been made using
ArcGIS is dynamic and it can be reclassified changing the degree of V or VI
2.4. GIS Based MIS Software Development for Emergency Response

Monitoring
For effective monitoring of SIDR affected area in Bangladesh, a GIS based web enable
monitoring system named as GIS based MIS (GMIS) has been developed under this project.
The web-based system is developed with the aim that all the partners in the process will have
access to the system through internet or intranet based system on their access authorization.
The system is developed using open source software development tools to reduce the cost and
licensing obligations. The user interfaces, input/output formats have been designed and
developed in consultation with UNICEF Bangladesh.
The major components of the GMIS are (i) Data Explorer, (ii) GMIS Mapping, (iii)
Reporting, (iv) Photos and Maps, (iv) Knowledge Based, (v) Data Management. The software
is capable to monitor the emergency response status of the affected area and hence suggests
an immediate response in recovering any particular disaster.
It has been observed from the case study that, people‟s participation plays a substantial
part in activities related to emergency recovery of any disaster. Community participation can
more effectively be introduced in the whole process by incorporating a SMS-based feedback
service in the developed GIS based MIS software (Figure 6). This will increase the efficiency
as well as broaden the scope of the whole risk reduction process by providing easy access to
information to the community, decision makers and planners and as well as the politician for
the greater benefit of the country to reduce the disaster risk reduction during emergencies.
Figure 6. Development of GIS based MIS software for emergency WASH cluster in Bangladesh.
2.5. Flood Forecasting and Early Warning: A Community Based Risk

Reduction Approach
The study emphasised to develop the community based flood forecasting system using
satellite imageries and GIS (CEGIS, 2006). The objectives of the study were:
 To disseminate of Flood Level information to the community with a lead time before
the flood occurs and
 To reduce risk from flood by empowering the community with flood warning
information before it comes
Figure 7. Conceptual diagram of the flood forecasting system.
+
-
(a) (b)
Figure 8. a) Information dissemination in occurrence of flood through information board and b) SMS
based Symbolic Information System.
A community based warning system is developed and warning message are disseminated
to the community during flood disaster (Figure 7). Water level data from different gauge
stations in major rivers maintained by Bangladesh Water Development Board (BWDB) are
collected. Then these data are interpreted and analyzed based on Digital Elevation model
(DEM) using GIS to determine probable flood level at local tributaries and surrounding
floodplains. Interpreted information are shared with local people (Figure 8a) as and when the
water level is likely to exceed the safety limit; at the earliest time by warning them using
coloured flags and mobile SMS („+/-' indicates 9 inch increase/decrease in water level ) at
frequent intervals (Figure 8b).
An example of information dissemination by using flag is shown in the table 16.
Table 16. Use of coloured flags for information dissemination
Water level change Flag Description

Today flood status Top flag: No flag – the water level at gauge is at
No flag, below the Normal Flood level
Green, Green – the water level at gauge is within
Yellow, the Normal Flood range
Red Yellow – the water level at gauge is
within the Moderate Flood range
Red – the water level at gauge is above
the Moderate Flood range
Water level after 48 hr Except the topmost No Flag - WL change < 1 bighat (22 cm)
flag White Flag – decrease of WL
Blue Flag – increase of WL
3. COMMUNITY PARTICIPATION IN EMERGENCY

RESPONSE DURING SIDR
3.1. Water Sources
From the household survey data and field observations, it has been found that substantial
amount of damaged water sources have been repaired. Further, major portion (more than
70%) of the damaged water sources have been repaired by the community itself and about 10-
15% of the water sources have been repaired by NGOs. However, following specific issues
were noticed.
1. In the case of water points, majority of the PSF has been severely damaged
2. From the local people‟s perception about water points, it is known that participation
of NGOs in repairing the water points especially the ponds and tube wells are
insufficient
3. Water points are mainly affected by the saline water, damages trees, dead body of
human and the livestock
4. DPHE, UNICEF and DANIDA has contributing in repairing the water points in the
study area and amount of contribution need to be substantially increased
3.2. Sanitation
From the household survey data and field observations, it has been found that substantial
amount of damaged latrine has been repaired which is about more than 50%. Further, major
portion (more than 80%) of the damaged latrine have been repaired by the community itself
and about 10-15% of water points have been repaired by NGOs. The following specific
findings are derived.
1. Majority of the surveyed households have been using the sanitary latrines which is
about 70%
2. Majority of the damaged latrines have been repaired and built by the household
owners e.g. community itself
3. About 10% of the surveyed households have been sharing latrines.
3.3. Hygiene Practice
Hygiene practices information has been collected from the field through interviewing the
people of sampled households using developed field questionnaires. Usually majority of the
interviewed people replied positive answers regarding the hygiene practices especially for the
usage of soap before taking their meals and after defecations. High accuracy data on hygiene
practices can be obtained through detailed demonstration at house level, which needs 6-7
hours for each house household. However, according to the reported household survey data, it
is observed that substantial proportion of the people wash their hands with water before and
after taking food, after defecation, before preparing, serving and feeding children. The
following conclusions are drawn from this specific survey.
1. The survey found that about 50% of the people (only living in the surveyed
households) have been using soap/ash/soil to wash hands after defecation.
2. The people of the surveyed households have been using ash or soil and as well as
soap for washing their hands after defecation
3. 24% of the people have been using soap for washing hands before taking their food.
Most of the people learnt about hygiene practice from their families, neighbours, media
and religious culture. This is also indication of People‟s Participation to reduce disaster
damages during emergencies.
CONCLUSION
It has been found that the local community significantly participates in the emergency
response during and after the cyclone SIDR disasters in the coastal areas of Bangladesh
The study further reveals that the public-private partnership approach of risk reduction
can be very effective for reducing disaster damages during emergencies
The developed GIS based MIS can be enhanced further by incorporating the community
feedback through mobile Short Message Service (SMS) system for efficient planning and
decision making in emergency situations in future.
REFERENCES
CEGIS-Center for Environmental and Geographic Information Services. 2006. “Inventory of
Community Risk Reduction Program” Comprehensive Disaster Management Programme
(CDMP), UNDP, Bangladesh.
DPHE-Department of Public Health Engineering and UNICEF-United Nations Children's
Fund. 2004. “Report on the Nationwide Baseline Survey on Sanitation” UNICEF, Dhaka,
Bangladesh.
MPO-Master Plan Organisation. 1986. Report on Flood and Storm Surge.
Sarker M. H., Hossain M. M. A., Ahmed S. 2008. Development of GIS Based Management
Information System for the Emergency WASH Cluster of UNICEF in Bangladesh. Centre
for Environment and Geographic Information Services (CEGIS), Dhaka, Bangladesh.
Chapter 7
DISASTER RISK REDUCTION AS AN INTEGRAL PART

IN MICROFINANCE CAPACITY BUILDING:
LESSONS LEARNED IN THE AFTERMATH OF
CYCLONE NARGIS, MYANMAR
Drew Bishop1, Kurt MacLeod2, Erica Tubbs3,

and Anne Coghlan4
1
DBishop Consulting, Ellensburg, WA, USA
2
Pact Asia Eurasia
3
Pact Myanmar
4
Pact Results and Measurement
ABSTRACT
Pact, Inc. had been working in Myanmar for 10 years prior to Cyclone Nargis, which
struck the Irrawaddy Delta in May, 2008. Microfinance in the Irrawaddy Delta in the
south of the country was a major element of their work. This project was significantly
impacted both during the storm and in its aftermath. This article will look at the impact of
the storm on Pact‟s microfinance program and the benefit of large community based
structures like the microfinance program in quickly reaching disaster survivors. It will
highlight how its program infrastructure was instrumental in helping other NGOs
respond. And, finally, it will explore how Pact has begun to integrate disaster risk
reduction strategies into its local capacity building programs to enhance and strengthen
local ownership for village level planning. It explores the importance of putting
communities at the centre of disaster preparedness and response. The chapter will also
document how capacity building in disaster risk reduction is important not only for the
people who live in zones at risk of water-related disasters, but also how it can mitigate
the financial and personnel impacts on agencies that work in these regions.
1
3600 Brondt Road, Ellensburg, WA 98926, USA Tel: +1-509-859-4725, E-Mail: drew@bishop.org.
2
E-Mail: kmacleod@pactworld.org.
3
E-Mail: ericatubbs@gmail.com.
4
E-mail: acoghlan@pactworld.org.
94 Drew Bishop, Kurt MacLeod, Erica Tubbs et al.
Keywords: Microfinance, Community Capacity Building, Cyclone Nargis, Disaster

Management, Irrawaddy, Myanmar, Pact, Inc., DRR
1. INTRODUCTION
Pact, Inc, is an international non-governmental organization (NGO) based in Washington,
D.C whose expertise is in building the capacity of local organizations and communities in
developing countries. It is recognized as a leader in empowering local communities. Pact's
mission is to help build strong communities globally that provide people with an opportunity
to earn a dignified living, raise healthy families, and participate in democratic life. Pact
achieves this by strengthening the capacity of grassroots organizations, coalitions and
networks and by forging linkages among government, business and the citizen sectors to
achieve social, economic and environmental justice. Pact Myanmar began working in the
Irrawaddy Delta region in 1998 in concert with UNDP, providing microfinance services to the
inhabitants of this region. Prior to Cyclone Nargis, Pact had not been involved in any
significant humanitarian disaster responses.
2. THE IRRAWADDY DELTA

Myanmar is an isolated country located between the diverse cultural and geographical
boundaries of China, Bangladesh, India, Laos and Thailand. (Figure 1). The Irrawaddy
(Ayeyarwady) Delta in the south western portion of Myanmar is the rice bowl for this country
covering approximately 415,000 km2 (Brichieri-Colombi, 1983). It is a fragile and intricate
ecosystem of mangrove swamps and tidal estuaries. Non saline arable areas are limited and
becoming scarce due to the erosion of riverbanks, saltwater intrusion, and increasing soil
salinity. Poor water control and drainage works contribute to periodic flooding and crop
losses. Most poor households cultivate a single crop of traditional monsoon paddy rice.
Farmers who are better-off are able to grow early maturing, high-yielding varieties of paddy
rice and benefit from an additional winter crop such as groundnuts or soybeans.
In the very few areas where irrigation facilities are available, summer paddy rice is
grown. Marginal farm households cannot afford to use chemical fertilizer or manure and
suffer from declining crop yields. In some townships such as Laputta, Bogalay and
Mawlamyaingyun, it is estimated that more than half of the population is landless. Many
marginal farmers engage in fishing and crabbing. Those who fish typically do not own fishing
gear or boats and depend on fish traders for such resources. Some households raise pigs,
chickens, or ducks. Others crop during the slack growing season by borrowing from more
well-off farmers and loans are paid back through labour or through a portion of paddy crop.
The effective interest rate charged by fish traders, rice traders and others in these loan
arrangements typically amount to 10 per cent a month (Mya Than, 2000).
Henzhada is the city considered to be the head of the Irrawaddy Delta. From this point,
the topographical elevation of Delta drops only 18m over the next 258 kilometres before the
river finally reaches the Andaman Sea in the south (Figure 2). Because agricultural
development in the Delta has focused primarily on rice, in addition to the land being flat,
Disaster Risk Reduction as an Integral Part in Microfinance Capacity Building 95
there are few forests. Low level flight over the Delta reveals a land that holds no natural
barriers to mitigate the impact of a significant cyclone on the region.
Figure 1. Map of Myanmar.
Figure 2. Profile of the Irrawaddy Delta.
3. CYCLONE NARGIS
In May 2008, Cyclone Nargis struck the southern coast of Myanmar, killing an estimated
130,000 people, displacing a further 2.4 million from their homes and causing catastrophic
destruction to the region in terms of livelihoods and income generation (Bishop, 2009). Due
to over ten years of program experience in Myanmar and in the Delta region, Pact occupied a
unique organizational situation. In the years prior to Cyclone Nargis, Pact Myanmar had
developed large-scale microfinance and health programs and was active in 33 townships
throughout the country. Pact was operating a large Microfinance program in partnership with
UNDP, reaching over 400,000 borrowers in three regions. In the Irrawaddy Division, Pact
was active in three of the seven townships (Bogale, Laputta and Mawgyun) most heavily
affected by Cyclone Nargis. In these three townships, Pact had an unequalled network of 267
staff operating from 16 field offices serving a population of over 79,000 households in 985
villages, where the storm affected 90% of the population (Bishop, 2009).
Because of the strength of Pact‟s presence in the Delta, it was inevitable that Pact
Myanmar would be directly affected by the cyclone. For example, the agency lost five of its
own staff and two branch offices were swept out to sea. However, this loss could have been
higher, reducing Pact Myanmar‟s ability to respond, if it not been for the past experience of
Pact Myanmar‟s country director.
3.1. Pre-Storm Experience in Mitigating Effects
Experts had been watching Cyclone Nargis build up for several days prior to landfall.
The official word was that while strong, the path the cyclone was taking would not
significantly impact Myanmar. This official forecast was based partially on the modelling of
the storm, but also on the history of cyclones and the Delta region.
As a Bangladeshi who had experience with cyclones while working with other NGOs in
his home country, Pact Myanmar‟s country director had been monitoring the National
Oceanic and Atmospheric Agency‟s satellite tracking of the storm. Based on his background,
he began calling Pact Myanmar staff in the Delta, warning them to take precautionary
measures. Initially, most of the staff did not take the threat seriously. However, repeated
urgings eventually convinced most of the staff to take some rudimentary precautionary
measures. Besides this simple step, there were no real procedures in place for reducing the
risk of the impending disaster. This was true for most agencies operating in Myanmar at the
time.
Prior to Cyclone Nargis, Pact Myanmar did not have Disaster Risk Reduction (DRR)
training as a component of their microfinance or health programs. As a “pure” development
agency, Pact‟s expertise and experience did not include responding to major disasters. As
previously mentioned, none of Pact‟s country programs had ever been seriously impacted
and, thus, addressing DRR issues was not a part of the organizational approach.
3.2. Pact Myanmar’s Post Disaster Response
In the wake of Cyclone Nargis, Pact Myanmar‟s response was twofold.

The first response was to realize that people in its Microfinace Program would need the funds
they had saved through participation in the program. There was the additional recognition that
the outstanding debt burden of $2.94 million would seriously add to the financial burden
experienced by cyclone survivors in affected communities.
Reacting to what Pact decided was a humanitarian mandate to respond to such high levels
of disaster in communities where the microfinance program had worked for over 10 years,
Pact began a large scale humanitarian effort. In following with international microfinance
best practices, Pact decided to separate its microfinance operations from its humanitarian
relief operations in order to make it clear to shocked communities that the assistance they
received from Pact was in no way linked to their outstanding loans. Pact first suspended all
microfinance activities in the most affected regions and was able to mobilize staff from
unaffected regions for the relief efforts.
Before Cyclone Nargis, Pact‟s Microfinance Program had approximately 67,800 loans
outstanding in the three most affected townships in the Delta totalling $2.94 million which
were effectively lost to the project. The majority of borrowers were engaged in small
livestock and fishery activities. Other livelihood activities included small scale rice farming
and petty trade. The storm washed away fishing boats and equipment, killed livestock, fouled
drinking water catchment ponds, destroyed petty trading stocks and soaked the arable farm
land under 4.5 m of salt water. The path towards rebuilding livelihoods would be long and
difficult. Together with UNDP, Pact made the decision to forgive the balance on all
outstanding loans in the Delta. While half of Pact‟s staff engaged in direct relief activities
linked to community-wide food security, water and hygiene improvement, primary health
care and shelter reconstruction funded by multiple international donors, the other half began
disbursing savings to clients who survived the cyclone. These funds represented over $1.24
million and had to be mobilized from other operating regions of the Microfinance Program to
meet the immediate needs felt by clients who had saved for such emergencies. These
immediate cash disbursements were some of the first funds to flow into the Delta region in
the aftermath of the cyclone. This rapid response provided Microfinance Clients emergency
cash relief and placed decision-making ability for the use of those funds into the hands of the
affected individuals themselves with the understanding that through utilizing their own
savings they could address their individual essential needs. Overall, 50,263 clients or their
immediate surviving relatives were located and only 220 savings accounts remain to be
returned as some clients and their families are still missing. Given the size and scope of the
Microfinance Program this was not an insignificant number of families assisted during this
time of need.
Pact capitalized on its extensive physical and human infrastructure in the Delta and
contributed heavily to relief efforts in many areas. However, Pact was also cognizant of its
lack of disaster response expertise. In order to address this gap, Pact Myanmar‟s major
response was, through careful selection, to partner with relief agencies that had access to
financial resources but did not have expertise or a presence in the Delta. Due to this
infrastructure, Pact‟s staff would end up facilitating the efforts of 10 major funding and relief
agencies by offering the infrastructure to provide immediate responses in affected
communities. The staff‟s extensive knowledge of the local communities built up over ten
years was critical in helping affected people receive vital assistance quickly. This knowledge
was coupled with a deep level of trust between communities and Pact staff which allowed the
response to proceed quickly and efficiently.
Myanmar was (and still is) unique in the challenges it presents to the international
humanitarian community. Pact Myanmar played a critical role in disaster mitigation because
it had established a positive reputation with both the government and the local populations. It
drew on this experience to provide assessment and distribution services for Oxfam U.K.,
WHO, OFDA, the World Food Program, UNDP, UNICEF, Action Aid and other agencies
who needed reliable services and a network that it could tap into immediately to deliver much
needed relief materials. In addition to providing relief materials, Pact was well positioned to
implement a cash grant program to affected communities which followed some of the same
transparent and accountable procedures that had been engrained in the staff due to their
microfinance expertise.
Pact Myanmar quickly learned the intricacies of relief logistics with the staff managing
the distribution of food and non-food essential items. It pulled its staff from medical projects
in the north of the country to provide needed medical assistance for a health system that had
been washed away. In an environment where critical decisions had to be made in a much
quicker time frame than was normal for the organization, Pact Myanmar was able to respond
to the needs of its microfinance clients and donor partners with the rapid turnaround
demanded in disaster response.
Once the urgency had passed and things began to settle into a new normal, Pact realized
that it had played a fundamental role, as recognized by many donors, in the relief efforts. Pact
saw this as a great learning opportunity and conducted an assessment of the impact of the
relief operations on the organization overall and specifically on its Myanmar Program in
order to incorporate lessons learned and identify ways that this experience would
fundamentally change the way it operates in the future. From this experience, Pact came to
understand the importance of DRR as fundamental approach to development.
Concurrently, Pact slowly began to rebuild its Microfinance Program in the Delta with
careful coordination and consultation with communities in the most affected areas. A phased
approach was taken to begin distributing loans in less affected areas where immediate asset
recovery was possible. The next step was to expand back into more destroyed areas after vital
needs for food security and shelter rehabilitation were met. Largely because communities felt
that Pact stood with them during the worst days of the cyclone aftermath, Pact‟s client base
significantly expanded in the two years following the cyclone. In the entire Delta region there
has been a 33% growth from 102,766 clients in April of 2008 to 136,783 clients in June of
2010. Pact borrowers in the 3 most affected townships expanded by 55% from 50,483 clients
to 78,711 clients in the same period.
4. DISASTER RISK REDUCTION AS AN INTEGRAL

APPROACH TO DEVELOPMENT
Disaster Risk Reduction is the conceptual framework considered to minimize
vulnerabilities to disaster throughout a society and to avoid (preparedness) or to limit
(mitigation and preparedness) the impacts of hazards within the context of sustainable
development. DRR is concerned with reducing the level of vulnerability and minimizing the
disrupting effects of hazards by building the capacities of communities to address these
concerns.
DRR is a growing approach within the humanitarian field. It is a crossover discipline
between humanitarian response and community development. Its foundational idea is that
local communities that recognize potential disasters based on historical background can
develop local strategies to minimize, as much as possible, the impact of future catastrophic
events. It also provides training for the local community in post-disaster recovery. While
international reaction to events like the recent earthquake in Haiti is quick, the response time
of international teams to begin delivering aid, especially first aid, is hindered by the logistical
challenges of getting to the victims in a timely manner. Communities trained to respond to the
critical issues of first aid, psychological trauma and essential human needs can reduce the
death toll as well as the number of people permanently handicapped either physically or
psychologically.
DRR focuses both on strengthening local physical infrastructure as well as capacity
building for local populations. Infrastructure focus can include (but is not limited to) building
structures that withstand potential (local) disasters such as levees and canals to reduce
flooding, strengthening foliage on mountain sides to reduce landslides and improving
evacuation routes for tsunamis and/or volcano eruptions. Capacity building efforts aim to
strengthen the capacity of local communities in rendering first aid, post-disaster trauma
identification, having sufficient supplies of food and water available, activities that mobilize
disaster survivors to begin their own recovery, and developing social infrastructures such as
community based DRR committees and networks which can be mobilized to respond before,
during and after disasters.
A significant benefit of placing DRR activities and capacity in the hands of potentially
affected communities is that these local communities gain a sense of control over their lives
and do not become passive recipients of relief goods and services. Devastating natural
disasters completely strip affected populations of a sense of control over their lives. By being
central to the process of initiating first level care, conducting a well-structured needs
assessment before the first outside help arrives, playing an active role in the distribution of
goods and supplies and participating in the provision of services, communities are able to
restore a sense of control and initiate the healing process. By placing communities in an
active and central role prior to, during and after a disaster, there is a greater potential that the
response will be quick, appropriate and reach those in most need.
DRR as a program component is steadily expanding from NGOs that execute both
humanitarian response and community development into NGOs that are solely community
development focused. As apparent in the need to write-off over $2.94 million dollars in loans
and the dismantlement of years of community built assets in Nargis affected communities,
Pact recognized that one significant disaster can set back years of community development.
By integrating DRR as a part of the community development program, project losses can be
reduced and activities restarted more quickly. It is also more cost effective. It is estimated that
only 4% of the US$ 10 billion spent annually on humanitarian aid is devoted to DRR;
however, for every dollar spent on DRR, US$5 to US$10 of economic loss is saved from
disaster (Schwartz, 2006). Therefore, for a variety of good reasons, DRR is steadily becoming
a critical component of Majority World (the new term for Third World) development.
5. SETTING UP A DRR PROGRAM

Information and training are two of the most critical needs when mitigating the effects of
a humanitarian disaster. The core of a DRR program involves training the local population in
data and information collection and responding to needs quickly. The first critical step in
DRR is actively knowing the community. In small rural communities, it might seem like
people already know each other. However, NGOs conducting DRR training find the people
they are training surprised at just how many important details about their community they are
unaware of.
Analyzing the history of previous disasters is important to know how to focus training. If
an area is not mountainous, it would not make sense to develop projects that address
landslides. Likewise, if the community is not close to the sea coast, tsunami awareness
programs are not needed. It might be tempting in conducting a DRR analysis to downplay
disasters that have been infrequent in the past. However, in this case, the Irrawaddy Delta had
been affected by only two major cyclones in the previous 60 years of any magnitude even
close to what happened in 2008. Analyzing history of disasters in a particular area and
realizing if a significant disaster has occurred in the past can direct the content of a DRR
initiative. In some cases, local populations are unaware of the history further augmenting the
need to understand the history of disasters for a particular geographic area.
Early warning is also critical in disaster mitigation. In Myanmar, once authorities began
to realize that disaster was imminent, there was not sufficient time for the affected
populations to move to safe locations. Given the breadth and depth, yet simplicity, of
technology, it is possible to develop a simple, yet effective, early warning system if this is
coupled with a network of communities who have been trained in DRR practices. Internet
access to storm tracking, along with broadcast instant messaging, is a simple warning
infrastructure. In the case of Myanmar, instant messaging is primarily restricted to phone
centres which are limited throughout the Delta region. This demands a human infrastructure
such as a DRR network to relay these important messages. Most microfinance institutions and
programs have extensive human infrastructures and networks to be able to carry out the
business of loans and savings to households. Therefore, in areas that do not have access to
information technology, microfinance networks provide a conduit for early warning
messaging. An effective DRR program identifies the most effect and appropriate ways to
implement early warning systems.
There are some very practical skills that DRR programs can provide to communities so
they can play an active role in preparing for a response. For example, it is important to know
what to do when a warning siren sounds. Do inhabitants need to leave the area? Do they need
to move to open ground? Do they need to get into shelters? The nature of the response
depends on the type of impending disaster. The review of disaster history for an area dictates
what type of response is demanded. It also informs where emergency supplies need to be
concentrated. These include food that resists damage, water, first aid supplies and tarps for
shelter. Other supplies can be added as the community sees fit, but a minimum of a three day
supply is needed.
Other practical skills that communities can develop include rosters of who will be
responsible for different recovery activities in case there is a disaster. Communities should
know that each activity needs to have several people assigned and responses cannot be hi-
jacked by village elite. It is probable that even with adequate preparations a disaster will take
lives. Having only one individual assigned to direct a response puts the whole disaster
response at risk if that leader is one of the casualties.
Once the disaster has passed, response times are critical. Community members who are
able to quickly carry out their assigned duties reduce the incidence of death and disability.
Broken bones can be properly set, bleeding controlled, shock minimized and sensible first aid
interventions enacted. Shelter teams can set up the needed structures to house families from
the elements of sun, rain and excessive temperatures depending on the season. Supply teams
can distribute blankets, food, water and other critical items which is part of the community
planning process and should be readily stored and available. Trained team members can begin
assessing the extent of the damage and organizing prioritized lists ready for outside aid
agencies when they arrive. Communication teams can begin notifying families of survivors in
order to reduce stress and worry. Team members trained in trauma awareness can begin
working victims through initial exercise in order to minimize the post traumatic stress that
accompanies these events. In summary, the community can begin organizing itself.
While in the past relief agencies exhibited more of a top down approach to disaster
services, DRR has inculcated a new approach which recognizes that communities can play a
fundamental role in the disaster response for the pre, during and after phases. This helps to
empower communities to develop appropriate responses, effective and efficient mechanisms
and has the added local human capital element with the potential to save more lives with less
cost.
6. PACT MYANMAR’S DRR PROGRAM

In the aftermath of Cyclone Nargis, Pact reviewed its actions and program, looking to
learn for the future. One recommendation was to add DRR as a component of its capacity
building programs. While it is not possible to estimate if Pact Myanmar might have been able
to reduce the amount of money it would have had to write off after Cyclone Nargis, it did
recognize its position within the communities of the Irrawaddy gave it a strong platform to
strengthen them against future disasters.
Pact Myanmar identified cyclones, floods, fires and tsunamis as potential disasters. Fire
was an excellent addition given the prevalence of wood as a building and cooking fuel
material coupled with the close proximity of the houses in a village allowing fires to spread
rapidly. A walk through villages in the region indicated that buckets of sand and long poles
for beating down flames were the extent of the fire services. Pact Myanmar performed a
complete environmental scan instead of just preparing for the next cyclone.
Pact Myanmar‟s approach was to step back from Cyclone Nargis and approach the whole
concept of DRR from a needs based position. It would have been easy for all involved to
allow Cyclone Nargis to overtake the process. It was not totally possible to erase the Cyclone
from the process, but Pact Myanmar began the process by defining what constituted a disaster
in the eyes of the communities and built from there. Interestingly, while Delta communities
recognized the need to prepare for another cyclone, they were equally concerned with
preparing for other disasters such as floods and fires, signifying their ability to look into the
future and not focus all attention on the destruction of the past. This approach which put
community identified hazards and risks at the centre of the planning process provided the
opportunity for Pact to implement a more comprehensive DRR approach. This is a good
model for development programs that are considering adding DRR to their own strategies and
programs.
Based on DRR research, as well as its own expertise in local capacity building, Pact
Myanmar developed a manual its facilitators use to guide a community through the DRR
process. Central to their approach is presenting the DRR process to the local community and
then facilitating as community leaders develop their own DRR strategy. Pact Myanmar
exhibits a strong level of respect for the local ownership of the process. This is critical for the
sustainability of DRR in a community. Outside agencies can bring in the training and
concepts, but at some point the outside agency will depart and the community must own the
process in order for it to sustainably meet their needs in the face of a disaster.
Sustainable DRR is more than another development project. At its core, sustainable
development requires a change in the beneficiaries‟ world view. Some changes are easy to
affect; people are looking for an improved way to farm or help in running a more profitable
business. However, learning to evaluate potential disasters and plan strategies that will
mitigate their impact is not a skill set most communities in the developing world possess.
Most developing world rural communities are focused, at most, on the current production
season and addressing immediate livelihood, health and social needs. Asking them to plan for
something that may or may not happen is not an easy assignment, especially as more often
than not there exists an element of fate inherent in rural communities that supersedes a natural
tendency towards planning for the future.
Pact Myanmar‟s program walks a community through a four day process of learning to
assert a measure of control in the outcomes of a natural disaster that may strike them. The
program provides the tools necessary for the participants to gather the information needed
themselves, thereby infusing local ownership from the start. The facilitator‟s guide lays out
the process in an easy to follow, logical format that can be adapted to any type of potential
disaster situation.
The first day, the group reviews the nature of disasters and the DRR concept, reviews the
concept of the early disaster warning kits provided by Pact as part of the process and leads the
group through the election of a Village Disaster Management Committee (VDMC). From the
first day, the village establishes its first social infrastructure that could play an important role
in the disaster response continuum. The second day, the participants are guided through the
process of identifying local hazards and vulnerabilities, creating an inventory of community
capabilities and preparing a village map identifying resources and hazards. Day three is
focused on action planning, distribution of early warning kits and preparing to present the
committee and their work to the community. Day four the larger community is formally
introduced to the VDMC, introduced to their work, shown the maps and made aware of the
action plan. This begins to develop some accountability been the VDMC and the larger
community. It also places the VDMC in a leadership role from the start. Special attention is
paid to making sure children understand what is happening because they can often be the
most vulnerable when it comes to disasters. For example, Pact Myanmar developed a
colouring book that teaches children the concepts and ideas of DRR in an interactive way that
encourages deeper family discussion and house-hold level planning for risk mitigation
(Figure 3) .
Pact Myanmar‟s focus on children is an important and unique component of their DRR
initiative. Developed countries teach their children how to contact emergency services if
necessary at an early age. In school, they are taught how to react according to the local
disasters that may happen in their community. While developing world communities may not
have emergency services children can contact, they can teach them what to do if they are not
with their care givers as an emergency unfolds (e.g. Figure 4). They can be taught where to
go, especially if they find themselves alone following a disaster. Older children can be taught
simple first aid to help the injured. And, it must be remembered, parents may choose to put
their children in a safe place they cannot access. Following the disaster, the child may be
alone. Knowing the village post-disaster plan will help the child know where to find safety
and provide the first steps in either being relocated with surviving parents and/or being
registered for aid specific to children. Some of the core activities undertaken during the
workshop are shown in figures 3-5.
Figure 3. Children enjoying reading basic DRR information in colouring books.
Figure 4. A swimming training for kids by VDMC as part of village DRR action plan.
Feedback from the workshops Pact Myanmar has delivered indicates a deep appreciation
by the participants. They appreciate the facilitative approach Pact Myanmar takes in
presenting the information and placing villagers in active leadership roles. They appreciate an
approach that recognizes the participants are volunteers still needing to work their farms or
businesses. They appreciate that at the end of the seminar, Pact Myanmar provided them with
the information and tools that allow them to make their own decisions, elect their own people
and choose their own courses of action.
Figure 5. Pact staff handing over early warning kits to VDMC during mass meeting.
Another feature of Pact Myanmar‟s DRR facilitation is to offer disaster mitigation

suggestions that are longer term. Disaster mitigation is more than immediate recovery. It is
also about longer term rebuilding and restoring the community to a sense of normality.
Suggestions in Pact‟s DRR initiative include looking at building savings accounts, storing
crop seed in disaster resistant facilities and other strategies that would allow the community to
be less reliant on outside intervention to begin the rebuilding process.
CONCLUSION
Communities located in regions that border water are vulnerable to a variety of disasters
that can threaten their very existence. Following a flood, hurricane or tsunami the follow-on
costs of rebuilding may be untenable. Additionally, survivors may find it difficult to
overcome acute trauma. DRR is an approach to reduce the impact of such events by teaching
communities to prepare for and survive disasters and to take initiative in recovering from
them. These activities are proving to be critical in community survival and recovery. It is also
proving to be the most cost effective approach in terms of humanitarian responses.
To date, DRR has primarily been pursued by humanitarian response agencies as a second
wave response. However, given the importance of DRR in the sustainability of any
development project, this article presents a case whereby a traditional development agency
and financial services provider was able to transform its operations to provide a structure for
quick and efficient relief delivery while simultaneously acting as a financial safety net to
build a foundation for enhanced disaster response in the future. Through recognizing the
importance of and integrating DRR into existing programming, Pact demonstrates that the
DRR integration at the community level can be done economically and efficiently while also
placing ownership for the response with the communities themselves.
The integration of DRR into existing community based programs enhances community
resilience and augments the sustainability of longer term program outcomes. This locally
driven response provides the necessary human and physical infrastructure to reduce the loss
of life, provide a more efficient response mechanism and present a more sustainable
alternative than currently available to relief agencies who address immediate effects of a
disaster. DRR should no longer be only the work of relief agencies but should be integrated
into longer term development and financial services programs with a broader development
agenda as demonstrated by Pact‟s work in Myanmar.
REFERENCES
Bishop, D. 2009. Pact’s response to Cyclone Nargis, PACT-Inc. September 2009. Yangoon,
Myanmar.
Brichier C. 1983. J.S.A. Hydrological studies of the Irrawaddy Delta, Hydrology of Humid
Tropical Regions with Particular Reference to the Hydrological Effects of Agriculture
and Forestry Practice. In proceedings of the Hamburg Symposium, August 1983, IAHS
Publ. no.140.
Mya T. 2000. Changing faces of the Ayeyarwady (Irrawaddy) Delta (1850-2000), Institute of
South East Asian Studies, Singapore, December 2000
Schwartz E. 2006. A needless toll of natural disasters, The Boston Globe Op-Ed, 23.
The Informal Taskforce on Climate Change of the Inter-Agency Standing Committee and The
International Strategy for Disaster Reduction. 2008. Disaster Risk Reduction Strategies
and Risk Management Practices: Critical Elements for Adaptation to Climate Change,
UNFCCC Adhoc Working Group on Long Term Cooperative Action, 11 November
2008. Bonn Germany.
United States Geographical Survey Web Site - http://earthquake.usgs.gov/ earthquakes
/eqinthenews/2010/us2010rja6/#summary, accessed 23 March 2010.
Chapter 8
SUSTAINABLE COMMUNITY EMPOWERMENT

AGAINST MT. MERAPI VOLCANIC DISASTER
Djoko Legono1, Darmanto, Teuku Faisal Fathani,

Radianto Triatmadja, Joko Sujono, Rachmad Jayadi,
Budi Kamulyan, and Sri Puji Saraswati
Civil and Environmental Engineering Department, Universitas Gadjah Mada,
Bulaksumur, Yogyakarta 55281, Indonesia
ABSTRACT
It is known that Mt. Merapi of Java, Indonesia, is an active volcano which erupts
frequently and threats downstream residents lives and assets, due to either pyroclastic
flow or debris flow phenomena. The frequent eruption of Mt. Merapi volcano which is
approximated to occur once in 1 to 3 years (for small and medium eruption) and once in 9
to 16 years (for big eruption) should make the people, who live near by, worried on how
they save their lives in emergencies. Although the government has already built various
infrastructures (e.g. sabo, early warning system, etc.), community awareness and
ownership in adapted systems seems to be an effective way to mitigate Mt. Merapi
disaster. This situation is proven by the fact that the number of casualties of each eruption
is still significant. One critical reason behind such losses is the low level of disaster
awareness among community members. This chapter presents the experience on the
development of community awareness against the Mt. Merapi disaster through the
processes of understanding the community aspirations, capacities, locality (social,
culture, and environment condition), followed by building the capacity of the community.
The key activities under the community empowerment programme were the development
of education material for the kindergarten school and the evacuation drills. Related
studies to support and inspire the community empowerment program include the study on
current public participation in disaster management as well as current disaster education
program that has formally been applied in the area. Moreover, the process of the
community empowerment involving the direct community participation is the feature to
1
Tel 62-274-519788, Email: lab_hidro@tsipil.ugm.ac.id.
108 Djoko Legono, Darmanto, Teuku Faisal Fathani et al.
be promoted as a lesson-learned for further development of the similar disaster mitigation

activities.
Keywords: Volcano disaster, community empowerment, disaster education, evacuation drills,

Mt. Merapi
1. BACKGROUND
Through summarize of previous records on active volcano disaster in the world during
20th century, Mt. Merapi ranks in the top 10 for deaths, injuries and homelessness. Mt. Merapi
eruption induced pyroclastic, tephra, laharic flow and flooding occurred with a cycle of 9 to
16 years for larger scale and 1 to 3 years for smaller scale flows (see Table 1). Most
pyroclastic flows move down with a distance of 3 to 4 km from the summit, or even more
than 7 km. Various efforts have been carried out by the government to build necessary
countermeasures including development of sabo dams and other related forecasting and
warning equipment. Apparently, the „end of the javelin‟, i.e. people who live at the nearby
disaster prone area still have insufficient capacity to act proper actions when disaster takes
place. Based on the facts that the number of casualties caused by Mt. Merapi disaster was
relatively large throughout the history of eruption, efforts on its effective mitigation should be
introduced and applied in to the practice. Such efforts include but not limited to the
development of disaster education for young age population and evacuation drills for the
community.
2. INSTITUTION AND COMMUNITY RELATED STUDIES

In almost every eruption period, Mt. Merapi produces a large amount of sediment volume
that may contribute damage along downstream area of the streams and surroundings. On the
other hand, this large number of sediment becomes valuable resources as construction
materials. The rock, stone, gravel, and sand, has become good building materials that attract
many parties to be involved in utilizing such materials. However, the intensive sand mining
activity has also created many environmental damages such as riverbed degradations
followed by damage on infrastructures that have been built. In order to minimize the negative
impacts, particularly to sustain the infrastructures such as bridges, roads, sabo facilities for
protecting the hazards areas, a community-participation based study was conducted. The
activities of the mentioned works were formulated and established in the “Study on the
Institution and Community Development at Mt. Merapi Area”. Through a considerably
reliable approximation technique, the average yearly production of sand mining in Mt. Merapi
is given in Figure 1 (DGWRD, 2001 and other surveys).
It can be calculated from Figure 1 that yearly average sand mining volume in Mt. Merapi
area is approximately 3,550,000 m3 per year. The rapid decline in sand mining volume from
2001 until 2006 suggests that sand stock around Mt. Merapi was reducing due to mining
activities whereas no eruption occurs. The availability of sand surrounding Mt. Merapi had
been reduced due to mining activity. The balance between input (pyroclastic material) and
output (sand mining production) is important to prevent environment degradation.
Sustainable Community Empowerment Against Mt. Merapi Volcanic Disaster 109
Furthermore, the recommended value of sand mining production is about 2,000,000 m3 per
year.
Table 1. History of volcanic incidents in Mt. Merapi during the 20th Century
Date Phenomena causing Killed Injured Homeless Affected Total

impact (incl evacuees) Affected
1904/01/30 Pyroclastic 16 45 3,000 (3 villages) 3,061
1920/10/12 Pyroclastic 35 1,000 (1 village) 1,035
1930/12/18 Pyroclastic 1,369 13,000 (13 village) Higher vills 14,369
1934/11/17 Pyroclastic 100 (near valley) 100
1943/04/01 Pyroclastic 1,000 (1 vills) 1,000
1954/01/18 Pyroclastic 64 57 3,000 (3 villages) 3,121
and 100 (20 homes)
1956/01/03 Pyroclastic/Tephra 75 1,000 1,000
1961/04/13 Pyroclastic 6 6 8,000 (8 villages) 10,000 10,012
1962/10 Secondary lahar/flooding 2 5 5,000 (5 vills) 5,007
1963/12 Secondary lahar/flooding 15 (orphanage) 15
1969/01/07 Primary lahar/pyroclastic 3 38,000 (790 homes) 38,000 38,003
1976/11/25 Secondary lahar/flooding 29 29
1984/06/13 Pyroclastic 1,000 1,000
1986/12/31 Secondary lahar/flooding 1 1
1994/11/22 Primary lahar 64 500 6,026 6,590
1996/10/31 Tephra >300 300
1997/01/17 Tephra 1 5 3,444 3,450
1998/07/18 Tephra 314 6,000 6,314
2006/06/17 Pyroclastic 2 200 10,000 1,202
Figure 1. Sand mining volume at various years.
Based on several workshops on sand mining management, it was found that most of the
stakeholders agree to involve the community participation in executing and in controlling the
activity of sand mining. The idea on the development of community institutions was growing
and it resulted in an opinion that village level may have such institution. The possible
types/formats of the institution being considered by current national practices are;
a) Government sector
b) Government/semi-government enterprise
c) Community-based
Among of the above three types/formats; the community-based type was the most
appropriate, which is able to accommodate community aspiration and perception. Finally,
three community institutions at village level with three different legal statuses were
established, and further development of these community institutions was focused on not only
sand mining management but also those related to Mt. Merapi disaster management as well as
other environment management. A relevant study on public participation in disaster
management at village level showed that local people generally know very well about the Mt.
Merapi disaster characteristics, but some knowledge regarding the countermeasures that have
been introduced was still required. In order to develop the community institution, the local
people also have a willingness to cooperate with any party from government and non-
government sector through the established community institutions. It has to be realized that
the sustainability of the community institutions may depend on various activities. Integration
of those activities was therefore essential, and the continuous effort of empowerment was
required.
3. DISASTER EDUCATION PROGRAM FOR KINDERGARTEN SCHOOL

In almost all cases of the natural disaster occurrences, the number of casualties is
generally larger at the area where the awareness of the surrounding people is low. Many
efforts have been made to raise the community awareness against the natural disaster
including in Mt. Merapi area, Yogyakarta. It is obvious that raising the awareness is a long-
term, continuous, and tireless process, in which the understanding on the locality (capacity,
behaviour, and other modalities) is significantly important. In order to understand the locality,
an intensive and close communication among parties those in-charges of raising community
awareness are necessary. A long-term study on the development of disaster education
material regarding to the effort of community awareness raising on Mt. Merapi disaster, was
conducted during 2008-2009. Eight kindergarten schools were selected as targets for the
development of the early disaster education program. The process of selection was justified,
taking into account the aspirations and perceptions of related stakeholders, i.e. education
agency of local government level, kindergarten school teachers, kindergarten school
association, as well as the students‟ parents. At the end of the development of disaster
education material, an event called Merapi Festival was conducted. People from various
levels (ages, related agencies, and parents) were gathered to know about the Merapi disaster.
The approach as well as the material content and deliveries were found to be very effective.
3.1. Development of Disaster Education Material
Eight kindergarten schools were selected as targets for the study, and then the disaster
education material was developed by taking into account the capacity of both teachers and
children. The major issue related with teachers‟ capacity persists in the form of the necessity
of teachers to understand the disaster phenomena. For this reason, initial capacity building
program for kindergarten school teachers was carried out. It was not an easy task since most
teachers did not have sufficient knowledge of Mt. Merapi disaster. The most important issue
of the students‟ capacity is that majority of them cannot read at that level. It was realized that
the disaster education material should comprise of familiarizing pictures and/or body
language. Utilizing the above criteria, two main materials have been developed, i.e. the
Guideline Book and the Worksheet. The main materials were provided with several
supporting materials consisting of comic, storybook, and height scale. In addition, the
adopted materials from Kyoto University, i.e. Bosai Duck and Bosai Dance, were also
introduced to students.
3.1.1. Guideline Book and Worksheet

There are 2 themes in the guideline book, namely 1) Disaster theme with 4 sub-themes
(eruption, pyroclastic flow, flood, debris flow) and 2) Environment theme with 6 sub-themes
(conservation, technical mitigation building, plant, social, livelihood, institution). The
guideline book covers the definition of each sub-theme, the cause of each natural event (sub-
theme) and signs of natural disaster, the impact of disaster, how to avoid disaster, social
problems, and disaster management organizations. After the disaster education guidebook
was completed, the worksheet book was then created so that the target group can practice and
develop their understanding on the Mt. Merapi disaster. Worksheet book is a compilation of
illustrated tasks in the education book. The tasks are actually a type of learning tools. The
tasks include drawing, colouring, completing maze, outing series pictures in the right order,
etc. Figure 2 and 3 show the cover of the guideline book and the worksheet respectively.
3.1.2. Comic
It is anticipated that kindergarten school children may utilize comic to understand the Mt.
Merapi disaster. The students may understand the content through teacher explanation, or
they may read through (for those who are able to read) by themselves. The contents of the
comic include the followings (example is shown in Figure 4);
a) Typical of Mt. Merapi eruption

b) Types of material expelled by Mt. Merapi
c) Disaster early warning system
d) The location, method and evacuation
e) Understanding function of “sabo” works.
Figure 2. Cover page of the guideline book.
Figure 3. Cover page of worksheet.

Figure 4. Example of pictures from comic.
3.2. Merapi Festival
It is well understood that public fiesta is a type of public campaign including raising
awareness on a certain target including Mt. Merapi disaster. The above aforementioned
understanding has inspired the necessity of conducting Merapi Festival. Hence, the Merapi
Festival was conducted with the objective to promote disaster risk awareness. The theme of
the Merapi Festival was “Living in Harmony with Risk of Merapi Disaster”. The content of
promotion on disaster risk awareness covers the followings;
a) improving public awareness on disaster risk management,

b) transferring knowledge on mitigation and disaster prevention to the local community,
c) developing a disaster management system through educational approach to minimize
the negative impacts of Mt. Merapi disaster,
d) strengthening local wisdom and culture related to Mt. Merapi,
e) building sense of togetherness among the community in the disaster prone area.
The expected outputs from these activities are;
a) building community behaviour in reducing the risks of disaster in order to make the
community has a better resilience against Mt. Merapi disaster,
b) building community understanding in management of resources (sand, gravel, stone,
rock, etc.), disaster mitigation, and related facilities (sabo structures, and early
warning system), as a part of sustaining the water resources development and
improving environment quality.
Figure 5. shows the Merapi Festival which was carried out in November 2009.
Figure 5. Merapi festival.
4. EVACUATION DRILLS
Mt. Merapi is an active volcano where the occurrence of the eruption is very frequent and
produces significant disaster. As a part of disaster mitigation program, evacuation drills
become very important not only for raising the community awareness, but also for increasing
the community resilience against Mt. Merapi disaster. Various stakeholders from related
governmental agencies in Yogyakarta and Central Java Provinces and private sectors,
introduced several drills at certain levels, mostly above the village levels. However, there are
a very few evacuation drill programs being conducted at the lower levels, in which
community should conduct the first action when the disaster occurs. A self community-based
evacuation drills has been developed at four sub-villages at Mt. Merapi area. The selection
process of the four sub-villages as a model area was done based on long-term approach to
accommodate community participation, so that the sustainability of the self evacuation drills
program can be achieved. Three levels of alert currently recognized by the local community
are utilized to develop the program, including process of selecting the small group in charge
in developing standard operating procedures, evacuation map, poster, and disaster
preparedness organization. Method of self-evacuation drills development, implementation,
and its evaluation are best practices that are being lesson learned which further contribute
recommendations for raising community awareness, preparedness, and resilience against Mt.
Merapi disaster. Moreover, a replication of similar community–based evacuation drills
program is highly recommended.
The evacuation drill development was focused on four main activities i.e. (1) review the
existing evacuation drill programs and its standard operating procedure (SOP); (2) select the
targeted village or sub-village, as well as the possible parties involved; (3) develop and
disseminate the evacuation drill materials (SOP, Evacuation Map, Poster); and (4) develop the
community-based evacuation drill organization, its implementation and evaluation.
Four sub-villages have been selected as the targets of the evacuation drill development
program, i.e. sub-villages of Jamburejo, Takeran, Kalitengah Lor, and Kalitengah Kidul.
According to the observation, the previous evacuation drills program were mostly training of
trainers (TOT), only few people involved in the program. The existing standard operating
procedure (SOP) stated that government in regency level has responsibility to conduct
evacuation up to the village level, whereas responsibility of evacuation from each house to
temporary evacuation shelter (TPS=Tempat Pengungsian Sementara) is managed by village
government. Therefore, there is a necessity to develop an evacuation drill program at the sub-
village level. The program is aimed at the following objectives;
a) provide a complementary evacuation drill program at sub-village level,

b) introduce community-based approach in evacuation drill program at sub-village
level,
c) establish the standard operating procedure, evacuation map, poster, and a community
organization at sub-village level.
Figure 6. Community participation in the development of evacuation map.
The selection of four sub-villages as targets of the evacuation drill development was
carried out by considering the following aspects; (1) Sub-villages are located at the hazard
zone area and (2) the local community has a intention to have better capacity in anticipating
Mt. Merapi disaster. The development of the evacuation drill materials (SOP, evacuation
map, and evacuation poster) was carried out by considering the community aspirations. Such
aspirations include the differentiation of evacuation drill based on the three alert levels, i.e.;
Waspada (Steady), Siaga (Ready), and Awas (Evacuate). In the implementation stage, these
three levels of alert status were conducted in separate times. The main activities of the
evacuation drill in Waspada level are; (1) coordination people in charge (PIC), (2)
information dissemination and (3) data updating. Accordingly, the main activities in Siaga
level is data updating and evacuation of vulnerable group. Furthermore, disaster mitigation
games were introduced to vulnerable group upon their stay in the TPS. In Awas level, all
potential groups should be evacuated to TPS. Figure 6 and Figure 7 show the community
participation in the development evacuation map and implementation of evacuation drill
respectively, whereas Figure 8 shows a product i.e. an evacuation map of Jamburejo Sub-
village.
Figure 7. Implementation of evacuation drill.
CONCLUSION AND RECOMMENDATION

The following are the key findings and recommendations from the study, which may help
further develop similar community-based natural disaster management.
1) Through long-term (2007-2009) approach of identifying community aspiration and

locality (socio-culture-environment), three community institutions were established.
2) Community institutions are supposed to accommodate the activities related to not
only sand mining activity, but also activities other then sand mining (e.g. agriculture,
tourism, as well as disaster management).
3) The sustainability of the community institutions depends on not only the human
resources but also the other logistics (office utilities, legal status, budget, etc).
4) The kindergarten school children are the key factor on the success of disaster
knowledge transfer. This may also involve in availing appropriate disaster education
materials and building the capacity of the related teachers.
5) It is recommended that the community-based approach on the disaster management
development should consider the local socio-culture-environment condition, which
might be different from one to another.
Figure 8. Evacuation map of Jamburejo.
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
The authors would like to express profound gratitude to the Directorate General of Water
Resources Development, Ministry of Public Works, Government of Indonesia through
Yachiyo Engineering Co. Ltd. who have provided the chance to carry out the Study on
Institution and Community Development Project at Mt. Merapi area, and last but not the least,
to the local people of Kemiren Village, Kepuharjo Village, and Sindumartani Village, for the
helpful and cooperative action during the entire project implementation.
REFERENCES
Directorate General of Water Resources Development, Ministry of Public Works,
Government of Indonesia-DGWRD. 2009. Study on the Institution and Community
Development at Mt. Merapi Area, Final Report.
Directorate General of Water Resources Development, Ministry of Public Works,
Government of Indonesia-DGWRD. 2001. Review Master Plan Study of Mt. Merapi,
Final Report.
Fathani T.F., Karnawati, D. 2009. Early warning of landslide for disaster risk reduction in
central Java Indonesia. In proceeding of the International Workshop on Early Warning
for Landslide Disaster Risk Reduction in the Eastern Asian Region, Kunming, China,
December 1-5, 2009.
Legono D. 2005. Important issues on sediment-related disaster management in Indonesia. In
proceeding of the International Symposium on Fluvial and Coastal Disaster, Kyoto
University, Japan December 1-2, 2005.
Legono D., Rahardjo A.P., Fathani T.F., Prabowo I. 2008. Development of community-based
early warning system against debris flow at Mt. Merapi, Indonesia. In proceeding of the
First World Landslide Forum, Tokyo, Japan, November 18-21, 2008.
Chapter 9
COMMUNITY BASED DISASTER

RISK MANAGEMENT IN VIETNAM
Huy Nguyen1,*, Hoang Minh Hien2, Rajib Shaw1,

and Tong Thi My Thi3
1
Graduate School of Global Environmental Studies, Kyoto University, Japan Yoshida
Honmachi, Sakyo-ku, Kyoto 606-8501, Japan
2
Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development, Vietnam, 02 Ngoc Ha, Hanoi, Vietnam
3
Hue University, Vietnam, 102 Phung Hung, Hue City, Vietnam
ABSTRACT
This chapter provides the information about the status of activities of Community
Based Disaster Risk Management (CBDRM) in Vietnam and case studies that was the
success measures on disaster management. The Natural Disaster Risk Management
Project (NDRMP) adopts an innovative approach to disaster risk management in Vietnam
and provides support for disaster prevention and mitigation measures at all levels of
government, including at community level where vulnerability prevails. The CBDRM is
one component of the NDRMP which aims at strengthening the capacity of villages and
communes. It also aims at the disaster management institutions to become more
responsive to the short term and longer term needs of the vulnerable communities
through participatory risk assessment and identification, prioritization and
implementation of risk reduction measures. The project intends to help communes
implement activities that deal with natural hazards through capacity building in
participatory planning and management. Safer village and commune plans that focus on
long term intervention and preparedness measures were developed. The project has been
building on existing community based disaster management and risk reduction models,
and found empower flood prone communes to prevent and reduce the impact of disasters
and secure and protect their livelihoods. The CBDRM activities directly support
government efforts for sustainable development by helping reduce human, economic, and
financial losses from disasters caused by nature in the target communes. In this chapter,
the roles of the local communities, community facilitators, provincial level and central
*
Tel/ Fax: 81-75-753-5708 email: huykyoto@gmail.com.
120 Huy Nguyen, Hoang Minh Hien, Rajib Shaw et al.
level were defined; this chapter also described how the CBDRM approach could be used
to build the capacity of the most vulnerable populations to carry out risk mitigation
measures at all levels.
Keywords: Community based disaster management, “Four on-the-spot motto”, Vietnam
1. INTRODUCTION
The location and topography of Viet Nam make it one of the most disaster-prone
countries in the world, suffering from typhoons, tropical storms, floods, drought, seawater
intrusions, landslides and forest fires (World Bank, 2009). Of these, the most damaging and
frequent are typhoons, tropical storms and floods. The northern and central regions are
affected on average, annually by 6-8 typhoon or tropical storms from the South China Sea;
they also occur in the southern areas but less frequently.
As evidenced from disaster impacts, local community is directly affected and they are the
most vulnerable to disasters. The worst sufferers of the disaster impacts are the communities
and people in the rural areas. Thus, to reduce the disaster impact or to adapt with it, the first
and foremost is livelihood security.
Local community, themselves have a huge hidden capacity which is need to be utilized;
i.e. a large number of people, they have their own traditional knowledge, they have their own
connection, association in the social life and it would be a great social capital for disaster
management (Nguyen, et al., 2009). Growing evidences prove that top-down approaches do
not work. Top-down approaches fail to meet needs of vulnerable communities, ignore the
potential of local resources and may even increase people‟s vulnerabilities. Vulnerable people
themselves must be at the heart of decision making when it comes to planning and
implementing disaster risk management measures. Therefore, arousing up the role of local
community is a need for disaster management process (Shaw, 2006).
The Natural Disaster Risk Management Project (NDRMP) adopts an innovative approach
to disaster risk management in Vietnam and provides support for disaster prevention and
mitigation measures at all levels of government, including at community level where
vulnerability is most significant. NDRMP aims to reduce the impact of natural hazards on
Vietnam's development process, and Community Based Disaster Risk Management
(CBDRM) is one of components of this project. This chapter is to provide the information
about the status of CBDRM in Vietnam.
2. GEOGRAPHIC AND SOCIO-ECONOMIC SETTING OF VIETNAM

Vietnam is stretch of land stretching along Indochinese peninsula which is located in
South-east Asia. Vietnam‟s mainland stretches from 23023‟ to 08002‟ North latitude and
widens from 102008‟ to 109028‟ East longitude. Length counted in straight line from North to
South stays at about 1,650km. Entire territory of Vietnam includes 331,112 km2 of mainland
and 1 million square kilometers of territorial sea. Vietnam‟s climate is generally hot and
humid. In central and southern Vietnam, seasonal variations are slight and marked only by a
dry and a wet period. Along the central coast, temperatures range from 18 to 280C in January
Community Based Disaster Risk Management in Vietnam 121
and from 24 to 370C in July (Reduan I., 2004). In general, rainfall is plentiful throughout the
country, although most precipitation in southern and central Vietnam occurs during the
summer months when monsoon winds sweep in from the sea. The Mekong Delta has the
longest rainy season, typically lasting from May to October. Central Vietnam receives heavy
precipitation from September to December. The average annual rainfall is about 1680 mm in
the Red River Delta, 1650 mm along the central coast, and 1980 mm in the Mekong Delta.
Spread over an area of about 331,112 sq. km Vietnam has a population of 85,789,573
people, according to the Census at 1st of April 2009 and has a rapid population growth, with
an average annual growth rate of 2.23 %. Viet Nam is in a process of rapid social and
economic change. However, challenges to an equitable and just development still remain. The
gap between the very rich and the very poor is increasing, especially between rural and urban
populations. To counteract this, the Vietnamese Government has stressed the importance of
an inclusive agenda in its Social Economic Development plan.
3. DISASTER RISK AND DISASTER IMPACTS

The location and topography of Viet Nam make it one of the most disaster-prone
countries in the world. The country‟s terrain is diverse, with a distribution of mountains,
rivers, highlands, deltas, coastlines, peninsulas, and islands (Table 1). Mountains and
highlands account for three-fourths of its total land area, and are dispersed throughout the
country within a dense network of rivers and canals. It has seven river deltas which make up
one-fourth of the total area: Red River Delta, Central Delta, South East Delta, and Mekong
River Delta.
Table 1. Vietnam’s disaster frequency (MARD, 2009)
High Medium Low

Flood Tornado Earthquake
Typhoon Drought Accident (technology)
Inundation Landslide Frost
Flash flood Damaging cold
Fire Deforestation
The very diversity of Viet Nam‟s land and water areas makes it vulnerable to natural
disasters such as typhoons, tropical storms, floods, inundation, drought, desertification, salt
penetration, landslides, and earthquakes. Floods and storms are the most common natural
disasters, as they occur frequently and cause considerable damages to lives and properties.
In recent years, Viet Nam experienced an upsurge and intensity of these natural disasters.
The country has suffered heavy human, economic, and infrastructure losses from the
onslaught of floods, typhoons, and droughts, among others. It was estimated that from 1995
to 2006, the total estimated loss from storms, floods, and drought was at VND 61,479 billion
(around USD 3,236,000,000), not to mention massive loss of lives, infrastructures, and
livelihoods.
Typhoons and floods are the most frequent and most devastating of these hazards. The
storm season is from May to December. In most years, storms hit the Northern part of
Vietnam from May through June then move gradually South from July to December.
Typhoons and floods often cause a heavy loss of life and damage to infrastructure and
economic activity because of the concentration of population along the coastline and in low
lying deltas, particularly of the Mekong and Red rivers.
In recent years, disasters have continually occurred all over the country, causing vast
losses in human life, property, socio-economic and cultural infrastructure as well as
environmental degradation. In the recent decade (1999-2008), natural disasters such as
typhoons, floods and droughts have caused significant losses, including 7500 missing and
dead people, and asset damage equivalent to 1.5% of GDP. Natural disasters in Vietnam have
been increasingly severe in terms of magnitude, frequency and volatility. Table 2 provides
some evident data on that.
Dangers to the population have increased with the spread of economic activity and
development into marginally suitable areas such as floodplains, coastal swamps, drainage
channels or other natural buffers. The result is that most of Vietnam's people with the number
of around 18 million people now live in low-lying river basins and coastal areas, so they are
exposed to risks from multiple natural hazards (Nguyen et al, 2010).
Table 2. Recent damages of disasters in Vietnam, 1999-2008 (source: MARD, 2009)
Year Economic lost (USD) Number of People Dead

1999 301,507,709 825
2000 283,242,833 762
2001 337,022,200 604
2002 130,558,533 355
2003 105,981,867 180
2004 105,981,867 174
2005 372,393,173 377
2006 1,190,106,460 339
2007 115,139,160 462
2008 806,118,736 474
4. COMMUNITY BASED DISASTER RISK MANAGEMENT IN VIETNAM

4.1. Current Status of CBDRM in Vietnam
Community based disaster risk management projects and programmes have been
implemented in Vietnam from early 2000. Most of these programmes/projects are funded by
international donors and are implemented through local nongovernment organizations in
Vietnam. Local authorities serve as co-operating agencies to implement these
projects/programmes. The CBDRM aims to strengthen the capacity of villages and communes
and the disaster management institutions to become more responsive to the short and longer -
term needs of the most vulnerable villages through participatory risk assessment and
identification, prioritization and implementation of risk reduction measures. The projects

intend to help communes implement activities that deal with natural hazards through capacity
development in participatory planning and management. Safer village and commune plans
that focus on long term intervention and preparedness measures are planned to be developed.
Projects funded by foreign donors have combined non-structural and structural measure
(small structures), to enhance the project‟s sustainability. Moreover, projects funded by the
Government are structural projects, most of which are big projects that focus on flood
mitigation.
Community-based disaster risk management activities were carried out in Thua Thien
Hue and Quang Tri provinces since 2001. These two projects were conducted by the Centre
for International Studies and Cooperation (CECI) and World Vision. Since then, community
capacity building for better natural disaster preparedness has attracted the attention of non-
governmental organizations (NGOs). In 2003, a total of nine provinces had their CBDRM
activities. These were Nghe An, Ha Tinh, Quang Binh, Quang Tri, Da Nang, Quang Ngai,
Binh Dinh, Ninh Thuan, and Binh Thuan. Until 2007, there are 23 out of 64 provinces/cities
that have some level of CBDRM activities. These include Thanh Hoa, Yen Bai, Nghe An, Ha
Tinh, Quang Binh, Ninh Thuan, Binh Thuan, Son La, Ha Giang, Thua Thien Hue, Lao Cai,
Kon Tum, Da Nang, Binh Dinh, Quang Ninh, Hai Phong, Thai Binh, Nam Dinh, Ninh Binh,
Tien Giang, Quang Ngai, and Ben Tre.
A total of 17 international and local non-government organizations have implemented or
are currently implementing CBDRM related projects/programmes in 23 provinces
(Partnerships for Disaster Reduction-South East Asia, 2008). These are World Vision,
Netherlands Red Cross, Spanish Red Cross, Development Workshop France, Care
International in Viet Nam, Centre for International Studies and Cooperation (CECI), Save the
Children Alliance, International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC),
Church World Services, Australian Aid (AusAid), United Nations Development Programme
(UNDP), World Bank, Deutche Gesselschaft fur Technische Zusammeinarbeit (GTZ),
ActionAid, Asian Disaster Preparedness Centre (ADPC), and Oxfam.
(Source: Partnerships for Disaster Reduction-South East Asia, 2008).
Figure 1. Implementation arrangement.

Most CBDRM activities are directly implemented through the local Committee for flood
and storm control and search and rescue, or the local people‟s committee with the
participation of local residents (Figure 1). CBDRM activities include capacity building for
natural disaster preparedness and community planning combined with structural measures
(small structures). The budget for capacity building component accounts for 70% of project
budget, and 30% for structural measures. Normally, the average budget for CBDRM projects
is around USD 200,000 to 300,000. Other CBDRM projects have an implementation budget
of about USD 800,000. A part of this budget is directly transferred to local authorities for
management and monitoring. CBDRM projects/programmes focus on water-induced disasters
while there were only one or two projects on flash flood and drought. Most are implemented
in the Northern, Central, and Southern provinces. Of these, only two projects have been
implemented in the Central Highlands provinces. These projects deal with building the
resilience of communities to recurrent natural hazards, particularly flash floods, in the upland
areas of Viet Nam.
4.2. Policy and Institutional of CBDRM in Vietnam
It is recognized that “CBDRM” is new in terms of “terminology” but in practice, this

approach has been employed at different levels and in distinctive areas in Vietnam. Deeper
research clearly showed that there are common factors between meaning, objective of
CBDRM and meaning, objectives, policies and fundamental principles of Vietnamese
Government. That is “relying on the people and mainly implemented by the people”,
fostering grassroots democracy through implementation of “grassroots democracy
regulation”, principles of “Publicize and socialize flood storm control and disaster mitigation”
and “4 on-site motto”, “sharing resources and collaborative implementation” such as co-
funding by Central government and locality in construction of disaster management
infrastructures, laid out legal basis for local institutions “participate in monitoring the
construction of disaster management works”, encourage the adoption of “measures and new-
technology solutions”.
In this view, there has been both “top-down” and “bottom-up” approaches but at different
levels. Some cases are still keen on top-down approach as a result of the centralized planning
mechanism in the past years that not only partly obstacle but also need the more time for fully
applying the CBDRM approach in some case. However, those principles and mottos have
strengthened the responsibility of relevant stakeholders. On the other hand, those have
mobilized traditional experience, resources and partly ensure the sustainability and
effectiveness of disaster management activities.
Government agencies from central to local levels have recognized and positively assessed
CBDRM as an effective approach. This has been reflected in disaster management policies,
strategies and local authorities have encouraged and created favorable conditions for
international and non-governmental organizations in collaboration with local government and
technical institutions to implement CBDRM projects in various regions of the country. In
2007, with support of Asian Disaster Preparedness Center (ADPC), CCFSC had collaborated
with MARD to develop criteria of emulation and awarding mechanism in flood storm control
and disaster mitigation, in which there is an awarding scheme for organizations and individual
with exceptional practices in CBDRM. This is an indication of encouraging CBDRM

adoption in Vietnam.
Vietnamese Government also confirmed that disaster management strategies should be
mainstreamed in socio-economic development process so as to reduce the risks of
development setback, environmental pollution, breach of ecosystem balance and escalate
disaster risks (GSRV, 2009). Recent programs and policies indicated that there has been a
combination of multi-purposes in some disaster mitigation activities and socio-economic
development. Some typical examples are: improving the surface of river and sea dykes as
road; construct drainage for irrigation combined with aquaculture production, evacuation to
new residential areas linking with promotion of livelihood and flash flood safety; safe harbors
for boats, etc.
International and non-governmental organizations have been putting joint efforts to
support and promote disaster risk reduction activities. In which, CBDRM has been adopted in
different forms and at various levels, from mobilization and policy propaganda to support
specific programs and projects for disaster preparedness, as well as develop into good
CBDRM models for further replication in Vietnam. Specific CBDRM interventions and
initial 16 good practice examples have been selected from disaster vulnerable areas in various
regions of Vietnam, e.g. in mountainous areas prone to flash flood and land slide, in coastal
areas of the Centre prone to typhoons, sea level rise, salty intrusion, river flood, drought and
Me Kong River Delta prone to prolonged flood and inundation. Also, there are many other
practices applying participatory approach but have not been documented are strong evidence
for great support by international and NGO organizations relating to CBDRM in Vietnam.
In a broader context (including both direct interventions and researches) which has direct
or indirect link to disaster risk management, community-based concepts and approaches have
been initiated and implemented in a number of pilot projects, in which international
organizations have worked together with sectors and localities such as “Community Based
Environment Management”, “Community Based Agricultural Extension in mountainous
districts”, “Participatory Capacity Building for Water Resources Management”, “Community
Based Aquaculture Product Management”, “Community- Based Healthcare Development”,
“Pilot Community Based Children Protection Network”, etc.
4.3. The Role of the Local Authorities
The local authorities play a crucial role throughout the implementation of the project‟
activities - from providing support to supervising project deployment. With assistance from
local authorities, the project has been successfully implemented. As chief representative and
administrative agency of the community, the local of the geography and administrative
procedures of disaster-prone areas in the most vulnerable areas in their locality, they also act
as links between the programmes and the vulnerable groups. The local authorities are a
determinant of the project‟s sustainability. They are solely responsible for a project‟s
maintenance and improvement. Hesitation and failure of local authorities to work with the
project may render the project unstable.
Therefore, active consensus building and support from the local authority is necessary.
Local authorities also take part in project activities, with their participation most visible at
Steering Committees for Flood and Storm Control from the central to the local level, People‟s
Committees at all levels, Education Department, Women Association, and in the Red Cross
Society System.
4.4. The Gap in the Needs of the Communities and CBDRM Practitioner’s
Organizations
Local communities want to improve their knowledge, update their information, and get
the attention and support of local bodies and relevant projects/programs. They also want to
take part in and benefit from the projects. As stakeholders, they have the right and
responsibility to protect structures built from the projects. With their increased awareness and
knowledge of disasters, they become better able to prepare for disasters in the long term.
Organizations carrying out CBDRM activities, on the other hand, expect a better system
that will facilitate better coordination from central to local levels. It is idea that project period
be conducted between 2.5 to 4 years so that project activities can be developed thoroughly,
and to allow more time for training and practice as well as for impact assessment can be
longer. Lessons learned will help improve succeeding CBDRM projects.
Moreover, CBDRM policies should be developed to support the implementation of local
projects. Projects should also address practical concerns of beneficiaries. Because it is
difficult for them to earn a living, the poor do not have much time to take part in project
activities. The capacity of local authorities and officers of communities and hamlets are also
limited and may not meet the requirements of project activities and the residents.
The projects have been implemented in the framework of the action plans approved by
the donors. This does not address the various needs of the community.
There is no real volunteer system in the community. Most of the people who participate
in the projects are local officers with official duties; therefore, they could not spend much
time on project activities.
Time and human resource constraints have made it difficult for the projects to fully
implement all their identified activities and desired outcomes.
Communication and coordination of efforts between implementing units of the
government were also identified to be weak. While disaster risks have often been addressed
by the vertical professional system, focus has been on disaster response rather than on
preparedness. In some circumstances, disaster management has been considered as the
responsibility of the Flood and Storm Control organizations only. In many areas, it is believed
that disaster risk mitigation/management belongs to the projects; therefore, it depends mostly
on external resources rather than on the internal capacity of the localities (Nguyen et al,
2009).
The success of the projects largely depends on the capacity of local Red Cross
organizations, local authorities, and other relevant stakeholders. The Red Cross organizations
take part in building the capacity of local officers and residents. The training curriculum is
rigid and inflexible, and training documents are not regularly updated.
The organizations implementing CBDRM projects, at the end of each phase, carried out
assessments and discovered lessons learned. These, however, could not be put well into
practice in the overall management system. It is difficult to replicate the project models in
other regions because of limited human and financial resources for CBDRM. The
commitment of local leaders to replicate has not been very high. On institutional issues,
organizations lack specialization in other kinds of disasters in Vietnam. This leaves floods
and storms as the only disasters that are being addressed in response and preparedness, with
the Central Committee for Flood and Storm
Control taking responsibility for these two disasters. It is feared that the onslaught of a
disaster other than floods and storms leave local authorities without any plan or response
preparation.
4.5. Measures to Increase the Institutionalization of CDBRM in Vietnam
There is a need to work closely with local authorities at all levels for CBDRM initiatives
to be given priority in all activities. CBDRM has been included in the National Strategy for
Disaster Prevention, Response and Mitigation that was approved by the Viet Nam
Government in November 2007. As stipulated in the Strategy, concrete plans must be
developed for the implementation of CBDRM activities.
The institutionalization of CBDRM is a long process, involves time lags, and requires
efforts to be made by parties concerned. To increase CBDRM institutionalization, among the
primary conditions required is the recognition of the necessity and importance of CBDRM by
decision-makers (both those developing and enforcing laws) at all localities and in all sectors.
Promoting CBDRM as well as other disaster mitigation programs/projects must be
supplemented by effective manpower, technical support, constant follow-up, and supervision.
It is also necessary to strengthen regulating activities among sectors at central and local
levels, including the governance system and project administration committees appointed by
the government. There is a need to strike a balance between the authority and responsibility of
involved parties (government and non-government organizations).
• Develop plans for the implementation of medium- and long term CBDRM
programs/projects in areas highly prone to disasters.
• Establish good practices that pose possibility to be widely replicated in those areas.
• Prepare materials/documentary on those good practices to propagate to the general
public.
• Strengthen the capacity of Committees for Flood and Storm Control at all levels to
facilitate the regulation of resources for disaster management and, at the same time,
for the expansion of disaster reduction activities. Mapping organizations active in
CBDRM will further ease the operations of these organizations. In addition, it must
be consulted with the line authorities to attain consensus and receive support for
CBDRM. It is important to have the Government‟s assistance so as to ensure an
appropriate regulation of CBDRM institutionalization.
• Compile instructions on CBDRM for the implementing organization and establish
policies to promote CBDRM activities.
• Contact the national and local authorities: CBDRM cannot be implemented with a
mere reliance on the community and commitment of support by leaders at all levels
is needed for successful implementation.
• Measures and approaches to CBDRM are clearly stipulated in the National Strategy
and are geared for implementation, leading the establishment of a linkage among
activities at national and local levels.
• Institutionalization of CBDRM is essential to ensuring sustainability. The process

encompasses the establishment of good institutions, policies, and organizational and
managerial activities, as well as encouragement of communities‟ involvement in
disaster management. Government sectors and divisions establish a system of
disaster management and development plans in light of their regional disaster
characteristics, the vulnerability, and community capacity; create a link to other
policies set by and on-going activities carried out by other sectors. Finally, the
institutionalization shall be viewed as an integral part of the on-going development
process, consistent with the requirement of current and future generations.
5. CASE STUDIES ON CBDRM IN VIETNAM

The CBDRM activities in Vietnam have been contributing to effective disaster mitigation
and focusing on the major work such as raising awareness, planning village safety for local
people to response by their own, providing effective measures in order to reduce loss of life
and property. The special new in CBDRM program is local people themselves plan and give
out solutions and thus unify the authorities from central to local levels in the work of disaster
mitigation. The key principle for mitigation activities has been highlighted by government is
the participation of local people from the beginning to the end.
5.1. Four on-the-Spot Motto in Ha Tinh Province
Ha Tinh is one of the Central provinces which witnessed a severe climate in past decades
with a number of serious weather related disasters which includes tropical storms, dry hot
westerly winds, droughts, heavy rains and flash floods. Impacts of climate change and
disasters in Ha Tinh are notable in all sectors including water availability, agricultural
productivity, aquatic productivity, forestry, industrial development, transportation resources
out of which the most noticeable is likely to be the negative impacts on agricultural, forestry
and aquatic production as it would adversely affect the livelihood of the communities.
The CBDRM has been implemented in Ha Tinh Province from 2002 by local government
with the support from NGOs (Oxfam Hong Kong, Red Cross, etc.) Under the framework of
National Target Program to Response to Climate change in Viet Nam, Ha Tinh has built and
implemented many policies and measures in term of CBDRM. Especially, the local
government has highlighted the importance of improving community awareness and
individual knowledge on climate change so that each member in social community can create
their own solutions to response to disaster from their experience. The “Four on-the-spot
motto” is one of success measures on coping with disasters in this area (JANI, 2010).
The “Four on-the-spot motto” used for natural disaster management generally means:
Each household or locality should prepare all essential items to prevent or respond to natural
disasters, which may occur at the locality at any time. The prepared items should meet the
emergence relief demands of the household or its locality, and ensure they are ready to
provide support to other households or other localities before external forces are asked to
provide support (ADPC and MRC, 2007)
The four on-the-spot motto was included in the legal documents issued by the
Government. It states clearly that in areas where natural disasters occur frequently, People‟s
Committees should “organize training and simulation exercises for agencies directly engaging
in flood and storm prevention and rescue; develop preparedness plans, and mobilize all local
resources under the motto “four on-the-spot: leadership on-the-spot, forces on the- spot,
means and materials on-the-spot, and logistics on-the-spot,” in order to teach them to respond
to the consequences of floods and storms, and promote rehabilitation.
5.2. Story from Huong Khe District, Ha Tinh Province
The Phuong My commune is considered as navel of flood in Huong Khe districts, Ha

Tinh Province. The commune population has more than 600 households, with about 3300
inhabitants – most rely on agriculture. Frequently facing to many floods and typhoons each
year, the local government has attached great importance to the disaster preparedness. Since
2002, The Oxfam Hong Kong has been supporting three programs aimed at improving life
standard, raising awareness on community based disaster risk mitigation and emergency
assistance. Besides The four on-the-spot motto, local government also proposed two more on-
the-spot measures, which are first aid on-the-spot and self-management on-the-spot. In
addition, the early warning system and information network are considerably strengthened at
commune and village level. As a result, the amount of death and missing substantially
reduced; especially no one died or missed during the flood season of 2007.
Vu Quang is another commune in Huong Khe District, where also got the benefit from
CBDRM program. The good early warning system saved thousands of people during the
flood occurred in 2007 because people know the flood in advance, then there was enough
time for them to manage their facilitation and prepare safe shelters, thus reduced the damage
significantly.
5.3. Story from Cam Xuyen District, Ha Tinh Province
With 18 km coastline and 48 km sea river dikes, interference of three rivers and lake
systems, dams, slots, Cam Xuyen is considered as “the navel” of natural disaster. From 2007,
Cam Xuyen has been facing many severe storms and floods. The total damage caused by
typhoon No. 9 and the tornado in 2009 is VND10 billion VND. According to the forecast, the
weather will change complexly, and the disaster will increase both intensity and frequency. In
2010, the temperature in Cam Xuyen at the beginning of March was up to 400C, together
with heat waves and the northeast monsoon phenomenon. Abnormal climate changes
suddenly from hot to cold caused heavy rains accompanied with cyclones and typhoons. Most
recently, the cyclone occurred in April 2010 caused many houses un-roofs and damaged large
areas of rice crops and winter-spring crops. Located in such a vulnerable region, the local
government of Cam Xuyen district has established many CBDRM projects and concentrated
all forces to the flood and storm prevention and rescue. In Cam Xuyen district, there are four
flood and storm prevention groups was established with the participants from community.
The main objectives of these groups are to help local people to prepare human resources,
facilities, food and funds; to approve the plans for flood and storm prevention and to monitor
the development of typhoons/floods. Besides, each group has responsible for an important
construction of the district, and cooperates with local government to timely response to
disasters. While these four groups have to finish all the needed preparation before the flood
and storm season, the local government has responsible for inspection and evaluation the
quality of constructions and important projects in order to timely recover the problems. In
addition, the local government has implemented the “Four on-the-spot motto” and many other
programs to promote propaganda and disseminate disaster knowledge and action plans to
local people. For that reason, the CBDRM are considered as urgent tasks for the flood and
storm prevention in Cam Xuyen district to reduce the loss from disasters.
(photo source: vovmews.vn).
Figure 2. Task force on-the-spot is helping the victim of flood.
CONCLUSION
CBDRM is new in terms of “terminology” but in practice, this approach has been
employed at different levels and in distinctive areas in Vietnam through many generations.
The meaning and objectives of CBDRM are well reflected in policies and fundamental
principles of Vietnamese Government. That is “relying on the people and mainly
implemented by the people”, fostering grassroots democracy through implementation of
“grassroots democracy regulation”, principles of “publicize and socialize flood storm control
and disaster mitigation” and “4 on-spot motto”, “sharing resources and collaborative
implementation” such as co-funding by central government and locality in construction of
disaster management infrastructures, laid out legal basis for local institutions “participate in
monitoring the construction of disaster management works”, encourage the adoption of
“measures and new-technology solutions” (GSRV, 2009; JANI, 2010).
There have been the “bottom-up” approaches at different levels of CBDRM but in some
cases are still keen on top-down approach as a result of the centralized planning mechanism
in the past years that not only partly obstacle but also need the more time for fully applying
the CBDRM approach. However, those principles and mottos have strengthened the
responsibility of relevant stakeholders. On the other hand, those have mobilized traditional
experience, resources and partly ensure the sustainability and effectiveness of disaster
management activities.
REFERENCES
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PDR.
GSRV-Government of Socialist Republic of Vietnam. 2009. Vietnam national progress
report on the implementation of the Hyogo Framework for Action, Hanoi, Vietnam.
GSRV-Government of Socialist Republic of Vietnam. 2009. National plan implementation
for the National strategy on National disaster prevention, response and mitigation to
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JANI-The Joint Advocacy Network Initiative, 2010. Four on-the-spot motto in disaster
management. JANI. Vietnam.
MARD-Ministry of Agricultural and Rural Development. 2009. Disaster impacts in Vietnam.
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Vietnam.
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Nguyen H., Shaw R. 2010. Climate change adaptation and disaster risk reduction in Vietnam,
A book chapter in Climate change adaptation and disaster risk reduction, Edited by:
Rajib Shaw, Juan Pulhin and Joy Pereira Publisher: Emerald, UK
Partnerships for Disaster Reduction-South East Asia. 2008. Monitoring and reporting
progress on community-based disaster risk management in Vietnam. Partnerships for
Disaster Reduction-South East Asia. Vietnam.
Reduan I. 2004. Multisensor approach to evapotranspiration mapping and stream model
validation in the perfume river basin, Hue, Vietnam. p6. Available at:
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Shaw R. 2006. Community based climate change adaptation in Vietnam: inter-linkage of
environment, disaster and human security, In: Multiple Dimension of Global
Environmental Changes, edited by S. Sonak, TERI publication, 521-547.
World Bank. 2009. City Profiles: Hanoi, Vietnam. Climate Resilient Cities: A Primer on
Reducing Vulnerabilities to Disasters.
Chapter 10
FLOOD RISK MANAGEMENT CULTURE AND ITS ROLE

IN CHANGING NATURAL AND PHYSICAL
ENVIRONMENTS OF LOWER WEST RAPTI RIVER
BASIN IN NEPAL
Mahesh R. Gautam1,*, Rabindra Osti1,†,

Dhruba R. Gautam1, Hironori Inomata2,
Samir Dhakal1, and Katsuhito Miyake2
1
Nepal Development Research Institute, Dhobighat, Lalitpur, Nepal
2
International Centre for Water Hazard and Risk Management,
Public Works Research Institute, Tsukuba, Japan,
ABSTRACT
There is a consensus that conventional flood management with attributes such as
techno-centric, top-down, and focused on reactive intervention, has proven ineffective to
deal with floods problems. Instead, community based flood risk management (CBFRM)
with attributes such as people-centric, bottom-up, and focused on preparedness, has been
advocated as an approach that can build the capacity of the community, and help them
manage the floods sustainably. Local knowledge and capacity are the key foundations of
such approach on which an elaborate framework for resilience enhancement can be
based. Using participatory research tools, a case study from lower West Rapti River
Basin is presented here elucidating the local knowledge on flood management on various
stages of flood disaster risk management cycle. The study analyzed the vulnerabilities
and capacities of the community under changing natural and physical environments,
elucidated the local flood management practices including coping and adaption measures,
and advocated the need for strengthening the existing informal CBFRM approach in the
study area. Capacity building of community level organizations, improvement of people's
*
currently at Desert Research Institute, Nevada System of Higher Education, Las Vegas, Nevada, 89119, USA;
mahesh.gautam@dri.edu.
†
osti55@pwri.go.jp.
134 Mahesh R. Gautam, Rabindra Osti, Dhruba R. Gautam et al.
livelihood assets, scientific inputs for improved flood warning and management systems,
co-ordinated support mechanism for relief and rescue at the time of major flood events
are some of the key actions felt needed in the study area for enhancing effectiveness of
the CBFRM approach.
Keywords: Community Based Flood Risk Management, Local Knowledge, Preparedness,

Capacity, Vulnerability, West Rapti Nepal
1. BACKGROUND
Floods are known as frequent and most devastating events worldwide and they become a
serious public concern especially in changing climatic conditions. The database (Hoyois et
al., 2007; DFO, 2008) indicates that flood kill more people each year than any other water
related disasters. Asia continent is much affected by floods and the countries like India,
China, Philippines, Vietnam, Indonesia, Bangladesh and Nepal are extremely vulnerable
(WWAP, 2006). It indicates that the majority of flood disasters‟ victims are also poor people
living in isolated communities in developing countries, who suffer most and are the first
causalities of such incidents. The deteriorating consequences of flood disasters in developing
countries are exacerbating through self-excited poverty-cycle phenomenon (Osti, 2004). In
response to these problems, much effort has been given to understanding the hydrological
characteristics of extreme flood events, the development of advanced applied engineering
techniques to prevent flood hazards, and the advancement of early-warning technologies to
minimize the impact of flood disasters. Although the development of such techniques has
increased dramatically, the efficiency of the approaches used have always been questioned
(Osti et al., 2009). Because there are no immediate solutions for the complete mitigation of
damage caused by floods, the impacts of flood disasters at the grass-root level are likely to
worsen in the coming years. Therefore, it is desirable to develop the resilience of each flood-
prone community to cope with problems, especially their ability to prepare for and handle
emergency situations. This can best be accomplished through the development of self-
empowered and self-determinant proactive preparedness mechanisms under the community
based flood disaster risk management (CBFRM) framework.
In many Asian flood plains, people are living with flood for many years. People who
have been living in such areas are well experienced on how to tackle with such flood events.
Floods are not always the enemy of human being but in many instances, they are
opportunities. Perhaps, this is why the livelihoods of people are closely connected to flood
plains in many countries, despite the fact that the areas are highly vulnerable to floods (Osti et
al. 2009). In natural system, occasional floods with minor damage are often considered as
lesson learn opportunities as they make aware of possible extreme floods in future so that at
least certain level of community flood preparedness is always in place. However, flood events
often turned into extreme even greater than the general perception and cause enormous
damage, despite the fact that people have ample knowledge on how to live with floods. Thus,
there is compelling reasons to find whether people‟s prevailing knowledge works for extreme
flood events.
Local knowledge on flood forecasting, early warning and flood management and
emergency management practices can be important assets for community based flood risk
Flood Risk Management Culture and its Role in Changing Natural … 135
management (CBFRM). This knowledge is tacit and mainly of experimental nature acquired
over years of coping with floods and in some instances the transmitted ones over generations
through stories, poems and songs. It is necessary that any comprehensive flood management
plan should take into account the existing local knowledge of flood affected communities on
local physical condition, history and trends of the flood, local flood forecasting and warning
approaches, and various other aspects of flood management (Dekens, 2007). This is necessary
as people know the local context, the physical set up, the problems of floods and possible
solutions better than the outsiders (Osti et al., 2009). While it is important to study existing
local beliefs and practices for forecasting, early warning, and for flood management, in the
operational phase it is equally important to ascertain that they are useful and appropriate, and
can be integrated in the disaster management plan.
In order to understand properly the benefits, limitations and scope of traditionally
adopted social mechanism against flood disaster prevention aimed at revitalization and
enhancement for CBFRM, a field based study was conducted. The field study was aimed at
analyzing the context of flood related vulnerability in the lower West Rapti river basin in
Nepal, finding the local activities undertaken by the community for flood management. This
chapter elucidates local activities undertaken by the community from lower West Rapti river
basin in Nepal and analyzes the vulnerabilities and capacities of the community based on the
participatory community based analyses.
2. STUDY AREA
Nepal is known as a hot spot for disasters. Over the last 24 years (1983-2006), every year
867 people lost their lives in Nepal on an average (DWIDP, 2007). Landslide and floods have
claimed about 300 people per year, which is almost one third of the total deaths due to all
disasters together. Quite a significant portion of GDP is lost every year due to natural
disasters. Nepal's Terai region, which is relatively flat and low laying area is the part of the
Ganges/Brahmaputra River Basin, which is one
of the most flood disaster-prone regions. The flood plains are being increasingly crowded
to meet ever-increasing demands of food and fibre, and consequently the flood problem is
exacerbated. Similarly, human interventions in the river-floodplain system (dams/barrage, and
bunds) constructed have exacerbated the situation.
The West Rapti River is one of the major rivers of Nepal which supports and affects lives
of several thousand populations in the Banke district having one of the lowest Human
Development Index (HDI), high population and low infrastructure facilities in Nepal. In the
last ten years the floods of 1999, 2006 and 2007 have been more destructive. The total
households (HHs) and population in the study area (Figure 1) is 2028 and 13256 respectively,
which gives the average population size per HH as 6.01. The main source of livelihood in the
study area is agriculture. Apart from this, seasonal labour (both on- and off-farm), services
and businesses are other sources of livelihood. The level of food sufficiency is very
miserable. Majority of houses in the study area are of thatched roof with mud-wall type and
very weak against flood, while very few houses are made of cement and concrete. The floods
have caused damaged to the houses, crops and livestock affecting people‟s livelihood means.
The percentage of completely and partially damage houses in Matehiya and Gangapur VDCs
in the 2007 year flood is 30% and 40% respectively (Gautam et al., 2010). Huge acreage of
agricultural lands has been destroyed in the study area by bank cutting and silt deposits. A
community-based estimate suggests that crop production has reduced in recent years when
compared to the production some 20 years ago. The estimate shows that the land productivity
for paddy in the inundated area has reduced by from 36 % to 80% at various clusters within
the study area.
Figure 1. Location map of study area (Gangapur and Matehiya).
3. PARTICIPATORY ASSESSMENT
Matehiya and Gangapur Village Development Committees (VDC; the smallest
administrative unit in Nepal) were selected for the study based on the history of incidence and
severity of the floods, recommendation of key government‟s district line agencies, and with
recommendations from the district level interaction workshop on October 2007.
Participatory Rural Appraisal (PRA) tools were applied to study the existing condition of
the study area. A reconnaissance visit to the flood affected areas was made to interact with
local leaders and other community members as a precursor to the detailed PRA Survey and
planning. In addition, a local level consultation workshop comprising of flood affected
people, VDC functionaries, local level political leaders, social workers, teachers, deprived
group members, etc. was held at the beginning. Although we primarily used the participatory
vulnerability analysis (PVA) as a guiding tool for the fieldwork (Table 1), we supplemented it
with approaches enabling livelihood assets assessment (capacity) through vulnerability and
capacity analysis approach-VCA (IFRC, 2006). PVA is a systematic process that involves
communities and other stakeholders in an in-depth examination of their vulnerability, and at
the same time empowers or motivates them to take appropriate actions. (Action Aid
International, 2000). Unlike PVA, VCA identifies vulnerability (weaknesses) as well as
strengths (capacity) of the community under study.
Table 3. Methodological framework of participatory assessment
Assessment Vulnerability and capacity analysis Local community-

based flood
management
practices
Assessment Who is vulnerable? What are the What are the 1. What are the
questions Why is s/he livelihood impacts of local knowledge
vulnerable? assets/capacity? Vulnerability and practices on
storm forecasting
and flood warning?
2. What are the
management
practices before,
during and after
flood?
3. What are the
short and long term
community
measures?
PRA Tools Focus group Focus group Focus group Focus group
discussion, Key discussion, key discussion, discussion, key
informant survey, informant key informant informant survey,
resource mapping, survey, resource survey, social and resource
problem tree, mapping, cause-effect mapping, seasonal
problem ranking, capacity analysis calendar, priority
mobility mapping, assessments ranking
timeline
3.1. Vulnerability and Capacity Assessment
While in general there is less ambiguity and divergence on defining hazard, there are
competing and widely divergent views on vulnerability and risk. In this study, vulnerability is
defined as set of conditions that affect the capacity of a person or group to anticipate, cope
with, resist and recover from the impact of natural or man-made hazards (Blaikie et al., 1994).
Risk is a composite factor incorporating both hazard and vulnerability.
Not all people are vulnerable equally. Three different groups of people were identified as
most vulnerable to flood risks based on different factors. Location-wise, the people living in
the low lying area and along the banks of West Rapti River, and living in the clusters along
both banks of rivers/rivulets flowing from the Churia (southern range of mountains of Nepal
consisting of fragile geography) were found must vulnerable. Similarly, the Terai Dalit
(minority, so-called low cast group) communities‟, and landless people were found most
vulnerable groups based on the socio-cultural and economical bases respectively. However,
there is significant overlap in these groups. For instance, landless people often are located in
the hazard prone areas, and are also associated to Dalit groups.
There are many underlying causes of vulnerabilities of people to flood disaster. Most of
these reasons lead to one common factor-poverty. The nexus of poverty-flood disaster (Figure
2) in the study area was inferred based on the community-driven problem-tree analysis.
Besides poverty, physical factors like dense settlements also contribute to the vulnerability to
flooding due to poor drainage and water logging.As shown in Figure 2, extreme floods affect
their livelihood assets which in turn make them poorer and hence further increase their
vulnerability. Thus a positive feedback loop of poverty-vulnerability cycle is set rolling. The
damage of infrastructures due to flood enhance physical isolation of the villages from the
administrative centre, cause health impact, and enhance the fatalistic attitude and behaviours
leading to increased attitudinal vulnerabilities.
Figure 2. The poverty-flood nexus in the study area.
A detailed analysis of vulnerabilities is made together with the capacities in Table 2. As

shown, although vulnerabilities do exist, the community has some remarkable
capacities/assets on which the CBFRM plan can be built on.
3.2. FRM Practices in the Study Area
The timeline and trend analysis of the major extreme events developed through
community participation revealed that people in the study area have been living with natural
floods from the time memorial. These natural floods have impacted their livelihood through
loss of paddy seeds, livestock, and crops. Damage of houses spread of water-borne diseases,
degradation of lands through siltation also contributed to the loss of their assets. But the
community have been dealing these floods through their tacit knowledge on flood
management under informal community-based management approach together with external
relief supports. However, people expressed their perception that floods are more frequent and
have been occurring in responses to even smaller storms making their local flood
management system overstressed. The recent floods in 2006 and 2007 showed, as the
resilience of the local system is reduced, external support and intervention is inevitable. In the
following, the existing management practices in various phases of the flood cycles are
discussed. Many of these activities demonstrate that the community has a well-founded base
for flood disaster management.
Table 2. The capacities and vulnerabilities of the community in the study area
Livelihood Capacities and Vulnerabilities

assets
Social Capacities: Practice of Parma (labour sharing) system and group farming, lack of
capital major ethnic disputes in flood management, presence of strong social norms for
helping weak and vulnerable age groups, presence of community level
organizations e.g. community forest user groups, disaster management group set
up by Red-Cross, existence of coping mechanism and adaptive strategies for
flood management (see section 3.2.2), unified voice of political parties for the
flood related issues.
Vulnerabilities: Parma system limited to hill groups, the disaster management
group set up by Red-Cross not very effective at present, existence of
untouchability practices, settlement practices on low lying and unsafe areas,
some level of mistrust among people particularly during the armed struggle,
weak enforcements of decisions, disputes in mobilization of external resources
Human Capacities: Local knowledge and skills on flood management, presence of
capital skilled personnel (health worker, women health worker, professional swimmers,
boat operators, search and rescue facilitators etc.) in the villages.
Vulnerabilities: low level of literacy, poor income source, poor health and living
standards, fatalistic attitude
Financial Capacities: Presence of 18 saving and credit groups (SCG) and Ama Samuha
capital (Mothers' group), community forest user groups
Vulnerabilities: Lack of access of poor and marginal people to SCG and AS
through mandatory rule of the monthly savings ; absence of collateral free credit
facilities; lack of financial safety-net for agriculture inputs (seeds, fertilizer) after
flood damage ; inadequate community's emergency fund; subsistence farming
Natural Capacities: Highly fertile lands with potential for high productivity, availability
capital of high altitude land nearby for shelter, presence of forests, availability of water
resources for potential use and development
Vulnerabilities: Reliance on rain-fed irrigation; poor land management
particularly in low lying areas, careless extraction of sand and boulders from the
fragile churia range
Physical Capacities: Presence of potential physical shelters, ongoing bridge construction
capital linking the villages with the district head-quarter
Vulnerabilities: Thatched roof mud houses, poorly constructed roads and
drainage systems, lack of adequate permanent flood shelters, lack of resourceful
health posts, and schools, irrigation from risk prone earthen channels from
geologically fragile churia range, high density of households causing drainage
congestion
There are diverse ethnic groups and subgroups within the study area including groups of
hill and Terai origins. Thus the local knowledge is not same everywhere in all communities.
The local knowledge and practices for storm forecasting, flood warning, and management at
various phases of flood-cycle are presented below.
3.2.1. Forecasting of Heavy Storms and Early Warning

Most people in the study area still practised their own ways for forecasting heavy storms.
Some of the variables and indicators considered by the people for forecasting heavy storms
include: position of the cloud in the sky, the extent of rainfall guesstimated in upper
catchments and Churia area, mobility of ants, abnormal crying/voices of animals and birds,
the intensity of sound of thunderstorm, direction of wind, position of stars, and degree of
hotness.
People have tried to assume and correlate their proven knowledge for early warning.
There is a general practice that people living in the areas along or near the river banks get
voluntarily involved in the monitoring of flood and warning especially during the daytime in
the monsoon season. Some indicators used by people for early warnings were:
3.2.1.1. Rumbling Sounds of Rivers

People assess the rumbling sound of the rivers to identify the sound of heavy flood
upstream. Once assessed that there is a flood upstream, there is a general practice of shouting
in loud voice to notify other people.
3.2.1.2. Muddy Smell of the Water of the River

Muddy smell in the water is considered as another indicator of the flood. Generally big
flood carry fresh soil/mud along with water and its smell is different than the normal flood.
According to the local people, changed colour of river water is also another indicator of flood.
3.2.1.3. Presence of Dry Leaves, Mud and other Materials in River Water
When the water level increases, flood carries dry leaves, mud and other materials along
the river course. These are taken as an indication of increasing water level. It was also
reported that if number of fishes in rivers suddenly starts increasing, then this is considered as
an indication of possible flooding in the immediate future. If there is a big flood coming
nearby, dead bodies of animal and snake can be seen floating on the surface of the water.
3.2.2. Management before, during and after the Flood

People in the study area demonstrated some knowledge and skills for flood preparedness
and management before, during and after the floods. This resulted in response to their good
understanding and knowledge about flood and flood related possible damage and destruction.
It is learned that natural floods were common in the study area and people in the villages have
been able to manage the natural floods in the past through their preparedness, and
management practices. The external agencies (humanitarian relief agencies, army, and others)
were also found to play a critical role in extreme floods. However, as the human interventions
in the river basin increased over the past, the frequency and extent of flooding increased
making available local means overstressed and inadequate. The flood management practices
of the community in the study area as grouped into three categories namely flood
management before, during and after the flood are reported below.
3.2.2.1. Before Flood

Floods are not total surprises and shocks to the people in the study area. Thus, local
people are mentally prepared to face and struggle with the possible flood disaster and prepare
accordingly at individual, family, and community levels. People expressed that the
conventional way of living with floods should be the lasting alternative in the absence of a
any well developed flood risk management system.
Two groups of people were found in the study area in terms of flood preparedness. The
first group of people managed basic materials needed during the flood situation at their
houses. They kept plastic sheets, tents, ropes, rubber tubes, empty drums, torchlight, etc.
especially during monsoon season. On the other hand, the other group of people who were
unable to manage the materials in advance adopted „wait and see‟ strategy. As a result, the
people of latter groups were found to be more vulnerable during the flood because of the poor
preparedness. Interestingly these preparedness correlated well with the poverty level of the
people- relatively well off people had better preparedness. Some of the other preparedness
measures taken by the people were:
a) Collection of local and other medicines: Many people use local spices such as marich
(black pepper), harro (Terminalia chebula), barro (Terminalia bellirica) and kala jira
(black cumin) in the food and take tulasi (Ocimum tenuiflorum) tea as a preparedness
against cough and cold that may be prevalent in the monsoon season. They also
collect neem (Azadirachta indica) leaves for treating the fever and skin diseases. As a
precautionary measure, some people procure essential drugs like Amzit, Cetamol,
Jeevan-jal (a popular brand of oral rehydration fluid), etc in advance. Similarly, a
number of domestic treatment practices for livestock are common in the study area as
people cannot afford for western medicines and do not have access to the services of
veterinary technicians particularly during floods. Therefore, before the floods, some
communities collect these herbal medicines from forest areas. These include,
karaunda (a local forest plant) root for the treatment of Khoret (foot and mouth
diseases), lahara beli for diarrhoea and dysentery, gurjo (Tinosporra sinensis (Lour)
Merril ) and gralic for stomach problems and bojo (Acorus calamus) for the cough
and cold problems.
b) Management of food items: There is a general practice of milling sufficient grain in
advance for monsoon season. People usually prepare and keep dry food and
vegetables such as beaten rice, salt, sugar, bheli (raw sugar), noodles, gundruk (dried
green leafy vegetables), potato chips, lentils etc. Besides, people also prepare dry
food of satuwa (roasted and powdered gram), bhuja (puffed rice), biscuits, especially
for their kids. Sidra (dry fish), mango pickles, titaura (dried lentils and mustard), and
dried pumpkin are also prepared specially for the monsoon period. Similarly, as
livestock grazing during monsoon is not possible in flooded and inundated areas in
majority of the villages, people usually store the straw, khar (hay), dry grass,
chopped grass, and bran in advance.
c) Management of firewood and cow-dung cakes: In the northern villages, people
manage firewood from the nearby forest areas for cooking energy. People in the
southern villages, however, use cow dung apart from firewood. Usually, people
manage sufficient quantity of firewood and prepare cow dung cakes for monsoon
period as it is very difficult to manage firewood during the flooding season and it
often may be the case that people cannot go out for numbers of day. People make
aatiya/taad (an elevated area specially used to store materials) to store the firewood
and cow dung safely.
d) Storage of the valuable materials in Attaiya or in Pukka (brick and cement) houses:
People living in the low lying flood prone areas who have thatched houses usually
keep the important documents and utensils in the elevated safe places either in their
own house or in safer pukka houses of close neighbours or relatives. People construct
temporary aatiya/taad to place the deheri (grain storage bin made up of mud) for
storing grass and feed of livestock.
e) Protection of livestocks and poultry: Some settlements in the study area weave doko
(large sized bamboo basket) in advance for protecting poultry during the flood. It is a
common practice of putting chicken in the dokos and hanging them on the safer
places. Some people even try to sell chicken before flood season. Also, people take
their livestock to safer places if they perceive that flooding problem will become
severe. People of Gangapur use to take their livestock to Jamuni, a place relatively
safer from flood.
f) Preparation of the khatiya of bigger height: Raised khatiya (locally woven bed with
sturdy ropes made from babio i.e. Eulaliopsis binata) is very common in the Terai.
Due to risk of snakebites, there is a common practice of sleeping on khatiya. As the
number of deaths with snakebites after flooding is on rise, people have started to
make khatiya of bigger heights. khatiya are especially useful to keep the children
outside the house during flood if the flood level inside the house is high. For
instance, in 1995, some people of Mahadevnagar in Matehiya village have saved the
lives of their children by hanging the khatiya on the trees and keeping their children
on it throughout the night.
g) Construction of pihan: During flood, it is very difficult to cook food due to wet
surrounding which makes it difficult to burn firewood. For this reason, people make
Pihan (cooking stand) in advance to keep stoves or other traditional cooking stoves
on it.
h) Preparation of Informal and formal self plan for evacuation: During heavy floods,
evacuation to the safer places is common. People prepare informal plan in advance
for possible evacuation to safer areas. For example, the people of Dondra and
Gangapur villages used to go to Chaubis Bigha (comparatively on higher elevation)
because of safety and proximity. In 2007, eight households (HHs) of Gangapur,
Kudarbetwa and five HHs of the Sonbarsha villages moved to a forest area
(Panchayati Ban) at a nearby village (Kohala village). Similarly, people from about
50% HHs of Dondra and about 110 HHs residing near the sub-health post of
Gangapur village moved to a safer forest area (Chaubis Bigaha). In addition, before
monsoon, people within the community discuss for evacuation plan and management
of evacuation places. The plan consists of renovation of possible evacuation centres
and administrative arrangement with school management committee to close the
school for some days among others.
i) Creation of drainage outlet in each plot of land: Poor drainage system compounds the
flooding and inundation problem in the study area. In order to protect paddy land
from the possible flood, a very common practice in the study area is construction of
savah (drainage outlet) in each plot of land. In some villages such as Motipur,
clearance of silts from canal and culvert is usually carried out before the flooding
period.
3.2.2.2. During Flood

During floods, people focus on keeping of valuable goods safely, stay at elevated beds,
take shelters at safer locations, mobilize the local resources and attempt to divert the floods.
Some of the local practices are:
a) Taking shelter at appropriate places: At the initial stage when flood has just started,
those having tents and plastic sheets start using them. khatiya are stacked over one
another to raise height. People keep children, elderly people and pregnant women on
raised khatiya. But as the flood water level increases further, people abandon their
houses and move towards safer places. Those few households who have multi-storey
cemented buildings stay in the upper floors while others sometime prepare temporary
machan (elevated place) to stay. Families whose houses are completely damaged or
destroyed take shelter at school, health post and neighbouring pukka houses.
b) Rescuing people: Children, pregnant women and elderly are given high priority as
they are the first victims from the floods. Kids are rescued to the taad/aatiya or to the
khatiya to save from the flood. Some people use vehicles‟ tire tubes and family
fishing boats for rescue purpose. As people perceive that floodwater level has
reached the danger level, those having such rescue and relief materials start using
them.
c) Managing Livestock: Generally livestock are kept at uplands to protect them from
the flood. In an extreme condition, livestock are freed from rope so that they can
swim and go to safer places on their own. In high flood situation, management of
livestock may not be a priority for people.
d) Monitoring flood during night: Many communities are found to monitor flood during
night time. For this purpose, usually youths from the same tole (neighbourhood) are
assigned on a rotational basis.
e) Mobilising youths: Role of youths (particularly school students) is very important
during evacuation of the people towards comparatively safer place. Schools are
closed for some days and youths are involved in rescuing people affected from the
flood. The rescue and relief activities include carrying people towards the safer
places, management of valuable goods arrangement of food, and treatment of people.
f) Informing Red Cross and other stakeholders: These days, local volunteers inform
relevant stakeholders about the situation of flood through Code-Division-Multiple-
Access (CDMA) phone and seek immediate relief materials. The Red Cross and
security personnel are first notified followed by other stakeholders such as District
Administration Office, who is responsible for emergency supplies.
g) Filling sand bags to divert the flood: On the basis of their proven knowledge,
experiences and practices, people also try to divert flood water from their area. It is
done by excavating temporary diversion channels and constructing dykes of

sandbags.
3.2.2.3. After Flood

In the post-flood scenario, it is learned that some of the general management measures
usually taken by people are as follows:
 Informal damage assessment

 Sun-drying of wet seeds, grains and clothes
 Manual separation of damaged seeds and grains from good ones
 Construction/repairing of houses
 Management of food and clothes
 Management of temporary set up for children and elderly
 Maintenance of tube well for drinking water
 Use of local treatments to manage water borne diseases before they receive treatment
from health posts and veterinary posts
The short term strategies adopted by the people in the study area (coping strategies) are
basically managing with limited resources such as cheaper and less food at times of food
shortage, borrowing, bartering, and even selling household assets and land, and eventually
migrating if they are financially overstressed. On the contrary, people in the study area are
found to have developed adaptation strategies (long term approach) to improve their
resiliency against the evolving flood situations. Examples include:
 Cultivating water melon and sakarkhanda (sweet potato), peanuts, etc. in the area
where the land is covered with deposited sand as means of securing alternative
livelihood.
 Preparing different seed beds of paddy at increments of time so that seedling with 25-
28 days age considered by the farmers as the most appropriate for better productivity
are available for transplantation in the events of floods or droughts.
 Increasing the height of goat-shed as goats are considered highly vulnerable to be
swept by flood.
 Raising homesteads above the flood level of last ten years.
 Shifting from earthen (Figure 3a) to wooden storage bins (Figure 3b) for grain
storage.
 Constructing channel in the villages to divert flood water.
 Raising height of newly installed hand pumps.
(a) (b)
Figure 3. Grain storage bins (a) Earthen (b) Wooden.
4. DISCUSSIONS
Most of the current practices of flood management activities are result of the local
community-based initiatives. These activities are mostly based on community's knowledge
and experiences of co-existence with floods. However, a number of activities from disaster
management organizations such as Red Cross, and other organizations in the past have played
a positive catalytic role for increasing resiliency against flood risks.
As we argued earlier, flood management program should be developed in the framework
of community-driven participatory management initiatives cantered on use of both local and
scientific knowledge. Gautam et al. (2010) have proposed such a framework utilizing both
conventional hydrology/ hydraulic and social sciences to demonstrate how these supplement
each other in operational hydrologic problems such as flood management. Using the same
study site, they showed tools from social sciences utilizing local knowledge and/or capacity
on ethno-flood history, flood hazard and risk mapping, setting up effective plans for
evacuation and flood management were extremely useful for enhancing the practicality,
reliability and effectiveness of hydrologic sciences under data-limited uncertain environment.
Such fusion of tools from hydrologic and social sciences can greatly benefit participatory,
bottom-up approach of CBFRM. The bottom-up approach has several advantages such as:
sustainability, utilization of local resources, tools and knowledge, environmentally sensitive
measures, efficiency and effectiveness of management, suitability and social acceptance.
While the „hard‟ science and engineering like hydrology and hydraulics can have
potential solutions to many flood-management problems, these solutions can be inadequate,
or unsustainable if the local contexts are ignored. Tools from social sciences help put the
people at the focus and bridge the There is a strong need of addressing vulnerabilities of the
community and taking additional measures for enhancement of resilience. In the study area,
vulnerability is directly related to various livelihood assets and poverty. Similarly, resiliency
against flood is continuously decreasing due to increasing flood frequencies. Thus well co-
ordinated external support for rescue and relief operation is more apparent than before.
Neither the local knowledge, nor the CBFRM alone can solve the whole problem. They
provide a workable framework. Scientific inputs for improved flood forecasting and warning,
environmentally sensitive mitigation measures are equally a necessity for an effective
CBFRM system. In fact, the community action plan developed by the community as part of
the study suggested a number of environmentally sensitive hardware measures such as „check
dams‟, drainage improvements and other needs of scientific inputs.
CONCLUSION AND SUMMARY

Based on the participatory tools, the study demonstrated that local communities have
their own coping and adaptation mechanism based on their local knowledge against flood
disasters. They have an existing informal CBRFM system in practice from historic time. But
with the evolving flood situations due to increasing human interventions, vulnerabilities to
flood hazards have been on rise. Poverty further brings in vulnerabilities to flood.
The PCA and VCA approaches widely used in the field of disaster risk reductions are
available for assessment of flood related vulnerabilities and capacities of the community.
These approaches are based on PRA tools and form a starting point of the CBFRM. PRA
tools such as focus group discussion, key informant survey, social and resource mapping,
problem tree, problem and priority ranking, mobility mapping, timeline, seasonal calendar,
cause-effect analysis etc. can be used to catalyze the community to draw their own
vulnerability, capacity, hazard, and risk maps which can form a base for the community
prepare a CBFRM action plan. In all these processes, conventional technical inputs can be
effectively fused through discussion and facilitations by the technical and social experts with
the communities.
The era of big flood control scheme is still on- going, however attention needs to be
focused on community based flood disaster risk management because it is realized that no
such structure can prevent flood unless otherwise local people are well prepared for worst
situation. Local knowledge and inertia will give significant input to CBFRM system and
bring active participation. Although traditional knowledge on flood risk management has
great potentiality to reduce disaster impact, scientific inputs and environmentally-sensitive
mitigation measures are essential in changing climatic and physical environment of the flood
plains, and the new paradigm of flood management should be focussed on harnessing benefits
of conventional hydrology/hydraulic and social sciences.
REFERENCES
Action Aid International. 2000. Participatory Vulnerability Analysis: A Step-by-Step Guide
for Field Staff. Action Aid International Publication Series. Johannesburg, South Africa.
Blaikie P., Cannon T., Davis I., Wisner B. 1994. At Risk: Natural hazards, People's
vulnerability, and disasters. London, Routledge.
DFO-Dartmouth Flood Observatory. 2008. World atlas of large flood events 1985-2002
[online]. Dartmouth Flood Observatory. http://www. dartmouth.edu/~floods/
archiveatlas/index.htm
DWIDP- Department of Water-induced Disaster Prevention. 2007. 2000-2006 Annual
Disaster Review, series VIII-XIV. Department of Water-induced Disaster Prevention,
Pulchowk, Lalitpur, Nepal.
Deckens J. 2007. The Snake and the River Don’t Run Straight. International Centre for
Integrated Mountain Development, Kathmandu, Nepal.
Gautam M. R.,Osti R.,Gautam D. R.,Chhetri M. B., Pahari K., Inomata H., Dhakal S. 2010.
Do we need a new paradigm in applied hydrology? Experience of integrating hydrology
and social sciences for disaster-risk reduction in a developing country. Accepted for
presentation at Hydrology Conference 2010. Elsevier, San Diego, USA.
IFRCS-International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies. 2006. What is
VCA? An Introduction to Vulnerability and Capacity Assessment. IFRCC, Geneva,
Switzerland.
Hoyois P. Scheuren J.M., Below R. and Guha-Sapir D. 2007. Annual Disaster Statistical
Review: Numbers and Trends 2006. The Centre for Research on the Epidemiology of
Disasters. Brussels.
Osti R., Miyake K., Terakawa A. 2009. Application and operational procedure for
formulating guidelines on flood emergency response mapping for public use. Flood Risk
Management 2(4), 293-305.
Osti R. 2004. Forms of community participation and agencies role for the implementation of
water induced disaster management: protecting and enhancing the poor. Disaster
Prevention and Management, 13 (2), 6-13.
WWAP-world water assessment programme. 2006. United Nation world water development
report II. WWAP, Paris.[accessed 03 November 2008]
Chapter 11
PARTICIPATORY WATER MANAGEMENT:

BANGLADESH MODEL
Abu Taher Khandakar1

Bangladesh Water Development Board, WAPDA Building,
Motijheel Commercial Area Dhaka -1000, Bangladesh
1. BACKGROUND
Water is a very precious wealth. Over this planet Earth, the balance of water contained on
about three-fourth surface area is covered by water body. Humans should have been very
much pleased having so much water without any labour or investment. Fact remains that in
nature available water may be put under two broad categories: (i) sweet water (or fresh water)
and (ii) saline water. Fresh water are contained in rivers, lakes, underground, and in mountain
as snow or glassier or in cloud in gaseous form while saline water is contained in the oceans
and seas. Water has multiple uses. Demand for fresh water have registered sharp rise world
over for human consumption; for cattle, for industry, agriculture and fishery. It is now
recognized that fresh water has been becoming scarce, in regions and in communities, even
for drinking and sanitation purposes. Hence there is an obvious urgency for economic and
wise use of this resource.
Bangladesh is a country with plenty of fresh water. Estimated 1250 billion cubic meter
fresh water pass over about 310 rivers of the country annually. About 80% of this huge
amount of water occurs in four months in June-September period of the year. And again about
93% of the total annual flows in the rivers come from outside Bangladesh‟s territory through
about 54 (out of 57) international rivers. Among the cross-boundary rivers three are most
prominent – (i) the Ganges, (ii) the Brahmaputra and (iii) the Meghna. The Ganges has her
origin in the western foothill of the Himalayas in Nepal and the Brahmaputra has origin in the
northern foothill of the Himalayas in Tibbet (China). The Borack River in the eastern India
that comes into Bangladesh through the north-eastern border, has the name “Twibai River” in
the upstream at the joining place of the provincial states of Monipur, Mizoram and Assam.
The Borack River entering into Bangladesh are bifurcated into “Surma” and “Kushiara” and
1
Tel: +880-29552194, Fax: + 880-2-9564763 Email: D.M.A Taher Khandokar taherm54@gmail.com.
150 Abu Taher Khandakar
then again join together to take the name of “Meghna” to fall into the Bay of Bengal joining
with the lower parts of the Ganges and the Brahmaputra Rivers. However, these rivers over
thousands of years played the role to carry silt and clay from the hills and deposited that in an
area adjacent to the Bay of Bengal to create the greatest delta in the Planet, Bangladesh, now
having a landarea of 147,570 sq km. The terrain of the country is flat, land level not very
much high above mean sea level. The beds of the rivers are now filled up with silt and
conveyance capacity drastically reduced. Consequent upon this, flooding by spilling river
banks was a regular phenomenon in the monsoon. This was the scenario in the northern part
and middle part of the country. On the other hand, the southern part of the country bordering
the Bay of Bengal has a coastline of 710 km length. Everyday in winter and summer, tide
from the sea caused submergence of land (about 20% area of the country) with saline water.
The troubles in the coastal area would aggravate more when cyclonic storm of wind with
hurricane speed (exceeding 200 km/h) would hit the land with accompanying tidal
surges/floods. The outcome of floods either caused by river flows from the upstream or by
tidal floods from the sea would have the same impact: crops damaged, infrastructures
destroyed and people killed. The country, its economy was very much agro-based and still so
for about 65% of the population, would always suffer losses to a severe extent. This was just
one side of the coin. The other side was also more disappointing. In the region excluding the
coastal area, the land was not protected against flooding and hence only rain-fed paddy crops
were produced by the farmers. The varieties were local and yield per unit area was very low
when compared with high yielding varieties elsewhere. The condition in the coastal areas was
much bleaker. No crop (suitable for human consumption) could be cultivated in the coastal
zone as the land would remain submerged by brackish water of the sea. The outcome was a
nation with prolonged food deficit, economic misery, malnutrition, lack of education for
children, disease and disappointment. This was the situation in Bangladesh in 1950s when her
people were under the rule of Pakistan. In 1954, 1955 and 1956 there were consecutive severe
floods in Bangladesh and a severe situation of famine developed and death of huge people
could however be avoided by importing rice from abroad and partly by supplies of relief from
friendly nations.
An organization named “East Pakistan (then Bangladesh was known as East Pakistan)
Water and Power Development Authority (EPWAPDA)” started functioning on 04 April
1959 in Dhaka (then written as „Dacca‟, capital of Bangladesh) to address water related
matter and management. In fact, since that year the EPWAPDA (now Bangladesh Water
Development Board: „BWDB‟) made interventions through mostly engineering measures in
the water sector. EPWAPDA was a statuary body and was entrusted with sufficient
administrative and financial powers and its “Water Wing” envisaged a master plan to address
flood related hazard mitigation and improvement/development of irrigation activities in order
to boost “Grow More Food” programme of the Government. The organization embarked on
to develop the first major irrigation project of the country named the “Ganges-Kobadak
Irrigation Project (or in short G K Project)” which will be described later.
2. MANAGEMENT OF AN IRRIGATION PROJECT

In Bangladesh, like her neighbouring countries in South Asia, rice is the staple food of
people. Traditionally, over thousand of years farmers cultivated land in the pre-monsoon
Participatory Water Management: Bangladesh Model 151
period and saw seeds of paddy in broadcast practice. They would wait for monsoon rain to set
in by June and onwards up to September to get rain-fed irrigation for paddy crop. The
traditional local variety of paddy production per unit of land was low due to two reasons.
Traditional crop of paddy itself with long stem was always a low yield paddy genetically. The
second problem was high depth floods, 1.5 to 2.0 m deep water in the monsoon that damaged
crops; however then damage to crops by insects was not a significant problem. Added to these
two problems was another very grave factor that the two crops (Kharif-I and Kharif-II) were
very uncertain due to devastating floods in June-September. In around mid-1950s, the
International Rice Research Institute (IRRI) invented a new high yielding variety (HYV) of
paddy (in Bangladesh the variety was known as IRRI). This crop locally known as boro
paddy, needs special care for cultivation. For example, a seed bed (on mud soft soil) is to be
prepared at the end of November, about four weeks are taken for saplings to grow about 15
cm high, then land is to be prepared with water by tiling (now a days with mechanical
plough), transplanting is to be carried out in early January (even partly in Feb), the plants
thrive in February (when temp rises) and harvesting may be done in end May. In order to get
a good harvest, the farmer needs to use right amount of chemical fertilizer, insecticides and
clean out weeds of land. And importantly, right amount of irrigation water must be applied to
the land at regular intervals.
In Bangladesh, surface water is very cheap. Somebody willing to lift water from a river
with a low lift pump (LLP) may do so without any permission and without paying any charge
for water. But farmers are not rich people; and in most cases an individual can‟t afford to own
a LLP. Similar is the situation for extracting groundwater with shallow tube well. However,
Bangladesh Government commissioned a few big irrigation projects with secured flood
control and drainage infrastructures; the G K Irrigation Project or the G K Project being one
of them.
GK PROJECT
The project is located at the west area of Bangladesh on the right bank of the Ganges
River (in the east). Through the west boundary, the Kobadak River, a distributory of the
Ganges flows down towards the south into the Bay of Bengal. The Ganges sustains flow in
the lean season (January to May) too and plan was made to utilize about 153 m3/sec flow of
the river for dry season irrigation and go for High Yielding Variety (HYV) of IRRI paddy in
January to May period when natural calamity by flood is very much unusual in the country.
The project has a gross area of 197,500 Ha and net irrigable area now is about 110,000 Ha.
One main pumping plant with three units of turbine pumps (110.52 m3/sec capacity) and
another subsidiary pumping plant of 42.50 m3/sec capacity were commissioned in civil
structures across the Ganges to lift water. An intake canal (700 m long) from the river to the
pumping station was dug; surface water is lifted with electrical power driven pumps and put
into the main canal (193 km long). The project components include secondary canal (467
km), tertiary canal (995 km) and 2184 number irrigation structures plus 3500 field outlets,
flood embankment (39 km) and drainage canal (971 km).
The government manages everything by doing maintenance and operation of the
pumping plant and deliver water up to the tertiary canal. The remaining part of the operation
rests with the beneficiaries that include: (i) development and maintenance of field canal, (ii)
receive irrigation water in the farm, (iii) cultivate the farm, (iv) apply fertilizer in the land, (v)
transplant saplings, (vi) uproot weeds, (vii) use pesticides to control insects and (viii) harvest
the crops. Notably, the responsibility of the government agency and the beneficiaries is
separate and in an ideal situation the responsibility does not overlap. But – the importance of
the intervention by the government agency lies into the fact that it should give optimum
output in economic (and in social) term from the project.
For example, crop production or benefit will be curbed if a tertiary canal fails to carry
water to a plot due to choking; or if a farmer having flowing water beside his plot does not
utilize the same to produce crop. Such a situation is unwelcome to national economic growth.
So, the optimum benefit out of the system is possible when the government agency and the
beneficiaries join hands together in planning, operation, maintenance, monitoring, and even
minimum evaluation activities of the system.
To mobilize the members of the public for “Public Participation” is a very difficult task.
It is a fact that in the first step, agreement of the members of the public shall have to be
obtained for the common cause where interest of the beneficiaries and the government lies at
a place.
4. PARTICIPATORY WATER MANAGEMENT

APPROACH IN GK PROJECT
In 1950s, the modern technique of cultivation and crop production was not known to this
area of Asia. The usual practice of cultivation was to do tillage with plough pulled by oxen or
bullocks, saw seeds of paddy (or jute seeds) and level the ground by pulling a bamboo ladder
over. This was done in the dry period of the year. The seeds would germinate under plenty of
sunshine, and farmers would wait for rain from the heaven to have a crop feed by monsoon
water as stated earlier. People would saw seeds of even two crops together: the Kharif I (Aus
paddy) and Kharif II (Aman paddy) – though the harvesting time of these two crops was
separated by a period of about 90 days apart. The only fertilizer available that time was the
manure of cow-dung: an addition sometimes would be the in-land ash made by burning of the
stems of paddy left out after harvesting the crop. People never used transplanted Boro (Rabi
crop) or Aman (Kharif II) crop, they didn‟t practice seed beds, and they didn‟t use any
chemical fertilizer. The crops were eaten up by insects and they didn‟t use any insecticide.
They never used a low lift pump to extract any water from a river for any purpose, at least for
irrigation. Of course, the government had an irrigation department, very small in size but their
activities were limited. The irrigation department merged with the EPWAPDA as soon it was
created.
However, the EPWAPDA in its effort to “Grow More Food” drew a comprehensive plan
to bring about a change. The organization targeted the G K Project as the main battle ground.
For this project a Training Institute under the name “Baradi Irrigation and Agriculture
Extension Centre” was established. An expatriate expert academician was brought as
principal of the Centre. It chalked out elaborate programme to impart training to the farmers
on the techniques of modern farming, on application of fertilizer and pesticides and
importantly on management of field water related matters and transplanted paddy cultivation.
For this reason, the EPWAPDA fielded qualified officers of agriculture extension
background. The project, the water for irrigation, the expert personnel to impart training and
agriculture extension personnel of the department, all were there. But to achieve the goal the
target people were not there (or they were not motivated)! So there was an urgency to bring in
the farmers within the reach. And that led to development of a mechanism to organize the
community and obtain their participation in the process. And to the greater extent that was the
beginning of the efforts to search and solicit “Public Participation” in an irrigation project,
and subsequently in all water sector projects of either “Flood Control and Drainage (FCD)
and/or Flood Control, Drainage and Irrigation (FCDI)” projects. And of late however the
organization (BWDB) has been making efforts to obtain opinion of people on any new project
which even include riverbank protection to prevent erosion or even dredging of rivers to
improve navigability or mitigate water logging problem.
5. ORGANIZING THE COMMUNITY

It is recognized that to attract people to a cause which is though beneficial to them is
hardly an easy task. It takes long time to communicate with people – that some other people,
even when they are public servant – are willing to tell them something which in near future
may yield a benefit to them. As the first step towards the goal, a concept of “Chashi Club” of
“Farmers Club” was conceived in 1960s. The idea was to provide a forum for the farmers to
discuss their own problems and find out likely solutions, develop the skill and mechanism for
management of their own affairs, through trial and error, by themselves (in the field). In fact,
the farmers first of all needed a space to assemble at a convenient place nearby. The
EPWAPDA responded to it by constructing an institution complex building for each Chashi
Club on about 0.33 acres (1335 sq meter) of land. The complex has an assembly hall and a
store room for the farmers with an office room for the Extension Overseer (of the
Department). The residential quarter of the Extension Overseer was also housed in the
complex separately. In the premises of the Club there is a garden where fruits, vegetables and
seasonal crops are cultivated for demonstration purpose to the farmers.
6. WORKLOAD OF EXTENSION OVERSEER

One Extension Overseer (EO) at each Chashi Club was posted by the government. Each
EO generally was assigned duty over 2500 to 3000 acres of land and more or less 700 to 900
farm families. The area was covered with 2 (two) to 4 (four) tertiary canals for irrigation
purpose. In general, two Chashsi Clubs were located about 3 miles apart. In the G K Project,
the authority established 13 Extension Centres and as many as 49 Chasi Clubs were formed.
7. MANAGEMENT OF CHASHI CLUB

The affairs of the Club are carried out by a Managing Committee. The Committee
consists of 09 to a maximum of 15 members. They are elected from among the farmers
representing village leaders, school teachers, Union Parishad (lowest tier of local
government) members. In turn the members elected one Chairman, one Vice-Chairman and
one Joint Sectary. The Extension Overseer acted as the Ex-officio Secretary of the Managing
Committee.
The “Chashi Clubs” were registered under the Department of Co-operatives of the
government. The Executive Committee held meetings one day each week in the Club. In the
meeting, they discussed among themselves about their well-being, matters pertaining to
modern agricultural practices and issues related to operation, maintenance of the project in the
respective jurisdiction, and especially any problem about distribution of irrigation water to the
farmers. They could take any such issue to the notice of the Extension Overseer immediately
for appropriate intervention by the government agency (BWDB). The infrastructures for
“Chashi Clubs” are still in place but the BWDB shifted to more modern concept of
“Participatory Water Management” approach.
8. PARTICIPATORY WATER MANAGEMENT

The Government in 2000 A.D. envisioned a policy of greater participation by the
members of the beneficiaries in the water resources sector projects. To this effect the
government approved a document named “Guidelines for Participatory Water Management
(GPWM)”. This is a broad policy document which envisaged participation of the
beneficiaries in every step of the water resources project starting from project identification to
(completed) project operation, maintenance and evaluation phases.
In this approach, “Water Management Group WMG)” in the grass-root level are formed
with members of the beneficiaries. In an irrigation project, beneficiaries (family heads) falling
within the command area of one tertiary canal are the target people to be members of the
WMG. The formation of WMG is organized by the Extension Overseer through mobilization
and motivation of the beneficiaries. The farmers will be the primary member each of the
WMG and the members shall elect an Executive Committee (EC) of 12 Members from
among themselves; with one Chairman, one Vice-Chairman and one Secretary. The WMG
shall adopt a memorandum/bye-laws describing its aims, objectives, rules of business, duties
and responsibilities. Among other activities the WMG affirm in the memorandum that it
would render services for proper management of water within the WMG jurisdiction of the
project for their collective development and income generating activities in association with
the project authority. They must generate some amount of fund through voluntary
contribution in the form of subscription by the members. With the document of bye-laws and
a minimum of savings of Bangladeshi currency Taka or BDT 30,000 (1 US $ = 70 BDT), the
WMG can get registered with the Department of Co-operatives of the government. On
registration, the WMG is legally accepted as an entity to be entitled for government help and
assistance in the form of loans and other facilities/trainings on income generating activities
(IG activities) as the government operates through different agencies for development of the
general mass. The steps of registration with the Department of Co-operatives are sometimes a
difficult task owing to the fact that sufficient number of primary members to generate a sum
of BDT 30,000 within a short period cannot be gathered to form a WMG. In fact, it takes
huge labour on the part of the Extension Overseer to mobilize and motivate the farmers
towards a successful conclusion of the effort. In the G K Project beginning from the year
2003-2004, as many as 454 WMGs with total membership of 9534 could be registered with
the Department of Co-operatives. In addition to this, there are still as many as 295 WMGs
with membership strength of 4347 formed but could not be registered with the Department of
Co-operatives as the WMGs do not have the minimum mandatory savings of fund.
The WMGs, both registered and non-registered however entitled to receive water for
irrigation from the project. The EC of the WMG, as stipulated in the bye-laws, shall convene
in meeting every month but minimum one meeting of the EC must be convened in two
months. In addition to this, the WMG will hold annual general meeting (AGM) at the close of
the year; and special AGM may be convened any time as warranted in the circumstances. The
account of the WMG is subject to annual audit by the Department of Co-operatives. The
WMG Executive Committee Members keep liaison with the Sub-Divisional Engineer‟s office
in all matters related to operation and maintenance of the project.
The next tier of the system is the “Water Management Association (WMA)”. The GPWM
stipulates that a WMA will be formed with representatives nominated by the WMGs within
the jurisdiction of the WMA. It also stipulates that the WMA shall have an EC comprising 12
members and the WMA should have at least 30% female members. So, theoretically one
WMA can be formed with 12 WMGs. In order to ensure placement of female members in the
WMA, two members with mandatory one female member from one WMG each are
nominated into the WMA. The WMA need not be registered with the Department of Co-
operatives. The EC is stipulated to meet in a monthly meeting but in unavoidable
circumstances the EC is required meet once at least in two months. The task of the WMA is
to oversee the functioning of the WMGs, resolve any internal or external conflict of the
WMGs and keep liaison with the Executive Engineer‟s office for operation and maintenance
of the project. There are 12 WMAs existent in the G K Project.
The participatory management, if it is called public participation as well, might end at
this level. But in the GPWM, there is another top tier of institutional arrangement in this
respect. A “Water Management Federation (WMF)” may be formed for big water resources
project, say for a command area of 50,000 Ha or more. The formation of the WMF is similar
as the WMA. Members into the WMF are nominated by the WMA on being recommended in
the AGM. The WMF has an EC comprising 12 Members with one President, one Vice-
President and one Secretary. The WMF works as the apex body of the WMGs and WMAs;
the WMF may convene any time and also annually, it performs functions similar to the WMA
for the entire project, it keeps liaison with the Project Director (the Superintending Engineer)
of the government agency and performs an advisory role in respect operation and
maintenance of the project. One WMF is existent in the G K Project.
9. CHALLENGE OF THE PARTICIPATORY

WATER MANAGEMENT EFFORTS
Water management issues are complex and complicated whether it is an irrigation project
or it is a flood control and drainage project. In fact, almost all flood control and drainage
projects somehow provide opportunities to the community to utilize some surface water for
various uses. In the coastal zone in the south of the country where most of the projects are
polder projects (i.e., flood control and drainage projects) farmers take water of the outfall
river when salinity level is low or use rain water harvested in the internal drainage canals for
irrigation or supplementary irrigation in the post monsoon period. Thus everywhere

participatory water management is important. As for the G K Project (and for similar big
projects), it is difficult to handle and keep in touch with every WMG with limited number of
personnel in the government agency. In fact, a two-way communication is the key for success
of the effort. Another notable problem arises out of the fact that the WMG members lack in to
participate in the group activities on the assumption that others will however do the work. In
the G K Project it was conceived that operation and management of the system in the level of
tertiary canals will be left over to be done by the WMGs themselves. But this concept did not
materialize as the WMGs need further development of capability, both managerial and
financial, to handle such responsibility effectively. In this Project, the BWDB has intended to
collect some irrigation service charge (ISC), an amount of BDT 500 (US $ 7.14) per Ha each
year. This created a problem. Firstly, the farmers are yet not motivated to promptly pay it out.
The most difficult problem relating to collection of ISC arises from the mechanism to be
followed. The first difficulty is: one hector of land which is about 2.47 acres (1 acre = 43560
sq ft; 1 sq ft = 0.0929 sq m) belongs to a big number of farmers; may be 10 to 12 persons as
the farm size (or real ownership of land) is small. The process of ISC collection involves:
identification of plot receiving irrigation water in the field, determine the area of the plot,
identify the real owner of the land, work out the amount of ISC, issue a demand notice in
prescribed form, ensure delivery of the notice to the real addressee in the correct address and
then collect it by sending an authorized personnel and also issue the farmer a valid receipt.
The farmer needs to be issued a reminder if he fails to oblige the demand notice in time. The
farmers, and partly the policy makers are of the opinion that the government can waive the
ISC, and if the ISC is not paid it is not easy to lodge a court case promptly as the action will
involve more money than the ISC unpaid amount, and such action could also sour the
working relation with the WMGs.
So, in essence the three noticeable difficulties with approach of Participatory Water
Management in Bangladesh are: (i) Inadequate agency personnel to mobilize, motivate and
liaison with the beneficiaries; (ii) Inadequate capability of the WMGs to take responsibility to
independently operate and maintain any part of big water sector project and (iii) Introduction
of ISC without motivation of the beneficiaries.
Despite the above stated problems, the BWDB could arrange to deliver irrigation water to
as much as 100,000 Ha (91% of target) of land for Kharif-II crop in one season in the recent
past with the active participation of the WMGs and this could be rated as a big success.
Dealing with people for such matter as complex as operation and management of G K Project
where the WMGs members are 9881 in number, and where literacy rate is less than 50% and
poverty rate is about 40%, is a very difficult task least to say. But, “Participatory Water
Management” approach is the best practice to involve the beneficiaries for better, transparent
and accountable management of the public water sector projects. There will be ups and downs
in the approach, but the positive results of good governance in the sector out of the approach
will always offset the cumulative negative results that will accrue for non-involvement of the
beneficiaries in the process.
Chapter 12
USE OF COMMUNITY BASED DISASTER RISK

REDUCTION TOOLS IN COMMUNITY ACTION:
PERSPECTIVE FROM ASIA
Sisira Kumara1
Asian Disaster Preparedness Center 24/F SM Tower,
Bangkok 10400, Thailand
ABSTRACT
Community based disaster risk reduction is a well known thematic focus of many
regional, national and sub-national organizations to build capacities and to strengthen
existing disaster management structures, whilst emphasizing the contributions made by
communities and to advance the creation of safer communities. CBDRR program should
emphasizes its efforts on, Institutionalization of CBDRR into the policy, planning and
implementation; Implementation of innovative programs to explore new dimensions in
CBDRR practice; Development of frameworks and tools to support the work of decision-
makers and practitioners; Development of new training tools to enhance the capacity of
practitioners; Continued support to the regional entities for promoting CBDRR practices.
However limited knowledge on the use of CBDRR tools in CBDRR and rural
development programs is still a challenge. Most of the development and CBDRR
practitioners are yet to acknowledge and appreciate those tools that have been tested and
proven effective in reducing disaster risks in the region. For effective implementation of
CBDRR programs in the region, national governments need to perform a facilitative role
and establish an enabling environment for community based disaster risk reduction. In
addition, the CBDRR practitioners should be well equipped with CBDRR tools such as
field practitioner‟s handbook on CBDRR, Critical Guidelines for CBDRR, Media Kit on
CBDRR, and Guidance on CBDRR for local authorities and Guidebook for integrating
CBDRR into local government policies and programs. This paper provides a brief
discussion on several CBDRR tools that can readily be used in community action in the
region.
1
Email: sisira@adpc.net.
158 Sisira Kumara
Keywords: DRR, CBDRM, Capacity Building, Participatory Risk Assessment, Critical

Guidelines, Media Kit, Advocacy
1. INTRODUCTION
Asian Disaster Preparedness Center‟s programs in recognition of its vision of safer
communities through disaster risk reduction and sustainable development encouraging the
growth of locally born and relevant risk reduction activities and promoting community
ownership has developed and tested various CBDRR tools in institutionalizing community
based disaster risk reduction in Asia. These CBDRR tools have widely been used and proven
effective in several countries such as Bangladesh, Lao PDR, Sri Lanka, Thailand, Cambodia,
Indonesia, Philippines and Vietnam. CBDRR was a specific focus under the Partnerships for
Disaster Reduction in Southeast Asia (PDRSEA), project implemented in seven Southeast
Asian countries since 2001. The program has developed practical tools for practitioners to
support community action. This chapter is an analysis and critique found in implementing
ADPC‟s CBDRR programs in the region applying those CBDRR tools for effective
implementation and results.
2. CBDRM TOOLS IN ASIA

There are number of CBDRR tools developed by various organizations in Asia. Those
tools varies from Guidelines, Handbooks, Kits, Lessons learned documentations, training
curriculum etc. This article discusses some of those tools that are developed by ADPC under
its CBDRR program being implemented in the region.
2.1. Field Practitioner’s Handbook on CBDRR as a Tool for Capacity

Building of CBDRR Practitioners
The concept of Community-based Disaster Risk Management (CBDRM) has emerged

during the past two decades in South East Asian countries. NGOs, citizen‟s organizations,
humanitarian agencies and government departments in different countries in the region were
the promoters of CBDRR concepts. Despite this rapid expansion in CBDRR applications, a
majority of CBDRM practitioners face difficulties in finding opportunities for skill
development. CBDRR practitioners are based at local or commune levels therefore, it is not
possible for all practitioners to participate in CBDRR training courses even though there are
number of training courses available at regional level. Partnership for Disaster Reduction in
Southeast Asia (PDR SEA) project of ADPC, under the guidance of UNESCAP, took steps to
fill that need by producing a tool kit on CBDRR which specifically designed for the field
practisioners. The goal of the CBDRM Field Practitioners‟ Handbook is to equip CBDRM
practitioners with theoretical principles and practical tools that can be applied in community
work. Recognizing the need and level of expertise avail in the region, this tool was designed
in three parts:
Use of Community Based Disaster Risk Reduction Tools in Community Action 159
Part 1
Community-Based Disaster Risk Management: A Framework for Reducing Risk. Field
practitioners should be well equipped with basic concepts of CBDRR. It is recognized that
great majority of CBDRR practitioners are still having difficulties in understanding these
CBDRR concepts. Therefore, the purpose of the first part is to clarify the basic concepts of
CBDRM.
Part 2
Resource Packs: The second part covers essential participatory community based disaster
risk management tools for implementing various stages of the CBDRM process. It provides
step by step instructions to facilitate specific activities. The topics covered are Participatory
Project Cycle Management, Participatory Disaster Risk Assessment and Action Planning,
Formation and Training of Community Disaster Risk Management Organizations and
Participatory Monitoring and Evaluation.
Part 3
Major Considerations in undertaking CBDRM: the third part discusses tools on two
cross-cutting themes related to CBDRM - Gender Conscious Approach to CBDRM and
Disaster Risk Communication (DRC).
There are three key concepts that have been introduced in this handbook. These are:
 Community-Managed Implementation
 Participatory Disaster Risk Assessment and Action
 Gender Conscious Approach to Disaster Risk Reduction
Community ownership and management of risk reduction measures is the implicit

philosophy behind Community-Based Disaster Risk Management (CBDRM). Community-
managed implementation as refers to a process where at risk communities are in the heart of
decision making process and are directly and actively engaged in planning, implementation,
monitoring and evaluation of their risk reduction measures. This comprise of Participatory
Disaster Risk Assessment (PDRA) and Analysis, identification of risk reduction measures,
development of action plans and implementation and evaluation of plans. Participatory
Disaster Risk Assessment and Action Planning are discussed in the field practitioner‟s
handbook and it is hoped that its inclusion in this handbook will advance the practice of
Community-Based Disaster Risk Management in the South East Asia region. This handbook
builds on past experiences and lessons learned by many CBDRM practitioners in the region.
It is recognized that many NGOs use different terminologies for community based disaster
risk assessment in the region. Such as Participatory Capacities, Vulnerabilities Assessment
(PCVA in Oxfam funded CBDM projects in the Philippines and in East Timor),
vulnerabilities, capacities assessment (VCA by Red Cross Society in South East Asia) and
hazards, capacities, vulnerabilities assessment (HVCA by ADPC). In all of these forms,
participatory rural appraisal (PRA) tools have been extensively used by practitioners to
collect and exchange information, facilitate dialogue, and encourage communities at risk to
decide on acceptable levels of risks and take concrete actions for risk reduction.
160 Sisira Kumara
Different community groups and individuals are affected by disasters differently. Impacts
of disasters in a particular country may differ from men and women, boys and girls because
of their position in family and society. The Gender Conscious Approach to CBDRM is
making use of existing tools of analysis to enable CBDRM practitioners to sensitize the risk
reduction programmes and processes as well as to contribute to the improvement of women
and girl‟s position in society. This handbook has been described as, we, CBDRM
Practitioners in South East Asia region, have begun the task of putting down into “book
form” what we do in our practice. The major limitation of this tool is that it will not address
all concerns and expectations of CBDRM practitioners. This is by no means a complete set of
tools and resources on CBDRM. The document is also written in English, a language that
many practitioners in South East Asia are not completely familiar with. This field
practitioners handbook was produced bringing together theory and practice from the six South
East Asian countries – Cambodia, Lao PDR, Viet Nam, Thailand, Indonesia, and the
Philippines. CBDRM practitioners are therefore encouraged to test and experiment with the
tools and methodologies presented in this tool and communicate their experiences to ADPC
and to each other. It is only through this constant dialogue among CBDRM practitioners that
we can improve our theory and practice.
2.2. Critical Guidelines as Minimum Standards for CBDRR
The importance of community-based approaches has been recognized since long in

promoting a culture of safety through reducing local vulnerabilities and building capacities.
These approaches have been practiced by various community groups, national and
international organizations and government departments, in some cases, for over two decades
now. The practice of community-based approaches has remained diverse due to a host of
factors. They include the organizational mandates of the concerned organizations, socio-
cultural context of the communities, levels of economic development of communities,
political structures in a country and multiplicity in funding cycles of donor organizations.
This diversity has raised concerns about the quality in practice and the need for promoting
good practices. Another key trend in the recent years has been the efforts by NGOs, UN and
other international organizations to mobilize government support for CBDRM in policy,
planning and programming. This is sometimes also known as integration of CBDRM. In this
regard the organizations have adopted various approaches including national and local
advocacy, capacity building, integrating risk factors into development planning and joint
implementation of CBDRM activities with government departments. These efforts to gain
governmental support have also necessitated the need for common national frameworks about
community-based approaches so as to convince the authorities. The development
organizations find it difficult to mobilize support from the authorities in the absence of a
common reference point. The ADPC‟s own experience under the Partnerships for Disaster
Reduction South East Asia (PDRSEA3) program demonstrated the need for development of
regional guidelines. The development of minimum standards in other disciplines like the
humanitarian sector, as well have played a catalytic role in creating a demand within the
disaster risk reduction community to formulate minimum standards for practice in the area of
community-based disaster risk management.
Critical Guidelines of CBDRR is an effort to address the above issues, the initiative on
drafting of Critical Guidelines of Community based Disaster Risk Management was
undertaken by the ADPC and the UNESCAP under the jointly implemented Partnerships for
Disaster Reduction South East Asia (PDRSEA3) project. It is expected that the availability of
these Critical Guidelines will enable development practitioners to follow common principles,
processes and approaches in the identification, design, implementation, monitoring and
evaluation of community-based projects on disaster risk management, thus contributing to the
improvement in practice. The Critical Guidelines were developed through a consultative
process. The guidelines were reviewed by range of CBDRR professionals through a series of
consultations. The consultative process followed in the development of the guidelines helped
to establish a minimum consensus amongst the practitioners in establishing benchmarks for
the CBDRM practice, which is an encouraging development towards improvement of quality
in the CBDRM practices. These critical guidelines are by no means exhaustive. This output
should be considered as „work in progress‟, which has been formulated upon the basis of
experiences of participating organizations and individuals. Other individuals and
organizations may have different experiences. The application of these guidelines in the field
should allow further refinement.
The document is divided into two parts. The first part titled as General Guidance
describes the Background, source materials and principles of performance and outcome
indicators, key definitions, elements of risk reduction, and the concept of resilient community.
The second part is titled as “Guidelines for good practice in community-based disaster risk
management”. It is divided into two sections. The first section is about Process Indicators,
while the second is about Outcome Indicators. The Process Indicators discuss six process
steps in the implementation of CBDRM programs and projects. For each process step, i) aim,
ii) steps in this process, iii) key outcome indicators, iv) and guidance notes to implement
CBDRM are discussed. The purpose of the first section is to describe the essential elements of
a good CBDRM process. The purpose of the second section is to discuss the expected
outcomes of a good CBDRM process. The Outcomes are about institutional arrangements and
product outputs that a CBDRM program/project must endeavor to establish in the local
community in order to ensure the continuity of community initiatives for disaster risk
reduction after the completion of externally sponsored development initiatives. These
outcome indicators can also serve as markers to gauge the success of an externally supported
CBDRM process in developing capacity of local community to achieve sustainable
development. If an externally supported process was able to establish the institutional
arrangements described in the outcome indicators, that initiative could be described as a
successful initiative, an otherwise assessment would mean more efforts were required to
develop community capacity.
It is suggested to adhere to the critical guidelines as minimum standards for CBDRR by
practitioners in the region. However the challenge is the limited knowledge on critical
guidelines and language barrier where ADPC has published these guidelines in English
Language.
162 Sisira Kumara
2.3. Workbook on CBDRM for Local Authorities: Catalyst Agent for

CBDRR
Local Authorities play a critical role in facilitating CBDRR process and making an
enabling environment for CBDRR. However it is widely recognized the limited knowledge
and capacity of local authorities in the region on CBDRR. The purpose of this workbook is to
facilitate the capacity building of local government officials on Community-based Disaster
Risk Management (CBDRM) in PDRSEA target countries including Cambodia, Indonesia,
Lao PDR, Timor Léste and Vietnam. It is expected that the workbook will be adapted and
used by National Disaster Management Offices (NDMO) and NGOs in the countries of South
East Asia for training the local government officials.
2.3.1. Target Users

The workbook is primarily intended for those who will train the lowest government
political structure and those who will facilitate the implementation of CBDRM at the
communities; e.g. district authorities giving training to village authorities. They can also be:
 National Disaster Management Offices

 Trainers at district, provincial and commune levels
 Provincial government officials
 District government officials
 NGOs/CBOs
 Line Ministries
 International organizations; e.g. IFRC, National Societies
The primary beneficiaries of this workbook will be the local government officials who
will do CBDRM activities. Secondary beneficiaries will include NGOs and other non-
government organizations. This workbook is for the participants during a training course, and
is not a manual of operations.
2.3.2. Methodology
The following steps were adopted while preparing the workbook:
 Review of existing training manuals and curricula in the region

 Discussion amongst ADPC staff members about the contents of the workbook
 Regional workshop on curriculum development for local authorities
 Revision on the basis of feedback from the Regional workshop
2.3.3. Training Modules

There are altogether 5 training modules and 20 training sessions in this workbook. The
following topics have been covered:
 Module 1: Introduction and Overview of Key Concepts

 Module 2: Community Risk, Needs and Damage Assessment
 Module 3: Disaster Risk Reduction Planning
 Module 4: Community Managed Implementation

 Module 5: Participatory Monitoring and Evaluation
Each module is structured as:
1. Learning objectives of the session

2. Key concepts
3. Reference materials: content of the session
4. References
2.3.4. Training Methods

This workbook can be used for both in-house training with field exercises and self-study.
At the end of each session, note page for „New Learning and Reflection‟ have been included.
2.4. Media Kit for CBDRM- Tool for Enhancing the Role of Media in
CBDRR
Disasters cause huge loss of life and property and they damage the environment in the
countries of region. Disasters are caused by hazards which impact upon vulnerable people,
infrastructure, assets and environment. Some of the common hazards experienced in the
region include typhoons, floods, drought, forest fires, landslide, earthquakes and tsunami. We
can avoid and reduce losses from disasters, by either mitigating the hazards or reducing the
vulnerabilities of the people living in hazard prone areas. The process of disaster risk
reduction involves identification of hazards/ vulnerabilities, analyzing their potential impact,
identifying priorities for risk reduction and identification and implementation of solutions. In
order to reduce risks to disasters everybody needs to get involved. This includes government
departments, scientific organizations, research institutions, NGOs, United Nations agencies,
donor agencies, the media, and the private sector. The role of at-risk communities and groups
is most important in reducing the risks of disasters. All of the above stakeholders have
different perceptions about the nature of risks, priorities for risk reduction and the appropriate
solutions. Therefore, extensive communication amongst the multiple stakeholders is required
in order to understand each other‟s opinions and identify solutions that are acceptable to each
other. The role of at-risk communities is highly important in this whole process because
ultimately a large number of solutions will be implemented at the family and community level
by the local people. Therefore, any solutions implemented without the participation and
involvement of the at-risk communities either may not be relevant or not sufficient to reduce
disaster risks effectively. The experiences in the Asian region show that the at-risk
communities have many capacities to reduce risks and cope with disasters when they occur.
However, it is important to enhance their capacities further to enable them to effectively cope
with the disaster problem. Historically, the media has been playing an active role in disaster
situations. Whenever a disaster occurs, the media has to cover it to provide information about
what happened, what authorities and international aid organizations are doing to respond and
how effective the response is. The media also has been playing an important part in
communicating early warning to at-risk communities. Recently the role of the media is being
164 Sisira Kumara
recognized in other phases of the disaster cycle as well, e.g. the Pre-Disaster Phase and the
Rehabilitation and Reconstruction Phase, aside from the During-Disaster Phase, in which the
media is already an active player. Now the governments, United Nations, donor agencies, and
development NGOs have recognized that the media can assist in reducing disaster risks. The
media plays an important role in providing analysis on disaster risks and vulnerabilities, in
facilitating communication amongst multiple stakeholders, in highlighting the need for longer
term actions to reduce risks, and particularly in increasing awareness of the at-risk
communities on disaster preparedness. Thus Media can perform a very important function of
facilitating communication amongst the different stakeholders in general, as well as raising
awareness of the at-risk communities. This role of the media was acknowledged in the World
Conference on Disaster Reduction (WCDR) that was held in Kobe, Japan at the initiative of
the United Nations in January 2005. In line with the recommendations of the Hyogo
Framework for Action 2005-2015, produced in the WCDR, the ADPC, UNESCAP and
DIPECHO have decided to work with the media in five Southeast Asian countries, i.e.
Cambodia, Timor Léste, Indonesia, Lao PDR and Vietnam. The purpose of this initiative is to
orient the media about its role in disaster risk management and particularly on how media can
enable the at-risk communities to reduce disaster risks, cope with disasters and recover from
their impact. Under this initiative, National Orientation Workshops for the Media were
organized in the five countries during 2005. The National Orientation Workshop for the
Media had the following objectives:
 To orient media people on community-based disaster risk management practices; and

 To develop strategies for the involvement of media in supporting community action
for disaster risk management.
This Media Kit has been developed as a guide for media professionals in the five
countries:
 as a Handout for the National Orientation Workshop for Media;

 to raise the awareness of media about its role in disaster risk reduction; and
 to enable them to perform that role in an effective manner.
The Handbook is Comprised of Two Parts.

Part one explains the key concepts of disaster and media, CBDRM, the role of media in
disaster risk management, and useful information for the media on disaster preparedness. Part
two includes country-based resources such as hazard profiles, case studies on CBDRM, and
contact information of national and regional organizations engaged in disaster risk
management.
2.5. Guidebook on Advocacy for Integrating CBDRR into Government

Policy and Programming
The goal of this guidebook is to develop and strengthen the skills and knowledge of
stakeholders on designing and implementing advocacy strategies to integrate CBDRM into
policy, planning and programming of local authorities in South East Asian countries. This
guide was developed through consultative process and materials included have been selected
from the outputs of a regional workshop on CBDRM advocacy that was held by the Asian
Disaster Preparedness Center (ADPC) in Bangkok from 18-21 April 2006. The leading
government and nongovernmental organization representatives those who are designing and
implementing advocacy program on CDRR attended the workshop and discussed on the
process, approaches, principles, strategies and tools of CBDRM advocacy as employed by
them. Small country groups discussed their experience and lesson learned in CBDRR
advocacy and ended up with a write-shop and plenary discussion. Content of this guide was
formulated through this consultation and were able to develop as an advocacy tool for various
stakeholders in CBDRR.
Given the nature of different policy and governance structures in the countries, the
advocacy guidelines of this guidebook range from greater community participation to focused
lobbying with the decision makers. As a result, the countries with centralized hierarchies
might call for simpler but deep advocacy strategies with long-term commitments on the part
of the donors. However, in these cases it is difficult to have alternative sources of information
needed for the advocacy campaigns other than those generated by the state-run structures.
Advocacy on CBDRR in Asia has been approached in many different ways by
Community organizations and other interested stakeholders. For this reason, users of the
guidebook will find that there is no single prescribed way to undertake a successful advocacy
intervention. This contextual necessity was well realized during the consultation process.
Therefore a full-fledged session has been allocated to understand the governance and
planning structures of the focused countries. Nevertheless, the present guidebook impresses
upon the development and CBDRM practitioners and its advocates to go beyond targeting
formal instruments and adopt developmental approaches to analyze advocacy environment
and try to match their initiatives with dynamics of their respective politics.
The participants‟ responses varied but we assume that empirical data coming out of this
regional workshop must have a valid basis for their multiple responses, and it was also
affirmed that despite the diversity of governance structures, the stages of the advocacy
initiatives for such a diverse audience remained more or the same as following: Identifying
policy issues; Selecting an advocacy objective; Researching audiences/ Stakeholders‟
analysis; Developing and delivering advocacy messages; Understanding the decision-making
process; Building alliances; Making effective presentations; Fund raising for advocacy, and
Evaluating and improving the advocacy.
This Guidebook will help disaster and development practitioners to understand themes
and issues of advocacy process for CBDRM and provide practical assistance in undertaking
advocacy initiatives at national and local levels.
ADPC sees in such a Guidebook an enabling tool for CBDRM practitioners to set
common procedures and approaches for their lobbying with the government authorities and
other stakeholders to mobilize resources and create conducive environment for CBDRM in
their respective countries.
However, the selection of advocacy field and its audience remains a question of critical
curiosity; in that, whether to undertake CBDRM advocacy and lobbying on national level, or
to initiate it at the local level to contribute to the integration of CBDRM into government
policy making and programming in the focused countries of Southeast Asia.
166 Sisira Kumara
Whereas the CBDRM advocacy is cognizant of the fact that Local Government (LG) is
the tier where governments directly interact with the people, it also is mindful that LG
authorities need support from national level.
National level advocacy is required for fund allocation, while if it has to sustain and be
implemented it has to create meaningful ownership at the local level. One pragmatist answer
to this dilemma of choosing the right advocacy field and audience lies in the nature of the
governance structures that we have to operate within. The most centralized organizations
demand advocacy at the top, while the decentralized structures are more conducive to
aggregate public pressures and support the decentralized reforms. This resolve asks for focus
upon stakeholder analysis, strategy and tool, and principle development, and to see if which
of these have worked; which not and why so.
Institutionalization and mainstreaming of the CBDRM by advocacy would naturally turn
to questions like legal instruments, and striving to make it as part of the regular formal
education process and national curriculum.
As a component, our advocacy efforts would aim to find academic institutions to take
ownership of the whole process within their routine programming. Research also helps in
convincing people and motivates them by case studies, externally and sharpens planning
skills within the advocate groups.
The efficiency and affectability of this Guidebook is encouraged by the fact that ADPC
invited authorities alongside the CBDRM advocates during its regional workshop. Obviously,
its outputs also include the official version and evaluation of the advocacy process from their
perspective; which is critical, because they in most of the cases stand as recipients of the
advocacy undertaken by civil society. Hence a dual reception has been demonstrated to
highlight aspects of CBDRM advocacy for integration.
Two audiences have been kept in mind in preparing this Guidebook: first, the CDBRM
practitioners coming from different strata of international to national and local agencies; and
second, and development activists at the field and offices who have to secondarily
complement their work with CBDRM initiatives at times.
The Guidebook can moreover be useful for trainers who are looking for support material
to assist them in designing and delivering training events on CBDRM advocacy. This has
three parts;
Part 1 defines over-all environment of advocacy for CBDRM. This provides working
definitions of CBDRM and advocacy, and briefly explains utility of their interface. It would
then set-out broad parameters, main beliefs, values/ethics, and philosophy for advocacy on
CBDRM.
Step-by-step stages, validated by the workshop participants in the light of their
experience, have also been given.
To exemplify and illustrate how best advocacy can affect change, and what is the
roadmap to success, we have also elaborated two case studies from environment and gender;
so that the readers can learn directly from these best practices. Although relevant for all
CBDRM practitioners and organizations, this section is particularly helpful to those who are
in the early phase of their interaction with the CBDRM, or to those general advocates within
the development sector who aspire to undertake such advocacy. As learning, this would
facilitate to set normative and academic framework of a training event.
Part 2 reviews and monitors progress of CBDRM Advocacy in Southeast Asia. It
identifies national and local stakeholders in each country - target agencies for advocacy on
CBDRM/various categories of stakeholders undertaking advocacy. It also defines their

interest and role in advocacy on CBDRM based on comparative advantages, and visits the
functioning of various stakeholders; e.g. mechanisms and procedures for development
planning; policies related to risk reduction, and related fields; programs having potential to
support CBDRR; planning and funding cycles, and opportunities for and obstacles in
advocacy faced by various stakeholders.
This stakeholders‟ analysis is informed by five key questions in a tabular format:
 Local (Provincial, Municipal/City, Village) stakeholders?

 Interest and role in Advocacy?
 Their functions and responsibility?
 Opportunities for advocacy?
 Obstacles before advocacy groups?
In this section, the stakeholder analysis has also been elaborated and as to why it‟s vital
to launch advocacy efforts from a developmental perspective that approaches analysis in
terms of understanding dynamics of power and shifts from formal and constitutional political
studies.
This part also includes another section to discuss the current and previous experiences of
participant on advocacy to promote/integrate CBDRM/ DRM in the government system.
This reviewing part would map out the process of advocacy and what main approaches
have been adapted by the CBDRM advocates. Empirical evidence as experienced by the
regional workshop participants in their respective countries has also been included. They
were asked to deconstruct one of their advocacy initiative/ campaign by highlighting the
process steps against each step of the 9-point stages of advocacy: Previous experience
(process, decisions, factors and, reasons behind selection); key lessons learnt against each
steps and recommendations for future. While considering participants‟ work with the local
and national authorities, they discussed and elaborated on the following questions:
 Weaknesses of various advocacy strategies adopted?

 Gaps in advocacy strategies adopted.
This part is the review and evaluation component of existing governance structures and
how advocacy groups have dealt with obstacles. It also recommends approaches on how to
understand of advocacy work that could have been reverted errors and could have presented
the best possible ways to tackle particular problems while advocating.
As learning, this would impart approaches to analyze stakeholders and national bodies on
DM. It also provides how we can systemically plan our advocacy initiatives, and evaluates as
process. How gaps can be logically identified and what lessons can be learnt?
In the early 1990‟s leading [northern] NGOs became aware that the impact of their work
was temporary and small-scale. As a result they identified strategies to scale up their impact:
 Co-operation with government

 Operational expansion
 Linking the grassroots together
 National and international lobbying and advocacy
168 Sisira Kumara
In the last 10 years NGOs have focused on scaling up through advocacy, trying to
persuade different groups of actors or targets - individuals, states, corporations, international
organizations - to alter their policies and behaviors in relation to development issues.
Development and emergency work alone are unlikely to produce sustained improvements in
the lives of impoverished people. Advocacy is a tool that can draw on programme experience
to show the impact existing public policies have on the poor and to suggest alternatives.
Advocacy, especially southern advocacy, is linked to empowerment. A mean to an end
that can facilitate the process by which people, through articulating their own needs and
desires, gain the confidence and ability to influence decisions which will affect their own
future.
The opportunities for NGOs to affect policy are increasing for a variety of reasons – the
rise of participatory development, work with partners and the rights-based approach makes
working with southern counterparts easier. In addition many NGOs (North and South) are
increasingly expected to act as an arm of the state to compensate for cuts in expenditure and
therefore have a more direct involvement in policy development.
Part 3 is a future-oriented section of the Guidebook, and is actually is the text where the
definitional issues and progress of practical advocacy has been culminated into key advocacy
messages and guidelines from the perspectives of individual countries. It deals first with
developing specific key messages emanating from actual advocacy needs of the participants‟
countries. These messages can be drafted in the light of two considerations: First, the
stakeholders have to highlight why authorities should be keen to integrate CBDRM with their
planning and programming processes. This would entail selling benefits and incentives of
CBDRM to local authorities and other stakeholders; e.g. improving governance,
environmental sustainability, poverty alleviation. Second; what do we expect authorities to do
to integrate CBDRM in the local national authority system? By which specific steps they can
ensure that the CBDRM has been integrated with the LG system? How can they integrate?
To conclude, this part provides guidelines on what is required for an affirmative
advocacy action to integrate CBRDM into official planning and programming of the focused
South Asian Countries. What are the recommended strategies?
2.6. Where and How these Tools are Being Used
All these tools were developed under the Partnership for Disaster Risk Reduction in
South Asia (PDRSEA) project which was implemented since 2001-2008. The partners were
INGOs, NGOSs, Civil Society Organizations and Government agencies at national and local
levels from Cambodia, Lao PDR, Viet Nam, Thailand, Indonesia, and the Philippine. Later,
these tools were widely circulated and used in other disaster prone countries in Asia such as
Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, Pakistan, Maldives, Afghanistan, Timor Leste, Nepal etc by various
DRR players such as NGOs, INGOs, civil society organization and local authorities through
their regular training courses, project implementation and learning workshops.
CONCLUSION
There are number of tools available within Asia that can readily be used by CBDRR
practitioners in reducing disaster risks. This ranges from different thematic areas such as
participatory risk assessment, risk reduction planning, Critical guidelines on CBDRR,
involvement of media in risk reduction, CBDRR and Local governance, advocacy for
CBDRR etc. Most of the CBDRR practitioners are familiar with participatory risk assessment
and risk reduction planning. However it is well recognized that other tools such as critical
guidelines as minimum standards for CBDRR, media kit to enhance media participation in
risk reduction, advocacy for mainstreaming CBDRR into national policies and programs are
yet to maximize their usage in community based disaster risk reduction. Community based
disaster risk management is a holistic process where all stakeholder are involved while the
community at risk are playing a major role. Therefore CBDRR practitioners need to well
equip with these tools bringing together all these stakeholders for effective disaster risk
reduction.
ACKNOWLEDGMENT
The Partnerships for Disaster Reduction - South East Asia Phase 3 (PDRSEA3) program
was jointly implemented by Asian Disaster Preparedness Center (ADPC) and the UNESCAP
with funding support from the European Commission Humanitarian Aid Department (ECHO)
under its „Fourth DIPECHO Action Plan for Southeast Asia‟.
The one-year project, which commenced in February 2005, aims to establish an
improved, enabling environment for CBDRM through promoting ownership in national
programs and local entities, enhancing the capabilities of CBDRM practitioners and the
expansion of new and strengthening of existing partnerships in Southeast Asia particularly in
the target countries Cambodia, Indonesia, Lao PDR, Timor Léste and Vietnam. Therefore
ADPC acknowledges the support given by DIPECHO and UNESCAP in producing all these
CBDRR tools under this project. The Asian Disaster Preparedness Center (ADPC),
established in 1986 is a regional, inter-governmental, non-profit organization and resource
center based in Bangkok, Thailand. ADPC is mandated to promote safer communities and
sustainable development through the reduction of the impact of disasters in response to the
needs of countries and communities in Asia and the Pacific by raising awareness, helping to
establish and strengthen sustainable institutional mechanisms, enhancing knowledge and
skills, and facilitating the exchange of information, experience and expertise. Its service as the
longest serving center in DRR in the world is greatly appreciated.
REFERENCES
Abarquez I., Murshed, Z. 2004. Field Practitioners’ Handbook. Asian Disaster Preparedness
Center, Bangkok.
Kanta K., Murshed Z. 2006. Participant’s workbook, community based disaster risk
management for local authorities. Asian Disaster Preparedness Center , Bangkok.
170 Sisira Kumara
Asian Disaster Preparedness Center-ADPC. 2006. Critical Guidelines for Community Based
Disaster Risk Reduction. Asian Disaster Preparedness Center, Bangkok.
Vicky, P. and Murshed, Z. 2006, Community Based Disaster Management and the Media.
Bangkok: Asian Disaster Preparedness Center
Iqbal B. 2006, Guidebook on Advocacy; Integrating CBDRM into Local Government Policy
and Programming. Asian Disaster Preparedness Center, Bangkok.
CBDRR DOWNLOADABLE AT
Field practitioner‟s handbook on CBDRR: http://www.adpc.net/v2007/Programs/
CBDRM/Publications/Downloads/Publications/12Handbk.pdf.
Critical Guidelines on CBDRR http://www.adpc.net/v2007/Programs/ CBDRM/Publications/
Downloads/Publications/guidefull.pdf.
Workbook on CBDRM for Local Authorities http://www.adpc.net/v2007/Programs
/CBDRM/Publications/Downloads/Publications/curriculum-cbdrm.pdf.
Media kit for CBDRM-http://www.adpc.net/v2007/Programs/CBDRM/ Publications/
Downloads/Publications/pdrseamediakit.pdf.
Guidebook on Advocacy for integrating CBDRR into government policy and programming
http://www.adpc.net/v2007/Programs/CBDRM
/Downloads/Publications/advocacyfull.pdf.
INDEX
A B
accommodation, 67, 70 Bangladesh, ix, 54, 73, 74, 75, 76, 88, 89, 92, 94,
accountability, 10, 42, 102 134, 149, 150, 151, 156, 158, 168
action research, 4 banks, 137, 140, 150
adaptability, 66 barriers, 71, 95
adaptation, 31, 32, 36, 37, 38, 131, 144, 146 behaviors, 168
adaptive mechanisms, viii, 31 Belgium, 14
advocacy, 47, 53, 160, 164, 165, 166, 167, 168, 169 benchmarks, 161
Afghanistan, 168 beneficiaries, 151, 152, 154, 156, 162
agencies, ix, 4, 6, 7, 8, 10, 12, 18, 28, 29, 58, 71, 73, benefits, 27, 28, 29, 42, 60, 146, 168
76, 79, 80, 83, 93, 96, 97, 101, 102, 104, 105, biodiversity, 38
110, 114, 122, 124, 129, 136, 140, 147, 154, 158, birds, 140
163, 166, 168 bleeding, 100
agricultural production, ix, 73, 74 boils, 33
agriculture, xi, 18, 27, 32, 33, 66, 116, 129, 135, 139, bones, 100
149, 152 borrowers, 96, 97, 98
apex, 34, 155 brass, 21
appraisals, 19 budget resolution, 47
aquaculture, 27, 125 building code, 65
arsenic, 84 burn, 142
Asia, 15, 30, 40, 49, 53, 93, 120, 131, 134, 152, 157,
158, 159, 160, 165, 168, 169
Asian countries, 158, 160 C
Asian localities, vii
aspiration, 110, 116 Cabinet, 76
assessment, 6, 10, 24, 25, 27, 29, 41, 42, 49, 56, 59, Cambodia, 158, 160, 162, 164, 168, 169
60, 62, 64, 68, 69, 71, 77, 97, 98, 99, 136, 137, campaigns, 60, 165
144, 146, 147, 159, 161, 169 canals, 45, 99, 121, 153, 155
assets, ix, xi, 6, 56, 70, 99, 107, 134, 136, 137, 138, capacity building, ix, x, 58, 93, 99, 101, 111, 119,
139, 144, 145, 163 123, 124, 160, 162
authorities, 6, 7, 11, 12, 68, 100, 122, 125, 127, 128, case study, x, 9, 43, 78, 88, 133
160, 162, 163, 165, 166, 167, 168 cash, 97, 98
awareness, viii, ix, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 35, 39, 42, 46, catalyst, 46, 72
60, 78, 100, 101, 107, 110, 113, 126, 128, 129, catchments, 19, 140
131, 164 categorization, 60, 65
cattle, xi, 149
CBDRM, vii, x, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13,
14, 42, 43, 48, 49, 50, 51, 52, 53, 54, 58, 59, 60,
65, 71, 119, 120, 122, 123, 124, 125, 126, 127,
172 Index
128, 129, 130, 158, 159, 160, 161, 162, 163, 164, cost, 18, 19, 21, 26, 29, 88, 99, 101, 104
165, 166, 167, 168, 169, 170 counseling, 70
census, 56, 121 covering, 18, 78, 94
Centre for Disaster Management of the Bandung critical infrastructure, 44, 49
Institute of Technology, vii, 2 critical value, 79
chemical, 94, 151, 152 crop production, 136, 152
China, 14, 34, 94, 118, 120, 134, 149 crops, 129, 135, 138, 150, 151, 152, 153
cities, 40, 47, 51, 54, 123 crowd control, 46
citizens, 4, 42 cultivation, 151, 152
citizenship, viii, 39, 42 cultural norms, 37
civic, viii, 39, 42, 46, 52, 53 cultural practices, 32
civil society, 3, 4, 166, 168 cultural values, 20
classes, 87 culture, x, 7, 31, 40, 46, 66, 71, 72, 92, 107, 113,
classification, 87 116, 160
cleaning, 48 currency, 154
clients, 97, 98 curricula, 162
climate, viii, 3, 5, 18, 31, 32, 37, 38, 56, 59, 120, curriculum, 126, 158, 162, 166, 170
128, 129, 131 curriculum development, 162
climate change, 3, 5, 38, 56, 59, 128, 129, 131 cycles, 139, 160, 167
clusters, 33, 136, 137 Cyclone Nargis, v, ix, 93, 94, 95, 96, 97, 101, 105
collateral, 139 cyclones, 18, 75, 84, 96, 100, 101, 129
common sense, viii, 31
communication, 6, 7, 10, 11, 22, 23, 25, 44, 45, 48,
67, 68, 71, 110, 156, 163 D
communication systems, 68
Community based disaster, vii, xi, 1, 14, 120, 122, danger, 35, 143
157, 169 data analysis, 77, 80
community based flood early warning system data collection, 50
(CBFEWS), viii, 17, 19 database, 72, 77, 80, 134
Community involvement, viii, 39 deaths, 69, 108, 135, 142
comparative advantage, 167 debris flows, viii, 8, 32, 55
compensation, 70 decentralization, 41, 47
compilation, vii, 1, 62, 111 decision makers, 13, 88, 165
complement, 166 decision-making process, 165
complexity, 3 defecation, 92
compounds, 143 defects, 43
computation, 85 deficit, 150
conference, 13 degradation, 3, 108, 138
conflict, 155 Delta, ix, 93, 94, 95, 96, 97, 98, 100, 101, 105, 121,
consensus, viii, x, 13, 39, 77, 125, 127, 133, 161 125
conservation, 111 democracy, 47, 124, 130
construction, 32, 33, 36, 37, 46, 47, 49, 64, 108, 124, demonstrations, viii, 55
130, 139, 143 Department of the Interior, 52
consumption, xi, 149, 150 deposits, 136
contingency, 8, 20, 28 destruction, 27, 34, 74, 76, 95, 101, 140
conventional flood management, x, 133 developing countries, 94, 134
convergence, 18 disability, 100
cooking, 101, 141, 142 disappointment, 150
coordination, 3, 6, 23, 41, 43, 44, 45, 47, 48, 58, 71, disaster education program, x, 107, 110
98, 115, 126 Disaster management, vii, 53
coping strategies, 18, 77, 144 disaster management institutions, x, 119, 122
correlation, 24 Disaster preparedness, vii, 12
corruption, 37 disaster risk management, vii, viii, ix, x, 1, 2, 3, 4, 6,
8, 9, 12, 13, 15, 27, 39, 40, 42, 46, 47, 48, 51, 52,
Index 173
53, 55, 59, 60, 65, 68, 72, 113, 119, 120, 123, English Language, 161
125, 131, 133, 134, 146, 159, 160, 161, 164, 169 entrepreneurs, 46
disasters, vii, viii, ix, x, 2, 3, 4, 9, 13, 18, 28, 32, 37, environmental degradation, 59, 122
40, 42, 52, 53, 55, 56, 57, 58, 59, 60, 62, 63, 64, environmental management, 12
67, 68, 69, 70, 72, 73, 74, 75, 76, 77, 92, 93, 96, environmental sustainability, 168
98, 99, 100, 101, 102, 104, 105, 119, 120, 121, epidemic, 2, 69
122, 124, 126, 127, 128, 129, 130, 134, 135, 146, EPR, 10
160, 163, 169 equipment, 8, 19, 20, 21, 23, 41, 43, 45, 97, 108
dismantlement, 99 equity, 42
disruption of communication, ix, 73, 74 erosion, 40, 74, 94, 153
divergence, 137 ethics, 166
diversity, 121, 160, 165 ethnic groups, 140
DOC, 20, 25 ethnicity, 62, 72
donors, viii, 17, 19, 97, 98, 122, 123, 126, 165 Eurasia, 93
downstream communities, viii, 17 European Commission, 169
draft, 20, 59 evacuation, x, 7, 8, 10, 41, 42, 43, 44, 45, 46, 49, 51,
drainage, 42, 76, 94, 122, 125, 138, 139, 143, 146, 52, 53, 63, 66, 67, 68, 99, 107, 108, 111, 114,
151, 155 115, 116, 125, 142, 143, 145
drawing, 111 evapotranspiration, 131
drinking water, 69, 80, 81, 97, 144 execution, 46, 72
drought, vii, 1, 2, 8, 74, 120, 121, 124, 125, 163 exercise, 18, 25, 45, 63, 84, 101
drugs, 141 expertise, 9, 72, 94, 96, 97, 98, 101, 158, 169
drying, 144 exposure, 51, 56
dykes, 125, 144 extraction, 139
E F
early warning, viii, ix, 8, 10, 17, 18, 19, 28, 29, 30, fabrication, 20
41, 44, 46, 50, 51, 53, 54, 100, 102, 104, 107, facilitators, x, 9, 59, 101, 119, 139
111, 113, 118, 129, 134, 140, 163 factories, 63
Early warning systems, vii, 13, 17 famine, 150
East Asia, 105, 123, 131, 158, 159, 160, 161, 162, farm land, 32, 97
165, 169 farm size, 156
East Timor, 159 farmers, 77, 94, 144, 150, 151, 152, 153, 154, 155
economic activity, 122 farms, 103
economic change, 121 fauna, 62
economic development, 52, 125, 160 fever, 141
economic growth, 152 financial relief, 70
economic loss, ix, 73, 74, 99 financial resources, 37, 97, 126
economic status, 36, 56 financial support, 72
ecosystem, 94, 125 fine tuning, 70
education, x, 8, 10, 39, 42, 107, 108, 110, 111, 116, fire fighting, 8
150 first aid, 45, 48, 67, 68, 99, 100, 102, 129
election, 102 first responders, 53
emergency, vii, ix, 4, 6, 18, 20, 22, 25, 27, 41, 42, fish, 94, 141
43, 44, 45, 46, 48, 51, 53, 62, 64, 65, 66, 67, 68, fishing, 11, 50, 94, 97, 143
69, 70, 73, 76, 77, 88, 89, 92, 97, 100, 102, 129, flash floods, viii, 32, 33, 35, 37, 55, 124, 128
131, 134, 139, 143, 147, 168 flight, 95
employment, 42 flood hazard, vii, 5, 17, 19, 20, 37, 40, 41, 45, 134,
empowerment, x, 6, 107, 108, 110, 168 145, 146
encouragement, 72, 128 flood hazards, 37, 134, 146
energy, 33 flood prone villages, vii, 2
engineering, 66, 134, 145, 150
174 Index
flooding, 18, 19, 25, 27, 29, 30, 32, 42, 43, 50, 51, health care, 10, 97
71, 94, 99, 108, 138, 140, 142, 143, 150 height, 25, 111, 142, 143, 144
floods problems, x, 133 herbal medicine, 141
flora, 62 highlands, 121
fluid, 141 Highlands, 124
food security, 98 Hindu Kush, v, viii, 31
forecasting, 21, 30, 89, 108, 134, 137, 140, 145 homelessness, 108
forest fires, viii, 55, 63, 120, 163 Hong Kong, 128, 129
formal education, 166 host, 33, 160
formula, 79 House, 35
foundations, x, 71, 133 housing, viii, 31, 32, 66
France, 123 human capital, 101
fruits, 153 Human Development Index, 135
funding, 4, 10, 11, 12, 27, 30, 61, 97, 124, 130, 160, human resources, 9, 12, 61, 67, 116, 129
167, 169 human security, 131
fusion, 145 humanitarian aid, 99
hygiene, 36, 78, 79, 83, 91, 92, 97
G
I
GDP, 18, 122, 135
geography, 125, 137 ideal, 18, 152
Germany, 105 images, 13, 15
GIS based Management Information System immunization, 67
(GMIS), ix, 73 impact assessment, 126
good urban governance, viii, 39, 40, 42, 43, 53 Impact Assessment, 13
goods and services, 99 incidence, 19, 100, 136
google, 15 independence, 5
governance, viii, 39, 40, 42, 43, 47, 52, 53, 127, 156, India, viii, 35, 36, 38, 55, 56, 57, 60, 63, 68, 72, 94,
165, 166, 167, 168, 169 134, 149
government policy, 165, 170 indigenous knowledge, 43, 58, 72
governments, xi, 9, 157, 166 Indonesia, vii, ix, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 8, 9, 10, 12, 13, 14,
GPS, 49 15, 54, 107, 117, 118, 134, 158, 160, 162, 164,
grass, 3, 6, 134, 141, 142, 154 168, 169
grassroots, 94, 124, 130, 167 Indonesian Society for Disaster Management, vii, 1,
grazing, 141 4, 5
groundwater, 151 inertia, 146
group activities, 156 information exchange, 76
growth rate, 121 information technology, 100
guidance, 49, 158, 161 infrastructure, viii, ix, 27, 31, 32, 47, 50, 53, 56, 62,
guidelines, 30, 65, 147, 160, 161, 165, 168, 169 66, 71, 93, 97, 99, 100, 104, 121, 122, 135
insecticide, 152
insects, 151, 152
H institutions, x, 12, 26, 100, 109, 110, 116, 119, 122,
124, 130, 166
hailstorms, viii, 55, 63 integration, 5, 11, 45, 104, 160, 165, 166
Haiti, 98 interface, 166
harbors, 125 interference, 129
harmful effects, 44 intervention, x, 19, 28, 79, 104, 119, 123, 133, 139,
harvesting, 151, 152 152, 154, 165
hazard prone areas, viii, 31, 32, 137, 163 interventions, viii, ix, 2, 3, 37, 55, 56, 73, 100, 125,
hazards, vii, viii, 1, 2, 3, 18, 27, 28, 29, 31, 32, 33, 135, 140, 146, 150
35, 37, 42, 44, 56, 59, 60, 62, 63, 65, 66, 77, 98, intrusions, 120
101, 102, 108, 122, 137, 146, 159, 163 ISC, 156
Index 175
isolation, 138 55, 56, 57, 58, 59, 60, 62, 63, 64, 65, 66, 67, 71,
73, 76, 77, 107, 109, 110, 111, 113, 116, 118,
119, 120, 122, 124, 125, 126, 127, 128, 129, 130,
J 131, 133, 134, 135, 137, 138, 139, 140, 142, 143,
144, 145, 146, 147, 150, 152, 153, 154, 155, 156,
Japan, 14, 15, 30, 118, 119, 133, 164 157, 159, 164
Java, ix, 8, 14, 107, 114, 118 management committee, 48, 142
jurisdiction, 48, 154, 155 manpower, 50, 127
manure, 94, 152
K mapping, 27, 49, 80, 84, 131, 137, 145, 146, 147
matrix, 65, 79, 80, 82
Kenya, 54 media, 13, 29, 46, 53, 67, 92, 163, 164, 169
media messages, 67
messages, 45, 100, 165, 168
L messengers, 38
meter, 22, 39, 149, 153
lakes, xi, 34, 63, 149 methodology, viii, 55, 59, 60, 65, 72, 77
landscape, 32, 33, 34, 35, 37 Microfinance, v, ix, 93, 94, 96, 97, 98
language barrier, 161 missions, 9
Laos, 94 modelling, 96
lead, 9, 13, 19, 29, 33, 58, 61, 89, 138 models, vii, 1, 125, 126
leadership, viii, 18, 28, 52, 55, 102, 103, 129 modules, 162
leakage, 69 momentum, 12
learning, 2, 9, 59, 72, 98, 102, 111, 166, 167, 168 motivation, 50, 60, 154, 156
legend, 45 Mt. Merapi of Java, ix, 107
legislation, 47, 53 mutual assistance, viii, 17, 18
levees, 40, 99 Myanmar, ix, 93, 94, 95, 96, 97, 98, 100, 101, 102,
lightning, viii, 55 103, 104, 105
literacy, 72, 139, 156
livestock, 36, 49, 56, 64, 69, 91, 97, 135, 138, 141,
142, 143 N
lobbying, 165, 167
local authorities, vii, xi, 6, 11, 17, 124, 125, 126, NAD, 14
127, 157, 162, 165, 168, 169 national goal, ix, 73
local communities, vii, x, 6, 9, 32, 94, 97, 98, 99, National Law on Disaster Management, vii, 1
119, 146 Natural Disaster Risk Management Project
local community, viii, 6, 7, 55, 71, 77, 92, 98, 101, (NDRMP), x, 119, 120
113, 114, 115, 120, 145, 161 natural disasters, 18, 74, 76, 77, 99, 105, 121, 122,
local government, viii, xi, 3, 5, 6, 7, 10, 12, 17, 18, 128, 129, 135
19, 20, 28, 29, 30, 47, 52, 110, 124, 128, 129, natural hazards, x, 3, 38, 56, 119, 120, 122, 123, 124
153, 157, 162 natural resources, 3, 62
local government unit (LGU), viii, 17 neglect, 56
logging, 138, 153 Nepal, 31, 34, 35, 38, 133, 134, 135, 136, 137, 146,
logistics, 98, 116, 129 147, 149, 168
lying, 11, 35, 40, 122, 137, 139, 142 Netherlands, 123
network density, 23
NGOs, ix, 5, 29, 48, 76, 91, 93, 96, 99, 123, 128,
M 158, 159, 160, 162, 163, 167, 168
normal distribution, 79
magnitude, 37, 40, 84, 100 nutrition, 42
majority, 91, 97, 111, 134, 141, 158, 159
malnutrition, 150
management, vii, viii, ix, x, xi, 1, 3, 4, 5, 8, 9, 11, 12,
13, 14, 17, 18, 29, 30, 39, 42, 43, 47, 48, 52, 53,
176 Index
principles of governance, viii, 39

O profit, 169
program outcomes, 104
obstacles, 167 programming, 104, 160, 165, 166, 168, 170
obstruction, 23 project, vii, ix, x, 2, 5, 8, 9, 15, 19, 20, 21, 27, 29, 43,
oceans, xi, 149 46, 47, 48, 51, 52, 53, 61, 88, 93, 97, 99, 102,
operations, 18, 42, 66, 68, 97, 98, 104, 127 104, 117, 119, 120, 123, 124, 125, 126, 127, 150,
opportunities, 52, 134, 155, 158, 167, 168 151, 152, 154, 155, 156, 158, 161, 168, 169
optimum output, 152 proliferation, 40
organize, 6, 129, 153 propaganda, 125, 130
overlap, 137, 152 psychology, 9
ownership, ix, 20, 30, 46, 81, 93, 102, 104, 107, 156, Public - private partnership approach, ix, 73
158, 159, 166, 169 public awareness, 46, 113
public safety, 42
P public schools, 34
public service, 47
Pacific, 18, 30, 169 pumps, 144, 151
Pact, Inc, ix, 93, 94 PVA, 136
Pakistan, 33, 34, 38, 54, 150, 168 PVC, 21
paradigm shift, 28, 48
PCA, 146 Q
periodicity, 49
peri-urban, 5 quality of life, 56
Philippines, viii, 17, 18, 26, 27, 29, 30, 39, 40, 46,
47, 50, 51, 52, 53, 54, 134, 158, 159, 160
physical environment, x, 133, 146 R
physical features, 32
pigs, 94 radio, 10, 45, 46
pilot programmes, viii, 55 rain data, viii, 17
plants, 63, 151 rainfall, 8, 18, 19, 20, 21, 23, 25, 29, 30, 32, 121, 140
platform, 23, 42, 101 reactive intervention, x, 133
police, 42, 63, 68 reception, 166
policy makers, 3, 156 recognition, 28, 52, 53, 96, 127, 158
political leaders, 136 recommendations, 114, 116, 136, 164, 167
political parties, 28, 139 reconstruction, 68, 70, 82, 97
politics, 72, 165 recovery plan, 70
pollution, 125 redevelopment, 68, 70
population density, 56, 62 reforms, 166
population growth, 121 rehabilitation, vii, ix, 28, 42, 68, 70, 73, 98, 129
population size, 79, 135 rehydration, 141
positive feedback, 138 relatives, 97, 142
potato, 141, 144 relevance, 4
poultry, 142 reliability, 22, 50, 145
poverty, 56, 59, 134, 138, 141, 145, 156, 168 relief, ix, xi, 2, 4, 6, 41, 42, 46, 48, 50, 51, 67, 68,
poverty alleviation, 168 69, 73, 76, 97, 98, 99, 101, 104, 105, 128, 134,
precipitation, 50, 121 138, 140, 143, 145, 150
preparation, 48, 60, 62, 130 rent, 46
preparedness, vii, ix, x, 2, 4, 5, 6, 10, 11, 12, 18, 19, repair, 82, 83
28, 29, 32, 38, 41, 44, 47, 48, 51, 52, 53, 60, 64, replication, 114, 125
66, 93, 98, 114, 119, 123, 124, 125, 126, 127, reputation, 97
129, 133, 134, 140, 141, 164 requirements, 64, 72, 126
prevention, vii, x, 8, 28, 64, 66, 71, 113, 119, 120, research institutions, 163
129, 131, 135 researchers, 4, 8
Index 177
resettlement, 68 sensors, 8
resilience, x, 2, 3, 4, 6, 32, 36, 40, 66, 84, 104, 113, septic tank, 82
114, 124, 133, 134, 139, 145 settlements, 33, 39, 40, 138, 142
resistance, 28 shape, 19
resolution, 20, 29 shelf life, 67
resources, viii, 2, 5, 9, 10, 11, 12, 17, 18, 20, 37, 47, shelter, 42, 67, 85, 86, 87, 97, 98, 100, 115, 139, 143
50, 56, 57, 58, 62, 63, 66, 67, 70, 71, 72, 74, 77, shock, 100
94, 102, 108, 113, 120, 124, 126, 127, 128, 129, shortage, 9, 144
130, 131, 139, 143, 144, 145, 154, 160, 164, 165 shrubs, 34
response time, 98, 100 SIDR, ix, 73, 77, 78, 79, 82, 83, 84, 85, 86, 87, 88,
rights, 168 91, 92
risk assessment, x, 5, 41, 43, 49, 52, 56, 57, 65, 119, signals, 67
122, 159, 169 signs, 45, 111
risk factors, 160 simulation, 44, 45, 68, 129
risk management, vii, viii, x, 1, 2, 3, 4, 6, 8, 9, 12, Singapore, 105
13, 15, 27, 39, 40, 42, 46, 47, 48, 51, 52, 53, 55, skilled personnel, 139
59, 60, 65, 68, 72, 113, 119, 120, 122, 123, 125, skin, 141
131, 133, 134, 135, 141, 146, 159, 160, 161, 164, skits, 60
169 SMS, 88, 90, 92
risk perception, 50 social acceptance, 145
risks, viii, ix, xi, 2, 35, 38, 41, 42, 46, 55, 56, 63, 65, social capital, 120
66, 72, 73, 101, 113, 122, 125, 126, 137, 157, social infrastructure, 99, 102
159, 163 social institutions, 10
river basin, viii, 2, 17, 18, 19, 20, 32, 40, 122, 131, social life, 120
135, 140 social norms, 139
river basins, 18, 32, 122 social problems, 111
river behavior, viii, 17 social resources, 56
river systems, 40 social sciences, 145, 146, 147
rubber, 141 social workers, 136
rules, 154 software, 79, 87, 88, 89
runoff, 19 soil erosion, 36
rural areas, 11, 120 solidarity, 52
rural development, xi, 157 South Africa, 146
South Asia, 32, 150, 168
Southeast Asia, 2, 53, 158, 164, 165, 166, 169
S soybeans, 94
specialization, 126
salinity, 74, 94, 155 Sri Lanka, 54, 158, 168
saltwater, 94 staffing, 67
saving lives, 11, 65 stakeholder analysis, 166, 167
savings, 97, 100, 104, 139, 154 stakeholders, 3, 5, 20, 26, 29, 45, 47, 48, 49, 52, 58,
savings account, 97, 104 60, 61, 77, 109, 110, 114, 124, 126, 130, 136,
scaling, 11, 168 143, 163, 164, 165, 166, 167, 168, 169
scarcity, 32, 84, 85, 86, 87 stars, 140
scientific knowledge, 145 states, 129, 149
SEA, 13, 158 statistics, 62
sea level, 39, 125, 150 stockpiling, 42, 67
seasonality, 62 stomach, 141
sediment, 108, 118 storage, 36, 67, 142, 144, 145
seed, 104, 144, 151, 152 storms, 2, 120, 121, 122, 127, 129, 139, 140
self help, viii, 17, 18, 72 storytelling, 11
self-study, 163 stoves, 142
sensitivity, 3 strategy use, 9
sensitization, 60
178 Index
stressors, 32 transportation, 67, 128

stretching, 120 trauma, 69, 99, 101, 104
structural dimension, 32 trial, 153
style, 32, 59 tropical storms, 120, 121, 128
subgroups, 140 turnover, 20, 28
subsistence, 139
subsistence farming, 139
Sun, 35, 144 U
supervision, 46, 127
surface area, xi, 149 UK, 131
surplus, 78 UNESCO, 4, 5, 13, 14, 15
survival, 33, 48, 70, 104 UNICEF, ix, 73, 76, 78, 79, 83, 88, 91, 92, 97
survivors, ix, 51, 93, 96, 99, 101, 104 unions, 85, 87
susceptibility, 44 United Nations (UN), 6, 11, 13, 14, 15, 27, 30, 42,
sustainability, vii, 2, 5, 17, 20, 26, 28, 30, 42, 102, 53, 54, 60, 92, 123, 160, 163
104, 110, 114, 116, 123, 124, 125, 128, 131, 145 United Nations Development Programme, 6, 27, 60,
sustainable development, x, 13, 98, 102, 119, 158, 123
161, 169 updating, 48, 115
sustainable economic growth, 42 upstream catchment, viii, 17
Sweden, 31 urban areas, 15, 29
Switzerland, 147 urban life, 42
urban population, 121
Uttarakhand, v, viii, 55, 56, 57, 63, 72
T
target, x, 68, 111, 113, 119, 153, 154, 156, 162, 166, V
169
teachers, 69, 111 validation, 53, 131
team members, 101 variables, 140
technical assistance, 29, 45 variations, 120
technical support, 76 varieties, 94, 150
technologies, 57, 79, 134 vegetables, 141, 153
technology, 21, 124, 130 vehicles, 143
temperature, 129 ventilation, 67
tenure, 26, 28, 42 victims, 8, 66, 68, 69, 99, 101, 134, 143
territory, 63, 68, 120, 149 Vietnam, x, 119, 120, 121, 122, 124, 125, 126, 127,
Thailand, 13, 30, 94, 158, 160, 168, 169 128, 130, 131, 134, 158, 162, 164, 169
Third World, 99 village level planning, ix, 93
threats, ix, 107 vision, 158
tides, 40 volatility, 122
time frame, 11, 98 Volunteers, 8, 29
time lags, 127 vulnerability, x, 3, 5, 6, 18, 42, 47, 49, 52, 53, 56, 59,
time periods, 36 62, 64, 65, 66, 77, 84, 85, 86, 87, 98, 119, 120,
timely warnings, viii, 17 128, 135, 136, 137, 138, 145, 146
tornadoes, 78 vulnerable people, 64, 163
tourism, 116
traditions, 11, 37 W
training, viii, xi, 8, 9, 20, 25, 29, 41, 43, 44, 45, 48,
55, 59, 66, 71, 96, 98, 99, 100, 102, 103, 115, warning systems, vii, 13, 17, 18, 19, 66, 100
126, 129, 152, 157, 158, 162, 163, 166, 168 Washington, 94
transmission, 22, 25 water, viii, xi, 2, 3, 12, 13, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 29, 31,
transparency, viii, 10, 39, 42, 43, 53 32, 33, 34, 38, 40, 43, 45, 50, 51, 62, 63, 66, 69,
transplantation, 144 76, 78, 79, 80, 81, 82, 83, 84, 85, 86, 87, 90, 91,
transport, 66, 67
Index 179
94, 97, 99, 101, 104, 113, 121, 128, 134, 138, West Rapti River Basin, vi, x, 133
139, 140, 143, 144, 147, 149, 150, 151, 152, 154, wildfire, 8
155, 156 wood, 21, 36, 101
water quality, 69 World Bank, 120, 123, 131
water resources, 38, 113, 139, 154, 155
Water Supply, Sanitation and Hygiene (WASH), ix,
73 Y
watershed, viii, 9, 17, 19
wealth, xi, 149 yield, 150, 151, 153
welfare, 42, 66 young women, 67
wells, 49, 91

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NATURAL DISASTER RESEARCH, PREDICTION AND MITIGATION

Additional books in this series can be found on Nova‟s website

Additional E-books in this series can be found on Nova‟s website

Nova Science Publishers, Inc.

NOTICE TO THE READER

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Forms of community participation in disaster risk management practices /

Published by Nova Science Publishers, Inc. † New York

Chapter 9 Community Based Disaster Risk Management in Vietnam 119

Disaster management, which involves prevention, mitigation, preparedness, response and

IMPLEMENTATION OF COMMUNITY BASED

Krishna S Pribadi1, Teti Argo2, Aria Mariani3, and Hening Parlan4

implemented in the country will be discussed, exemplified by some pilot project

Keywords: Community-based disaster risk management, project framework, policy,

2. CBDRM PRACTICES IN INDONESIA

Table 1. Disasters in Indonesia, 1900- 2010

Population Damage (000

2.1. CBDRM Framework in Indonesia

2.1.1. National Policy on Disaster Management

 post-disaster reactive response only to a more proactive, comprehensive risk-

2.1.2. Actors in CBDRM in Indonesia

2.1.3. Development of CBDRM Framework

3. SOME EXAMPLES OF CBDRM ON WATER-RELATED DISASTER

3.2. CBDRR Initiatives in Aceh and West Sumatera

Figure 1. Steps in CBDRM implementation.

Figure 2. A community facilitation meeting in Bidara Cina village, Jakarta.

Figure 3. A disaster awareness session at a village mosque in Pariaman, West Sumatra.

3.3. Other CBDRM Schemes in Indonesia

Some other initiatives on community-based approaches have also been developed in

4. FROM PRACTICE TO POLICY

4.2. Formulating Enabling Policy

EM-DAT-Emergency Events Database. 2010. Data on Indonesia. http://www.emdat.be/result-

berbasis-komu-nitas-di-kecamatan-meuraksa-kota-banda-aceh-2, (Accessed 10 June,

LESSONS LEARNED FROM COMMUNITY BASED

Susan R. Espinueva1 and Prisco D. Nilo2

2.1. Strategies in the Establishment of CBFEWS

2.2. Activities in the Establishment of CBFEWS

In general, a CBFEWS consists of two distinct groups: one <that> is involved in

2.2.1. Consultation with Lgus

2.2.2. Network Design

2.2.3. Acquisition and Fabrication of EWS Instruments

Figure 3. Specification of a Standard 8 inches manual rain-gauge.

B. Water Level Gauge

Figure 4. Preparation of a water level gauge template.

2.3. Ocular Survey of Proposed Sites

2.4. Installation and Hydrographic Survey

Figure 5. Installation of a standard manual rain-gauge.

Cut out pattern

Figure 7. Fixing water level gauges on bridge piers.

The hydrographic survey consists of discharge measurement and cross-sectioning (Figure

Figure 8. Measurement of river cross-section.

Table 1. Meaning of flood advisories

Assessment River height Flood Meaning

2.5. Training for Observers

2.6. Pilot Testing/Dry Run

Figure 9. Communication scheme.

2.7. Other Activities

2.7.1. Agreement among Stakeholders

2.7.2. Enactment of a Local Ordinance for Operation and Maintenance

LEGISLATIVE SUPPORT (Dumangas, Iloilo)

• ORDINANCE NO 2005-01 entitled, “AN ORDINANCE

Figure 10. Agreement sample.

Operation and Maintenance

Institutional Stability of CBFEWS