Role of NGOs, community - based organizations and media in disaster management

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Role of NGOs, community - based organizations and media in disaster management

The First India Disaster Management Congress (IDMC), hosted by the National Institute of Disaster Management from November 29-30,2006 in New Delhi, is a major step in recognition that disasters pose a serious challenge to human security in India”

In the last several years there have been significant developments related to national commitments for DRR, including development of National Disaster Management Framework, the enforcement of the Disaster Management Act in 2005, establishment of National Authority for Disaster Management (NDMA) and State level authorities, and a range of DRR research, networking, and capacity development initiatives by the National Institute of Disaster Management (NIDM) and United Nations supporting the Hyogo Framework for Action 2005-2015.

Similarly, a wide range of CSO initiatives have led local DRR actions and concrete knowledge building initiatives, including recovery support to disaster hit communities in different parts of India. While these important strides are being made on DRR policies and actions in India, it is important that the wider civil society organizations and vulnerable communities are involved in these processes.

In early and mid90’s very few organizations were sharing their CBDRR experiences in events such as this and very less money was allocated to civil society organizations to mobilize community support for risk reduction. In last decade or so, the entire approach for reducing risk has been changed. Even national governments and UN systems are now shaping and implementing one of the largest community based risk reduction projects across the globe.

We need to try much harder to increase community ownership is risk reduction initiatives. The involvement of community in is very crucial and critical for transpiring vulnerable communities into resilient communities. South-South linkages for effective risk reduction in the poor and vulnerable countries of Asia is important. 

“Stakeholder participation in managing coastal disaster”. Cyclone early warning devices for the community of fishermen and community participation through NGOs is importance. The influences of NGOs in disaster management is multi-fold and there are other government agencies like the Coast Guard and the Fire Service that are running disaster management programmes with ample support of the NGOs. More nation-wide research studies should be initiated to identify most effective technologies and appropriate disaster risk communication approaches.

“People’s methodology for community based disaster risk management- An experience from Uttarakhand”, advocated the community based multi-hazard vulnerability assessment for integrated risk management in Uttarakhand. An attempt was made to translate research concepts like risks, vulnerability and capacity to local terms. Community was encouraged to be involved in the risk analysis followed by preparing them to be involved in preventive and mitigation analysis. It was mentioned that community to community learning approaches could be developed for enhancing community level learning. It was also informed that the outcome of such an endeavour in Rudraprayad of Uttarakhand was extremely successful but there is a problem of attaining sustainability in such efforts, a point which needs to be carefully looked into.

“School based disaster risk reduction: lessons from Child’s right to safer school campaign”, highlighted that the unsafe schools are particularly vulnerable to fire, floods, earthquakes, cyclone, pollution, food poisoning, stampede, etc. It is an unfortunate reality that not enough has been done to mitigate risk faced by the children at school.

A recent school safety audit revealed that school safety is not a high priority for either public or corporate officials. It was stressed that the participation of children in Disaster Risk Reduction activities is very important. Schools can work with the local communities in a partnership module and more emphasis on practical training should be given for school safety. Teachers have a high level of interest in school safety but there is a lack platform to address the issue. Therefore, it was recommended that inter-financial institutions, ISDR, government, insurance companies and civil society organizations should be involved in school safety.

“Involvement of community, NGOs and civil society in Disaster Management”, SNEHA, an NGO has suffered loss of members, workers and income and development gains that were made over years, due to Tsunami. SNEHA’s recovery programme is one of the most important women lead tsunami recovery in South India, and it is an example of the recovery made by a local and a victim organization reaching out to a large number of its members through relief and recovery project and as well as advocacy activities to access relief, rehabilitation and recovery resources from the state and other donors in favour of women and excluded groups. It was informed that SNEHA is now in the process of taking the existing achievements forward through deepening, spreading and multiplying the outputs and outcomes and that SNEHA’s experiences of working with the fisher women are unique and must be captured and disseminated to share lessons on community resilience.  

“Findings from 2009 regional disaster micro-insurance evaluation”, globally there has been a general reference to the benefit of micro-insurance for reducing disaster impact for the poor, however, the real impact of such schemes and its complexities at the implementation level has remained largely unstudied in a rigourous and quantitative fashion. In order to bridge this gap, ProVention consortium, funded a study to examine the impact of disaster micro-insurance in the South Asia region. The findings of the study are relevant to the most developing countries of Asia and Africa and those with interest in promoting risk transfer mechanisms can join AIDMI in this endeavor.

          “Community based disaster management- the case of Bangladesh” stated that centralized system of disaster management is defective and sustainability can be ensured only if disaster management is decentralized. In Bangladesh, people volunteer to work in disaster preparedness programme. Institutional mechanism in Bangladesh is from village to the central level. Each village preparedness plan for vulnerability reduction included local level wisdom and indigenous knowledge. As a result the disaster preparedness has brought down the casualty in Bangladesh to a considerable extent. It is a unique, remarkable and successful experiment in the sub-continent.

“Community based disaster risk reduction in Myanmar- A fellowship approach”, the experience of Action Aid Myanmar’s disaster risk reduction work with communities affected by cyclone Nargis in May 2008. implementation of the community based disaster preparedness intervention through fellowship program is effective. Through this approach, the fellows have been able to catalyze analysis and action planning by communities which has led to volunteerism from communities. The approach takes seriously people’s agency and actively avoids intervention which can create passivity and dependency. The approach has been able to demonstrate that an intensive engagement with communities and at a suitable pace results in sustainability of the program.

“People’s partnership power to respond to disaster- A mobile campaign by saritsa foundation across 12 sates of India from Kanyakumari Tamilnadu to Twang, Arunachal Pradesh- A case study”, a review of the ongoing process of disaster management are not encouraging as was expected and projected at various levels. Disaster management at various levels has to be more thoughtful, sensitive and sensible. Global Network of Civil Society Organizations for Disaster Reduction in its report presents a clear picture of progress at local level for disaster risk reduction. In its core recommendation the survey finds gaps in state policies and guidelines at lowest levels. Saritsa foundation has been a partner in this survey and has recognized these concerns in the sates of Meghalaya, Maharashtra, Assam and Madhya Pradesh

Humanitarian Assistance-“Andhra Pradesh relief to development program initiative of community preparedness for emergencies response”, the Andhra Pradesh post Tsunami relief to development program implemented by Agha Khan Development Foundation. A total of 14,784 persons are being addressed to enhance the state disaster resilience and preparedness among coastal communities affected by the Tsunami. The objectives of the programe are- strengthening the capacity of the community, reducing vulnerability, establishing linkage with stake holders and enhanced gender equality.

Building and Enabling Disaster Resilience of Coastal Communities-“Building local capacity for disaster response and vulnerability reduction- A study on community resilience” the idea mooted by OXFAM America for doing a study on ‘Building local capacities’. As a study it was a perfect solution as it tried to understand the approaches that capacitated the local leadership without trying to point fingers on the rightness or wrongness of approaches or organizations. This study has been instrumental in bringing to light the inherent survival instinct and coping mechanism that prevail in such vulnerable communities, which needs to be identified and strengthened rather than eroded.

Government and businesses from India should increase stakes in the NGO partnership, especially community based disaster risk reduction initiatives, by investing more resources. The mechanism of CBDRR does not include only the use of participatory tools and the ™paradigm shift in the approach of CBDRR to include critically important sectors and issues such as micro-insurance and governance. CBDRR is a good and wise investment and this fact needs to be effectively communicated to the governments at all levels, especially at local level. So that CSOs can work with and for local governments to promote DRR. We must also think of innovative approaches and processes that can help strengthen the South-South cooperation for disaster risk reduction and sharing valuable community resilience experiences by and with CSOs. India can lead this process. There is an urgent need for shaping some concrete activities between the 2nd and 3rd Disaster Management Congress so that the momentum is not lost and sharing experiences through networking becomes a more systematic process. In order to strengthen South-South links, Community to Community learning initiatives ™ such as Local Development Academy should be supported and sustained for renewing our knowledge on community resilience.

Role of Media

Reducing the losses of life and property caused by natural hazards is a compelling objective now receiving worldwide attention. It is now being increasingly believed that the knowledge and technology base potentially applicable to the mitigation of natural hazards has grown so dramatically that it would be possible, through a concerted cooperative international effort, to save many lives and reduce human suffering, dislocation, and economic losses simply by better information, communication and awareness.

Timely mass media communication about impending disasters can lead to appropriate individual and community action, which is the key to implementing effective prevention strategies including evacuation and survival of people. Such communications can educate, warn, inform, and empower people to take practical steps to protect themselves from natural hazards.

The role of media, both print and electronic, in informing the people and the authorities during emergencies thus, becomes critical, especially the ways in which media can play a vital role in public awareness and preparedness through educating the public about disasters; warning of hazards; gathering and transmitting information about affected areas; alerting government officials, helping relief organizations and the public towards specific needs; and even in facilitating discussions about disaster preparedness and response. During any emergency, people seek up-to-date, reliable and detailed information.

The main principle of information provision, therefore, should be an ethical one: and so, during an emergency, the media should be sensitive to the needs of the public in affected areas and should avoid misinforming and broadcasting unconfirmed reports that may lead to despair and panic. Therefore, correct and reliable information disseminated through the media is an important instrument for balancing the possible effects of incorrect, misleading or even willfully distorted information. Reliable and timely information provided through the media can help people overcome any kind of fear and fatalism during and after an emergency.

Indeed, the availability of reliable and timely information and knowledge about an event and the resulting needs help to improve solidarity and also creates an atmosphere conducive to collective response for sharing the humanitarian challenges created by disasters. Media today has arguably penetrated every household in the world, in one form or another. Journalists pride themselves in reporting objectively on global events and regard an independent media as one of the pillars of democratic society.

“Role of Media in Disaster Management”. The role of government agencies, civil society and other organizations in informing the media and clarifying various issues that come to the centre stage during, before and after disasters. The responsibility of media in covering disaster events, recovery and mitigation initiatives was discussed.

Authentic information on disasters is generally not forthcoming and in the absence of the same, the news channels are generally unaware about the reasons for a disaster event. It was stated that it becomes difficult for the journalists to get hold of experts who can provide complete information during any emergency situations and even if media tries to gather details, their attempts at times remain unsuccessful in bringing out the factual information of the disaster event.

The role of media, both print and electronic, in informing the people and the authorities during emergencies is critical and that timely communication about impending disasters can help the community for appropriate for effective evacuation and follow up action. There was a consensus that such vital information can educate, warn and empower people to take practical steps to protect themselves from natural hazards, timely.

Issue, such as, access to updated, reliable and detailed information during emergencies which becomes a challenge. Such information must be ethical and also that the media should be sensitive to the needs of the public in affected areas and should avoid misinforming and broadcasting unconfirmed reports that may lead to despair and panic.

Since, the media is a powerful instrument for disaster communication; it is the earnest responsibility of the media to ensure that conflicting and factually incorrect information is avoided. Media ethics is an important aspect of media reporting during any disaster event.

The concern about the dilemma of journalists/ reporters for not being able to determine what is right and choosing the best from several alternatives. To have ethics, set guidelines or codes so as to help journalists and other media workers for appropriate and correct reporting need attention. It was agreed that the media can play important role in creating awareness about the risks of different natural hazards and disasters. Similarly, media can take into account and report post disaster recovery and reconstruction activities.

The experience of covering disaster events especially on the aspects of provision of relief work mentioned that most of the time, relief is provided in bulk, neglecting the need of the people in specific and a lot of such relief materials remain unutilized, which only adds to the chaos of the relief activities and therefore, it is important that before any relief work begins, proper identification of relief requirements should to be worked out.

Concerns were expressed on the impact of VIP movements, which hampers the relief work. Co-ordination issues were also discussed at length. It was mentioned that, each state should have a dedicated department catering to the needs of disaster management and may also provide the exact information to all concerned.

The role media in disaster management

It calls for a review of spoken and unspoken rules in dealing with the media, what works and doesn’t work, and how best we can manage the fragile balance between sharing information and protecting the public and corporate interests.

·         Timely mass media communication about impending disasters can lead to appropriate ™ individual and community action, which is the key to implementing effective prevention strategies including evacuation and survival of people. 

·         The role of media, both print and electronic, in informing the people and the authorities during emergencies is critical. Media can be effectively used for creating awareness and preparedness and information sharing for the larger benefit of the community.

·         The media reporting should be based on ethical norms and that media must avoid misinforming and giving unconfirmed facts/inputs that may lead to despair and panic. Thus, ethical code should set guidelines and principles for media reporting.

·         Media can play a role in preventing unfounded rumors and avoid exaggerated and negative reporting.

·         Media can be an impressive mode in assisting authorities, voluntary organizations and ™ volunteers in reaching, informing and assuring the affected ones of the assistance and measures taken for their relief.

·         In order to discharge its duties efficiently during exigencies, it is necessary to have a complete coordination between media and Government agencies and this, calls for a two-way cooperation and sharing of relevant information from the Government side as well.

·         ROLE OF NON-GOVERNMENT ORGANIZATIONS IN DISASTER MANAGEMENT Introduction • “NGO‟s are Non – profit organizations or associations of private citizens with a common interest to assist the disaster affected people”. • NGOs play and important role in disaster response, mitigation, disaster reduction and recuse, coordination indifferent regions. • NGO response focused on emergency food relief, temporary shelter, emergency medical aid, debris removal and habitat restoration, trauma counseling, and raising families. • The shift is from a relief centric approach to a multi- dimensional endeavor involving diverse scientific, engineering financial and social processes to adopt a multi-disciplinary and multi-sectoral approach. • Provides support like health, education, water supply and sanitation, shelter and infrastructure, NGOs are active in responding to various disasters in different phases. • In the pre – disaster phase should include awareness generation, education, training, and formation of village level Task Force. Disaster Management Committees and Teams, development of Disaster Management Plans, conduct of mock drills, vulnerability assessment and coordination with Government and non-government agencies. • Play a key role in the immediate aftermath of disasters by extending assistance in rescue and first aid, sanitation and hygiene, damage assessment and assistance to external agencies bringing relief materials. • During the post disaster phase, the NGOs can take a lead by providing technical and material support for safe construction, revival of educational institutions and restoration of means of livelihood and assist the government in monitoring the pace of implementation for various reconstruction and recovery program me. • Restoration of livelihood, food security and nutrition, environment, etc., • NGOs have also started to collaborate with corporate entities in Public-Private Partnership (PPP) projects and Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) initiatives in the field of DM at State, District and Sub-district levels. • NGOs are organizations registered under various Indian laws such as the Societies Registration Act, 1860, Section 25(1) of Companies Act, 1956 meant for non-profit companies, or State- specific Public Charitable Trust Acts. • NGOs have also come together through networks, coalitions and alliances so as to offer value added humanitarian services, notable examples being Voluntary Health Association of India (VHAI), Voluntary Action Network India (VANI), Sphere India, Alliance for Adaptation and Disaster Risk Reduction (AADRR), and Confederation of Voluntary Associations (COVA). Objective and importance of NGOs with regard to disaster NGOs can be different size, with different area of operation and different fields of expertise. Though organised in nature and unorganised in character, the NGO sector covers a whole range of activities, through its various types of organization. Some major types of NGOs are given as under.

·         2. NGOs with dedicated field operations and resource backup These are large organization, such as the international national Red Cross society have specific areas in which they carry out field operations. They have access to large resource bases and have the capability to extend material, financial, as well as technical support and resource from all over the world and come to the rescue of the affected persons almost immediately. Development technology related NGOs These are involved in developing and propagating development technologies, such as Sulabh international, which has renowned activities in the field of low cost sanitation. These NGOs are active in times of peace, carrying out their development projects, and can be called upon at times of emergency du to natural disaster for providing the affected community with immediate physical infrastructure that they may require. When in non-disaster times their services are useful for retrofitting in areas of building technology, so as to minimize death and destruction in future disaster. Opportunities Numerous opportunities that are provided by the NGOs, as given below, which need to be optimally utilized. · Setting up a Functional NGO Coordination Platform during non – emergency times will ensure that appropriate coordination happens during response operations and development interventions. · NGO institutional arrangements need to be made in order to collaborate in developing the roadmap for short, medium and long term operational strategies and plans. · Common accessibility to disaster affected areas can become a reality if NGOs engage with local bodies, district and State level disaster management focal points right from developing DM planning and operational strategies. · Focus on the most vulnerable needs to be the approach for responding to disasters as well as reducing disaster risks. Updated information should be maintained to support this. · Setting and Committing to Minim um standards by NGO: Ready and user – friendly instruments for humanitarian standards need to be adopted and contextualized as a collective initiative, along with transparency and accountability principles to be institutionalized at all levels. Challenges Key challenges and opportunities in disaster management need to be identified and steps taken for building synergy among Government and Non – Governmental Organizations (GO – NGO). Some of the challenges encountered while responding to disaster are the following: · Weak Coordination: Inadequate coordination among government officials and Civil Society humanitarian personnel results in weak response and suboptimal performance, as well as differences in the quality of inputs provided by different NGOs. · Brief time - spans for relief interventions: Many NGOs provide relief in the first 15 to 60 days, shut down the operations and move away without any linkage to long term rehabilitation and recovery of the disaster – affected communities.

·         3. · Neglect of remote and inaccessible disaster – affected areas: Inadequate physical access to the affected communities and officials hampers assessments, information coordination, convergence and sustained operations. · Tendency to rush to the epicenter of disasters: While the epicenters require special attention, it is also equally important to ensure that the peripheral areas impacted by disasters are not neglected or ignored while formulating intervention strategies. · Inadequate adherence to humanitarian standards and good practices:In general, there is a growing realization the global instruments setting minimum standards in disaster response have not been contextualized to India. · Inadequate transparency and accountability to donors and disaster affected communities: The process of disaster relief is sometimes seen as a charitable humanitarian activity which does not require the practice of transparency and accountability towards donors and disasters affected communities. · Neglect of Rural Urban Diversity and Primacy of Attention to Rural Areas: The humanitarian assistance is still primarily targeted towards rural areas and the diverse needs of vulnerable urban poor are often not addressed adequately. · Lack of clear exit strategy during transition: Most often, the scope and timeline of the response is not defined. When an NGO withdraws from the area, the communities are left to fend for themselves. · Advocacy Role of NGOs – “Do No Harm Approach”: Development projects, if not formulated with a comprehension of disaster risk and vulnerability profiles at the local levels, can increase disaster risk and vulnerability of people, assets, environment and their livelihoods. Fundamental Principles of DisasterResponse The following principles of ideal humanitarian response are largely aspirational and they reflect the good practices in humanitarian response in disaster contexts. Most governments and international, national and local level NGOs try to adhere to these principles while responding to disasters in their jurisdictions.

·         4. The Humanitarian Imperative: Neutrality: Transparency and openness are key neutrality Impartiality (non-discrimination) Do no harm Accountability Participation of affected populations · Water and Sanitation Water and sanitation are critical infrastructure elements that are needed to mitigate disasters, and are also priority needs of a community in the aftermath of a disaster. Water and sanitation needs are more critical for women, as they are directly related to reproductive health. Major areas of work in the water and sanitation sector are based in the local context, and can be addressed by NGOs to a very significant extent. Systems should be promoted that help reduce vulnerabilities arising from poor access to water, poor water quality, poor access to toilets, vector problems, and inadequate solid waste management, sewerage and drainage. Excreta disposal is a significant source of water and sanitation related problems in the disaster context, and needs to be addressed. All these measures will be achievable in a sustainable manner only through adequate attention to the development of local human resource capacity through appropriate sensitization, education and training. · Shelter, Public Buildings and Infrastructure Making existing houses and public buildings safe from disasters is a crucial component of disaster mitigation, NGOs can play pivotal role in this by sensitizing local communities and training masons and construction workers, who are mostly in the informal sector, in multi – hazard resilient construction techniques. The first step has to be rapid assessment of structural safety of buildings, followed by retrofitting of vulnerable public buildings. Special strengthening of lifeline buildings such as hospitals, health centers, Role o NGO’s in Disaster mitigation Water & Sanitation Disabled friendly construction Shelter, public buildings and infrastructure Awareness

·         5. schools, disaster shelters, and buildings and infrastructure of emergency response agencies, including the restoration of amenities like power, water supply, etc., requires special attention. At the same time, ensuring future safety of new houses and public buildings will require research, documentation and communication of appropriate materials and technologies for disaster resistant construction. Promotion of transferable indigenous technologies with appropriate adaptation and promotion of local materials and skills, and low tech, low cost technologies is very important in this process. · Disabled – friendly Construction: During rehabilitation and reconstruction phases, NGOs should take care of the needs of PWDs. Basic design standards for designing and planning buildings and utilities for PWDs, as per prevailing Bureau of Indian Standards (BIS) codes, must be adopted while constructing new buildings and utilities by NGOs. Non-structural mitigation is also a very important aspect of building safety, and can avoid a very large percentage of losses and casualties. This should include heavy and hazardous building content, hazardous materials stored or used in buildings, and material with potential of falling, dislodging, flying or floating that can cause injury and damage. · Awareness, Education and Capacity Building Information for mitigation purposes at community level has to be delivered in different forms, level of details and packaging for the various stakeholder groups, with a special focus on frontline workers. NGOs have a direct role in the sensitization, orientation, education and training of most of the local stakeholders, and an indirect role through advocacy for promoting education in higher and specialized levels. It should be designed to address the specific vulnerabilities of the local area, identify vulnerabilities and capacities, link local disaster management plans with development plans, and ensure disaster risk reduction mainstreaming in all development projects. Basic awareness and sensitization of the general public is also a primary need under disaster mitigation capacity building, and is a key area of work for NGOs. Awareness campaigns on safe construction and habitat development and on sustainable development and environment friendly lifestyles are important. Sensitization events, mass media campaigns, rallies, public advertisements, messages have to be used to reach out with these issues. Special messages on radio, television, and print media are also effective and should be used. The electronic and print media can play an extremely important role in this sensitization process by raising public awareness and also by providing accurate information about alert and early warning messages issued by the concerned nodal agencies. Education and sensitization of school children has widely been recognized as the basic building block for future risk reduction. This has to include understanding disasters, kinds of disasters, causes and impacts, vulnerability and capacity, and appropriate actions before, during and after disasters. Children also need to understand the role of various stakeholders and the steps to school safety and community safety. NGOs can influence formal education streams, and can take up informal education programmes to address this need. Education to higher – level students is also significant and needs to include specific disaster management education relevant to the stream of higher education. Disaster mitigation inputs need to be mainstreamed in study of architecture, urban and rural planning, natural resource management, different branches of engineering, different branches of medicine and health, social sciences, social work, media

·         6. and communications, and NGOs can take up advocacy and technical support work where needed and possible. Training to special skill holders is a context specific need that can be met very effectively by NGOs. Special skill training on disaster resistant technologies to masons and other construction workers, and health and education workers is very important. Attention needs to be paid to the inclusion of the women’s work force within all these sectors. Training to community volunteers, particularly those related to development fields such as education, livelihoods, health, water and sanitation is also very important and should be taken up by NGOs in the respective areas. NGOs will have a direct role in mobilizing, creating public awareness, providing capacity building interventions like imparting training to most of the local stakeholders including general public on DRR. NGOs will also play a major advocacy role for promoting education in DRR at higher and specialized levels. NGOs should also influence formal education streams, and take up informal education programmes for educating school children in disaster risk reduction. NGOs should complement and supplement the role of NIDM and the State. CBOs Local Residents Associations Interest Groups Ex-Rotary Club Association ofLocal Occupation Groups Religious Bodies