Namibia PDNA 2009 - GFDRR

could involve flags, megaphones or another means of communication. At present this is being followed up on between
the Namibia Meteorology Service, Hydrology Division and DDRM (also with NPC).
Strengthened Community Awareness
Living with Floods/Droughts Campaign
The affected Regions had lost their traditions of adapting to floods following 20 years of relative climate stability. It is now critical
to revive and update adaptation practices through major awareness campaigns. A good example is the Learning to Live with Floods
campaign carried out in Mozambique following the 2000 floods (Figure 39).
Community leaders and school children were taught to learn to live with floods (and, in the case of the affected regions, droughts),
never forget past disasters and their markers, understand their impacts, lower future risks, and know what to do in case of an
emergency.
Strengthened Disaster Preparedness and Response
Preparation of Disaster Contingency Plans and Operational Manuals
The National Disaster Risk Management Planning Framework is still incomplete. The national policy specifies the need to develop
a National Disaster Risk Management Plan, Sectoral DRM Plans and Regional DRM Plans. To date, Namibia has developed a National
Risk Reduction Action Plan and Sectoral Plans for education, health and transport, but not for agriculture, industry and commerce,
environment, regional administration and other critical sectors. At the regional level, only Caprivi has developed the initial stages of a
disaster contingency plan. It will be particularly critical to develop local contingency plans as part of civil protection mobilization and
awareness campaigns in the affected regions immediately after the disaster.
Simulation Training
Once local disaster contingency plans are adopted
and local DRM committees established, it will be
critical to carry out simulation training prior hazard
seasons. This allows all stakeholders involved in DRM
operations to simulate a situation of emergency,
detect potential bottlenecks and weaknesses in the
system, and know how to act fast to correct logistical
problems when the disaster actually strikes. The
experience of the 2009 floods revealed the need to
have these contingency plans ready: in both Caprivi
and Kavango, as late as April 2009, local authorities
were using drought relief supplies to assist flood
victims. Since the drought relief was limited to rural
families, some urban victims were not being properly
assisted. It is critical that local decision makers have
access to the right disaster contingency plan once a
state of emergency is declared.
Given the importance of DRM capacity
building, both at the national and local level, it is
recommended that an International Emergency
Advisor be assigned to Namibia for 2-3 years.
Short term specialists with particular expertises—
e.g. community flood protection mobilization,
participatory mapping—should also be considered
to assist the Government in particular stages of their
DRM institution building.
Figure 39: Community leaders teach others how to read
flood markers.
Source: Learning to Live with Floods Campaign, Mozambique, HR
Wallingford, DFID, MICOA, UN Habitat.
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Namibia POST-DISASTER NEEDS ASSESSMENT