A global review of disaster reduction initiatives - Welcome to the ...

ing socio-economic considerations with physicalhazards in urban development work at thelocal levels.Under the framework of human security, thegoal of the initiatives is to attain safer and moresustainable livelihoods. To achieve this goal,the initiatives focus on community developmentand empowerment activities. In specificprogrammes such as the School EarthquakeSafety Initiative, new approaches are formulatedto integrate disaster mitigation componentsinto urban development work at different levelsof urban growth processes through variousactivities for schools. The programme is beingconducted in India, Indonesia, Nepal, andUzbekistan with the overall goals to:• Empower the community with know-howand technology for safer earthquake construction.• Build a disaster-resilient and self-reliantcommunity.To achieve this, a specific focus has been givento the school systems, where the vulnerabilityof the school buildings are evaluated and technicallytested, and affordable retrofitting techniquesare then provided. There are five directobjectives of the project:• Evaluate the vulnerability of school buildingsin each of the selected cities.• Recommend designs and affordablemeans of strengthening vulnerableschools.• Retrofit one or two demonstration schoolsusing appropriate or improved traditionaltechnology.• Provide training to workers from the localconstruction industry who build schoolsand residential dwellings.• Prepare disaster education materials forschool children, teachers and communitiesand use them for training and educationpurposes.Case: IndiaMore than one year after the earthquake inGujarat, most of the affected families were stillstruggling to put their lives together. While insome places aid agencies had built and handedover houses to villagers, the experience of aPolicy and public commitment: the foundation of disaster risk reductionlocal community in Patanka shows how community-ledrehabilitation can yield results.Patanka, a village of about 250 families, sufferedextensive damage during the earthquake,with about 170 houses collapsing an the restbeing badly damaged. Since it lies in and areabeyond the focus of most relief teams, itIn Japan, local community organizations withresponsibility for disaster preparedness cover halfthe population of the country.Japan response to ISDR questionnaire, 2001received less attention from aid agencies. Evendistribution of government compensation, aseverywhere, was taking time.Kheemabhai, a village leader from Patanka,found out about a Delhi-based disaster managementNGO called SEEDS. He expressedto SEEDS his community’s desire to reconstructthe village, themselves. AlthoughSEEDS had been working in the area, this wasthe first time it confronted a community keento reconstruct for itself. The village onlyrequested logistical support from the NGO.First, a meeting was organized with the districtgovernment to ensure speedy distribution ofcompensation so that the villagers could startrebuilding their homes. After a visit to the village,the enthusiasm he witnessed convincedthe official to extend full support to the villagers.Patanka became a scene of hectic activity.Everyone was busy building their houses,getting material from a special material depotand collaborating with engineers about technicaldetails of earthquake-resistant construction.Entire families became involved, with womenand children seen curing the masonry workwith water, or ferrying material to their sites.In the partnership approach everyone contributes.The initiative was truly led by thecommunity. The SEEDS team helped the villagersobtain building materials, including limitedamounts of cement and steel. The villagessupplied their own stone, bricks, wood, rooftilesand labour. Architects and engineers fromSEEDS trained the masons, labourers and thevillagers themselves on earthquake-resistanttechnology through on-the-job training, andthrough periodic training workshops.1473