COMMUNITY-BASED BEST PRACTICES FOR DISASTER RISK REDUCTION
Prepared under the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) and the European Commission Humanitarian Office (ECHO) through the Disaster Preparedness Programme (DIPECHO) Regional Initiative in Disaster Risk Reduction
March, 2010 Maputo - Mozambique
Foreword This compilation provides a comprehensive review and analysis of community-based best practices for reducing the risk of disaster from natural hazards affecting Southeast Africa and the Southwest Indian Ocean. It also provides new examples of how various actors and agencies have successfully implemented interventions to reduce risks from the prevalent hazards and minimize damage and losses to property and livelihoods. In Mozambique, Malawi, Comoros and Madagascar in particular these risks are exacerbated by high poverty levels – the most vulnerable are people living in poor rural areas. The evidence emerging from recent experience makes a compelling case for a radical shift away from narrowly focused development approaches towards a major new emphasis on community resilience and disaster planning. Floods which are caused by swelling rivers in the catchment areas of neighboring countries, floods from cyclones, storm surges, earthquakes, fires and other such events, when combined with social and economic vulnerabilities, and added to environmental depletion, can multiply the shocks from disasters and lead to crippling economic losses. Moreover, the risks posed by the regional effects of climate change require considerable adaptation by the exposed populations. But at the same time, governments in vulnerable countries are faced by hard budget choices, which make major investments in emergency preparedness (such as wide training at national, district and local level) very difficult. While we cannot prevent natural disasters, we can limit their impacts. Each of the countries involved in the UNDP-ECHO (DIPECHO) project has developed initiatives, both in the past and the present, for improving existing disaster risk preparedness. This document details best practices and risk reduction tools taking into account the socio-economic context of the target countries. These experiences could lead to better informed policies and legislation. Investing in disaster risk reduction is a cost-effective means to reduce development losses caused by disasters, reduce poverty and adapt to climate change. This important collection of publications and audio-visual material on Winds, Waters and Fires is a very welcome contribution. It is the result of the financial support from ECHO and the impressive collaborative effort of UNDP Mozambique’s disaster risk reduction team, the UNDP country offices of Malawi, Madagascar and Comoros, all DIPECHO partners and the UN and international agencies involved in this project.
Ndolamb Ngokwey UN Resident Coordinator & UNDP Resident Representative
Contents UNISDR Terminology on Disaster
9
Introductory remarks Acknowledgements
19 23
CHAPTER 1 Risk, hazards and vulnerabilities
25
Key principles Multi-hazard approach in the targeted countries
26 30
Republic of Mozambique
31
Disaster risk profile Drought Earthquakes
32 35 37
Republic of Madagascar
37
Madagascar risk profile Disaster Statistics Cyclones
39 39 40
The Union of Comoros
41
Disaster risk profile Volcanic hazards
43 43
Republic of Malawi
48
Malawi disaster statistics Floods Drought Earthquakes
49 50 50 50
Methodology Methods
52 53
CHAPTER 2 Building in hazardous zones
55
Abstract The initiative Goal and objective Lessons learned Potential for replication
56 56 56 58 59
UN HABITAT MOZAMBIQUE
60
Abstract The initiative Goal and objective
60 60 60
Lessons Learned Potential for replication
64 64
Care Madagascar
65
Abstract The initiative Goal and objective Outcomes and activities Lessons learned Potential for replication Code of minimum standards for house construction
65 66 66 67 68 68 69
CHAPTER 3 Best practices on local level risk management
73
Conceptual approach Abstract The initiative Goal and objectives Outcomes and activities Lessons learned Potential for replication
74 75 77 78 78 82 82
ICCO Madagascar
85
Abstract The initiative Goal and objective Outcomes and Activities Lessons learned Potential for replication
85 85 86 86 87 87
Institutional support and community
88
Abstract The initiative Goal and objective Outcomes and activities Best practice Lessons learned Potential for replication
88 88 89 89 89 90 90
Community-based disaster preparedness project
91
Abstract Goal and objective Outcomes and activities Lessons learned
91 92 92 93
Community-based disaster risk reduction
94
Abstract
94
The initiative Project objectives Outcomes and activities Lessons learned Potential for replication
94 95 95 96 96
Sustainable natural DRR through policy change
97
Abstract The initiative Goal and objective Outcomes and activities Lessons learned Challenges Key success and failure factors Potential for replication
97 98 98 98 99 99 100 100
Community risk management The Initiative Goal and objective Overview of steps Lessons learned Potential for replication
101 102 103 104 105 106
Community-based disaster preparedness projects
107
Abstract The initiative Goal and objective Outcomes and activities Lessons learned Potential for replication
107 107 107 108 109 109
Institutionalization of risk management
110
Abstract The initiative Goal and objective Outcomes and activities Lessons learned Potential for replication
110 111 111 112 113 113
Moving forward
114
The trends Climate change, adaptation and disaster risk reduction (DRR) The scientific knowledge in programme design Mozambique Madagascar The Comoros Malawi
110 115 116 116 117 118 118
List of figures Figure 1: Figure 2: Figure 3: Figure 4: Figure 5: Figure 6: Figure 7: Figure 8: Figure 9: Figure 10: Figure 11: Figure 12 Figure 13: Figure 14: Figure 15: Figure 16: Figure 17: Figure 18: Figure 19: Figure 20: Figure. 21: Figure 22: Figure 23: Figure 24: Figure 25: Figure 26: Figure 27: Figure 28: Figure 29: Figure 30: Figure 31: Figure 32: Figure 33: Figure 34: Figure 35: Figure 36:
Mortality and damage and losses by climate disasters and by continents Low lying areas in Africa Low lying areas below 20 meters contour line in Mozambique (in green) Vulnerability of Mozambique and neighbour countries to cyclones Hydrographic basins and the flood hazard in the subregion Storm surge in normal and cyclonic conditions Shocks caused by natural hazards in selected northern districts in Mozambiue Madagascar physical map Mortality risk index Human development index trends in 2007 and comparison with other regions Map of the Comoros Islands Le Karthala Volcanoe crater Map of Gran Comoros showing a timeline of eruptions A model of a Volcano EWS based on the WDR (IFRC), 2009 report Rescue operation on lava flow during the 2007 eruption Map of Malawi Architectural design of the Elevated Primary School of Maniquenique, built with wooden poles, cemented pillars and lateral structures, corrugated iron sheets with a reinforced roof Architectural design of the Community Agricultural Centre of Chilaulene, built with cement bricks prepared in a traditional manner Low-cost solution housing for ‘living with floods’ Manual of “building with the winds” and Catalog of low-cost cyclone-proof building solutions Process construction of Ferrocement channels in Vilankulo. Based in UN Habitat and Auroville experiences, India. Antananarivo floods Satellite image of a cyclone Floods in river banks The National Institute for Disaster Management, Mozambique: INGC 2009 Main Report: INGC Climate Change Report: study on the impact of climate change on disaster risk in Mozambique Simulation of evacuation in Tete (Mozambique) Local level risk management: simulations of post disaster assistance, Nacala (Mozambique) GRIP training in Mozambique Spatial distribution of houses burned in Dili (Timor-Leste) in 2006 crises Wild card of data entry of DesInventar DesInventar as used in India to compare reduction of fires incidents The risk management cycle Dyke constructed on River chimbwimbwi Dykes construction using local materials Community-based training, Mozambique Community-based training in risk reduction
20 28 29 31 34 35 36 38 40 41 42 44 45 46 47 48 57 58 61 62 63 64 67 68 76 77 78 79 80 81 82 86 95 97 102 104
Risks, Hazards and Vulnerabilities: A Practical Guideline of Best Practices
List of tables Table 1: Table 2 Table 3: Table 4:
Natural hazard effects in madagascar Comoros disaster statistics Data related to human and economic losses from disasters that have occurred between 1982 and 2007. Criteria for selection of best practices
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Risks, Hazards and Vulnerabilities: A Practical Guideline of Best Practices
UNISDR terminology on disaster risk reduction (2009) Acceptable risk
Comment: Examples of biological hazards include
The level of potential losses that a society or community considers acceptable given existing social, economic, political, cultural, technical and environmental conditions.
Building code
outbreaks of epidemic diseases, plant or animal contagion, insect or other animal plagues and infestations. A set of ordinances or regulations and associated standards intended to control aspects of the design, construction, materials, alteration and occupancy of structures that are necessary to ensure human safety and welfare, including resistance to collapse and damage.
Comment: In engineering terms, acceptable risk is also used to assess and define the structural and non-structural measures that are needed in order to reduce possible harm to people, property, services and systems to a chosen tolerated level, according to codes or “accepted practice” which are based on known probabilities of hazards and other factors.
Comment: Building codes can include both technical and functional standards. They should incorporate the lessons of international experience and should be tailored to national and local circumstances. A systematic regime of enforcement is a critical supporting requirement for effective implementation of building codes.
Adaptation
The adjustment in natural or human systems in response to actual or expected climatic stimuli or their effects, which moderates harm or exploits beneficial opportunities. Comment: This definition addresses the concerns of climate change and is sourced from the secretariat of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC). The broader concept of adaptation also applies to non-climatic factors such as soil erosion or surface subsidence. Adaptation can occur in autonomous fashion, for example through market changes, or as a result of intentional adaptation policies and plans. Many disaster risk reduction measures can directly contribute to better adaptation.
Capacity
The combination of all the strengths, attributes and resources available within a community, society or organization that can be used to achieve agreed goals.
Comment: Capacity may include infrastructure and physical means, institutions, societal coping abilities, as well as human knowledge, skills and collective attributes such as social relationships, leadership and management. Capacity also may be described as capability. Capacity assessment isa term for the process by which the capacity of a group is reviewed against desired goals, and the capacity gaps are identified for further action.
Biological hazard
Process or phenomenon of organic origin or conveyed by biological vectors, including exposure to pathogenic micro-organisms, toxins and bioactive substances that may cause loss of life, injury, illness or other health impacts, property damage, loss of livelihoods and services, social and economic disruption, or environmental damage.
Capacity development
The process by which people, organizations and society systematically stimulate and develop their capacities over time to achieve social and economic goals, including through improvement of knowledge, skills, systems, and institutions.
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Comment: Capacity development is a concept that with clearly identified institutional roles and
resources, information processes, and operational arrangements for specific actors at times of need. Based on scenarios of possible emergency conditions or disaster events, it allows key actors to envision, anticipate and solve problems that can arise during crises. Contingency planning is an important part of overall preparedness. Contingency plans need to be regularly updated and exercised.
extends the term of capacity building to encompass all aspects of creating and sustaining capacity growth over time. It involves learning and various types of training, but also continuous efforts to develop institutions, political awareness,financial resources, technology systems, and the wider social and cultural enabling environment.
Climate change
Coping capacity
(a) The Inter-governmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) defines climate change as: “a change in the state of the climate that can be identified (e.g., by using statistical tests) by changes in the mean and/or the variability of its properties, and that persists for an extended period, typically decades or longer. Climate change may be due to natural internal processes or external forcings, or to persistent anthropogenic changes in the composition of the atmosphere or in land use”. (b) The United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) defines climate change as “a change of climate which is attributed directly or indirectly to human activity that alters the composition of the global atmosphere and which is in addition to natural climate variability observed over comparable time periods”.
The ability of people, organizations and systems, using available skills and resources, to face and manage adverse conditions, emergencies or disasters. Comment: The capacity to cope requires continuing awareness, resources and good management, both in normal times as well as during crises or adverse conditions. Coping capacities contribute to the reduction of disaster risks.
Critical facilities
The primary physical structures, technical facilities and systems which are socially, economically or operationally essential to the functioning of a society or community, both in routine circumstances and in the extreme circumstances of an emergency. Comment: Critical facilities are elements of the infrastructure that support essential services in a society. They include such things as transport systems, air and sea ports, electricity, water and communications systems, hospitals and health clinics, and centres for fire, police and public administration services.
Comment: For disaster risk reduction purposes, either of these definitions may be suitable, depending on the particular context. The UNFCCC definition is the more restricted one as it excludesclimate changes attributable to natural causes. The IPCC definition can be paraphrased for popular communications as “A change in the climate that persists for decades or longer, arising from either natural causes or human activity.”
Disaster
Contingency planning
A serious disruption of the functioning of a community or a society involving widespread human, material, economic or environmental losses and impacts, which exceeds the ability of the affected community or society to cope using its own resources.
A management process that analyses specific potential events or emerging situations that might threaten society or the environment and establishes arrangements in advance to enable timely, effective and appropriate responses to such events and situations. Comment: Contingency planning results in organized and coordinated courses of action
Comment: Disasters are often described as a result of the combination of: the exposure to a hazard;
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Risks, Hazards and Vulnerabilities: A Practical Guideline of Best Practices
the conditions of vulnerability that are present; and insufficient capacity or measures to reduce or cope with the potential negative consequences. Disaster impacts may include loss of life, injury, disease and other negative effects on human physical, mental and social well-being, together with damage to property, destruction of assets, loss of services, social and economic disruption and environmental degradation.
management of land and the environment, and improved preparedness for adverse events.
Comment: A comprehensive approach to reduce disaster risks is set out in the United Nations endorsed Hyogo Framework for Action, adopted in 2005, whose expected outcome is “The substantial reduction of disaster losses, in lives and the social, economic and environmental assets of communities and countries.” The International Strategy for Disaster Reduction (ISDR) system provides a vehicle for cooperation among Governments, organisations and civil society actors to assist in the implementation of the Framework. Note that while the term “disaster reduction” is sometimes used, the term “disaster risk reduction” provides a better recognition of the ongoing nature of disaster risks and the ongoing potential to reduce these risks.
Disaster risk
The potential disaster losses, in lives, health status, livelihoods, assets and services, which could occur to a particular community or a society over some specified future time period. Comment: The definition of disaster risk reflects the concept of disasters as the outcome of continuously present conditions of risk. Disaster risk comprises different types of potential losses which are often difficult to quantify. Nevertheless, with knowledge of the prevailing hazards and the patterns of population and socio-economic development, disaster risks can be assessed and mapped, in broad terms at least.
Disaster risk reduction plan *
A document prepared by an authority, sector, organization or enterprise that sets out goals and specific objectives for reducing disaster risks together with related actions to accomplish these objectives.
Disaster risk management
Comment: Disaster risk reduction plans should be
The systematic process of using administrative directives, organizations, and operational skills and capacities to implement strategies, policies and improved coping capacities in order to lessen the adverse impacts of hazards and the possibility of disaster.
guided by the Hyogo Framework and considered and coordinated within relevant development plans, resource allocations and programme activities. National level plans needs to be specific to each level of administrative responsibility and adapted to the different social and geographical circumstances that are present. The time frame and responsibilities for implementation and the sources of funding should be specified in the plan.Linkages to climate change adaptation plans should be made where possible.
Comment: This term is an extension of the more general term “risk management” to address the specific issue of disaster risks. Disaster risk management aims to avoid, lessen or transfer the adverse effects of hazards through activities and measures for prevention, mitigation and preparedness.
Early warning system
The set of capacities needed to generate and disseminate timely and meaningful warning information to enable individuals, communities and organizations threatened by a hazard to prepare and to act appropriately and in sufficient time to reduce the possibility of harm or loss.
Disaster risk reduction
The concept and practice of reducing disaster risks through systematic efforts to analyse and manage the causal factors of disasters, including through reduced exposure to hazards, lessened vulnerability of people and property, wise
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Comment: This definition encompasses the range
Comment: Degradation of the environment can alter the frequency and intensity of natural hazards and increase the vulnerability of communities. The types of human-induced degradation are varied and include land misuse, soil erosion and loss, desertification, wildland fires, loss of biodiversity, deforestation, mangrove destruction, land, water and air pollution, climate change, sea level rise and ozone depletion.
of factors necessary to achieve effective responses to warnings. A people-centred early warning system necessarily comprises four key elements: knowledge of the risks; monitoring, analysis and forecasting of the hazards; communication or dissemination of alerts and warnings; and local capabilities to respond to the warnings received. The expression “end-to-end warning system” is also used to emphasize that warning systems need to span all steps from hazard detection through to community response.
Environmental impact assessment
The organization and management of resources and responsibilities for addressing all aspects of emergencies, in particular preparedness, response and initial recovery steps.
Process by which the environmental consequences of a proposed project or programme are evaluated, undertaken as an integral part of planning and decision-making processes with a view to limiting or reducing the adverse impacts of the project or programme.
Comment: A crisis or emergency is a threatening
Comment: Environmental impact assessment is a
Emergency management
condition that requires urgent action. Effective emergency action can avoid the escalation of an event into a disaster. Emergency management involves plans and institutional arrangements to engage and guide the efforts of government, nongovernment, voluntary and private agencies in comprehensive and coordinated ways to respond to the entire spectrum of emergency needs. The expression “disaster management” is sometimes used instead of emergency management.
policy tool that provides evidence and analysis of environmental impacts of activities from conception to decision-making. It is utilized extensively in national programming and project approval processes and for international development assistance projects. Environmental impact assessments should include detailed risk assessments and provide alternatives, solutions or options to deal with identified problems.
Emergency services
People, property, systems, or other elements present in hazard zones that are thereby subject to potential losses.
Exposure
The set of specialized agencies that have specific responsibilities and objectives in serving and protecting people and property in emergency situations.
Comment: Measures of exposure can include the number of people or types of assets in an area. These can be combined with the specific vulnerability of the exposed elements to any particular hazard to estimate the quantitative risks associated with that hazard in the area of interest.
Comment: Emergency services include agencies such as civil protection authorities, police, fire, ambulance, paramedic and emergency medicine services, Red Cross and Red Crescent societies, and specialized emergency units of electricity, transportation, communications and other related services organizations.
Extensive risk *
The widespread risk associated with the exposure of dispersed populations to repeated or persistent hazard conditions of low or moderate intensity, often of a highly localized nature, which can lead to debilitating cumulative disaster impacts.
Environmental degradation
The reduction of the capacity of the environment to meet social and ecological objectives and needs. 12
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Risks, Hazards and Vulnerabilities: A Practical Guideline of Best Practices
Comment: Extensive risk is mainly a characteristic
Definite statement or statistical estimate of the likely occurrence of a future event or conditions for a specific area.
and risks.” Such hazards arise from a variety of geological, meteorological, hydrological, oceanic, biological, and technological sources, sometimes acting in combination. In technical settings, hazards are described quantitatively by the likely frequency of occurrence of different intensities for different areas, as determined from historical data or scientific analysis. See other hazardrelated terms in the Terminology: Biological hazard; Geological hazard; Hydrometeorological hazard; Natural hazard; Socio-natural hazard; Technological hazard.
Comment: In meteorology a forecast refers to a
Hydrometeorological hazard
of rural areas and urban margins where communities are exposed to, and vulnerable to, recurring localised floods, landslides storms or drought. Extensive risk is often associated with poverty, urbanization and environmental degradation. See also “Intensive risk”.
Forecast
Process or phenomenon of atmospheric, hydrological or oceanographic nature that may cause loss of life, injury or other health impacts, property damage, loss of livelihoods and services, social and economic disruption, or environmental damage.
future condition, whereas a warning refers to a potentially dangerous future condition.
Geological hazard
Geological process or phenomenon that may cause loss of life, injury or other health impacts, property damage, loss of livelihoods and services, social and economic disruption, or environmental damage.
Comment: Hydrometeorological hazards include tropical cyclones (also known as typhoons and hurricanes), thunderstorms, hailstorms, tornados, blizzards, heavy snowfall, avalanches, coastal storm surges, floods including flash floods, drought, heatwaves and cold spells. Hydrometeorological conditions also can be a factor in other hazards such as landslides, wildland fires, locust plagues,epidemics, and in the transport and dispersal of toxic substances and volcanic eruption material
Comment: Geological hazards include internal earth processes, such as earthquakes, volcanic activity and emissions, and related geophysical processes such as mass movements, landslides, rockslides, surface collapses, and debris or mud flows. Hydrometeorological factors are important contributors to some of these processes. Tsunamis are difficult to categorize; although they are triggered by undersea earthquakes and other geological events, they are essentially an oceanic process that is manifested as a coastal waterrelated hazard.
Intensive risk *
The risk associated with the exposure of large concentrations of people and economic activities to intense hazard events, which can lead to potentially catastrophic disaster impacts involving high mortality and asset loss.
Hazard
A dangerous phenomenon, substance, human activity or condition that may cause loss of life, injury or other health impacts, property damage, loss of livelihoods and services, social and economic disruption, or environmental damage.
Comment: Intensive risk is mainly a characteristic of large cities or densely populated areas that are not only exposed to intense hazards such as strong earthquakes, active volcanoes, heavy floods, tsunamis, or major storms but also have high levels of vulnerability to these hazards. See also “Extensive risk.”
Comment: The hazards of concern to disaster risk reduction as stated in footnote 3 of the Hyogo Framework are “… hazards of natural origin and related environmental and technological hazards
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Land-use planning
events as well as the latent hazard conditions that may give rise to future events. Natural hazard events can be characterized by their magnitude or intensity, speed of onset, duration, and area of extent. For example, earthquakes have short durations and usually affect a relatively small region, whereas droughts are slow to develop and fade away and often affect large regions. In some cases hazards may be coupled, as in the flood caused by a hurricane or the tsunami that is created by an earthquake.
The process undertaken by public authorities to identify, evaluate and decide on different options for the use of land, including consideration of long term economic, social and environmental objectives and the implications for different communities and interest groups, and the subsequent formulation and promulgation of plans that describe the permitted or acceptable uses.
Comment: Land-use planning is an important
Preparedness
contributor to sustainable development. It involves studies and mapping; analysis of economic, environmental and hazard data; formulation of alternative land-use decisions; and design of long-range plans for different geographical and administrative scales. Land-use planning can help to mitigate disasters and reduce risks by discouraging settlements and construction of key installations in hazard-prone areas, including consideration of service routes for transport, power, water, sewage and other critical facilities.
The knowledge and capacities developed by governments, professional response and recovery organizations, communities and individuals to effectively anticipate, respond to, and recover from, the impacts of likely, imminent or current hazard events or conditions.
Comment: Preparedness action is carried out within the context of disaster risk management and aims to build the capacities needed to efficiently manage all types of emergencies and achieve orderly transitions from response through to sustained recovery. Preparedness is based on a sound analysis of disaster risks and good linkages with early warning systems, and includes such activities as contingency planning, stockpiling of equipment and supplies, the development of arrangements for coordination, evacuation and public information, and associated training and field exercises. These must be supported by formal institutional, legal and budgetary capacities. The related term “readiness” describes the ability to quickly and appropriately respond when required.
Mitigation
The lessening or limitation of the adverse impacts of hazards and related disasters.
Comment: The adverse impacts of hazards often cannot be prevented fully, but their scale or severity can be substantially lessened by various strategies and actions. Mitigation measures encompass engineering techniques and hazard-resistant construction as well as improved environmental policies and public awareness. It should be noted that in climate change policy, “mitigation” is defined differently, being the term used for the reduction of greenhouse gas emissions that are the source of climate change.
Prevention
The outright avoidance of adverse impacts of hazards and related disasters.
Natural hazard
Natural process or phenomenon that may cause loss of life, injury or other health impacts, property damage, loss of livelihoods and services, social and economic disruption, or environmental damage.
Comment: Prevention (i.e. disaster prevention) expresses the concept and intention to completely avoid potential adverse impacts through action taken in advance. Examples include dams or embankments that eliminate flood risks, land-use regulations that do not permit any settlement in
Comment: Natural hazards are a sub-set of all hazards. The term is used to describe actual hazard 14
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Risks, Hazards and Vulnerabilities: A Practical Guideline of Best Practices
high risk zones, and seismic engineering designs that ensure the survival and function of a critical building in any likely earthquake. Very often the complete avoidance of losses is not feasible and the task transforms to that of mitigation. Partly for this reason, the terms prevention and mitigation are sometimes used interchangeably in casual use.
programmes, coupled with the heightened public awareness and engagement after a disaster, afford a valuable opportunity to develop and implement disaster risk reduction measures and to apply the “build back better” principle.
Residual risk
The risk that remains in unmanaged form, even when effective disaster risk reduction measures are in place, and for which emergency response and recovery capacities must be maintained.
Prospective disaster risk management *
Management activities that address and seek to avoid the development of new or increased disaster risks.
Comment: The presence of residual risk implies a continuing need to develop and support effective capacities for emergency services, preparedness, response and recovery together with socioeconomic policies such as safety nets and risk transfer mechanisms.
Comment: This concept focuses on addressing risks that may develop in future if risk reduction policies are not put in place, rather than on the risks that are already present and which can be managed and reduced now. See also Corrective disaster risk management.
Resilience
The ability of a system, community or society exposed to hazards to resist, absorb, accommodate to and recover from the effects of a hazard in a timely and efficient manner, including through the preservation and restoration of its essential basic structures and functions.
Public awareness
The extent of common knowledge about disaster risks, the factors that lead to disasters and the actions that can be taken individually and collectively to reduce exposure and vulnerability to hazards. Comment: Public awareness is a key factor in effective disaster risk reduction. Its development is pursued, for example, through the development and dissemination of information through media and educational channels, the establishment of information centres, networks, and community or participation actions, and advocacy by senior public officials and community leaders.
Comment: Resilience means the ability to “resile from” or “spring back from” a shock. The resilience of a community in respect to potential hazard events is determined by the degree to which the community has the necessary resources and is capable of organizing itself both prior to and during times of need.
Response
The provision of emergency services and public assistance during or immediately after a disaster in order to save lives, reduce health impacts, ensure public safety and meet the basic subsistence needs of the people affected.
Recovery
The restoration, and improvement where appropriate, of facilities, livelihoods and living conditions of disaster-affected communities, including efforts to reduce disaster risk factors. Comment: The recovery task of rehabilitation and reconstruction begins soon after the emergency phase has ended, and should be based on preexisting strategies and policies that facilitate clear institutional responsibilities for recovery action and enable public participation. Recovery
Comment: Disaster response is predominantly focused on immediate and short-term needs and is sometimes called “disaster relief”. The division between this response stage and the subsequent recovery stage is not clear-cut. Some response actions, such as the supply of temporary housing
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and water supplies, may extend well into the recovery stage.
evaluating existing conditions of vulnerability that together could potentially harm exposed people, property, services, livelihoods and the environment on which they depend. Comment: Risk assessments (and associated risk mapping) include: a review of the technical characteristics of hazards such as their location, intensity, frequency and probability; the analysis of exposure and vulnerability including the physical social, health, economic and environmental dimensions; and the evaluation of the effectiveness of prevailing and alternative coping capacities in respect to likely risk scenarios. This series of activities is sometimes known as a risk analysis process.
Retrofitting
Reinforcement or upgrading of existing structures to become more resistant and resilient to the damaging effects of hazards.
Comment: Retrofitting requires consideration of the design and function of the structure, the stresses that the structure may be subject to from particular hazards or hazard scenarios, and the practicality and costs of different retrofitting options. Examples of retrofitting include adding bracing to stiffen walls, reinforcing pillars, adding steel ties between walls and roofs, installing shutters on windows, and improving the protection of important facilities and equipment.
Risk management
The systematic approach and practice of managing uncertainty to minimize potential harm and loss.
Risk
Comment: Risk management comprises risk
The combination of the probability of an event and its negative consequences.
assessment and analysis, and the implementation of strategies and specific actions to control, reduce and transfer risks. It is widely practiced by organizations to minimise risk in investment decisions and to address operational risks such as those of business disruption, production failure, environmental damage, social impacts and damage from fire and natural hazards. Risk management is a core issue for sectors such as water supply, energy and agriculture whose production is directly affected by extremes of weather and climate.
Comment: This definition closely follows the definition of the ISO/IEC Guide 73. The word “risk” has two distinctive connotations: in popular usage the emphasis is usually placed on the concept of chance or possibility, such as in “the risk of an accident”; whereas in technical settings the emphasis is usually placed on the consequences, in terms of “potential losses” for some particular cause, place and period. It can be noted that people do not necessarily share the same perceptions of the significance and underlying causes of different risks. See other risk-related terms in the Terminology: Acceptable risk; Corrective disaster risk management; Disaster risk; Disaster risk management; Disaster risk reduction; Disaster risk reduction plans; Extensive risk; Intensive risk; Prospective disaster risk management; Residual risk; Risk assessment; Risk management; Risk transfer.
Structural and non-structural measures
Structural measures: Any physical construction to reduce or avoid possible impacts of hazards, or application of engineering techniques to achieve hazard-resistance and resilience in structures or systems;
Non-structural measures: Any measure not involving physical construction that uses knowledge, practice or agreement to reduce risks and impacts, in particular through policies and laws, public awareness raising, training and education.
Risk assessment
A methodology to determine the nature and extent of risk by analysing potential hazards and
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Comment: Common structural measures for
dangerous procedures, infrastructure failures or specific human activities, that may cause loss of life, injury, illness or other health impacts, property damage, loss of livelihoods and services, social and economic disruption, or environmental damage.
disaster risk reduction include dams, flood levies, ocean wave barriers, earthquake-resistant construction, and evacuation shelters. Common non-structural measures include building codes, land use planning laws and their enforcement, research and assessment, information resources, and public awareness programmes. Note that in civil and structural engineering, the term “structural” is used in a more restricted sense to mean just the load bearing structure, with other parts such as wall cladding and interior fittings being termed nonstructural.
Comment: Examples of technological hazards include industrial pollution, nuclear radiation, toxic wastes, dam failures, transport accidents, factory explosions, fires, and chemical spills. Technological hazards also may arise directly as a result of the impacts of a natural hazard event.
Vulnerability
Sustainable development
The characteristics and circumstances of a community, system or asset that make it susceptible to the damaging effects of a hazard.
Development that meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs.
Comment: This definition coined by the 1987 Comment: There are many aspects of vulnerability,
arising from various physical, social, economic, and environmental factors. Examples may include poor design and construction of buildings, inadequate protection of assets, lack of public information and awareness, limited official recognition of risks and preparedness measures, and disregard for wise environmental management. Vulnerability varies significantly within a community and over time. This definition identifies vulnerability as a characteristic of the element of interest (community, system or asset) which is independent of its exposure. However, in common use the word is often used more broadly to include the element’s exposure.
Brundtland Commission is very succinct but it leaves unanswered many questions regarding the meaning of the word development and the social, economic and environmental processes involved. Disaster risk is associated with unsustainable elements of development such as environmental degradation, while conversely disaster risk reduction can contribute to the achievement of sustainable development, through reduced losses and improved development practices.
Technological hazard
A hazard originating from technological or industrial conditions, including accidents,
* Emerging new concepts that are not in widespread use but are of growing professional relevance; the definition of these terms remain to be widely consulted upon and may change in future.
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Introductory remarks This Guideline has been produced to provide simple information on general risk reduction best practices that can be and are utilized by practitioners, the civil society and community members in Mozambique, Malawi, the Comoros and Madagascar. Although globally there is a trend of decreased mortality caused by hydro-meteorological hazards, there is also simultaneously, a sharp increase in natural hazard related damage and loss of assets. It seems, therefore, critical to prevent material losses through better building practices, land use management, risk mapping and spatial zoning. A number of preparedness tools and methodologies have been designed to reduce hazard risks, which include good practices in local level risk management and the implementation of community-based early warning systems (EWSs). It is widely recognized that better flood warning and dissemination of flood alerts to the at-risk population, in addition to construction of dykes and levees to control flood water, are some of the factors responsible for reducing mortality, but not loss of assets.
Madagascar and Mozambique. In the Comoros, most of the housing is built on top of lava fields, at least for the more vulnerable population. In Mozambique, UN-Habitat has developed a number of options for adaptive housing in floodrisk areas such as elevated terrain, or elevated structures. In Madagascar, CARE International has been assisting river shore communities to build elevated structures to avoid storm surge effects and flooding caused by extensive inundation perimeter. UNICEF Madagascar trained the communities to assemble the tarpaulin tents using locally acquired wood poles for support. The most important principle of disaster risk management is to develop a culture of safety in these disaster-prone countries and to reduce the risk of populations losing their livelihoods and shelter, by assisting in safeguarding families and assets in times of emergency. To achieve such a goal, a series of key principles are described which set the theoretical foundations of the tools and methodologies presented in this document. Concerning local level risk management, communities are the first lines of response to events of a localised nature and have the potential to better recognise and address disaster risk and to handle these risks in their respective habitats. The principles included in this guideline are designed to minimize vulnerability to natural hazards in the subregion, based on the key principle of adaptation. It is important to highlight that while better disaster preparedness and better emergency assistance in the subregion resulted in reduced mortality; there was no corresponding reduction in material losses or livelihood losses.
Loss of assets and critical infrastructure need to be addressed by improving building standards in hazard zones within south-east Africa and south-west Indian Ocean. Minimum building standards aim to provide the community with the specific principles of good design and construction in areas prone to natural hazards. An example of a best practice in safe housing is the code of minimum standards for construction of houses piloted by UN habitat for Mozambique. The guideline contains pictures to facilitate understanding and photographs are also included showing construction practices in
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Overview Recent disaster trends indicate that mortality, at least from climate-related natural hazards has been reduced steadily, as EWSs, storm shelters and other structural protections are put in place. About 7,000 people died from weather-related hazards in 2009, the lowest figure observed in 10 years. However, economic losses from cyclones, floods, droughts and other extreme weather events as a percentage of total disaster losses are growing, indicating a worrying trsend, not just for affected families, but for governments, aid donors, insurers and other stakeholders involved in disaster recovery (see Figure 1). Of 245 disasters in 2009, 224 were weather-related, and those events accounted for 55 million of the
58 million people affected by disasters around the globe. Climate related events accounted for 84 percent of economic losses from disasters, or about $15 billion. The scientific community agree that increasing intensity and frequency of tropical storms and cyclones means that countries which once used historical data to guide their planning, can no longer rely on these statistics; the past is no longer a good indicator to plan for the future. Floods and other extreme events that once happened every 400 to 100 years in some countries now happen every five years. Overall, the countries in the region face multiple hazards (e.g., cyclones and floods, and to a lesser extent, droughts and earthquakes) due
Figure 1: Mortality and damage and losses by climate disasters and by continents
1 UNDP and WMO senior management, Personal Communication at the World Climate 3 Conference, August 31 2009, Geneva.
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to their geographical and economic positions. The result of these hazards is a series of disaster related shocks (e.g., cholera, crops pests, floods, droughts) producing a relatively high mortality risk. Destruction of assets, livelihoods and shelter affects a large number of people, particularly in Mozambique and Madagascar, because of the high poverty levels, running at 50 percent of the total population (see introduction). During the past twenty years, in the four countries mentioned in this guideline, around 42 million people have been affected and almost 10,000 have lost their lives due to disasters. Each of these countries has both past and present initiatives in improving disaster risk preparedness. However, poverty makes people more vulnerable to natural hazards and weakens the capacity of national disaster management institutions to tackle the problems. Furthermore, these countries are in the low income bracket and thus, national budgetary constraints do not allow for major investments in emergency preparedness (including training at national, district and local level) ahead of disaster occurrences. This guideline details best practices and risk reduction tools taking into account the socio-economic context of the target countries. A positive spin-off would be the integration of resulting knowledge into allowing policies and legislation.
initiatives, as well as to promote effective exchange and partnership among DIPECHO partners and institutions within the region of south-east Africa and south-west Indian Ocean. Three main results are expected from the project: 1. Disaster preparedness and risk reduction tools, methodologies and best practices compiled, systematized and disseminated among local, national and regional stakeholders in four countries of the region of south-east Africa and south-west Indian Ocean, namely the Comoros, Malawi, Madagascar and Mozambique; 2. Enhanced coordination as well as knowledge and information exchanges among DIPECHO partners and local and national institutions and stakeholders within the region of southeast Africa and south-west Indian Ocean; 3. Improved regional integration in the region of south-east Africa and south-west Indian Ocean and enhanced involvement of South African Development Community (SADC) in disaster risk reduction (DRR) activities. The project is coordinated by UNDP Mozambique country office, in liaison with other related initiatives supported by UNDP/Bureau for Crisis Prevention and Recovery (BCPR) in the region and beyond, as well as with the national capacity building projects developed by the UNDP country offices in the Comoros, Malawi and Madagascar. UNDP country offices will also play a critical role in helping to coordinate and implement the project.
In this context, the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) has received a grant from the European Commission Humanitarian Office (ECHO), within the 1st Disaster Preparedness European Commission’s Humanitarian Aid Department (DIPECHO) Action Plan for the region, to implement the following initiative ‘Enhancing Knowledge Management in Disaster Preparedness and Risk Reduction within south-east Africa and southwest Indian Ocean.’ The specific objective is to improve knowledge transfer in disaster preparedness and risk reduction
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Acknowledgements The principal author of this document is Dr Jane S.P. Mocellin, acting regional project coordinator, UNDP Mozambique, and responsible for all expected results, from the compilation of data and methodologies of best practices and lessons learned in Mozambique, Madagascar and the Comoros; information transfer and dissemination of the materials and audio visuals. The contributing author is Dr Pierson Ntata, a consultant from Malawi who was responsible for the data collection in Malawi and writing up its best practices into case studies. Acknowledgement goes to Michel Matera, former head of the Crisis Prevention/ Environment Unit, UNDP Mozambique for the overall support to this DIPECHO project on the systematization of experiences and best practices. Acknowledgement to Eunice Mucache,
National Disaster Risk Reduction (DRR) Advisor, UNDP Mozambique, for her deep knowledge of Mozambique and assistance in the review of all documentation. Acknowledgement also goes to UN Habitat and CARE International as contributors of the minimum standards for construction in hazard zones, and to Mairead Heffron, United Nations Volunteers (UNV) in DRR with UNDP Mozambique, for inputs and editing of the final document. To UNDP country office and their disaster risk reduction focal points, our sincere thanks for the field support.
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Risk, hazards and vulnerabilities
1 25 Malawi, Madagascar, Comoros and Mozambique
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Risk, hazards and vulnerabilities KEY PRINCIPLES Disasters represent a major source of risk for the poor and can potentially destroy development gains and accumulated wealth. Currently, the main risk factors that may precipitate a disaster, at least in south-east Africa and south-west Indian Ocean, are the drivers related to hydrometeorological dynamics which cause changes in climate. Disaster risk and climate change are two threats to human well-being that adversely reinforce each other. 2 A recent review of the Hyogo Framework of Action,3 by ISDR, risk and poverty in a changing climate, stresses that DRR can contribute to poverty reduction, development, and climate change adaptation; and consequently to global stability and sustainability. Disaster risk is disproportionately concentrated in developing countries which have more vulnerable economies, often weak governance structures and high poverty levels. Therefore, developing countries, and especially land-locked developing countries ‘suffer far higher levels of mortality and relative economic loss than industrialized countries when disasters occur’ (ibid.). However, major data differences are observed between developing countries in terms of mortality and losses, due to variance in statistical treatment, and data collection methods, in addition to differences in hazard types (e.g., an earthquake, which occurs in a rural unpopulated area does not have a destructive effect, but one which occurs
in a densely populated area will have severe consequences). Hydrometeorological hazards, poorly managed urban growth and territorial occupation, environmental mismanagement, declining ecosystems and climate change are considered as risk drivers in hazard–prone zones. These drivers disproportionally affect the poor, who are ‘less able to absorb loss and recover, and are more likely to experience both short- and long-term deteriorations in income, consumption and welfare’ (ibid.). Currently, experts and practitioners agree that high poverty levels increase people’s vulnerability and reduce capacity to deal with disaster-related shocks (i.e., floods, cyclones crop pests, cholera among others). Disasters are acknowledged to be multidimensional and complex events and there are several key principles on hazard exposure, vulnerabilities, disaster related shocks and poverty. Some of these principles are listed below according to their relevance for risk reduction and best practice analysis. Furthermore, macroeconomic indicators of the four countries involved in this study are also referenced. The UNDP (2007) report on climate change argues that the world is drifting towards a ‘tipping point’ that could lock the world’s poorest countries and their poorest citizens in a downward spiral,
Key Principle I The fact that disasters have a disproportionate impact on the poor in developing countries has been highlighted in research for at least 30 years. The 2004 UNDP/BCPR report Reducing Disaster Risk: a Challenge for Development highlighted the fact that while only 11 percent of those exposed to hazards live in low human development countries, 53 percent of disaster mortality is concentrated in those countries. The ISDR (International Strategy for Disaster Reduction) (2009) review has assembled a considerable body of empirical evidence that confirms that disaster risk is fundamentally associated with poverty at both the global and local levels.
2 Global Environmental Change and Human Security (GECHS) Disaster Risk Reduction (DRR), Climate Change Adaption and Human Security Report 2008:3 3 (ISDR, 2009) Global assessment report on disaster risk reduction: Risk and poverty in a changing climate, Geneva
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leaving hundreds of millions facing malnutrition, water scarcity, ecological threats, and loss of livelihoods. Although the relationship between climate change and extreme events remains a critical research area, it is difficult to distinguish natural climate variability4 and changes in climate-related hazards from the impacts of long-
term climate change, or even the comparison of losses from other hazards. Evidence-based data5 shows the linkages between extreme weather events and climate change.6 Vulnerability reduction through mitigation and preparedness strategies which allow for a better
Key Principle 2 Climate change exacerbates linkages between disaster risk and poverty. At the same time, it decreases the resilience of many poor households and communities to absorb a range of disaster shocks, due to factors such as decreases in agricultural productivity, increases in vector borne disease and shortages of water and energy, particularly in south-east Africa and south-west Indian Ocean. Climate change, therefore, is now a key regional driver of disaster.
response to natural climate variability and longterm climate change, poses a new challenge for governments in southeast Africa and southwest Indian Ocean.
New evidence also suggests that climate change is likely to change the nature of many types of hazards, not only hydrometeorological events such as floods, windstorms, and droughts, but also events such as landslides, heat waves and disease outbreaks, by influencing the intensity, duration and magnitude of these events.8
Climate change is expected to increase the frequency and magnitude of many types of extreme events, including floods, droughts, tropical cyclones and wildfires.7
Key Principle 3 There is a need to link and focus the policy and governance frameworks for DRR, poverty reduction and climate change adaptation in a way that can bring local and sectoral approaches and tools which constitute best practices into mainstream development thinking on disaster risk reduction (ISDR 2009, ibid.). Climate change consequences, based on hydro-meteorological phenomena, in African countries have been forecasted as the major hazard which will trigger future disasters. On a global scale the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) has confirmed that climate change is now altering the predictability, intensity and geographical distribution of many weather-related hazards through increased intensity of the water cycle and other effects such as glacial melt and sea level rise (ISDR, 2009, ibid.). Regional and subregional governments need to guide their future disaster risk management planning with budget allocations for risk reduction accordingly.
4 A key difference between climate variability and climate change is in persistence of ‘anomalous’ conditions. In other words, events that used to be rare occur more frequently. The United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) makes a distinction between ‘climate change’ attributable to human activities altering the atmospheric composition, and "climate variability" attributable to natural causes. (see World Meteorological Association (WMO) – http://www.wmo.int) 5‘Climate Change and Water’, Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) 2008 IPCC Technical Paper VI - June 2008 6UNDP (2007) Human Development Report: Fighting climate change: Human solidarity in a divided world. New York. 7IPCC. 2007a. Climate Change 2007: The Physical Science Basis. (Contribution of Working Group I to the Fourth Assessment Report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, S.
Solomon, D. Qin, M. Manning, Z. Chen, M. Marquis, K.B. Averyt, M. Tignor and H.L. Miller (eds.), Cambridge University Press, Cambridge). 8 Leichenko and O’Brien 2008; P.J. Milly, et al. Stationarity Is Dead: Whither Water Management? (Science, 319 (5863), 573–574, 2008); Z.W. Kundzewicz, M. Radziejewski and I. Pinskwar. Precipitation extremes in the changing climate of Europe. (Climate Research, 31, 51–58, 2006).)5‘Climate Change and Water’, Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) 2008 IPCC Technical Paper VI - June 2008
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Africa is a continent that is already facing climate stresses and is extremely vulnerable to the impacts of hydro-meteorological phenomena. The climate of the continent is becoming even more variable and extreme weather events are expected to become more frequent and severe. These events will affect the lives of millions of people and can have severe impacts on socio-economic well
being in the continent. Mozambique is particularly vulnerable to the effects of climate change due to the low lying areas on its 2,700 km of coasts (Figure 2). The red areas illustrate the extent of the 20m contour along the coast of Africa, where large estuaries and deltas form low lying land (see Figure 3).
Figure 2: Low lying areas in Africa
Source: Cited at INGC (2009)9 Bundrit and Mavume, 2009. 9 INGC. 2009. Synthesis report. INGC Climate Change Report: Study on the impact of climate change on disaster risk in Mozambique. Van Logchem B and Brito R (ed.)]. INGC, Mozambique
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Figure 3: Low lying areas below 20 meters contour line in Mozambique (in green)
Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Mozambique_Topography.png 29 Malawi, Madagascar, Comoros and Mozambique
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Multi-hazard approach in the targeted countries The topographic map of Mozambique clearly shows the low lying coastal plain covering much of the country in the south and central zones (green/ blue). The higher mountains plateaus inland and to the north are also clearly visible. The four countries, included in this disaster risk reduction initiative, namely, Mozambique, Malawi, Madagascar and the Comoros, have a multi-hazard risk profile: • • • •
Report all four countries are ranked in the top 25 in a list of countries experiencing high mortality risk from multiple hazards (three or more hazards). Furthermore, these countries also constitute the top four African countries in the list. Over the past 20 years, around 42 million people have been affected and almost 10,000 have lost their lives in these four countries due to natural hazards. The demographics of these countries show Mozambique and Madagascar have populations of approximately 21.8 million and 19.1 million people respectively, of which more than 50 percent live in acute poverty, categorising these countries as highly vulnerable. As these hazards will damage primarily livelihoods and shelter sectors, risk reduction principles need to be extended to the housing sector and public infrastructure of schools and hospitals to reduce damage and losses when a hazard strikes. The section below provides detailed risk and socioeconomic profiles of the targeted countries.
Mozambique is prone to floods, cyclones and occasional localized earthquakes in the south of the Rift Valley; Madagascar is affected by cyclones, droughts and bush fires; Malawi is prone to floods and localized droughts and Ngazidja; The main island of the Comoros, is occupied in its entirety by two active volcanoes – Le Karthala and Les Grilles.
In the World Bank’s Natural Disaster Hotspot
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Republic of Mozambique Disaster risk reduction in the Mozambique context needs to consider not only the natural hazard profile for the country but also the existing condition of chronic vulnerability as described in the National Action Plan for the Reduction of Absolute Poverty (PARPA), which indicates a poverty rate of 54.1 percent (2002) for a total population of 20 million10. Mozambique remains one of the least developed countries in the world, currently ranked 172nd out of 182 countries in the Human Development Index (HDI) ranking (2007). The Gross Domestic Product (GDP) per capita (2007) is 364 USD. The underlying causes of Mozambique’s chronic vulnerability are: (i) weak infrastructure for basic services and (ii) the rapidly escalating HIV/AIDS pandemic that is weakening national capacities and considerably slowing therate of development (HIV/AIDS Prevalence 16.2 percent)11. As a result, the impact of frequent natural hazards can have an exponential effect, including the disruption of livelihoods and services, the overstretching of limited coping mechanisms and the exacerbation of population vulnerabilities. Since 1976, the country has suffered from at least 45 significant incidences of natural hazards, including floods, cyclones, droughts and earthquakes. While the human cost of these disasters has been very high, the impact on the economy is even more severe. This can be clearly illustrated by the 2000 floods which reduced the GDP growth rate from over 10 percent to less than 2 percent, with direct and indirect losses estimated at $488 millions. As much as 25 percent of Mozambique’s population faces a high mortality risk from natural hazards, and it ranks as the second most geographically exposed country in Africa.12
However, major positive changes occurred between 2000 and 2008 in Mozambique as it excelled in linking early warning with early action. The 2009 World Disaster Report from IFRC13 discusses this successful practice saving lives and assets through implementation of EWSs. Instead of waiting for new massive and recurrent floods, the authorities have put systems in place to ensure action is taken before the flood or cyclone becomes a major disaster. The improvements lie mostly with the advent of community-centred EWSs which have linked global and national capacity to provide timely warnings of floods and cyclones, with early action taken by the at-risk communities themselves. Most importantly, many Mozambican communities now have the skills and knowledge to protect themselves through the implementation of local level risk management structures (page 11). The government of Mozambique recognizes these natural hazards as an important factor that can hinder the country’s development and these hazard events have been included as one of the cross-cutting issues in the country’s poverty reduction strategy (PARPA II). Also a slow shift from disaster response and recovery to disaster preparedness can be seen in the efforts undertaken in the last years. In line with the PARPA II and the Hyogo Framework, the council of Ministers approved the National Master Plan for Disaster Risk Reduction in 2006. This document details the government’s action plan for reducing the impact of disasters and includes activities such as providing the country with the means for prevention and appropriate response mechanisms and the strengthening of institutional, regional and international coordination.
10 Source : http://www.unmozambique.org/ 11 Source: UNDP 2009 Global Human Development Report. New York. 12 Natural Disaster Hotspots - A global risk analysis, The World Bank, 2005. 13 World Disasters Report 2009 - Focus on early warning, early action, International Federation of the Red Cross
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The government body that is primarily responsible for the coordination of disaster plans, policies and interventions in Mozambique is the National Institute for Disaster Management (INGC). INGC has made a significant effort to strengthen
national response capacity. An example of the achieved results is the establishment of the National Emergency Operations Centre (CENOE). Of all the four countries included in this guideline,
Disaster risk profile Hydrometeorological phenomena Mozambique is the most vulnerable to hydrometeorological hazards such as cyclones and associated floods in large inundation areas. Moreover, the floods caused by the drainage system discharge in the Indian Ocean, at the Mozambique coastline, are an additional hazard. The coastline of the subregion which includes Mozambique, (Figure 1) is often affected by cyclones and tropical storms coming from the Indian Ocean. According to INGC, since 1970
Mozambique has been hit by 34 significant cyclones or tropical depressions, including the most recent one, cyclone Ivan , in March which hit the northern coastline. The map below shows all the countries affected. The most vulnerable country in the subregion to this type of natural hazard is Madagascar (see darker areas in Figue 4), which was violently hit with 300,000 people affected.
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Figure 4: Vulnerability of Mozambique and neighbour countries to cyclones
Source: (Government of Mozambique, 2009) Concept Note: Sub-Regional Centre for Disaster Mitigation and Sustainable Reconstruction (DIMSUR) (Mozambique, Angola, Botswana, Lesotho, Madagascar, Malawi, Swaziland, South Africa, Tanzania, Zambia and Zimbabwe).September, Maputo.
Floods15 Mozambique is also located downstream of nine international river basins (Figure 2), of which the Zambezi is the largest one, followed by the Limpopo, Rovuma and Save along the seven major rivers that cross the country (Zambezi, Limpopo, Incomati, Licungo, Save, Buzi and Pungue), and its extent depends to a great deal on the amount of rainfall registered in the neighbouring countries, located upstream (see Figure 5). Vulnerability is at its highest throughout the rainy season which runs from September to March. A major flood event last occurred in the year 2000, as a consequence of Cyclone Elyne, affecting several basins in
the subregion, in particular the Limpopo River, resulting in more than 700 deaths, 500,000 people displaced and 2 million people affected. Flooding can be geographically random as the rivers are spread from the north to the south of the country. For example, the 1999/2000 flood emergency affected the Limpopo River valley, whereas the 2001/2002 flood occurred in the Zambezi River valley. Water management infrastructure of these rivers is limited as there are only four major dams in-country that operate to control water levels downstream, and levels of regional coordination capacity are weak. Localized flooding is also very
15 Flood can be defined as an overflow or inundation that comes from a river or other body of water and causes or threatens damage. The result of heavy or excessive amounts of rainfall within a short period of time, usually less than 6 hours, causing water to rise and fall quite rapidly is termed as Flash Floods. Rain-induced flash floods can occur in any part of the country during and after heavy rain. In general they rise and fall quickly but the speed of the flood current is as significant as the depth of the water in causing casualties and damage. Flash flooding usually subsides in a matter of hours; flash flood casualties and damage are often caused by water speed and debris as much as water depth; wide-area flooding is more pervasive and slower to subside but also gives more time for action; water-borne disease can be a serious secondary risk – people should be advised to boil water for drinking and to prevent children from playing in flood waters; Insect-borne diseases (malaria, dengue, etc.) can increase in the periods after floods.
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common in the rainy season and has the potential to affect thousands of people, as is the case during yearly flooding in coastal cities like Beira and Quelimane which are situated below sea level. INGC estimates that 54 districts across the country are vulnerable to seasonal flooding, and this has
the potential to impact over 340,000 people. INGC also reports that since 1970, the country has been affected by 32 significant cyclones or tropical depressions with 36 districts along the coast and inland vulnerable to hydrometeorological phenomena, and over 800,000 people at risk.
Figure 5: Hydrographic basins and the flood hazard in the subregion
Storm-surge flooding may also occur in low-lying coastal areas when a low barometric pressure (around 1004 hectopascal (hPa) or lower, a hPa is a unit of air pressure) system coincides with heavy on-shore winds and waves. Although such flooding is often associated with tropical cyclones, it can also occur during less severe storms known as tropical lows in meteorological terms. Potentially, the most destructive phenomenon associated with tropical cyclones that make landfall is the storm surge. Storm surge is a raised dome of water about 60 to 80 km across and typically about 2 to 5 mts higher than the normal tide level. If the surge occurs at the same time as a high tide then the area inundated can be quite extensive, particularly along low-lying coastlines. • Storm surge, or tidal surge, occurs when a deep low-pressure centre is close to or crossing the coast (see map ICGN database Mozambique) • The sea level can rise by as much as 3 or more meters in Madagascar, Mozambique and the Comoros but is likely to be smaller depending on force and direction of winds. • A storm surge can flood low-lying coastal areas, particularly if it coincides with high tide and full moon. • A storm surge is usually accompanied by strong winds and waves, which can cause additional damage to exposed coastal areas and fishing villages.
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Figure 6: Storm surge in normal and cyclonic conditions
Source: Adapted from Emergency Management Australia (2005) in consultation with State/Territory Emergency Services.
Drought Drought is the most frequent natural hazard and occurs every three to four years. Drought conditions are relatively chronic in the southern and central regions of Mozambique, and account for a large part of the vulnerability in the country due to their impact on food security and livelihoods. It is estimated that droughts contributed to the death of about 4,000 people between 1980 and 2000. The main problem is that affected populations do not have sufficient time to recover from the economic and social impacts provoked by droughts between one cycle and the
next. While the situation has improved in recent years due to increased agricultural production and food security, communities are still suffering from the effects of the prolonged drought that began in 2003. In 2007, Mozambique entered a new severe drought period. The Master Plan for Disaster Prevention and Mitigation, approved by the Mozambique Council of Ministers in May 2006 highlights the importance of conservation agriculture in drought areas and provides lines of action towards the creation of
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experimental centres for conservation agriculture. The regional office of United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) has provided a
number of guidelines to main DRR stakeholders meeting during the DIPECHOs Second Regional Workshop held in Malawi in October 2009.
Several NGOs, particularly CARE International work in improving livelihoods security of 18,000 smallholder farmers in GOVURO, Inhassoro and Vilankulos districts, in Inhanbane province. They promote agricultural conservation methods such as retention of soil moisture to sustain soil fertility, rainwater harvesting techniques, and also distribute drought tolerant varieties of principal crop to farmers. In this project, 2,482 smallholder farmers, of which 69 percent are women, also adopted fire breaks to avoid uncontrolled fires. Fire education is also being implemented, regarding the impact of uncontrolled burning or bush fires (‘queimadas’) on soil fertility and agriculture production16.
In 2009, the Ministry of Agriculture of Mozambique undertook the task of implementing a survey on food (in) security in the most vulnerable districts of the northern region of the country. An estimate number of 281,300 people are lacking minimum amounts of daily food intake. Results are shown in Figure 7 below.
Figure 7: Shocks caused by natural hazards in selected northern districts in Mozambiue
Choques nos últimos 12 meses 100% 90% 80% 70% 60% 50% 40% 30% 20% 10% 0% Niassa
Cabo Delgado
Nampula
Zambezia
Tete
Manica
Sofala
Inhambane
Gaza
Maputo
De s a s tr es na tur a is
R e duç ã o de fontes de a limentos e pode r de c ompr a
A umento de pr e c os , pr a ga s e doe nç a s e m a nima is e c ultur a s
R e duç ã o de fonte de r e ndimento
Source: Ministry of Agriculture released to the UN Forum, 18 November 2009, Maputo. 16 Care Mozambique Six Month report: February to July 2009.
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Earthquakes Mozambique lies on the southern end of the East African Rift Valley, although seismic activity is not frequent in this area. However, after an earthquake, measuring 7.0 on the Richter scale, affected Manica Province in February 2006, INGC identified earthquake preparedness as a priority for contingency planning. The February 2006 earthquake killed one person in Espungabera, one in Machaze and two in Beira. 27 people were injured and at least 160 buildings damaged in
Espungabera, Beira and Chimoio areas, including many public facilities such as schools and health centres. Power outages also occurred in Maputo. The earthquake was felt across Mozambique and in parts of Zimbabwe, South Africa, Swaziland, Botswana and Zambia. The exposure of the urban population to an earthquake would have the potential to affect close to 900,000 people in the Provinces of Manica and Sofala.
Republic of Madagascar Madagascar17 is located in the southern hemisphere, in the south-west Indian Ocean, 400 km off the coast of southern Africa, specifically Mozambique. The island is located between 12th and 26th parallels, crossing the Tropic of Capricorn. It has an area of about 590,750 km2, making it the world's fourth largest island after Greenland, New Guinea and Borneo and has many small islands off its coast. Madagascar has 4,828 km of coastline stretching over 1,500 km between the Cap d'Ambre in the extreme north and Cape St. Mary in the south and the island is about 500 km at its widest point.
point (3,000 m) is located north in the Massif de Tsaratanana. One third of the island's surface consists of coastal plains; large sedimentary basins and volcanic plains (see Figure 8). The country is crossed by an extensive hydrographic network and subjected to a number of disasters (see Figure 8). The population of Madagascar is approximately 19.6 million and the Human Development Index18 is 0.543, which ranks it 145th out of 182 countries listed (see Figure 9). The main source of income is agriculture, with the agricultural sector employing 88 percent of all workers. GDP per capita is $932 and 89.6 percent of the population lives below the poverty line of $2 per day.
A mountainous backbone with an average height of 1,200-1,500 m across the island from north to south along its entire length. The highest
17 Source : FTM.2000. Bulletin trimestriel, premier trimestre Nosy veut dire île en malagasy. Source : Système des Nations Unies Madagascar.2000. Présentation de Madagascar à la Session du Conseil Economique et Social – Assemblée Générale des Nations Unies - Juillet 2000 - New York Source : Institut National de la Statistique Antananarivo, MADAGASCAR (Direction de la Démographie et des Statistiques Sociales) / Macro International Inc. Calverton, Maryland USA. 1997. Enquête Démographique et de santé à Madagascar. 18 UNDP, 2009 HDI Human Development Index. Madagascar.
37 Malawi, Madagascar, Comoros and Mozambique
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Figure 8: Madagascar hazard risk map
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Risks, Hazards and Vulnerabilities: A Practical Guideline of Best Practices
Madagascar risk profile Madagascar17 is located in the southern hemisphere, in the south-west Indian Ocean, 400 km off the coast of southern Africa, specifically Mozambique. The island is located between 12th and 26th parallels, crossing the Tropic of Capricorn. It has an area of about 590,750 km2, making it the world's fourth largest island after Greenland, New Guinea and Borneo and has many small islands off its coast. Madagascar has 4,828 km of coastline stretching over 1,500 km between the Cap d'Ambre in the
extreme north and Cape St. Mary in the south and the island is about 500 km at its widest point. A mountainous backbone with an average height of 1,200-1,500 m across the island from north to south along its entire length. The highest point (3,000 m) is located north in the Massif de Tsaratanana. One third of the island's surface consists of coastal plains; large sedimentary basins and volcanic plains (see Figure 8). The country is
Disaster statistics crossed by an extensive hydrographic network. The population of Madagascar is approximately 19.6 million and the Human Development Index18 is 0.543, which ranks it 145th out of 182 countries listed (see Figure XX). The main source of income is agriculture, with the agricultural sector employing 88 percent of all workers. GDP per capita is $932 and 89.6 percent of the population lives below the poverty line of $2 per day. Madagascar is prone to disaster risk, facing four main natural hazards, namely (i) cyclones and tropical storms; (ii) flood, and (iii) drought, which are of meteorological origin; and finally (iv) locust infestations. Hydro-meteorological phenomena, such as cyclones and floods, are leading causes of disasters in Madagascar. The cyclone season runs from 1 November to 30 April, the most active period
being between mid-December and mid-March. Cyclones, droughts, flooding, and epidemics are periodic hazards. During the past 20 years (1989-2008), Madagascar has faced the following disasters: four droughts, three epidemics (respiratory and diarrheal/enteric), two floods, one insect infestation, 25 cyclones and two tropical storms. Population exposure to tropical cyclones in the country is the 13th highest in the world, and there is a higher than average relative vulnerability to droughts. In 2007 and 2008, Madagascar suffered from two consecutive cyclone seasons that left very little time for people to get their livelihoods back (see Figure 9). Because of occasional droughts or other unfavorable weather conditions and subsequent crop failures, seasonal food insecurity is a major feature in the country’s profile (see Table 1).
Table 1: Natural Hazard Effects in Madagascar Natural Disasters from 1981 - 2008 No. of events: No. of people killed: Average killed per year: No. of people affected: Average affected per year:
48 3,740 134 8,531,370 304,692
Economic Damage ($ X 1,000): Economic Damage per year ($ X 1,000):
1,637,881 58,496
Source: Prevention Web (2009a) 39 Malawi, Madagascar, Comoros and Mozambique
Risks, Hazards and Vulnerabilities: A Practical Guideline of Best Practices
Figure 9: Mortality risk index
Source: www.preventionweb.net
Cyclones 2008. Also, the country’s PRSP19 incorporates risk and vulnerability considerations into its analyses and strategic planning. In the DIPECHO national consultative meeting for Madagascar on April 2008 the following issues and sectors were listed for prioritization: • local capacity building; • institutional strengthening (at community level as well as regarding natural hazards follow-up); • early warning systems (also in local languages); • education and awareness; • small-scale infrastructure works; and • stock-piling of emergency and relief items. In 2009, a similar consultative meeting was conducted; however results are unavailable at the time this document is going to print.
Between December 2006 and March 2007, five successive tropical storms and cyclones hit Madagascar, killing at least 31 people and affecting more than 63,000 others. Rainfall from the storms led to widespread flooding which damaged infrastructure, destroyed crops, and threatened local food security. Although effective early warning and alert systems minimized the casualties from the storms, the consecutive cyclones and extensive flooding depleted local and national response resources, leading the Government of Madagascar to request international assistance. Madagascar is working to strengthen its disaster preparedness and response capabilities. In 2007, the government together with its partners developed a contingency plan which guided the humanitarian response to the cyclones in early
19 Poverty Reduction Strategy Papers (PRSP) are prepared by the member countries through a participatory process involving domestic stakeholders as well as external development partners, including the World Bank and International Monetary Fund. Updated every three years with annual progress reports, PRSPs describe the country's macroeconomic, structural and social policies and programs over a three year or longer horizon to promote broad-based growth and reduce poverty, as well as associated external financing needs and major sources of financing. Interim PRSPs (I-PRSPs) summarize the current knowledge and analysis of a country's poverty situation, describe the existing poverty reduction strategy, and lay out the process for producing a fully developed PRSP in a participatory fashion (www.IMF.org)
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Risks, Hazards and Vulnerabilities: A Practical Guideline of Best Practices
The Union of Comoros The Union of Comoros comprises the islands of Grande Comore (or Ngazidja) Moheli (or Moila) and Anjouan (or Ndzouani). The total area of the Union is 2,170 km2 and the largest island of Ngazidja, covers approximately 1,000 km2. The population of the Comoros is approximately 850,000 with over 50 percent of the population living on Ngazidja. Between 40,000-50,000 inhabitants live in Moroni, the capital. The Human Development Index (HDI)
(see Figure 10) in 2007/2008 is 0.576, which ranks the Comoros 139th out of 182 countries in the list. GDP per capita is $1143 and 65 percent of the population lives below the $2 poverty line. The HDI, which refers to data collected in 2007, highlights the very large gaps in well-being and life chances that continue to divide our increasingly interconnected world.
Figure 10: Human development index trends in 2007 and comparison with other regions
Source: Indicator table G of the Human Development Report 2009
HIV epidemic, according to statistics, is far lower than on the African mainland (the statistics may be inaccurate due to problems in data collection and recording). Between 1991 and 1996, there was no evidence of HIV infection among
women attending antenatal clinics in Moroni. HIV prevalence on the islands, according to the UNDP Human Development Report, is below 0.1 percent.
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Figure 11: Map of the Comoros Islands
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Disaster risk profile • four explosive volcanic eruptions of the Le Karthala volcano and the Les Grilles volcano on the island of Grand Comore; • one cyclone; and • one storm. The most critical risk for both high mortality and morbidity is the on-going threat of a volcanic eruption (see Table 2)
Natural hazards in the Comoros islands (see Figure 11) are epidemics, volcanoes and windstorms. Cyclones can occur during the rainy season which runs from December to April. According to the Emergency Event Database,20 the Comoros has experienced the following disasters during the last 20 years (1989-2008): • six epidemics;
Volcanic hazards One of the world's most active volcanoes, Mount Karthala, located in the centre of the 60 km long main island of Ngazidja, forms most of the island’s landmass, accounting for two thirds of the total area of the island. The total height of the volcano is about 6,000 mts, with 4,000 mts submerged under the sea and 2,360 mts above sea level. The volcano has a caldera of three km located in the central part, south of the island. The crater (see Figure 11) in which surrounds the caldera and whose depth is about 1,000 mts, is filled with water from a recent eruption. The rift zones extend to the north, north-east, west and south-east from the summit. In the last 200 years, there has been an eruption of Mount Karthala on average, every 11 years and 2005 the volcano erupted twice affecting 40,000 people in April and 175,000 in November. After the last eruption, volcanic dust and debris covered the capital, Moroni, and wide areas of Grande Comore/Ngazidja island. Toxic volcanic ash and smoke caused extensive air pollution and contaminated water supplies, threatening the health, livestock and agricultural livelihood of approximately 245,000 people living in 76 villages. Most of the materials expelled were of the magma type, resulting in lava flows on both sides of the island. During the last century, lava flows reached populated coastal regions, including Moroni, the capital. In some cases, the
eruptions occurred on the lower flanks of the volcano. In most cases, lava flows have devastated regions, affecting people in specific villages. The major risk posed by this volcano is therefore not only of a magma (lava) nature but an additional risk are the phreatic materials which may produce clouds of hot rocks and deadly gases moving at high speed.21 The Karthala Volcano Observatory (OVK) has divided the island into three risk zones, based on the geological structure and volcanic history of eruptions during the past 200 years. The zones are classified on a scale from one (higher risk) to five (lowest). The regions at level 1 include the top and north, north-west and south-east of the rift. The level II regions include most coastal areas in central and southern parts of the island, which is where the population is concentrated, including Moroni. The level III regions include mainly the north-west part of the island near the Hahaya International Airport. The regions IV and V include the northern parts of the island. The most recent threat was an eruption accompanied by a series of earthquakes which began in May 2003. This has led scientists to believe that the magma was moving in the magma chamber and ascended slowly toward the surface.
20 CRED EM-DAT University of Louvain, Belgium. www. Cred.be 20 IRIN 2009b, and 2008 UNDP Project Document. Coopération inter agences sur le Relèvement après les catastrophes aux Comores
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Figure 12: Le Karthala Volcanoe crater
Source: NASA Earth Observatory (2009) 44 Malawi, Madagascar, Comoros and Mozambique
Risks, Hazards and Vulnerabilities: A Practical Guideline of Best Practices
Figure 13: Map of Gran Comoros showing a timeline of eruptions
The weak economic situation of the country is reflected in the weak capacity of institutional response to disasters not only in dealing with volcanic activity, but for all hazards (see Figure 12). The Centre des Opérations de Secours et de la Protection Civile (COSEP) was set up in 2007 to strengthen this capacity. Currently, some disaster preparedness improvement initiatives are ongoing. For example, integration of the concept of DRR into the Country Strategy Paper is in process and several initiatives are being prepared under
the framework of the Global Facility for Disaster Risk Reduction Track III (mainstreaming DRR for sustainable poverty reduction in the Union of the Comoros). However, existing preparedness activities are not supported by a model or strategic concept of the components which need to be addressed to manage all aspects of a volcanic risk (see Figure 13).
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The World Disaster Report published in 2009 by IFRC highlight the importance of EWS for volcanoes. Early Warning Systems (EWSs) for volcanoes have been adopted in many regions where volcanoes are active. They work as a coordination and communication tool between scientists and other stakeholders to help minimize the economic and social impact of volcanic activity. Individual volcano early warning systems (VEWS) vary considerably due to a number of factors including the ability to monitor and forecast volcano hazards, management of volcano observatories and broader social, political and economic issues. The organizations that coordinate VEWS are predominantly the volcano observatory if there is one (it may be part of a local university), emergency managers/civil defence or, in some cases, the local government, but the coordination varies depending upon the country and its disaster management policy. VEWS can operate from the local level of an individual volcano, through to regional, national and international levels (particularly for the aviation sector). The United Nations have provided some generic EWS guidelines that some governments may or may not adhere to. Volcanic activity presents a complex problem for volcanologists and emergency managers; they have to forecast and manage a diverse range of hazards that may occur, sometimes without warning, when volcanoes are active or dormant (page 14). Therefore managing volcanic crises requires careful consideration and understanding of how to take action in the context of extreme uncertainty, from both scientific and social standpoints. To do this successfully, a VEWS should be fully integrated so that it covers everything from monitoring and detection, to analysis and interpretation of the data, to communication and generating an effective response. This requires planning, cooperation, the running of drills, education, and discussion and communication between all stakeholders so that during a crisis effective decisions can be made quickly. The ability to develop, provide and maintain a successful VEWS is built around five key components listed in Figure 14 (see below). While the VEWS model may appear to be linear, there is ongoing interaction between the five components and the different knowledge groups within the system. The five components listed have functions before, during and after a crisis (page 15) {see Figure 15}.
Figure 14: A model of a Volcano EWS based on the WDR (IFRC), 2009 report 1.
Understanding & forecasting volcano hazard Volcano style
2.
Volcanic scientists management Hazard mitigation & mapping
3.Volcano crises management
4.Response
Crises planning
Education
Eruptive history
Monitoring
Decision
Ability to obtain warning
Education
Period of quiescence
Research
Media management
Aware of what to do
Funding
Tectonic location
Outreach/Education
Communication with the public & other authorities
Volcanic hazard
Alert notification system & crises planning
-making
5. Broader economic, political & socia issues Communication
Technology Cultural environment Coordination of institutional and public relationships
Institutional dynamics Source: 2009 IFRC World Disaster Report, Geneve at bottom of figure and delete after EWS in caption
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Figure 15: Rescue operation on lava flow during the 2007 eruption
• • • •
The disaster sectors prioritized for the Comoros by the participants of the DIPECHO were: • local capacity building; • institutional strengthening at community level;
early warning systems; education and awareness; small-scale infrastructure works; and stock-piling of emergency and relief items.
Table 2 Comoros disaster statistics Natural Disasters from 1981 - 2007 No. of events: No. of people killed:
16 146
Average killed per year: No. of people affected: Average affected per year:
5 407,114 15,078
Economic Damage ($ X 1,000): Economic Damage per year ($ X 1,000):
42,804 1,585
Source : www.proventionweb.net
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Republic of Malawi Malawi, a landlocked country situated in Southern Africa has borders with Zambia, Tanzania and Mozambique. The climate is sub-tropical with one rainy and one dry season a year. It is one of the most densely populated and least developed countries in the world. The country is based on an agricultural economy with the agricultural sector contributing over 35 percent to the country’s GDP. Agricultural exports also account for over 70 percent of the country’s foreign exchange earnings, with tobacco accounting for approximately 65 percent of the country’s export earnings. The population is over
14 million people, of which over 80 percent are rural-based and depend on subsistence farming as their main source of livelihood. GDP per capita for Malawi is $2761. On the Human Development Index, Malawi, with an HDI of 493 ranked 160th out of 182 countries with 65.3 percent of the population below poverty line.22 HIV prevalence is at 11.9 percent23, which both fuels and is fueled by poverty.
Figure 16: Map of Malawi
22 UNDP 2009 Global Human Development Report, New York 23 UNAIDS, 2009
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The context of chronic poverty, poor health and food insecurity, as well as HIV epidemic, increases the number of people impacted by drought and floods. Epidemics are often secondary and tertiary impacts of both floods and droughts, increasing the vulnerability, hampering recovery and reducing short- to medium-term resilience.24
Droughts and floods have usually alternated in most of the areas referred to above. However, and a number of floods related to cyclonic weather patterns in 1946, 1956, 1991, 1997, 2001, 2003 and more recently in early 2008. Floods have impacted different river basins but the Lower Shire is the most severely and most frequently affected area. In general, the flood problem in Malawi seems to be exacerbated by a number of man-made problems largely stemming from population pressure. On the other hand, drought occurrences, although more localized than national, have been more frequent in the southern region resulting in more pronounced impacts due to relatively high population densities (ibid.).
Due to over-reliance on rain-fed agriculture, high population densities and weak infrastructure for basic services, including high prevalence of HIV referred to above, people’s livelihoods as well as the economy as a whole are very vulnerable to droughts and floods, the most frequently occurring natural hazards in the country. Environmental degradation, increasing poverty, rapid urbanization and a lack of effective DRR effort worsen the vulnerability of the population to hazards and exacerbate the impacts of disasters (ibid.).
Malawi disaster statistics Table 3: Data related to human and economic losses from disasters that have occurred between 1982 and 2007. Natural Disasters from 1982 - 2007 No. of events: No. of people killed:
41 2,596
Average killed per year: No. of people affected: Average affected per year:
100 21,656,445 832,940
Economic Damage ($ X 1,000): Economic Damage per year ($ X 1,000):
59,789 2,300
Source : www.proventionweb.net
24 Phiri, M.A.R Strategy Paper for the Second DIPECHO Action Plan for Malawi, Lilongwe. Draft version.
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Floods Precise data of the yearly impact of floods in terms of deaths and numbers of people affected is not available in official publications. However, it is quite apparent that the nature and pattern of weather related hazards are changing, becoming more frequent, intense and unpredictable. For example, between 1970 and 2006 Malawi experienced 40 weather-related disasters, but 16
of these occurred after 1990. More importantly the number of people affected by these disasters has increased sharply since 1990. The geographical coverage of floods has also increased. Before 2001 only nine districts in Malawi were classified as flood-prone. In 2001, 16 districts were reported as flood affected, and a further 14 districts in 2002.
Drought Precise yearly data on the number of deaths and affected population by disasters has not been made available officially. Drought is, undoubtedly the greatest threat in terms of geographical range and economic effect. The risk management company Software Inc. (RMSI), which generates global geospatial information and, in addition to other analysis, has recently carried out an historical assessment of meteorological droughts, studying their frequency and spatial distribution
characteristics based on Standard Precipitation Index (SPI) time series. The study showed that Malawi was worst affected by the droughts of 1987, 1992, 1994, 2004, and 2005. The major droughts in the past 50 years were experienced in 1948/1949 and 1991/1992, while meteorological droughts of 1992, 1994 and 2005 were national level events, the droughts during 1987 and 2004 were local in their spatial nature.25
Earthquakes Scientific information regarding Malawi’s vulnerability to earthquakes shows that the risk of earthquakes is low.26 However, in 1989 an earthquake of magnitude 6.1 on the Richter scale occurred in the Salima area, killing 9 people and affecting over 50,000 people. The damage caused was estimated at $28 million. Compared to other parts of Africa and the subregion, Malawi as a whole does not fall into the category of Intensive Disaster Risk as defined in the ISDR Global Review on DRR. This review refers to situations where there is a high concentration of people and economic activities in areas exposed to occasional or frequent hazard events, with chronic impacts.
to over 25 million people. When pro-rated to population as the mean annual number of victims per 100,000 inhabitants, the staggering result (8,747 people) placed Malawi as the worst affected of the 10 poorest countries in the world, far exceeding Eritrea (6,402 people) and Ethiopia (5,259 people), the second and third worstaffected poor nations. According to this report, Malawi, Eritrea and Ethiopia are cited as obvious examples of the relationship between poverty, vulnerability and the impact of disasters (ibid.). Despite the frequent occurrence of droughts and floods in the recent past, disaster prevention, preparedness and response systems have not been prioritised in Malawi. This is evidenced by gaps in policy and legal frameworks; an incomplete draft of the National Disaster Management Plan; a lack of comprehensive all-hazard EWSs; lack of disaster contingency plans; and the lack of coordinated frameworks and programs (ibid.).
Furthermore, a global, country-by-country analysis of the EM-DAT disaster database for the 30-year period 1974 to 2003 reports on a dataset comprised of 25 disasters with a cumulative number of victims (killed and affected) amounting 25 Economic Vulnerability and Disaster Risk Assessment in Malawi and Mozambique, RMSI 26 World Bank 2009
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This review refers to situations where there is a high concentration of people and economic activities in areas exposed to occasional or frequent hazard events, with chronic impacts. Furthermore, a global, country-by-country analysis of the EM-DAT disaster database for the 30year period 1974 to 200327 reports on a dataset comprised of 25 disasters (see Table 3) with a cumulative number of victims (killed and affected) amounting to over 25 million people. When prorated to population as the mean annual number of victims per 100,000 inhabitants, the staggering result (8,747 people) placed Malawi as the worst affected of the 10 poorest countries in the world, far exceeding Eritrea (6,402 people) and Ethiopia
(5,259 people), the second and third worstaffected poor nations. According to this report, Malawi, Eritrea and Ethiopia are cited as obvious examples of the relationship between poverty, vulnerability and the impact of disasters (ibid.). Despite the frequent occurrence of droughts and floods in the recent past, disaster prevention, preparedness and response systems have not been prioritised in Malawi. This is evidenced by gaps in policy and legal frameworks; an incomplete draft of the National Disaster Management Plan; a lack of comprehensive all-hazard EWSs; lack of disaster contingency plans; and the lack of coordinated frameworks and programs (ibid.).
27 Guha-Sapir et al 2004, 2004. Thirty Years of Natural Disasters, 1974-2003: the numbers Centre for Research on the Epidemiology of Disasters. Louvain-la-Neuve, Presses universitaires de Louvain. www.em-dat.net/documents/Publication/publication_2004_emdat.pdf).
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Methodology This guideline of best practices consists in a catalogue of successful and proven strategies implemented by partners and main stakeholders in the south-east Africa and south-west Indian Ocean region. The methodology of identification of these best practices and tools of risk reduction and their use in disaster preparedness, was cross-fertilized by UNDP from both the Andean region in central America, and the Caribbean. The successful elements of these processes and the lessons learned from these previous experiences were adapted to incorporate the key results and outputs of the African initiative. A similar strategy and methodology was adopted and similar products of knowledge transfer were developed for this initiative. However, some adaptations in the criteria of selection of best practices were required, and the questions asked in the inventory
were shortened. The southern Africa region has a number of macroeconomic indicators of high poverty, high illiteracy and a poor overall educational level, well below than the Caribbean. In fact, the Caribbean countries are considered middle-level income by the World Bank while the southern African and south-west Indian Ocean countries are considered low income countries, mostly dependent on international assistance. The DIPECHO Inventory Forms were revised to incorporate the realities of African underdevelopment and the criteria adopted for selection of best practices (when 6 entries out of the 8 entries were present) were shortened (see Table 1.)
Table 4: Criteria for selection of best practices 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8.
Natural risks being reduce by risk reduction; Presence of M&R and indicators; Sustainability and replicability ; Existence of background documentation; Clear link between national & local plans & practices already in existence using local knowledge; Building in DRR and disaster preparedness; Initiatives with tools & methodologies in DRR; Initiatives that integrate DRR & disaster preparedness into development .
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Methods A number of Inventory Forms (38 forms), completed by project managers and/or programme responsible partner, were received out of a list of more than 25 participant institutions. Twelve best practices in risk reduction and emergency preparedness were selected. However, in some cases questions were not completely answered, resulting in a substantial amount of missing data, particularly in the category of training. The main reasons given were as follows: • the length of the forms and the time required to fill the forms, often with time consuming archival search; • the short period of 15 months to validate a potential best practice; and • the method of requesting the information utilized (via e-mail) which often people gave low priority to answering.
Groups and face to face interviews were conducted in each of the target countries allowing qualitative information to also be collected. A desk review on background documentation of each of the projects was also conducted. The ECHO-UNDP project, under DIPECHO 2009 programming has selected a number of best practices. UNDP broadened the compilation of best practices to incorporate other organizations working in the area of risk reduction in the four target countries. The remaining projects, not reported here, will be uploaded in the DIPECHO website and will be available for on-line consultations or research. The documents that serve as background reference material will also be available in a virtual library format.
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Building in hazardous zones
2 55 Malawi, Madagascar, Comoros and Mozambique
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Building in hazardous zones The UNDP DRR team selected the projects that met the criteria, finalizing a list of 12 best practices which were grouped under two general themes: 1. Building in hazardous zones; and 2. Local level risk management, including
simple rapid assessment on damage and losses and EWSs at local level. This guideline outlines the best practices and lessons learned by projects clustered within the two themes, naming the countries and implementing organizations.
UN HABITAT- MOZAMBIQUE Sustainable Land Use Planning for Integrated Land and Water Management for Disaster Preparedness and Vulnerability Reduction in the Limpopo Basin
Abstract This project addressed floods, flood mitigation, and flooding risk reduction in the Limpopo River basin based on the rationale that flooding and floods are an integral part of the hydrological cycle and cannot be managed in isolation. Given the recent repeated frequent flooding affecting the lower Limpopo River basin, the Southern Africa Development Community (SADC) countries have shown interest in addressing this issue. The Government of Mozambique, the country most affected due to its downstream location, formulated a specific request of assistance with the United Nations Human Settlements Programme (UNHSP/Habitat) and the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP). The Limpopo River basin is shared among four countries, the Republic of South Africa, the Republic of Botswana,
the Republic of Zimbabwe and the Republic of Mozambique. South Africa is the upstream country while Mozambique is the downstream country. The basin supports several important ecosystems, as well as an estimated 5,200 human settlements. Most of the settlements are in the South African and Mozambican parts of the basin. Less than 10 percent of the basin settlements are located in Zimbabwe and Botswana. Disaster preparedness and vulnerability reduction in the Limpopo basin was addressed through sustainable land use planning for integrated land and water management. Implementation of priorities interventions at community level included the flood proof school at Maniquenique and several educational tools built around the concept of ‘living with floods’.
The initiative This initiative is a disaster risk reduction (DRR) project aiming to reduce the impact of floods on livelihoods and on the environment. To deal with floods, an integrated managing approach
is required. With this in mind, a number of learning participatory tools were developed. The Mozambique component is presented here.
Goal and objective Based on the overall assessment of the of the Limpopo River basin and the populations exposed (14 million people living in the basin), it become clear that the main intended outcome of the project should be a minimized risk of assets destruction through a ‘living with floods’ approach. Other outcomes were: • strengthening of intercountry cooperation;
• • •
stimulation of legal, regulatory and policy changes; enhancement of flood forecasting, early warning and response systems; capacity building for participatory land use planning, and improvement of disaster risk management and contingency planning.
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Best practices The 'Living with Floods' concept and participatory land use planning. The latter initiative was implemented in Mozambique, in Chilaulene, Mabalane, and Maniquenique and contingency plans were formulated and adopted by communities during project implementation. Prior to this project, the standard approach in Mozambique to dealing with floods, only focused on methodologies of community evacuation from flood prone areas where they were originally settled. During years without floods, evacuation from these areas takes communities away from fertile lands and water sources. As a result of the project and other related UN-Habitat work in Mozambique (Living with Floods), the government has realized that communities can adapt and implement the necessary interventions that enable people to continue to live in flood prone areas. The interventions in Maniquenique and Chilaulene demonstrate this 'living with floods' concept. A Territorial Act 19/2007 was also approved. The act establishes boundaries where territorial planning must be done and prescribes participatory planning processes with communities drawing their own spatial plan Maniquenique, as show in Figure 1, is 13 km from Chibuto, where the district administration is located, and is in quite a vulnerable position to floods. The village was totally inundated in 2000 with flood water at an average height of approximately 1 m above ground level. Several participatory planning sessions were held in the existing primary school.
Figure 17: Architectural design of the Elevated Primary School of Maniquenique, built with wooden poles, cemented pillars and lateral structures, corrugated iron sheets with a reinforced roof.
In Chilaulene, Xai Xai district, a dual purpose building was constructed at the highest point in the village. The building was designed to serve as a community agricultural centre during normal periods and as a safe haven for the community during floods. Similar to the community
agricultural centre at Chilaulene, the classroom block at Maniquenique was also designed as a dual purpose building, serving as a classroom during normal periods and as a safe haven during floods.
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Figure 18: Architectural design of the Community Agricultural Centre of Chilaulene, built with cement bricks prepared in a traditional manner
village on the dune1. The centre is well positioned to serve as a safe haven for the community during floods. The top of this dune was the only zone of the village that was not flooded during the 2000 floods.
The agricultural centre and its water harvesting tank are shown in Figures 1 and 2 in Annex VI. Figure 3 in the same annex (Need to update according to what is in annex) shows the elevated location of the agricultural centre on the highest point in the
Lessons learned The project had a slow start due to problems experienced with recruiting project personnel. The recruitment delay was a result of dependence on UNDP for recruitment in the project countries. In addition, negotiations to include Botswana in the project took a long time. Implementation would have been significantly expedited if there had been lead time before the formal commencement of the project. This period would have been used to introduce all stakeholders to the project, to recruit key project personnel, and to iron out issues such as the inclusion of Botswana. Additional delays associated with the inclusion of Botswana, during project implementation, suggest an emerging lesson of the importance of stakeholder involvement from the project design stage. Where the success of project implementation hinges on an inclusive approach, there needs to be a clear and agreed plan of involvement of all
stakeholders prior to finalization of the project implementation plans. Additionally, sustainability of the local and national level interventions needs to be more comprehensively addressed and adequately planned from the outset of the project design. Also, sustained long term project results on reducing impacts of floods depend on the skills transferred, as well as continued training. Provision for such training needs to be assured at the planning stage. The importance of good communications and flexibility is vital, and UN-Habitat demonstrated extreme flexibility in their project management. They were able to adapt to the situation on the ground during implementation through changing the approach and design of components to overcome the difficulties.
1 This point is estimated to be at least 10 m above the river level in this area.
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Potential for replication Replicating this practice is easy. UN-Habitat has been cross-fertilizing the concept of adapting to floods by building elevated structures above peak flood levels. Some of the types of elevated constructions are context specific, but the approach can be applied in other countries and would work in different contexts.
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Supporting Innovative Local Mitigation Interventions for Reducing Vulnerabilities to Floods and Cyclones in Mozambique MOZAMBIQUE
Abstract Recurrent flooding in Mozambique presents an opportunity for implementing this proposed strategy, which aims to strengthen the coping capacity of vulnerable communities. The ‘living with floods’ intervention was realized through participatory planning, implementation of smallscale demonstration interventions, and training and capacity building activities. The aim of these activities was to minimise asset loss using a combination of innovative building techniques,
strengthening preparedness and mitigation measures, among other aspects. Demonstration interventions included the construction of a floodresistant public building and a number of lowcost elevated houses using simple architectural designs adapted to the local culture, so that they can serve as models to be replicated in other flood-prone areas. Institutional coordination, dissemination and advocacy activities will also be carried out.
The Initiative To provide the Government with concrete solutions for building sustainable human settlements in cyclone-prone areas, there was an urgent need to carry out demonstration activities. The successful demonstration intervention in Vilankulos can be replicated to other areas. The focus there was to rebuild damaged houses in one of the poorest neighbourhoods of the town, with the aim of reducing vulnerability to future cyclones by applying low-cost, simple, safer, innovative, locally-adapted construction techniques. This included ‘on-the-job’ training of
local master builders, community involvement, as well as awareness-raising and advocacy activities at both local and national level. The model houses present a range of low-cost options to be replicated in other cyclone-prone in Mozambique. For this purpose agreement will be sought from the Government to take the lessons learned and best practices to the policy level and obtain the commitment for scaling up. Also, activities to promote the concept of 'living with floods' were realized.
Goal and objective This initiative was designed to identify and test innovative small-scale mitigation interventions for floods and cyclones using a participatory approach. It has a component of promotion
of local capacity building in vulnerable pilot areas. After validation, it is aimed to disseminate information on the initiative and to prepare the conditions for future replication.
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Outcomes and activities Innovative local solutions and activities for ‘living with floods’ (see Figure 19) were carried out in Marromeu Municipality, Sofala Province. A number of didactic materials were developed and widely disseminated in disaster-prone areas.
Cyclone-resistant construction and related capacity building activities, using iron and cement structures, were implemented in Vilanculos Municipality, Inhambane Province.
Best practice Since 2002 UN-Habitat has been implementing several projects in Mozambique (and also in the subregion with the Limpopo GEF Global Environment Facility- project), dealing with DRR and vulnerability reduction issues and capacity building of local populations in the housing sector. The best practices are the intereactive awareness materials, as well as the pilot projects of building houses with cyclone resistant conical concrete roofs, as piloted in Vilankulos.
Figure 19: Low-cost solution housing for ‘living with floods’ UN-Habitat has been promoting the alternative strategy of ‘living with floods’ in close collaboration with the Government. Different types of didactic and interactive awareness-raising materials were prepared, such as the colourful manual ‘Aprender a Viver com as Cheias’ (Learning to Live with Floods), with an accompanying card game (see Fig. 3), the ‘River Game’, as well as several posters and a short animated film. These materials provide basic concepts of community-based disaster response, preparedness and mitigation, coping solutions, among others, and have already been tested and disseminated. in 2008, UN Habitat developed and disseminated the Manual ‘Construir com os Ventos’ (building with winds) for building in cycloneprone areas (see figure 20).
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Figure 20: Manual of “building with the winds” and catalog of low-cost cyclone-proof building solutions
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After Cyclone Fávio affected Vilankulos on January 2007, UN-Habitat established a positive collaboration with Vilankulos Municipality for identifying low-cost housing solutions resistant to cyclones. A number of architectural models were designed and compiled into a catalogue (see Figure 20). The use of iron and cement roofing materials is outlined (see Figure 21), a technique
already tested in other developing countries in south America and Asia. In addition to detailed assessments on cyclone impacts, training and dissemination activities for community leaders, local master builders and municipal staff also took place in all 11 neighbourhoods of the Municipality.
Fig. 21: Process construction of ferrocement channels in Vilankulo. Based in UN Habitat and Auroville experiences, India.
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Lessons learned UN-Habitat in collaboration with the municipality has designed different models of low-medium cost cyclone-resistant houses using local building materials. However, the city does not support the informal construction of houses – the ‘precarious’
houses – using vegetal building materials since the law does not allow for national building codes for this type of house within urban areas .
Potential for replication There is a full potential for replication of the concept in urban and semi-urban areas; however there are serious constraints impeding replication in rural areas due to the high poverty levels of the rural population, which in the majority of
the cases prevents them from buying cement and iron, the basic construction materials for the constructions.
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MADAGASCAR
Implementation of cyclone preparedness measures in the SAVA region of Madagascar
Abstract As a result of its geographical position and relief profile characterised by steep slopes, the District of Antalaha is particularly exposed to various hazards associated with cyclones. The winds and tidal waves in coastal villages and flash floods from rivers, accompanied by torrential rains, have a high destructive effect on the population’s material assets. The physical vulnerability is exacerbated by the conditions of extreme poverty of the population in this region. Since 2000, five cyclones have impacted the region, three of which rank among the most violent classification (category 5): Hudah in 2000, Gafilo in 2004 and Indlala in 2007. With each cyclone occurrence, even if the population is aware of historical cyclonic phenomena and their consequences, they have insufficient resources to prepare for and cope with such destructive effects. It is in this context that the Disaster Preparedness European Commission Humanitarian Aid Office (DIPECHO) sponsored project has been designed, to reduce
the effects of cyclones on livelihoods and assets and to better prepare vulnerable populations by implementing preparedness measures in the areas most affected in Antalaha district. Best practices in this initiative were: 1. Promotion of local anti-cyclone shelters, and adaptation of a design of a cyclone shelter based on the ‘trano tomboka’, a refuge invented by the villagers; 2. The implementation of local level risk management structures with the formation of local disaster risk management committees is another best practice which is widely replicated elsewhere. Each committee is equipped with a manual radio for warning information dissemination; 3. Another additional intervention was mangrove reforestation which creates a natural barrier against not only strong winds but also against high tides.
Figure 22: Antananarivo floods
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The initiative This initiative is a DRR activity which aims to reduce the impact of cyclones and tidal waves on populations living close to the sea and riverbanks. The loss of assets and livelihoods is a major family set-back with repercussions on all other aspects of family life and development. In fact, development gains are lost because of the severe impact of cyclones on at-risk populations. The damage caused by cyclones accentuates the problem of food insecurity in the local community. The destruction is not only a simple loss of physical property but aggravates the problem of access to food (crops are damaged and soil is flooded with saline), water and health care, among other problems. Destruction of houses forces the relocation of households to shelters which leads to other problems such as interruption of school for children. Experience from previous cyclones has shown that this decline from pre-disaster, optimal level of livelihoods has been reversible, but CARE has had to respond quickly, because natural regeneration of soil and crops is very slow. The sparse population in the area complicates communication through normal channels (e.g.,
community meetings, town criers, posters, warning flags) especially since the communities are often outside the limited broadcasting range of the local radio stations. The project began in 2008 and after completion of the initial phase in January 2010, and because of the community's need for additional assistance, further phases are planned. The European Commission Humanitarian Aid Office (ECHO) through its disaster preparedness programme, DIPECHO will continue to support these further phases. The project has been implemented by CARE International in the 12 vulnerable communities of Antalaha, Lanjarivo, Ambinanifaho, Ampahana, Antsahanoro, Antanananambo, Marofinaritra, Antombana, Ampohibe, Ambalabe, Ambohitralanana, Ampanavoana. As part of the local level risk management committees 1,700 community members will be trained, basic infrastructure will be provided to 12,000 households (a total of 60,000 people), and 1,700 people will be trained to maintain and improve a local level EWS.
Goal and objective Risk reduction intervention in Madagascar has been introduced a number of years ago by both the government and NGOs. This intervention is a work-in-progress aimed to reduce the effects of cyclones by better preparing vulnerable populations in at-risk communities in the north-
east of Madagascar. An additional objective is to strengthen the response capacity of the most vulnerable communities in 12 municipalities of Antalaha district, located in the cyclone paths. The primary goal is the development of preparedness strategies and community capacity building.
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Outcomes and activities There is a general agreement among experts and practitioners that communities should be empowered to manage their own hazards and risks. Therefore, a critical result is the creation of the risk management committees at the regional, district, communities and villages. The EWS between communities has been strengthened at operational level in 100 villages. Protective
structural measures have been placed in hazard terrain to protect villages against landslides, flooding and wind, especially in coastal villages and villages located along rivers. As a pilot project, cyclone shelters using traditional design have been built with the assistance of engineers for designing roof angles which allow for the free passage of wind. (see Figure 23).
Best practice The adaptation and development of a triangular construction system using reinforcements in wood, locally available in forests (eucalyptus) is considered a best practice, not only because of the use of traditional knowledge, but also because it incorporates modern building techniques drawn from experiences in other cyclone-prone regions. There is also a component of sustainability and capacity building in the training the villagers in carpentry. The cyclone shelters have multi-purpose uses; they can serve as schools for young children and community information centres for older people. The implementation of local level EWS consists of water gauges marking the three levels of high water. Villagers can issue warnings to the local authorities when the water level increases, approaching dangerous levels. Two additional good practices are the use of local media and journalists for mobilizing communities and the creation of participatory risk mapping.
Figure 23: Satellite image of a cyclone
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Lessons learned The key lessons learned from this practice stem from the valuable groups of interventions adopted by CARE, from cyclone shelters to a EWS with dissemination of warnings. These obstacles are related to the length of the project, a project life of 15 months. A cyclone prototype shelter cannot be tested within this period, since if the time of project initial implementation activities is taken into account, the project will end before
the next cyclone season. Another challenge is the accessibility; remote communities have access difficulties which delay project implementation. Furthermore, the high turnover of local authorities, already trained in DRR, means that capacity building and training efforts are lost. On a positive note, combining scientific information with folk art in communities at risk has been proven as an effective communication strategy.
Figure 24. Floods in river banks
Potential for replication This project would be very easy to replicate, provided that organizational funds are available to expand the best practices to the at-risk coastal (see Figure 24) zones of the east coast of Madagascar. 68 Malawi, Madagascar, Comoros and Mozambique
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Code of minimum standards for house construction “Below are some recommendations for building in cyclones hazard zones derived from the experiences of UN-Habitat in Mozambique. These minimum standards were compiled from various sources, where there was a need to make houses more resistant to wind storms and cyclones. It is important to mention that CARE International
in Madagascar also has developed a number of minimum standards for areas prone to cyclones. For example, cyclones shelter is made of of local materials, the roof has been designed in such an angle to resist to high winds, and the interior of the building is reinforced.
Some recommendations for building in cyclone hazard zones in Mozambique. 1. Do not let the wind enter the house. 2.
The building plan is better when a regular form like circular plan or square plan is used. House plan with irregular forms could create a purse of wind.
3.
As the roof is the most vulnerable part of a building, the most appropriate form is the conical and the four-sided style, as this type of design conducts the wind over the building instead of creating a 'wall'.
4.
Roof gradient should be between 30 and 45 degrees at least.
5.
The heavier the material used for roofing, the better will be its resistance to the wind. For example the use of ferrocement channels as roofing material helps a building becoming cyclone resistant, as it adds a lot of weight to it.
6.
As more and more corrugated iron is being used for roofing, its thickness should never be less than 0.4 mm, provided of course it is well fixed to the house’s structure.
7.
For this, space between purlins should be no more than 60 cm, and nails have to be placed always in the upper part of the corrugation.
8.
Traditional walls and roof should be reinforced to the house’s structure with special cyclone hooks or other available materials. If not available, use metal straps, diagonals and wooden sticks or wire. 69 Malawi, Madagascar, Comoros and Mozambique
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9.
Especially important is the junction between roof and walls, which should be reinforced with metal straps, wire or other. No open spaces should be left in this most vulnerable point of the construction.
10.
Gutters can be an added protection as they protect the edge parts of the exposed roof materials.
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11.
Additional/annex roofs to a building should be constructed with a separate structure.
12.
As doors and windows represent most probable entries for wind in the house, they should be well covered with metal or wooden shields.
13.
In the case of traditional housing, special attention should be given to foundations which prevent the possibility of the whole building being taken by the wind.
14.
The lighter the construction is, the stronger its junction with the foundations has to be.
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Best practices on local level risk management
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Best practices on local level risk management As discussed in a UNDP1 report on local level risk management, communities are often faced with the consequences of national policies, and regional and global trends that have an impact on their environment and increase their vulnerability to disasters. Communities are the first lines of response to events of a localised nature and have the potential to better recognise and address disaster risk and to handle these risks in their respective habitats. The importance of the active participation of the local population has been widely recognised and efforts have been systematically made to strengthen local
capacities for disaster preparedness and response. Local level preparedness, early warning systems (EWSs) and risk reduction have been promoted by many international organizations, national institutions and community-based organizations. These interventions were derived from recommendations of the International Decade for National Disaster Reduction (ISDR) in 2005, and subsequently revised in 2007 and 2009. Currently, a critical risk driver in Africa2 , as mentioned in the introduction, is the hazard risk originating from hydro-meteorological phenomena, better understood by changes in climatic patterns.
Conceptual approach Local Level Risk Management (LLRM) is a term associated with community-based disaster risk management. It is a process that involves geographical areas and actors that transcend the strictly defined political/administrative boundaries of a municipality or of a community. Risk reduction is at the core of the concept of LLRM, and since it is not possible to approach disaster reduction from a central government level, it has to be decentralized with communities empowered to deal with their own risks. Capacity, at local level, needs to be strengthened in terms of both knowledge and tools. As mentioned, it is not the territorial extension of a community that defines either the ‘local level’ or its political delimitations. A river basin may include one or several local authorities (or municipalities) as in the case of the Zambezi River Basin, which involves seven countries. Applying a LLRM intervention in this case, should follow a watershed management approach, since the problem of flooding cuts across administrative and international boundaries. The local level administration cannot resolve the problem without collaborating with
other regions and stakeholders. A watershed management approach focuses on establishing multi-district level coordination bodies, which undertake collaborative strategy planning to solve the problem. It would be of little impact to consider local risk management in only one of these municipalities or villages. The contemporary alternative discussed in expert fora is an integrated and/or watershed management approach for vast river basins3. In the context of risk management, thus, ‘Local Level’ may have a rather extensive territorial implication. An ideal scenario for local level risk management is when risk management strategies are fully integrated and adopted by the local communities themselves, with or without external assistance from NGOs or other stakeholders. In such a situation, ownership and understanding of the root causes of risk is likely to develop capacities, ensure sustainable actions, and promote risk management as a cross-cutting issue in the local development process. Disaster risk is in many cases the consequence of unsustainable or inadequate development
1 (2006) Plutt, E. Local level Risk Management: A draft report, UNDP. New York and Geneve 2 (2006) Plutt, E. Local level Risk Management: A draft report, UNDP. New York and Geneve 3 WMO (2009). Maputo, December 1-5. (National Consultation on integrated forecasting of floods and early warning systems for the Zambezi River basin)
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practices, where a large part of the population is excluded from the opportunities and benefits of development. LLRM should, therefore, not be limited to corrective or protective measures but should also include measures to avoid new risks through future development. It aims at avoiding dependency on risk management interventions of external actor, and to develop capacity and make advances in poverty reduction, improvement of the quality of life, and the population’s security. Throughout the documentation available in risk management, several terms indicating local level are used: In the Asian countries, reference is made to village and ward/cluster committees, and ‘district level’, whereas in Latin American municipalities, ‘municipal level’ and ‘community
level’ are used. In Africa, both ‘local level risk management’ and ‘community-based disaster management’ are terms in use. The projects and their respective best practices displayed below are drawn from Comoros, Madagascar, Malawi and Mozambique. Some of the initiatives are funded by Disaster Preparedness European Commission’s Humanitarian Aid Department (DIPECHO), others are funded by different donors. Projects, which were just started, such as the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) Madagascar initiative in capacity building in risk reduction at national and community levels, are excluded since there is not enough length of project life to report on.
Strengthening Local Risk Management and Mainstreaming Disaster Risk Reduction (DRR), UNDP Mozambique and Bureau of Crises Prevention and Recovery (BCPR) and Joint Programme Strengthening DRR and Emergency Preparedness
Abstract The UNDP Strengthening Local Risk Management and Mainstreaming DRR was approved by the United Nations (UN) Humanitarian Country Team, under the ‘Delivering as One4 ’ United Nations Framework in Mozambique. The programme represents UNDP’s contribution to the Joint Programme Strengthening DRR and Emergency Preparedness, which is implemented in cooperation with INGC (the National Disaster
Management Institute see Figure 25) and with other UN agencies (UNICEF, UNDP, UNFPA,FAO, WHO, WFP, UN-HABITAT and IOM), with UNDP as the lead agency. It was developed in recognition that disaster preparedness, mitigation and risk reduction, as well as vulnerability reduction, are fundamental factors contributing to development in Mozambique, a country frequently affected by natural hazards.
4 (The ‘Delivering as One’ initiative has been testing, in eight ‘One UN’ pilot countries, how the UN – with its many and diverse agencies – can deliver in a more coordinated way at country level. The objective is to ensure faster and more effective development operations and accelerate progress to achieve the Millennium Development Goals in short, a UN development system that delivers more and better for the poorest and most disadvantaged. The following countries: Albania, Cape Verde, Mozambique, Pakistan, Rwanda, Tanzania, Uruguay and Viet Nam – volunteered to become ‘One UN’ pilots2 (2006) Plutt, E. Local level Risk Management: A draft report, UNDP. New York and Geneve
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Figure 25: The National Institute for Disaster Management, Mozambique: INGC 2009 Main Report: INGC Climate Change Report: study on the impact of climate change on disaster risk in Mozambique
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The initiative Disaster risk and poverty are interrelated and the poor suffer most the effects of damage and losses caused by intense exposure to natural hazards. As much as 25 percent of Mozambique’s population faces a high mortality and morbidity risk from natural hazards, and it ranks as the second most geographically exposed country in Africa. This fact is already reflected in the country’s poverty reduction strategy (PARPA II) and in the United Nations Development Assistance Framework (UNDAF) 2007-2009. These priorities are also highlighted by the commitment of the Government of Mozambique as a signatory to the Hyogo Framework. The programme is being implemented (60 percent completed) over a three-year period (2008-2010) and it has a direct contribution to the UNDP-ECHO Regional Initiative named Enhancing Knowledge Management in Disaster Preparedness and Risk Reduction, the core outputs of which, is this best practices guideline, a set of audio visual materials.
achieved through (i) regular participation in coordination meetings, at UN and Government levels, as well as (ii) delivery ‘as one’ of emergency preparedness activities, in collaboration with other UN agencies. Information management has been prioritized within the programme, with the establishment of a database (Incorporated Research Institutions for Seismology - IRIS) for monitoring of activities during emergencies. Also established is a national data loss observatory, DesInventar, a disaster database, which has been validated as a best practice worldwide, and has been successfully implemented in the Caribbean, central America, the countries affected by the 2004 Sumatra tsunami and the rest of Asia and South Pacific countries. Additionally, many successful capacity building initiatives have been supported, including the training of local risk management committees, and their subsequent involvement in national emergency simulation exercises.
This project has also considerably strengthened the coordination and collaboration among UN Agencies, in provision of support to INGC/CTGC
Figure 26: Simulation of evacuation in Tete (Mozambique)
5 INGC, 2009, Main Report: INGC Climate Change Report: Study on the impact of climate change on disaster risk in Mozambique [Asante, K.; Britto, R.; Bruntritt, G.; Epstein, P.; Fernandes, A.; Maques, M.R.; Mavune, A.; Metzger, M.; Patt, A.; Queface, A.; Sanchez del Valle, R.; Tadross, M.; Brito, R.; (eds)].INGC Mozambique.
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Figure 27: Local level risk management: simulations of post disaster assistance, Nacala (Mozambique)
Goal and objectives The overall goal of the Programme is to strengthen national capacities at all levels, to reduce the risk of disasters and mitigate their impacts on the vulnerable populations in the country. This programme builds on the ten-year National Master Plan for Disaster Risk Reduction to strengthen institutional frameworks and systems for preparedness, response and disaster risk reduction. These interventions are taking place at national, provincial, district and community levels within
an overall vulnerability reduction perspective. It also serves as a catalyst in coordinating support from three global initiatives: • The Global Risk Identification Programme in Mozambique (the objective is to establish a National Information System for disaster risk reduction); • The Global Mainstreaming Initiatives; and • The Capacity for Disaster Reduction Initiatives. (see Figures 26 and 27).
Outcomes and activities Because this initiative follows a programme approach rather than a project with a small number of outcomes, the results of the programme can be distributed across the categories: 1) Mainstreaming of DRR; 2) Capacity building; and 3) Strengthening information systems. In the area of mainstreaming of DRR, the first phase of a study on the impact of climate variability (considered as a best practice) on
disaster risk in Mozambique has been carried out, partially funded by UNDP. Key recommendations will be addressed in the master plan on DRR. Climate change and disaster risk considerations have also been incorporated into the poverty reduction strategy in Mozambique, through national development plans. The revision of a Disaster Management Act is underway under the leadership of INGC. Additionally, a socio-anthropological study on
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resettlement, a Hyogo Framework assessment of progress in DRR, a study of DRR at centralized level in Mozambique, and a baseline study on gender and drought (in collaboration with United Nations Development Fund for Women (UNIFEM), were completed under this programme. The early recovery component of the Inter-agency Contingency Plan has also been updated (UNDP is the cluster lead for early recovery).
The strengthening of information systems included support for training of INAM (National Meteorological Institute) personnel in use of radar for weather forecasting; and support for a study, developed by an academic team from two universities, on the establishment of an EWS for the Licungo River basin. An awareness raising workshop was organized for district administrators on Licungo River basin in relation to an early warning system.
Capacity building activities within the programme included training of district level officers and local risk management committees. The committees were also equipped with emergency kits. Flood and cyclone simulation exercises also took place and a manual for simulation and local risk management committees is under review for immediate publication (a best practice).
GRIP (see Figure 28) was launched in 2008 in Mozambique and thus far, has seen the initiation of the National Disaster Observatory (using DesInventar database) activities, country situation analysis work and seismic risk assessment activities in Maputo.
Figure 28: GRIP training in Mozambique
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Best practice The programme is comprised of a number of good practices because it builds on the government and institutional capacity in the country, and because it emphasizes and supports coordination among UN agencies, and places a focus on information sharing systems and processes. There are three key best practices: (i) A climate change report (INGC Climate Change Report on the impact of climate change on disaster risk in Mozambique) has been produced, pointing out the urban and rural coastal areas, which will be most affected by cyclones and raising of sea level; (ii) A risk information management and assessment system (GRIP) is in process of implementation with a database that allows intercountry comparisons; and (iii) A large scale disaster simulation has been conducted in 29 districts and 10 provinces of the central and northern regions of Mozambique, testing the level of readiness and response of the INGC and all players in the management of national emergencies caused by floods, cyclones and earthquakes, with the purpose of strengthening the national disaster risk management system. Simulations can detect and eliminate problems before an actual emergency occur, with corrective actions being integral part of exercise design, evaluation, and follow-up. Some of the best practices are well tested and have already been validated in other countries under global UNDP initiatives such as the GRIP. GRIP is a multi-stakeholder initiative that directly aligns with the Hyogo Framework for Action (HFA)’s second priority: risk identification, assessment and monitoring. The DesInventar database is a best practice under GRIP and has been widely used in a large number of disaster-stricken countries. It has
been used by UNDP with national governments in Iran, Sri Lanka, India, Maldives, Thailand, and Indonesia, and has been used in more than 20 countries in Latin America and the Caribbean and tsunami-stricken countries in 2004. The DesInventar methodology (see Figure 29) consists of a software tool6 and a systematic approach to data collection7, entry and analysis.
Figure 29: Spatial distribution of houses burned in Dili (Timor-Leste) in 2006 crises
6 http://www.desinventar.net (open source software download) 7 Basic facts about DesInventar (UNDP perspective in Asia): http://www.undp.org/cpr/disred/documents/news/2006/Some_basic_facts_about_DesInventar_ENG.pdf
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Through consideration of small and medium scale disasters, the methodology allows aggregation of localised views into a national picture, providing an integrated and comprehensive insight into disaster typologies. The methodology contains a data entry module which allows capture of
disaster events (particular fields include spatial and temporal data, types of disaster events, causal factors, type of damage), and an analysis module which provide relational analysis between the fields (see Figure 30).
Figure 30: Wild card of data entry of DesInventar
Source: UNDP, DesInventar Operations Manual
This enables time-series and spatial analysis and representation of hazards, vulnerabilities and risks in both retrospective and prospective ways. Additional uses are in risk analysis, mitigation as well as in supporting EWSs. It is a data collection and analysis methodology which uses a set of open-sourced software programmes to help to record, and address disaster trends, as well their impacts on communities. Reports, maps and
charts are generated by the database providing the tools for local officials to use the information and the inferences as inputs for the preparation of country’ reports on disaster risk, its impacts and its linkages with development. Of critical importance for early recovery is to identify and map early relationships among damaged sectors, allowing immediate remediate actions by governments and international community.
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Lessons learned This initiative has produced excellent results and best practices. However, lessons learned highlight key issues such as: (i) The importance of establishment of trust between government and partners, through allocation of human and financial resources, and establishment of open dialogue with partners; (ii) The important role of a DRR working group involving donors and government partners especially in integrating DRR concerns into the national Poverty Reduction Strategy; (iii) The cluster approach, with early recovery cluster led by UNDP. One positive experience has been that early recovery is now addressed within the inter-agency contingency plan; (iv) INGC human resource capacity is over-
stretched and this has been addressed through the appointment of support personnel. Other areas of improvement which have been observed are: • The need to bring to international standards the emergency communications protocols; • Improved warning messages with adequate Standard Operations Protocols (SOPs) are needed; • Post disaster damage and needs assessment does not follow any written protocol, thus a rapid assessment sheet should be used and transmitted via radio or telephone according to international communication protocols for language and meaning of words.
Potential for replication Many of the points listed under good practice could be easily replicated in countries with similar institutional arrangements. Some of the activities under GRIP are in fact best practices from other countries (Figure 4) replicated in the region, thus
demonstrating the potential for replication. It is hoped that Mozambique, as the first country in Africa using this methodology can act as a model for other countries in the region with similar profiles (see Figure 31).
Figure 31: DesInventar as used in India to compare reduction of fires incidents
The darker colors represent a high density of burned houses at the rate of 118 houses per square km. Source: UNDP 2006, East Timor Crises, DesInventar application, (J. Mocellin, 2006)
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Simulations can easily be replicated in other countries with similar conditions and are essential for tuning emergency operations after a disaster strike. The training of local risk management committees is an important basis for these simulations, to increase community awareness of early warning procedures, and to bring to the surface any gaps in the communication information chain from operational view point
within emergency assistance. The climate change report was the first of its kind in the region. Since climate change is acknowledged to be a problem globally, and is particularly crucial for many developing countries, the study could provide a template for other countries who wish to analyse and highlight the climate change impacts in order to develop more appropriate disaster risk reduction interventions.
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Risks, Hazards and Vulnerabilities: A Practical Guideline of Best Practices
Supporting communities to reduce the impact of hazards, increases the resilience of populations and better prepares local authorities to provide an emergency response in the first days after a natural disaster, in the coastal area of the region Vatovavy Fitovinany in Madagascars
Abstract The project is focused on strengthening emergency assistance at community level. It has been supporting communities to reduce the impact of hazards locally, increasing resilience of the community members to disaster shocks. The approach is to provide local authorities within communities with local level risk management tools and procedures, improving their capacities when faced with a local emergency. This is directly aligned with the conceptual framework of local level risk management. As a result, response will be more effective with more lives and assets saved, during first days following the impact of a natural disaster. The vulnerabilities of the population to natural disasters in the Vatovavy Fitovinany region are related to the impact of storm weather. Also, bush fires are mentioned by local authorities and traditional leaders as one of
the common problems since fences and walls of houses are made of wood and other flammable local materials. There are some challenges related to the poor understanding of risk reduction concepts and knowledge of individual roles during emergency assistance. Also, there is no clear local or district policy that guides the populations at risk to engage in effective emergency management. Therefore, full involvement of the population and local authorities to adopt risk reduction measures is not observed. The set of emergency preparedness interventions (e.g., how to build more safe houses, how to deal with water scarcity and contamination of wells after flooding) are some examples of typical risk reduction measures. The best practice is the introduction of techniques to be used during emergency assistance.
The initiative The project has been conducted under DIPECHO support within the region of Vatovavy Fitovinany, in eight towns in Nosy Varika and Mananjary districts. The region is highly vulnerable to cyclone damage and consequent flooding. Furthermore, the region is also subjected to bush fires that destroy housing and material assets. The project's technical team is composed of a steering committee based in the capital, members of which are the national coordinator for emergency relief, the project director of the local NGO SAF/FJKM and the ICCO
representation in Madagascar. The project also has a management team and community workers in the field. The main funding for this pilot project focused on disaster preparedness was secured from the European Union with co-financing from ICCO. The follow-up activities will also be financed by ICCO and will take place once the pilot phase is complete, to integrate the results in the ongoing development projects in the region.
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Goal and objective The primary objective of the project was to support strategies that enable communities to be better prepared for natural disasters, mitigate disaster effects, and to respond appropriately during an emergency. The secondary objective is to reduce
the impact of future disasters on the Vatovavy Fitovinany region by increasing resilience of vulnerable populations and institutions. Figure 32 displays graphically the cycle of disaster risk management in the context of this project.
Figure 32: The risk management cycle
Outcomes and activities The main outcome is the use of a number of educational and participatory tools using technical agents locally recruited as conveyors of the learning. The structure of preparedness and response is therefore strengthened.
representation in the intervention zone. ICCO has a long-term partnership with SAF/FJKM in capacity building. Existing approaches, tools, and documents, in disaster relief, preparedness, mitigation and prevention were made available to SAF/FJKM and the project team benefitted from training sessions, advice, and monitoring. All target communities were trained with ancillary materials using multimedia and posters. Hazard
SAF/FJKM is the implementing agency of the project. It’s a well known Malagasy NGO with experience in emergency relief and a permanent
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vulnerability of the target communities has been diminished, and the impact of hazards reduced. The beneficiaries were the local authorities, the traditional chiefs and religious leaders, the target population and their children in schools.
Best practice This empowerment of communities for better emergency assistance is a best practice because it has used a participatory approach. ICCO is convinced that a participatory approach is required because local NGOs and stakeholders are the best informed and best able to adapt the interventions to the specific context and local requirements. SAF/FJKM works closely together with local stakeholders (teachers, doctors, traditional leaders, religious leaders, local authorities and beneficiaries etc): in order to facilitate the transfer of competencies and the local ownership of the activities and results. ICCO and SAF are integrating the disaster preparedness activities within the local development activities and ongoing projects such as a water and sanitation project, a food security project, an educational project and other development activities. The participatory approach involves a vertical articulation of actors within the risk management cycle and a horizontal integration/ coordination with development actions in the local setting. Simulations exercises in management and operation of the various tasks and equipment during an emergency have been an effective tool for integration of activities and practical methods into effective learning methodology.
Lessons learned The key lessons learned from this practice, stem from the valuable reporting from the heads of the villages and local authorities when a different approach towards building capacity in emergency management was communicated to them. One point of caution is that practitioners should not rush to implement an educational intervention, but instead allow the time that is necessary for the populations to understand the concepts. Social
mobilization, to be effective, has to be anchored in a set of learning materials that helps with the learning process. Concrete examples should be provided, and the use of local dialects improves understanding of difficult concepts such as types of hazards and how they should be managed. It is important to minimize problems with communities by respecting local customs and traditional ways of doing things.
Potential for replication The approach can be replicated, provided that the planned activities are adapted to the local circumstances of the new intervention zone. The empowerment of the local communities
and authorities is essential for the success of the participatory approach. The approach can be replicated within Madagascar or other regions with similar hazard profiles.
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Institutional Support and Community-based Early Warning System for Volcanic Eruption Croix-Rouge Française, The Union of Comores
Abstract Given that the island of Grande Comore is occupied by two active volcanoes (Les Grilles and Le Karthala), its physical vulnerability to the volcanic threat is extremely high. The communities located on the slopes of the Les Karthala volcano, on the island of Grande Comore, experienced devastating ash fall in 2005 and 2007. It is therefore imperative that people be aware of the risk, and be prepared for any major eruption, through identifying risk coping strategies and means of reducing the impacts. Through funding from the Humanitarian Aid Department of the European Commission, the Comorian Red Crescent and the French Red Cross are continuing their collaboration with the launch of a new project on a community-based early
warning system. This project began in December 2008 for a period of 15 months, addressing initially the strength of the national policy for managing risks and disasters. It supports institutional actors and communities in 45 target villages, located in eight regions (Hamvou, Hamavou, Itsandra, Bambao, Hambou, Mbadjini West Mbadjini East Wachili, Dimani) aiming to improve their response capabilities for warning and immediate response when an eruption of the Le Karthala volcano occurs. A number of best practices arise from the project, including participatory risk mapping, first aid training, theatre and film activities and simulations.
The initiative The initiative is part of a concerted effort by several NGOs in addressing the high risk posed by the two volcanoes, particular the Le Karthala. It is worthwhile to note that the majority of the villages are located by the sea, at short distance (around 8-12 km) from the crater, at medium slope of the volcano and very close or in the path of lava flows from previous eruptions (see reference in Chapter 1 for Union of Comoros risk profile). The population of the villages constitutes 11,453 direct beneficiaries, in addition to 45,813 indirect beneficiaries. The project has been designed to implement a functional local level early warning
system, but also to build the villagers capacity to protect themselves in case of a major eruption. Information is the entry point in communication risk and this initiative addresses risk by using a number of awareness tools. Many aspects of this project could be expanded or improved, such as the first aid training for burn injuries and respiratory ailments, both common in volcanic hazards. The villagers also need to receive training in emergency assistance search and rescue (SAR). Because of the high risk, however, further support for the initiative from donors is recommended.
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Goal and objective The goal of this initiative was to implement a community-based EWS that receives the warning information issued from the Volcanic Laboratory through COSEP (Civil Protection Operations Center). Through preparedness measures the community will be able to take appropriate actions
to save lives and assets. A specific objective is that people and local actors will have improved their institutional capacity on warning issues and their immediate response will be effective in case of eruption of the Karthala volcano.
Outcomes and activities This initiative was funded by both DIPECHO and the French Red Cross. As an outcome, the capacity of the main stakeholders in disaster risk management (COSEP/ORCC) has been strengthened in terms of EWSs and coordination with the technical personnel tasked with forecasting a potential volcanic eruption. Furthermore, the communities
are better prepared to face the threat of a volcanic eruption and to respond immediately to this disaster. Finally, the communities have a community-based EWS operating in coordination with the national system.
Best practice The initiative is innovative since it tackles many efficient methods of disseminating warnings and transferring knowledge to at-risk populations. The best practices grouped in the initiative contain a strong artistic element, such as a video/film, which makes the delivery of the risk messages friendly. There are a number of best practices arising from the project: • Community risk and resource mapping using a participatory approach; • First aid training in burns and respiratory
• • • •
problems (volcanic ashes and hot lava cause these types of injuries) for village volunteers; An educational film for increasing volcanic risk awareness; Theater presentations dealing with disaster awareness and alert levels; Usage of satellite phones to disseminate warnings; and Implementation of simulation exercises in 10 pilot villages, where there is a high risk of volcanic eruption.
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The key failure/success factors include recurring problems of power outages, telephone communication and Internet connection. Another problem was badly maintained roads, which became inaccessible during heavy rains, due to floods and small landslides (south of island and
Mbadjini region). The fact that the population were often only present in the village in the morning and early afternoon also presented a problem (the majority of adults are working in the fields all day and do not return to the village before 4 p.m. in the afternoon).
Lessons learned Sometimes it is difficult to use methodologies of public education and awareness in both rural villages and suburban villages, e.g., megaphones instead of using microphones, showing film images of a disaster. Rural and urban villages required different media means for awareness campaigns. Additionally, it seems that the project needs to be anchored in a full successful model of a volcano EWS as discussed in Chapter 1 in the
section on the Comoros. The importance of drawing a map using local materials and resources was also highlighted, as a way to facilitate the learning of rural populations. This mapping, done in parallel to the drawing of the paper map, can obtain better results and prolong the attention span of participants, also saving time during learning acquisition.
Potential for replication The project would be very easy to replicate, provided that organizational funds are available for the various tasks. The benefits of this project are directly linked to the context of implementation. The project design will be enhanced in a new
phase, to anchor activities in an optimal model of volcano EWS, as discussed in the introductory chapter under Comoros risk profile.
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Community-based Disaster Preparedness Project (CBDPP) Christian AID in Partnership with Evangelical Association of Malawi
Abstract Floods and drought are the most common natural hazards in Malawi. Almost all of Malawi’s 28 districts experience drought and floods regularly. However, drought, and particularly floods are usually more frequent and more severe in the two districts of the Lower Shire Valley, namely Nsanje and Chikwawa. This project was implemented in Chikwawa district which lies along the lower flat basin of the Shire River. On the eastern side, the district is bordered by the Thyolo escarpment, from where most rivers and streams flowing through the district originate. This is a generally dry environment, with below average rainfall. Despite this, 63 percent of the population depends on subsistence, rain-fed agriculture as their mainstay. Irrigation development is suboptimal, at only 5 percent of the potential 38,000 hectares. Although drought is a recurrent hazard, the district socio-economic profile ranks floods as a severe hazard.
Agriculture Organization/International Labour Organization (FAO/ILO) Livelihoods Assessment Toolkit (LAT). The methodology was combined with components from the Participatory Assessment of Disaster Risks (PADR) developed by Tearfund UK. Quantitative and qualitative data was collected through semi-structured interviews with local government officials, Focus Group Discussions (FGD), interviews with individual households, and literature review. The Assessment was conducted in 15 villages with the participation of 973 people (434 men and 539 women) through individual household interviews, semi-structured interviews and FGD. Through the use of hazard matrices, communities identified floods (river flooding, flash floods) and drought as the principal hazards. Floods were identified as the hazard with the most adverse effects on lives and livelihoods. Vulnerability analysis and disaster impact assessments were done and showed that community-based preparedness and EWS were very weak: and unexpected flooding led to big losses in livelihood sources and infrastructure.
An Early Needs Assessment (ERNA) was conducted in July 2008 using a detailed livelihood assessment methodology adopted from the Food and
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Goal and objective The specific objective of the project is to strengthen local community capacity to prepare and respond to flood induced disasters.
Outcomes and activities • • • • • • •
Rainfall and river water data collection and dissemination systems set up in 2 Traditional Authority areas (TAs); 1,289 households, eight schools and 110 ‘first responders’ trained to anticipate floods and equipped to respond; Two area and 11 village Civil Protection Committees (CPCs) trained in disaster management and functional; Flood contingency plans developed in the two TAs by trained CPCs; Flood control structures constructed; Quarterly inter-agency project review, two inter district, 2 regional and one national consultative workshops held; Disaster management best practices widely
• • • • • •
disseminated nationally and regionally Four coordination meetings between watershed districts held; Watershed districts include natural resource management in their development plans; Weekly public flood awareness sessions in print and electronic media and through religious institutions during rainy season; Community awareness levels, particularly of children, women and the elderly, of flood management increased; 2 irrigation schemes established and functional; Increase in crop production from irrigation facilities.
Best practice The project set up a user-friendly EWS for the communities. This system was utilized by the communities during the most recent rainy season. When heavy rains occurred in March 2009 in the upper part of Mwanza River, affecting people down-stream in the project area, local people responsible in the upper part where a hydrometric station was mounted, were able to warn communities down-stream using the communication equipments supplied. This helped to save lives and ensured that livestock was restricted from grazing on the riverbanks. The community-centered EWS involves community gauge readers who monitor water levels at the hydrometric system, analyse data, interpret it and disseminate it to Village Civil Protection Committees (VCPCs) using cell phones. The VCPCs then disseminate information using megaphones, whistles and community flags. This community-based and people-centered system took into account what people expressed in the baseline survey, where they said that the government EWS was ‘top-down’, frequently involving only the radio and newspapers, which in most cases were not effective enough to provide the required information in time. The project produced a telephone directory for the entire project impact area in order to provide alternative numbers, and to indicate which meter gauge-readers could use. Involvement of school children in the implementation of this disaster preparedness project, lead to long lasting impact of the project. Similarly, the involvement of faith leaders and groups in project implementation, led to efficiency and effectiveness in information dissemination in terms of saving money and time, since church groups gather at least once a week.
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Lessons learned There was a need for user-friendly methods of communication and a simulation exercise, to reach those who are not literate. There was a need to spend more time and resources on public awareness to highlight the importance of preparedness versus response. Preparedness is cheaper than response and helps to save lives and property in time of calamity. Community structures had limited financial capacity and more efforts need to be made towards helping the committees establish a sound financial base. In a project that involved collaboration with other partners it was necessary to balance the time between coordination meetings with partners and actual implementation of activities. Failure to do this resulted in either of the two aspects being negatively affected.
instill the spirit of voluntary participation. Poor cell phone network for the community-based and people-centered early warning suggests that there is a need to have a back-up system for communication between the water gauge readers and the civil protection committees. The key success factors of the project were: • The project managed to set up an EWS which is user friendly for the communities; • The project, through training and mobilizations, enhanced capacity of Civil Protection Committees – local structures responsible for planning, implementing, monitoring and evaluation disaster risk management activities. It also facilitated the review and development of Flood Contingency Plans at district, area and village level by relevant CPCs; • Enhanced community ownership of project initiatives. Participating communities and structures have developed ToRs/Constitutions for stakeholders at village level. They are involved in raising funds for operational and maintenance costs of early warning communication equipment the project supplied i.e., megaphones batteries, air time top up cards, sharing costs, etc.
Many challenges identified by the project are linked to high illiteracy levels, which hamper dissemination of information through written messages. Thus communication strategies at local level needed to be carefully designed. Villagers also had a poor attitude towards the disaster preparedness project, because, over the years of disaster relief operations, they had become used to receiving handouts. Consequently, mindsetchanging campaigns were necessary in order to
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Risks, Hazards and Vulnerabilities: A Practical Guideline of Best Practices
Community Based Disaster Risk Reduction (CBDRR): Flood Control, River of Life Evangelical Church Development Department (ROLEC), Malawi
Abstract River of Life is working in Nsanje district. Nsanje district experiences diversified climatic conditions every season. These conditions range from floods, drought, and dry spells. In addition, the area is also vulnerable to pest attacks, particularly army worms. PADR was conducted in January 2007. This methodology was adopted from Tearfund UK. The methodology provides a thorough assessment of the impact of disasters on livelihoods and helps communities to identify opportunities and local capacities for response and impact mitigation at household and community level. The information was collected through FGD, interviews with individual households. The assessment was conducted in eight villages in TAs (geographical and local government administration area). In Tengani, 30 men and 41 women, and in Malemia, 40 people (13 men and 17 women) participated in FGD.
and infrastructure. In addition, a vulnerability assessment showed that the community lacked preparedness and early warning, and that environmental degradation resulted in heavy silting of rivers exposing communities to unnecessary floods. This situation was compounded by the fact that there was limited effective planning, coordination and implementation of disaster risk initiatives. In one community, ROLEC facilitated the dredging of a river as well as planting of trees and elephant grass along the banks of the river. The impact was almost immediate as the following year, flooding was greatly reduced and people’s gardens and houses were not washed away as was previously the case. Assessment done on another river revealed that the best form of intervention was to build a dyke in order to redirect the river towards its natural course. Although the project was still underway, the community was hopeful that at its completion, the dyke would significantly reduce the risk of flooding.
Through PADR, communities identified floods and drought as the main hazards. Floods mostly occurred as a result of heavy rains in the highlands of the bordering districts of Blantyre, Mwanza and Thyolo, resulting in loss of livelihood sources
The initiative ROLEC, in partnership with Evangelical Association of Malawi (EAM) as lead partner and also a member of a consortium of six churches in Malawi through Malawi church Partnership Program (MCPP) with funding from DFID/Tearfund, is implementing a disaster risk reduction project in 26 villages of Senior Chief Malemia and TA Tengani in Nsanje district, targeting 3,000 households. The principle
objective of the project was to contribute to the reduction of vulnerability to natural hazards, of communities in Nsanje district.
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Project objectives The specific objective of the project is to strengthen local community capacity to prepare, mitigate and respond to disasters in disaster prone areas.
Outcomes and activities The project is focused on the following outcomes and its activities outlined below: • Early warning systems. Communities are able to monitor EWS that are put in place to mitigate the impact of floods and drought; • Coordination. Strengthen coordination amongst all stakeholders at community level, and district; • Local knowledge. Increased local knowledge in adaptation options in disaster management; • Climate change. Enhance capacity of communities to respond, by adapting to the effects of climate change and environmental degradation; • Contingency planning. Flood contingency plans developed in the two TAs by trained CPCs;
• • •
• • • •
Structural measures. Flood control structures constructed in Group Village Headperson Kachere (Dykes) {see Figure 33); Risk management. Disaster management best practices widely disseminated nationally and regionally through Tizidalire radio program aired on radio1, Malawi Broadcasting Cooperation; Community awareness meetings conducted; Irrigation sites established to increase crop production; Community early warning systems put in place through Participatory Assessment of Disaster Risk Reduction(PADRR); Community knowledge on adaptations options collected.
Figure 33: Dyke constructed on river Chimbwimbwi
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Risks, Hazards and Vulnerabilities: A Practical Guideline of Best Practices
Best practice The use of simple technologies such as dredging the river with local farming implements and building of dykes, out of locally available materials, was a best practice. Another was the dissemination of information on DRR through churches and community mobilization processes. In addition, although ROLEC was not solely responsible, the formation of a DRR consortium of government officials and NGOs was a best practice because it enhanced coordination of various stakeholders involved in DRR in the area.
Lessons learned The Participatory Assessment of Disaster Risk was a good process for mobilizing communities. It fosters self-reliance and encourages communities to be confident in helping themselves to solve their own problems; There was a need to constantly encourage communities to use the early warning systems that were identified, and not to sorely rely on the flood control activities that were undertaken; There was also a need to enhance DRR coordination between stakeholders at local and district level, especially in view of the fact that flooding was generated in systems that stretched beyond single communities and even districts.
1980s. Another challenge is the poor management of the community-based and people-centered EWSs. An important caution point to mention is that NGOs established parallel structures during project implementation, instead of using the community-based organization (CBOs) and CPCs present, in the area. The positive factors are related to the enhancement of capacity of communities with local structures becoming responsible for the planning, implementing, monitoring and evaluation of disaster risk management activities. Furthermore, the usually inactive CPCs became active through their participation in the review and development of flood contingency plans at district, area and village level, by relevant committees. Overall, the project managed to establish good working relationships with the community, the District Assembly and neighbouring district assemblies through the south west DRR consortium.
A number of challenges need to be considered, such as the dependency syndrome (a common issue in long-term humanitarian assistance) which was notable in most of the people. This was due to disaster relief operations that have been in the area assisting the influx of the refugees since the
Potential for replication This is a project with high potential for replication because it relies on simple technologies and locally available materials. The involvement of government agencies though the DRR consortium,
as well as the enhancement of the capacities of local structures also meant that the project built in sustainability for continuing activities beyond the life of the project.
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Sustainable natural DRR through policy change, capacity building, public education and community-based mitigation and preparedness, Emmanuel International a(EI), Malawi,
Abstract In the recent past Malawi has experienced adverse hazards such as flash floods and droughts exacerbated by the effects of climate change. This has had a negative impact on agricultural production, thereby, affecting the country’s agro-based economy. The situation is further aggravated by vulnerability factors of dependence on rain-fed agriculture, degraded environment, limited livelihoods, poverty and other cross-cutting issues such as HIV/AIDS. Poor and subsistence farming families in the rural areas are always in danger of losing out in life because of the negative impacts on human health, agriculture production, forestry management, water management, etc. Emmanuel International
(EI) is working with poor communities in disaster prone areas in Machinga district to implement community climate change adaptation and mitigation strategies under the Community-Based Disaster Risk Reduction (CBDRR) project. These strategies are based on structural measures such as construction of dykes (see Figure 34) to control high inundation of flood waters in mainland, thereby securing fertile areas and allowing crops to grow; institutionalization of village fund-raising mechanisms; drought mitigation activities such as the promotion of drought resistant crops; and implementation of environmental conservation work to address climate change concerns. Food security is therefore maintained.
Figure 34: Dykes construction using local materials
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The initiative EI is part of the Malawi Church Partnership Program which is jointly implementing the Tearfund and DFID-funded CBDRR, which started 1 July 2006. At the commencement of the project, the country was still recovering from a severe food crisis that lasted from the poor harvest of 2006 through to the reasonable harvest experienced in March/April 2006. EI is implementing activities in Machinga District in the three TAs of Liwonde, Nyambi, and Mlomba. Even if food security in the country improves overall and even in the absence of any major setbacks caused by natural disasters, the
most vulnerable still struggle with food security. Food security is now considered as a vital part of resilience against disasters and it should be noted that most Malawian farmers would struggle in this regard to cope with any setback. The DRR project has been working towards more resilient households and communities for three years, but even in those communities the situation for many households remains vulnerable. There is a need for ongoing risk reduction intervention training in order to develop a culture of DRR and resilience.
Goal and objective Disasters are a reality in the Machinga District. The district has a history of droughts (one every 3-5 years) and floods (every year), which, in combination with the persistent problems of poverty and HIV/AIDS, have resulted in recurring food crises and increased vulnerability of people who are already living in poverty. EI is implementing the CBDRR project in Machinga district as part of a DFID/Tearfund multi-country project implemented in five of Malawi’s most disaster-prone districts by the Malawi Churches
Partnership Program. The goal of the project is to build safer, more resilient communities in disasterprone areas through policy change, capacity building, public education and community-based mitigation and preparedness. EI is targeting 5,000 vulnerable households in 40 disasterprone communities in Machinga district with DRR interventions such as improved land husbandry, reforestation, fuel-efficient stoves, micro credit, and disaster management structures to increase their resilience to disasters.
Outcomes and activities The outputs of the DRR project are linked to the Hyogo Framework for Action priority actions: • Increased priority given to mainstreaming of DRR into the policies and practices of the government and aid agencies; • Communities with effective risk management plans, based upon thorough assessment of risks and causative factors; • Safer communities, with all sectors, especially
• •
vulnerable groups, aware of risks and knowledgeable of appropriate preparatory and response actions; Underlying risk factors reduced, especially in the sectors of food security, water, livelihoods, and climate variability; Local partners and vulnerable communities with increased capacity to prepare for, respond to, and recover from prevailing hazards.
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Best practice Practical interventions that are easy to replicate using local resources or minimal inputs tend to multiply spontaneously in a positive spin-off. One example is the fuel-efficient stoves and fireless cookers, made entirely using local resources. With training, people are able to produce the stoves in their community and sell them to generate income. The crop diversification and introduction of drought tolerant crops is another example of a practical intervention. The agency provided the initial stock of cassava and sweet potato seed, but these crops are easily multiplied and shared with other households. In most cases the agency established community gardens from where the community would multiply the crops to their individual gardens, etc. Neighbouring communities have adopted DRR practices because they are easy to replicate but have significant results. The Village Savings and Loans (VSL) concept has proven to be a tremendous tool for changing mindsets. People who embrace the concept not only overcome the dependency syndrome but also learn to take initiative for their own betterment. For VSL the agency does not provide a starter fund but the community pools its own resources. This creates a greater ownership and it transforms people since they themselves realize their own potential. They no longer look to the NGO for the disbursement of funds, and repayment rates are much higher because of the ownership and group accountability. VSL helps people to discover and access their inherent potential, using local resources and working together as a community.
Lessons learned One of the lessons learned was that while participation is encouraged, it is difficult to get people to work in DRR projects when they are hungry. In lean times DRR projects ought to be combined with other projects such as food or cash for work. It is also important that the scheduling of activities must take village calendars into consideration so that the project’s programming is not competing with cultural activities such as initiation ceremonies, religious observances such as Ramadan, and activities orchestrated by other outside agencies.
committed to helping themselves. When others see the difference the project has made for those few, they will follow. People in the village learn best from their neighbours. Having field staff living in the communities is an attempt to meet this need, but it is even more important to train people in the community who can themselves become trainers among their own people, especially through the use of demonstrations. It is also important to recognize that some interventions take some time to produce results. This means that people may not be as eager to participate in such activities and a long-term commitment is required on the part of the facilitating agency to see the project through.
Changing attitudes from dependency to selfsufficiency is an ongoing process, and it is more effective to work with a few participants who are
Challenges During the hunger period before the harvest, participation in DRR projects was affected because the DRR project did not provide immediate results. Elections, political rallies, initiation ceremonies, and other events on the village calendar vied for people’s time and reduced participation in DRR activities during those times as well. Unlike DRR
activities, political rallies were attractive because they often resulted in instant gratification in the form of cash and other handouts. This may have been compounded by the fact that the project beneficiaries were used to receiving handouts and relief aid. This experience became a stumbling block for DRR projects because people were only
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willing to participate if there was a possibility of receiving handouts. Some of the projects experienced drop out of participants because they do not see the immediate benefits of their participation. The shortage of government extension workers resulted in additional expectations of EI’s project field staff. The project was supposed to compliment the services of extension workers and the field staff did not have the ability to make up for the shortfall in government resources (time, expectations, lack of multidisciplinary training in agriculture, forestry, health, etc.).
There was an obvious lack of involvement of men in all of the DRR activities. This problem was not attributed to a lack of interest on the part of men per se (although women were generally found to be more willing to help themselves while men were more prone to the dependency syndrome), but due to inadequate numbers of men in villages as a result of rural to urban migration, divorce, death, and polygamy (the husband lives with one wife in one village while his other wives live alone elsewhere). On the one hand, PADRs involved the vulnerable communities in the design of the project from the beginning. The communities were empowered
Key success and failure factors to identify their own specific underlying risks and capacities, which provided a platform for developing community action plans and community risk management plans. The community-based approach fostered a sense of ownership and in some cases communities realized that some of the underlying risks could be addressed using their own initiative and resources. The assessment guided the design of the project to address specific vulnerabilities in each community to increase their resilience. When the DRR interventions addressed felt-needs, community participation improved. On the other hand, the DRR project targeted a large number of communities and households with a broad spectrum of DRR interventions, but considering the project resources and the reality of inherent challenges on the ground, the project
spread itself too thin to realize maximum impact in those communities. Considering the limitation of the project, greater impact would probably have been achieved by working in a smaller geographic area using a watershed management approach or working with small groups of villages rather than with many individual communities. Working with fewer beneficiaries who were strongly committed to helping themselves through DRR interventions proved to have a greater impact because these households and communities were able to demonstrate the benefits of DRR and train others so that the project was replicated spontaneously. Maximizing the impact should be more important than targeting larger numbers of beneficiaries because in the long run it will produce more sustainable results.
Potential for replication The greatest indicator of EI’s success in the DRR project is the spontaneous multiplication of DRR activities in neighbouring households and villages. Three villages joined EI’s DRR programming as a result of seeing the benefits of DRR projects in neighbouring villages. The fact that people who participated in the project already began training
others suggested high potential for replication, especially if activities were to be more focused. The demonstration effect for those who successfully adopted new interventions indicates potential for adoption by others.
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Community Risk Management/Gestão de Risco à Nível da Comunidade (GERANDO), World Viasion Mozambique (WVM)
Abstract Most of the development thinkers have already agreed that risk is key to development, vulnerability is key to risk, and community resilience is key to vulnerability. This leaves community resilience as the root of the spiral. Additionally, the impact of shocks will be directly driven by the development characteristics of the affected area. CARE International, a prominent NGO called this relationship a ‘poverty trap’, where recurrent shocks minimize the ability to maintain a long-term development perspective8. Although this agreement has been widely accepted, few humanitarian programs have addressed the various interlinked and interdependent components of community resilience. Indeed, most of the well-documented experiences focus only on some pieces of the puzzle, failing to be sustainable and efficient in the long term. In order to fill in this gap and disconnection between relief/ emergency work and the development programs, in 2006, WVM supported by a group of advisers from Tulane University (USA) developed GERANDO as a guideline to facilitate the implementation of the complete cycle of risk management by communities where WV works, based on holistic views of household’s vulnerability. The aim is to foster Community-Based Early Warning Systems (CEWS) and promote risk reduction of natural and man-made hazards (slow disasters such as droughts and rapid-onset disasters with catastrophic consequences).
The cluster of methodological approaches used by GERANDO is based on the 2004 UNDP report9 on reducing disaster risk, which concluded that hazards and disasters took a high toll on human development as they result in the destruction of infrastructure and the erosion of livelihoods. Although GERANDO focus on sustainability, it does not ignore the current poverty-risk trap that the poor African communities experience. As such, GERANDO focused on empowering communities to identify and address their own problems while ensuring that they had the means to break the trap. GERANDO process clearly has the potential to be an important tool in community mobilization, development of indigenous capacity for planning and execution of projects, and for empowering local communities to be active participants in development activities. Additionally, this approach has the potential to reduce the sense of helplessness that is common in impoverished communities, by helping them articulate their problems and reach consensus on priorities, as well as helping them learn the human and natural resources that are within their reach for mitigating their greatest challenges. As with any new approach, lessons can be learned to strengthen the existing programs, and make future replication of these programs more seamless.
8 CARE (2003). Managing Risk, Improving Livelihoods: Program Guidelines for Conditions of Chronic Vulnerability. CARE Eastern/Central Africa Regional Management Unit, Nairobi. 9 UNDP, 2004. Reducing Disaster Risk: A Challenge for Development. Bureau for Crisis Prevention and Recovery
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Figure 35: Community-based training, Mozambique
The initiative The project has been funded by the US Office of Disaster Assistance (OFDA), Multi-Year Assistance Program (USAID), and the Australian Government Overseas Aid Program (AusAID). WVM is one of the largest serving non-governmental organizations in the country. Operations began in 1984, with its national office located in the capital city of Maputo. Programs began fully geared to emergency and relief assistance, particularly to the thousands of internally displaced people, amongst them were children and women fleeing from war and scattered throughout the country. The Government of Mozambique and World Vision International formally signed an agreement in 1986.
The key issues of GERANDO have been identified by the World Bank DLC as 1. creation of access to resources; 2. greater knowledge and choices for hazard mitigation; and 3. reduction in socio-economic vulnerability. There is also a general agreement that any community-based initiatives have to be flexible and innovative.10 Furthermore, these initiatives have to ensure 1. participation; 2. inclusiveness; 3. esponsiveness; 4. integrated approach; and 5. proactivity.
10 World Bank Institute Disaster Learning, 2004. Natural Disaster Risk Management Program
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Even though this framework has in many instances called to the need of both micro and macro level interventions and coordination, this section only focuses on micro level implementation at the community level. For setting up a communitydisaster management plan (see Figure 35), it is necessary to ensure that 1. an incremental approach is followed; 2. community-specific risk reduction measures are taken; 3. reliance on community’s resilience and capacity are followed; 4. there is synergy with development and poverty reduction; and finally external actors support the initiative.
5. The first area where GERANDO approach was initiated was in the Chidenguele Administrative Post in Gaza Province, approximately 250 kilometres north of Maputo. Since then other areas were targeted, funded by USAID. GERANDO is implemented geographically in all communities of each administrative post; through a community committee represented by development committee, traditional leaders, recognized by the government, and elected representatives. GERANDO is actually being implemented in areas with distinct shock characteristics, e.g., climatic, environmental, geologic, and epidemic prone areas.
Goal and objective The main objective is to identify emerging and chronic problems that affect a community's ability to withstand stress and reduce the level of risk by increasing resilience, having proactive
strategies to anticipate problems, strengthening indigenous coping mechanisms and increase their preparedness.
Overview of steps There is an accepted and tested framework with the following methodology, which is considered as a best practice. It was replicated in Gaza, Zambézia, Nampula and Tete provinces.
Hazard identification. This requires data collection and analysis of natural and man-made hazards from a range of information sources, including existing assessments and hazards maps, scientific data, historical records, and socio-economic or agricultural surveys. The data should be presented to the community level through a hazard map, which is to be built based on a Geographical Information Systems (GIS) format. The community information and the scientific data should be entered into a comprehensive risk map, which details the community’s physical, socio-economic and environmental vulnerability. The data and map are both analyzed with the community, to conclude in a hazard assessment (see Figure 36).
Hazard analyses. This is a phase that assesses what
elements and activities in a Community are at risk. The elements and activities to be assessed are: 1. population; 2. location; 3. livelihoods; 4. social and community services; and 5. critical infrastructure and utilities.
Vulnerability analyses. Requires both quantitative and qualitative analysis, and seeks people’s participation in the evaluation of their vulnerability. However, multiple levels and dimensions make it difficult to develop common measures or indicators of vulnerability. Vulnerability has to be perceived in terms of: 1. well being (health and nutrition); 2. physical assets (infrastructure, selfprotection); 3. social assets (social protection and networks); and 4. livelihood and resilience (economic assets).
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Early warning/community surveillance. Community- sable part of an EWS is to ensure that a reliable and based surveillance has three main objectives:
a) Strengthen communities: As part of the larger cycle, it is the process of awareness and actions following the collection of indicators that makes community surveillance important for rural development. For example, in Thailand, the successful nutrition improvement was the result of cohesive strategies and innovative measures taken by the community, not the result of accurate and statistically valid data; b) Produce actionable data: As part of the integrated risk management system, community information should guide external assistance. It has been found to be particularly useful where it has gathered information on issues that usually fail out of routine monitoring systems at low-cost and rapid feedback11; c) Ensure information is disseminated: An indispen-
sustainable communication scheme is developed. The systems should guarantee that information moves from bottom up, top down and within the community. d) Mitigation plan and implementation: Plans and implementation should involve the community and be based on evidence from previous activities, including shock analysis, capacity and vulnerability analysis, and surveillance data. Plans should focus on avoiding potential hazards, decreasing factors of vulnerability, and looking both at structural and non-structural processes. e) Preparedness and response plan: Response Plans should be developed and be ready for implementation. Plans should include 1. Emergency Response; 2. Relief; and 3. Reconstruction.
Figure 36: Community-based training in risk reduction
11 (Tonisirin and Gillespie, 1999).
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Best practice GERANDO project is based on a unique holistic and participatory methodology focused on the full cycle of risk management. It uses several facilitation techniques to cope with specific disaster shocks, to strengthen active community preparedness, prior to an emergency, and during an emergency situation. The tasks, approaches, responsibilities and timing for each GERANDO steps were defined based on relevant best practices. Largely advocated for is involvement of significant number of women, young and old people for increased community participation in decisionmaking processes and to reduce the community dependency on external support, they themselves realize their own potential. They no longer look to the NGO for the disbursement of funds, and repayment rates are much higher because of the ownership and group accountability. VSL helps people to discover and access their inherent potential, using local resources and working together as a community.
Lessons learned 1. Science and technology stakeholders must consider community people with lack of education as the main consumer of the data and information produced; 2. Contingency plans should incorporate active community roles and be prepared for involvement of community representatives. 3. A focus on simulation drills may build unrealistic expectation in the community; 4. To reduce dependency and strengthen sustainability, timing/actors of DRR activities must be simultaneous/same with development activities;
5. For a community-based early warning and risk reduction program to be truly effective, it requires transparency in the process, acknowledgment of the agency of the stakeholders in the process, and a sincere commitment to minimize dependency and increase sustainability; 6. Donor and government pressures often necessitate swift action and demonstration of results, which may be contrary to the best interests of slow community-building exercises that are important for the success of early warning programs.
Potential for replication Although GERANDO represents a learning process being implemented and the results from the evaluation showed that communities have been highly involved in the whole process with noted benefits, it is now necessary to discuss how feasible it would be to use GERANDO guidelines as a way to ensure that humanitarian assistance addresses risk in a sustainable manner. Because of the tested methodology used by WVM, the programme can be replicated elsewhere, since it is anchored in sound principles of disaster risk
management used by key international agencies like the World Bank and UNDP. While governments, supported by other actors such as the UN and NGOs, are key to the success of humanitarian response, the content and implementation of these initiatives now include communities as prime actors. The rationale for working directly with communities is based on the recognition that socio-economic vulnerability, rather than physical hazard, explains the impact of disasters. Vulnerability in turn is driven by community capabilities (physical, social,
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economic, human) and welfare. This approach which evolved in the last two decades, suggests that interventions for mitigating disaster risks must aim to reduce vulnerability and increasing resilience at the community level. There should also be recognition that people in high-risk areas have often developed their own coping mechanisms and strategies to reduce the impact
of disaster. Furthermore, although accumulated losses from small floods, droughts and landslides can exceed the losses from big disasters and contribute significantly to increased vulnerability at the local level, these disasters attract little media attention and communities are often left on their own to cope with the destruction.12
12 Extracted from GERANDO Community Based Risk Approach: Definitions, 2009.
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Community Based Disaster Preparedness Projects; Community Based Disaster Preparedness Programme, Mozambique 2002 – 2005 Mozambique Red Cross (CVM), Mozambique
Abstract Following the floods in 2000, in Inhambane province, CVM and the Danish Red Cross decided to assess the possibility of linking the relief and rehabilitation interventions. This approach will have a longer term development perspective, by introducing disaster preparedness at community level, cross-fertilized from positive experiences from the Philippines, and the expertise from Phillipines National Red Cross (PNRC). Lessons learned from the pilot project on community based disaster preparedness testing phase in Inhambane province, were also incorporated in the programme. Another component was the bridging of community capacities using CVM volunteer network as facilitators for communitybased EWSs. Overall, the implementation of a community-based disaster preparedness (CBDP) concept, including the key elements of a community-based EWSs forms the core
operational framework of this initiative. A model for introducing a CBDP programme through CVM was tested and developed through a seven-month CBDP pilot phase, which took place in Inhambane province during the period of March to October 2001. The programme covered altogether five locations in 2 of the districts of Inhambane (Govuro and Inharrime) reaching a population of approximately 1,000 households, a total of 4,000 to 5,000 people. In many communities substantial progress has been made in terms of preparedness measures, a highly positive result of the programme. EWSs have been incorporated into community knowledge and practise. Community volunteers and local committees are well versed in their responsibilities and community risk maps have been used in preparedness planning.
The initiative The programme, which ended in 2006 has produced a case study, funded by the Danish Red Cross. It focused on the impact of the fiveyear CBDP programme and its sustainability. The study emphasised on the improved EWSs
at the community level, as demonstrated in the community preparedness and response to Cyclone Favio, detailing how the CBDP functioned with the cyclone-hit Vilankulos district in 2007.
Goal and objective The overall objective was to reduce the natural disasters vulnerability and to increase the capability among at-risk communities to cope with natural disasters, in the poorest, flood prone areas of Inhambane and Zambézia provinces. The objectives realised for the 2002-2005 period were
as follows: 1. Over four years, CVM increased its capacity to facilitate CBDP schemes as well as its ability to motivate the local population and make them co-responsible for securing their community against damaging effects of natural disasters;
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2. Raised awareness and readiness among the local population to meet disastrous situations by focusing on evacuation schemes, information sharing and securing material
assets in the provinces of Inhambane and Zambézia. Replication in the provinces of Sofala, Gaza and Maputo13 was successfully achieved.
Outcomes and activities According to the CBDP evaluation report, the following main achievements have been identified:
planning that has been used at different levels and should be promoted elsewhere.
nities substantial progress was made in terms of preparedness measures, a highly positive result of the programme. Both the national cyclone EWS and local community level EWSs are positively incorporated into community knowledge and practise. Both community volunteers and local committees, particularly in Zambézia province are well versed in their responsibilities in monitoring, warning and initial response. Community risk maps have provided a tool for preparedness
Positive changes in social interaction among communities and intra-communities followed as a result of increased knowledge and community organization. These include aspects of hygiene promotion and latrine construction completed within the programme. A key point was the test of all these interventions through a pilot study, which proved to be a critical factor in the success of the overall programme.
Vulnerability Reduction. Vulnerability was reduEarly Warning and Preparedness. In many commu- ced in social and organizational spheres.
Best practice The best practice is the implementation of a community-based EWS. The national cyclone EWS was integrated to include those at the receiving end of the warning; i.e., the communities are using, what is known as an end-to-end EWS. This system links, at one end, the scientific institutions receiving and analysing hydro-meteorological data, all the way down to the community level, or the population to be protected, at the other end. The community-based EWS was positively incorporated into community knowledge and practice. Both community volunteers and local committees, particularly in Zambézia province are well versed in what is required of them in terms of monitoring, warning and initial emergency response. Community risk maps, as tools of an end-to-end EWS have provided a key component for preparedness planning.
13 More details can be found on the CBDP Working Document, page 9 & 10.
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Lessons learned In addition to the structural work and capacity building efforts undertaken by this project, one of the significant contributions was related to local government visibility. The District Commission Office was instrumental in disseminating CVM messages in these districts. Volunteer visibility in the target communities has contributed to a positive image of CVM, contributing to the development of district commissions and the recruiting and training of community volunteers. There is no doubt that this has provided an effective and significant contribution to CVM’s ability to work in these districts in disaster preparedness and other programme areas. The training of disaster preparedness technicians combined with the programme experience and management capacity developed during the programme, is also an important outcome of the programme. Other lessons learned are as follows: • Crude comparisons between community disaster preparedness levels before and after implementation of the CBDP programme indicate the programme’s positive impact in increasing community capacity to cope with disaster; • Disaster committee members themselves recognised the importance of their role in helping communities to prepare for and mitigate risk to human life and material possessions; • The EWS ensured that communities targeted through the CBDP programme knew about
•
•
•
•
•
the cyclone three days in advance; In areas where the CBDP programme was implemented, CVM volunteers found communities prepared for the impact of Cyclone Favio. Elsewhere, communities were less aware of potential risks, children were still at school, despite the risk of damage to the building and separation from their parents; Local disaster committees successfully used methodologies recommended through CBDP training activities to convince community members of the impending cyclone, and advise communities how to minimise negative effects of the disaster; Strong community ownership of the programme ensured its sustainability. The CBDP programme empowered local disaster committees to take responsibility for their own safety and that of the community in times of disaster regardless of Red Cross presence. This ownership was clearly demonstrated by CBDP initiatives undertaken in response to Cyclone Favio; Equipment and training provided through the programme (for example, provision of High Frequency (HF) radios, and training community based volunteers) strengthened the capacity of CVM to effectively prepare for and respond to disasters; Radio broadcasts play an important role in raising community awareness of approaching cyclones.
Potential for replication The community based EWS has been already adopted by main stakeholders and partners in DRR and is a proved successful intervention aimed to reduce material losses and loss of lives.
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Institutionalization of Risk Management, PRO-GRC/ German Society for Technical Cooperation (GTZ), Mozambique
Abstract Mozambique is one of the countries of Africa that often experiences the impact of natural disasters such as cyclones, floods and droughts. During the floods of 2000 and 2003 alone, more than 4.5 million people, one quarter of the total population of the country, were affected. Droughts in 1980 and 1983, affected more than 6 million people. The high degree of vulnerability of the poor is exacerbated by the drought effects. Traditional agricultural technologies depend greatly on regular rainfall patterns and fertile soil zoning. This dependency, combined with the fact that construction of houses and public buildings are often inadequate, means that excessive rainfall, or conversely, a lack of rain, has severe effects. The absence of alternative revenue sources results in a feeling of helplessness among populations, contributing to low coping capacity when faced with drought events. Local governments can only react to this situation, and their response is often inadequate. The main reasons given are a lack of technical expertise for preparation of local level risk management plans and implementation of preventive measures. As a result of these substantial constraints, there is an absence of real-time coping capacity. Technologies for the management of disaster risk reduction and vulnerability to drought are not widely disseminated by the state administrations and NGOs. Therefore, the population is exposed and completely helpless, being unable to carry out preventive measures.
The priority components of this project include technical assistance, organizational and procedural measures and training (by international experts) on agricultural conservation techniques, at regional and local level. The provision of limited equipment in addition to assistance measures by local service providers, are also important support mechanisms of the project. The project is part of the poverty eradication strategy in Mozambique (PARPA II). Important contributions have been made to reducing vulnerability: • Improving agro-business; • Provision of technical advice in the implementation of a comprehensive and effective disaster risk prevention and disaster risk management methodology; • Integration of key principles of risk reduction in the Rural Development Program; • Assistance with capacity building within the newly structured INGC. In Búzi district, for example, the vulnerability of the population to the dangers of floods and cyclones has clearly been reduced by the disaster risk management initiatives implemented, representing an important contribution for sustainable rural development in the region. This successful methodology adopted by GTZ in integrating DRR in rural development programming is clearly a best practice, especially in terms of potential for replication in other disasterprone districts and poverty-stricken countries of the region.
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The initiative The German Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ), under the German Government, has been one of the most important international donors for the strengthening of disaster risk management in the country. GTZ was assigned a reconstruction project that has supported rural development in central Mozambique since the 1990s, and in the beginning of 2001, was supplemented by a Disaster Risk Management (DRM) component. After the flood disasters of 2000, first aid and reconstruction measures were supported. In 2003, the different initiatives were combined in the common program ‘Programa para o Desenvolvimento Rural’ (programme for rural development - PRODER), whose emphasis is the promotion of district development plans. In 2003, PRODER integrated disaster risk management in municipal development planning aligned with various community-based methodologies. PRODER, in subsequent years, maintained DRR activities, supported by technical assistance, in its core set of activities. In addition to PRODER activities, experiences derived from other projects, were incorporated (e.g., development of an EWS) with the support of the Munich Re Foundation and Climate Change14 Adaptation was also addressed through the GTZ Agreement Protocol for Climate Change . The overall GTZ programme was refined in 2007 and expanded to
the present programme framework based on the following key areas: 1. (Dissemination of tools validated as effective measures to reduce vulnerability to drought; 2. Implementation of local level risk management within a comprehensive all-hazard approach, including the creation of local level disaster risk management committees and enabling coordination structures from the community to the national level through the functional structure of INGC; 3. Vulnerability reduction to floods and cyclones in the Save River (Machanga and Govuro); 4. Reducing vulnerability in Mozambique to wildfires and/or bush fires;15 5. Provision of organizational and technical advice to INGC, focusing on CENOEs (National Emergency Operation Centre(s). The project has reached so far a high number of beneficiaries in the following regions: Southern Region – Inhassoro, Vilankulo, and Govuro districts, Inhambane Province and Machanga district, Sofala Province; Central region – Búzi, Chibabava in Sofala province, and Mossurize, Sussundenga (Administrative Post of Dombe) and Manica, Manica Province; Central and Southern regions – Massange in Gaza Province, Mabote, Funhalouro and Govuro in InhambaneProvince and Machanga, Sofala Province.
Goal and objective The objective of the project were to continuously provide technical assistance to communities, districts and governments to implement disaster risk management measures in priority areas threatened by hurricanes, floods and droughts. A
further objective is to identify arid and semi-arid areas prone to droughts and bush fires, and, jointly with the local authorities, to identify relevant mechanisms for adaptation to climate change and management of hydrologic resources.
14 UNFCCC SB-20 presented in June in Bona; and in the UNFCCC COP in Nairobi in November 2006; ARGE IP Institut fur Projekplanung GmbH und AMBERO Consulting Gesellschaft mbH 15 With the support of UNEP/ACTS financed by GEF
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Outcomes and activities The main outcomes relate to: behavior change and attitude modification within communities; the adoption of minimum standards for building hazard resistant housing; the reduction of forest and wild fires in communities involved in the project; the successful integration of disaster risk management methodologies in PESODs16 with risk management responsibilities assumed by the district governments; and monitoring and supervision by local staff to ensure that the INGC risk management guidelines are followed. The promotion of risk reduction methodologies in the district development plans consisted of the
following four components which are aligned to a number of activities: • District development planning with participatory activities at community level; • Strengthening of local governments and civilian population with activities related to risk reduction and identification of relevant hazards; • Adaptation of innovative technologies and sustainable use of natural resources; • Disaster risk management interventions such as public education on impacts of wild fires on food security, and conservation agriculture.
Best practice The integration of disaster risk management into rural development existing plans is an excellent proven best practice. In the context of this project, the at-risk villages along Búzi River served as the pilot project area, receiving an integral, multi-sector and decentralised methodology. It has proven to work and already lead to important progress in the region. Furthermore, the establishment of flood EWS, including wildfires warning; the establishment of demonstration areas for testing different techniques of conservation agriculture; the creation of community networks within local level risk management in various at–risk districts and the development of communitybased trained teams to undertake the risk management activities, are key elements of the methodology.
16 PESOD (Plano Económico e Social e Orçamento Distrital) Annual District Development Plan
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Lessons learned The monitoring mechanisms in place, allow adjustments to solve problems encountered in project implementation. However, greater technical follow-up from the project’s supervisory body is necessary to further strengthen local capacities. There is a need to utilize local resources, avoiding dependency on external funding (e.g., warning kits, with local materials; EWSs involving local leadership; youth working in drama and theatre; games with risk management themes
aligned with INGC strategies with simultaneous translation into local languages). Once a warning has been issued, the community is well organized as observed by the rapid mobilization of an atrisk community and further identification of dangerous zones inside a community. Additionally, the exchange of good practices from the Buzi and Chinde districts has been identified as one mechanism to enhance coordination.
Potential for replication This practice has already been replicated. It started as a pilot project using rural development projects. The practices in it have a long history of integrating disaster risk management in existing structures, dating back to projects implemented by GTZ and partners in Central America.
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Moving forward The trends Qualitative analysis of the DIPECHO Inventory Forms suggests a prevalence of a set of communitybased projects, targeted to address the incidence of specific hazards affecting the project countries. Among those hazards, the hydro-meteorological ones, such as cyclones and floods are most critical in Mozambique and Madagascar in terms of frequency, intensity, damage caused and number of affected people. Dissimilarly, in the Comoros, volcanic eruption of the Le Karthala poses extreme risks because of the high population density living at the slopes of the Volcano with limited evacuation routes and means. In certain areas of Malawi, and pockets of drought zones of northern Mozambique, the underlying hazards are the abnormal rainfall patterns, with extreme dry-wet periods, which affect the ability of the population to feed themselves, resulting in food insecurity. River erosion and floods, caused by the rainfall in upper stream rivers such as the
Zambezi in Mozambique, is directly related to climate change, and constitute important disaster risk drivers, as suggested by the ISDR 2009 Global Report17(see Figure 37) . Consequently, community-based end-to-end EWSs and emergency procedures implemented in several communities are at the core of the selected best practices. This is followed by community-based bio-engineering methods (a combination of vegetation and cement to secure river banks) to control river erosion and spread of flood waters into agricultural fields. Overall, the best practices were supported by good programme design addressing issues of risks, hazards and vulnerabilities, a pilot test before a full implementation of the projects, and a good monitoring and evaluation system that was used to adjust problems encountered during the life of the projects.
Figure 37: Early national warning system of Buzi river basin, Mozambique
Source: INGC, 2009 Presentation to UNDP 17 2009 ISDR Global Assessment Report on Disaster Risk Reduction, Geneve
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Climate change, adaptation and disaster risk reduction (DRR) Regarding the theoretical background presented in the introduction, one point to highlight is that the 2009 ISDR global report review (ibid) argues for a paradigm shift in DRR, as currently ‘efforts to reduce disaster risk, reduce poverty and adapt to climate change are poorly coordinated’ and hardly linked to each other. There is a need to link and focus policy and governance frameworks for DRR, poverty reduction and climate change adaptation in a way that can bring best practice local and sectoral approaches and tools into mainstream development thinking on DRR. The way forward is to promote international attention and consolidate political and economic support and commitment for disaster risk reduction in atrisk countries. Projects undertaken by NGOs are clearly divided in initiatives targeted to environmental issues such as deforestation, bush fires; environmental damage; and initiatives targeted to DRR, such as methods of securing houses against extreme winds, flood waters and powerful storm surges. It therefore, becomes clear that climate change and DRR should be seen as one integrated package. In fact, some of the work conducted in the field by NGOs and organizations focused on DRR and climate adaptation. The best practice of UN-Habitat with its elevated platforms above flood level is a good example of adaptation. The community-based EWS of CARE International in Madagascar, and the methodology, under testing, by CARE Mozambique to identify strategies of climate change adaptation at community level, are all excellent initiatives. On a recent on-line discussion between UNDP experts and practitioners18 on the strategic and
practical benefits of an integrated approach to DRR and adaptation to climate change, several issues discussed suggest that, rather than treating climate change as an environmental issue, an integrated approach is necessary. Although the links between these two areas are increasingly acknowledged by practitioners, there is a need for greater coordination between the emerging climate change adaptation community and the well-established DRR community. This is especially important given the increasing focus on climate change, its associated risks and potential impacts for development, and in the light of an emerging ‘One UN’ operational context, as in Mozambique. From a substantive perspective, there are clearly large overlaps between DRR and (ommon Country Assessment (CCA). A major portion of the impacts of climate change will manifest themselves through climate variability and extremes. Thus, strategies to address vulnerability to natural hazards are a key component of adaptation to climate change. Additionally, changing risk patterns directly affect disaster preparedness and prediction efforts. Furthermore, changes in the average climate may also affect disaster risk, either through changes in hazards (such as forest fires becoming more likely if the average conditions are becoming dryer) or changes in vulnerability (such as when reduced agricultural productivity leaves communities poorer with decreased coping capacities when disasters occur). An issue generating discussion is that geophysical hazards are not addressed by climate change adaptation, and DRR is only concerned about trends in the average climate where they have a direct implication for disaster risk.
18 This e-Discussion is led by UNDP’s Crisis Prevention and Recovery Practice Network (CPRP-Net) and is cross-posted with Energy and Environment Network (EE-Net) and Disaster Risk Management Asia Network (DRM-Asia). For more information on the e-Discussion, including a list of key resources, please visit the dedicated UNDP internal webpage located at https://shp. undp.org/sites/BCPR/cspc/e-d-11-09/default.aspx. For non-UNDP participants to the e-Discussion, kindly contact
[email protected] for support.
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The scientific knowledge in programme design On the issue of bridging scientific knowledge with programming and its practical application in the field, WVM has an excellent best practice in developing a methodology based on the UNDP and ISDR 2004 report Living with Risks19. The methodology adapted by WV is supported by identification and analysis of hazards and vulnerabilities of the communities. These vulnerabilities are identified differently, from community to community, and are translated in what WV calls the Shocks. The impact of shocks will be directly driven by the development characteristics of the affected area, which in the case of the four target countries, is that 50 percent of the population is living in extreme poverty. CARE International states that these vulnerabilities and hazards relationships are in fact a poverty trap where recurrent shocks minimize the long term goal of achieving full development, thereby increasing vulnerabilities. In fact, in any situation of a disaster, the most common point of discussion is that a medium to large scale disaster is likely to rollback on the development gains, pushing back at least 15 years of development.
urban areas and critical infrastructure in coastal zones of the country. The master plan of the country (Plano Director de Redução de Risco )20 outlines gaps in risk management and risk reduction. Below are additional programme gaps resulted from the recent DIPECHO consultations.
In late 2009, a number of national consultations organized by DIPECHO took place in Madagascar, Mozambique, the Comoros and Malawi. The aim was the identification of programme gaps that could be funded by the international community including DIPECHO. The results of these consultations suggest that the following project themes be considered for possible funding:
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Mozambique The excellent work performed by INGC after the massive floods of 2000-2002 meant that Mozambique became well-known as a success story. In fact, one of the best practices reported in this document is the report on climate change modeling which details climate change effects in
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Wildlife management to reduce human mortality (from animal attacks) in flooded areas; Government capacity in enforcing building codes in urban areas at-risk (coast of Mozambique); Expand local risk management with appropriate funds made available; Community based irrigation schemes to reduce food insecurity in the areas affected by seasonal drought. Conservation agricultural techniques should be promoted in at-risk areas, and this includes negative impacts of bush fires on depleting soil. Also important is that these conservation techniques are utilised by communities to retain moisture in the soil, allowing the plantation of droughtresistant crops; In dealing with prevention and mitigation, there is a need to create and/or strengthen search and rescue procedures at communitybased level in at-risk districts. There is also a need to formulate clear Standard Operations Procedures at regional and district centers aligned with international codes of conduct and action; Within local level risk management, it is critical to implement school disaster committees, at all levels; To reduce the drought shocks, critical themes that needs support are the construction of community-based silos and water reserves, to maintain food stocks and availability of clean water; Regarding community-based EWSs, the
19 UNDP and ISDR (2004). Living with Risk: A global review of disaster reduction initiatives. Inter-Agency Secretariat of the International Strategy for Disaster Reduction (UN/ISDR). Geneve. 20 Plano Director de Prevenção e Mitigação das Calamidades Naturais – Approved by Government of Mozambique 2006
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continuous support is required for current initiatives based on participatory approaches of risk mapping combined with comparisons of given areas using space technology such as satellite images; There is a need to create better genetic seeds for crops in drought prone areas and to create seed banks to reduce food insecurity; Promote small infrastructural work in mitigation: small dykes; levated platforms;
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evacuation routes; elevated platforms of multiple use; elevated silos; social services in anti-cyclones refuges; use of tree barriers to reduce speed of wind. Training in risk mapping with satellite images at local level; Improve existing government information technology equipment to allow optimal use of space technology and geographical information systems platforms in monitoring risk, and for emergency assistance.
Madagascar Because of the skilled work conducted by the National Disaster Risk Management Institute (Bureau National de Gestion des Risques et des Catastrophes (BNGRC)), in implementing a public education campaign on the various types of hazards and vulnerabilities affecting the country, there was a sharp reduction in losses, damages and also mortality due to disasters (Personal communication, BNGRC officials, October 3 2008, Antananarivo). • There is a positive impact in terms of public education on how to deal with the cyclone and flood hazards that the country faces. However the expansion of these initiatives are limited by donor requirements and financing; • Expand funding for existing initiatives in local level disaster risk management, with EWSs, and by including basic kits and instructions to retrofit and/or rebuild traditional housing after the impact of a cyclone; • Expand the construction of food silos in at-
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risk villages to prevent food shortages after disasters; Public awareness, at local level, to disseminate warnings taking in account local dialect and using local radio; Installation of weather stations in areas exposed to severe weather, equipping with water level scales/meters in rivers and piezometers for wells and boreholes; and training communities to use the equipment; Strengthening the network of HF radios and train communities in how to use and maintain the equipment and how to update the information available; Risk mapping of localized risks; Inventory and monitoring of water points; Signaling of evacuation routes for community security; Creation of systems for collecting rainwater, rehabilitation of damaged ones and building of new systems.
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The Comoros •
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Provide the local communities with radio communication in HF and Very High Frequency; training of beneficiaries on the use of communications equipment and warning system is essential. The French Red Cross and COSEP have an EWS system in place reaching 45 communities equipped with satellite phones (a best practice), but not sufficient for the total population at risk; Development of a local level risk mapping; Establishment and training of local committees
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for all at-risk communities; Development of community-based emergency plans; Training all community volunteers in first aid, management, use of emergency stock and needs and damage assessments protocols; Upgrading and rehabilitation of storage space for emergency equipment; Establishment of a system for access to water in emergencies, retrofit of the existing infrastructure.
Malawi •
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It will be important to develop, standardize, and institutionalize at national, district and local levels, DRR GIS (utilizing remote sensing, user-friendly GIS database, satellite imagery, GPS tracking, etc.) combined with indigenous knowledge (PRA mapping, historical timeline, etc.); There is need to link Community-based EWS to National EWS (government involvement in local EWS), to link communication equipment to community evacuation plans and preposition evacuation and response equipment in communities; Disseminate systematic flood information in the form of standardized DRR handbooks and/ or youth games/activities (teacher handbooks, games, drama clubs, etc. communities); Stockpile emergency items, such as tents and other NFI (plastic sheets, shelter kits, tents) rescue and first aid kits /medical and non medical materials in all vulnerable H/C and identify/rehabilitate/equip cholera quarantine facilities within the hot spot area, especially for those area far away; Adopt appropriate flood resistant structures; Develop and advocate for preparedness and mitigation activity package (series of interventions) linking upstream and downstream communities, adopting a river basin management (RBM) geographical
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targeting approach; Strengthening institutional linkage for a proper communication system (data flow); It is also important to collaborate with Department of Parks and Wildlife to assess crocodile and other wildlife populations and map out potential risk to human life, given that crocodile attacks are quite common and appear to be on the increase. Technical and/or logistical support to department of parks and Wildlife should also be provided to manage wildlife through a co-management approach; Cholera Risk Assessment: Mapping of the cholera hot-spots based on previous year incidences and vulnerability areas, including setting up a surveillance system and cholera awareness campaigns, and preparation of district preparedness plans for cholera response with clear resource mapping and responsibility; Irrigation development in flood prone areas; Introduction of appropriate livestock for flood prone areas; Construction of rain water harvesting structures and training communities on their use, development of evacuation points; Advocate for the development of national policy on building codes appropriate to existing hazards.
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