'We have less fear, we know what to do'
Caroline Brennan of CRS, a Trócaire partner in the DIPECHO funded project, Biparjuya Prastuti: Disaster Preparedness in Coastal Orissa, reports on her visit to the project.
Every year, India's monsoon rains cause massive devastation, resulting in the loss of homes, commerce, cattle, and human life. Orissa, one of India's poorest states, has experienced nature's fury time and again. Out of the state's 30 districts, 25 are affected by floods, cyclones, droughts, or multiple hazards every year.
But, in some of the most affected communities, the tide is starting to turn. Thanks to a grant by DIPECHO, Trócaire and its local partners are supporting some of India’s most vulnerable communities with disaster preparedness training that helps them strengthen their ability to overcome natural disasters.
The project centers around village-based task forces that are trained to respond before, during and after a disaster, carrying out tasks such as
* Early Warning
* Search and Rescue
* First Aid
* Relief Distribution
* Shelter Management
Kalayana Kar, working to prepare her community for future disasters.
These task forces have begun to demonstrate an experienced, professional response, thanks to people like Kalayana Kar, 32, a woman who knows disasters. She has lived through monsoons, and seen her neighbors lose everything they have – houses swept into nothing, and family belongings pulled out from under them.
A mother of two, Kalayana became president of her local Self Help Group in 2005 to help boost the income and assets of her fellow women through vocational training in tailoring, cow/goat rearing, poultry farming. Now, they are also strengthening their disaster preparedness skills so that, in the face of the next monsoon, they can come out standing.
“During the [previous] flood times, people would stay on the roof of our house and we would provide them with whatever food and bedding we had. We didn’t know what to do. Often at those times, we are only taking coconut, papaya, plain rice, and sugar cane. We cannot go to school,” said Kalayana.
With the understanding that communities and families have the best available knowledge of their context and needs, Trócaire and its partners enable Kalayana and other communities like hers to find locally appropriate solutions.
“We had practical experience watching the river levels; we know our land and surrounding area. But, we would have problems drinking the local water. We didn’t know about raising tube wells, how to care for cattle and our land, or the harms of drinking flood waters,” she said.
Now that has changed. “We are learning so much, about repairing the embankment, raising tube wells, caring for cattle, developing grain and seed banks, and establishing clear early warning training systems,” she said.
Kalayana is a member of her communities Early Warning committee. Their methods are simple but effective. “When we need to share information, we beat the drum in the square. When you beat the drums, people come,” she said.
In the most recent rains, the training has been put to use. Community members are repairing collapsed river banks with sand bags, protecting thousands of homes and lives. Throughout the year, they have invested in an emergency contingency fund and stored food. They know how to carry out evacuation plans, use boats to rescue and evacuate families, manage shelters in safe high areas, provide emergency first aid, and make clean water available.
Today, Kalayana believes she’ll be witness to fewer crises affecting her family and neighbors, and that more answers and solutions will come from their community.
“We feel ready for the next monsoon; we have less fear. We are stocking rice, we have food ready for cattle, we know what to do,” she said.