Building Community Resilience to Disaster (BCRD)

Sarlahi, Makwanpur and Rupandehi (SAMARUP) A joint project of DIPECHO and ActionAid Nepal

2006-2007

Table of contents Page Abbreviations and Accronyms Foreword 1. Disaster Scenario in Nepal

2. Disaster Preparedness 3. ActionAid Nepal 3.1 AAN's EDM Response

3.2 Key Strategies of AAN on Disaster Preparedness 4. AAN and DIPECHO III Project

4.1 Building Community Resilience to Disaster - SAMARUP 5. Key programs and activities conducted by BCRD

5.1 Awareness generation and advocacy

5.2 Capacity Building

5.3 Reducing river cutting and protection of livelihood 6. Policy Advocacy for Change 7. PVA process in BCRD 8. Search and Rescue Training 9. Lessons Learnt from BCRD 10. Key achievements of BCRD project 11. Testimonies 12. Annexes 13. References

Abbreviations AAN ActionAid Nepal BCRD Building Community Resilience to Disaster CARE Cooperation for American Relief Everywhere CBO Community Based Organization CDO Chief District Officer DDC District Development Committee DDRC District Disaster Relief Committee DMC Disaster Management Committee DP-Net Disaster Preparedness Network DWIDP Department of Water Induced Disaster Prevention DRR Disaster Risk Reduction ECHO European Commission's Humanitarian Aid Department (ECHO) EDM Emergency and Disaster Management FSCN Friend Service Council Nepal GLOFs Glacial Lake Outburst Floods HFA Hyogo Frame Work of Action ICIMOD International Centre for Integrated Mountain Development MDGs Millennium Development Goals NRS Nepali Rupees NRCS Nepal Red Cross Society PVA Participatory Vulnerability Analysis SAR Search and Rescue UNDP United Nations Development Program VDC Village Development Committee WCDF Women and Children Development Forum YMC Youth Mobilisation Commitee

Foreword rewrite by Shashanka Nepal is highly prone to various types of natural disaster. A decade long conflict has further created vulnerabilities in the lives of people. Widespread illiteracy, lack of education, limited assets ownership, lack of access to food, limited income opportunities and exclusion have further marginalized people and their daily lives are worst affected. Within these complicated socio-political contexts, the situation of poor, women, children and Dalits is under the hardest hit. Within this looming scenario of disaster in Nepal DIPECHO/AAN jointly initiated a project "Building Community Resilience to Disaster" from March 2006 up to 15 months. Raising awareness and advocacy, capacity building and the small scale mitigation programs were three major components of this project. Project has been able to addresses to different aspects of Disaster Risk Reduction in the community primarily focussing the poor and marginalized groups. The project was implemented in three districts of Nepal namely Sarlahi, Makwanpur and Rupandehi. A rights based framework was adopted to implement the program. DIPECHO/AAN envisaged the comprehensive awareness in community, sensitization and education, capacity and skill building training and workshops, media advocacy, small scale mitigation program. One of the achievements of this project is that it has been able to change the perspectives of the people regarding disasters which were largely influenced by the notion of acknowledging disaster as the divine creation. Similarly, it revealed the hidden strengths of community on disaster preparedness and created a potential environment for community mobilization. This project has been successful in creating the space for communities to explore their community based knowledge and in the mean time project has also gained series of learning processes from the community as well. With an aim to bring the learning, reflections and best practices this report has been prepared. In the mean time, the community based learning will definitely enrich the policy priorities from the community perspectives.

1. Disaster Scenario in Nepal Nepal is a high-risk disaster prone country. Every year people here are subject to floods, land slides, cold waves, hail storms, fire, snow avalanches, Glacial lake Outburst Floods (GLOFs), etc. A study (UNDP/BCPR, 2004) ranked Nepal as the 11th most high risk country to earthquakes and the 30th for floods. Another study (World Bank 2005) classifies Nepal as a "hot-spot" for geophysical and climatic hazards. Earthquake has proved to be another violent disaster putting the population of this country at a greater threat. The earthquakes of 1934, 1980, 1988, the flood of 1993 and the landslides of 2002 are some examples of the disasters that we have experienced in recent history. In 1993 alone floods and land slides caused huge disasters where in 1336 people lost their lives, nearly 17,000 households were destroyed and 5600 hectors of fertile land were washed away. Similarly in 2002 nearly 450 people died due to floods. Recent studies have shown that Nepal is under great threat of an impending earthquake which may occur any time in future and as predicted with a magnitude of over 8.0 on the Richter scale. Various studies and reports have shown that if another earthquake similar to that of 1990 occurs in Nepal, Kathmandu Valley will alone witness the death of 40 thousand people, 95 thousand others will be seriously injured and 60% of the houses valley will be collapse. People’s vulnerability to disasters in Nepal is compounded by severe poverty, displacement due to hazards and unplanned settlements. There are human settlements on most vulnerable sites both in rural and urban areas such as near river banks, dense forest areas and mountainous regions. These settlements are highly vulnerable to hazards such as earthquakes, landslides and floods. Informal settlements are increasingly growing on the river beds and flood plains. Considering these disasters, Nepal made legislation in the beginning of 1980s for crisis management. While Nepal was one of the first countries in South Asia to have created a policy and legal environment for disaster risk management, there has been a growing realization on the need to redefine the existing policies in order to accommodate the considerable advances in the field of disaster risk management. This act has still not included Cold Wave as a natural hazard where millions of people living in the Terai region are mutely affected each year. The Government of Nepal is now in the process of formulating the National Strategy for Disaster Risk Management which is expected to be a gap analysis of all the phases of the Disaster Management cycle for Nepal and to be a road map of where Nepal intends to be by 2015 (the deadline for the Hyogo Framework of Action and Millennium Development Goals). The devastation caused by disaster looms larger than ever. Analyzing all these facts and scenario we can conclude that Nepal is at high risk of natural disasters. All forms of disasters have caused heavy losses of human lives and physical assets and adversely

affected the development process of the country. However, we are least prepared for mitigation of the impact of possible danger. Disaster vulnerability has been proved to be one of the contributing factors in aggravating and perpetuating poverty in Nepal. 2. Disaster Preparedness DIPECHO III project was launched in Nepal with the support of European Commission's Humanitarian Aid Office (ECHO). ECHO is a service under the direct responsibility of Commissioner Louis Michel. Since 1992, the Commission has funded relief to millions of victims of natural and human made disasters outside the European Union. DIPECHO projects have been launched worldwide since 1996. In Nepal, the first DIPECHO project was implemented in 2001. Since then DIPECHO has significantly worked on addressing, mitigating and developing coping mechanisms in disaster situations. Its aid is channelled impartially to the affected populations, regardless of their race, ethnic group, religion, gender, age, nationality or political affiliation. Part of the Humanitarian Aid Office’s mission is to raise public awareness of the issue at stake. ECHO is providing support for disaster preparedness in Nepal as well as many other countries in Asia. In Nepal the following 9 international organizations implemented the DIPECHO III project 2006-2007 - ActionAid Nepal, Belgium Red Cross/Nepal Red Cross Society, UNDP, CARE Nepal, Oxfam, Danish Church Aid/Lutheran World Federation, Practical Action, UNICEF and ICIMOD. DIPECHO projects have fostered a large number of people like poor women headed households, marginalized and excluded groups, ethnic minorities, youth volunteer groups, school children and their parents, local government officials, and civil society through various activities to sensitize about disaster. With support of DIPECHO III, street dramas were performed and group discussions held to raise awareness about natural disasters. Alongside, media campaign activities were also milestone tools for advocating issues related to disaster, which played a major role to fill in the gap of dialogue between government stakeholders and disaster affected groups and simultaneously raising awareness at the grassroots level. The project activities were implemented in 17 high risk districts of the country by the nine implementing partners of DIPECHO III project in partnership with community-based organizations. The activities included training to local people to build community resilience to disaster, establishing Disaster Management Committees at local level to address disaster preparedness and conduct small scale mitigation activities by building safe shelters and embankments in a cost effective manner. The project has developed awareness raising programs for various actors such as students, youths, parents, children, women, farmers etc. The programs particularly provide information such as building houses that are resistant to earthquakes or building check dams to protect land and houses from floods.

ActionAid Nepal launched "Building community resilience to disaster" under DIPECHO III project in Sarlahi, Makwanpur and Rupandehi districts focusing primarily on awareness raising and advocacy, capacity building and small scale mitigation programs. Similarly, other project activities include carrying out rescue and relief operations and natural calamity impact mitigation measures. Programs in "Building community resilience to disaster" were conducted at both local and policy levels. Particularly, work was done to formulate a strategy at the national level. Discussions and seminars were conducted among the concerned government agencies, NGOs and stakeholders. A national strategy was formulated considering the conclusions drawn from these seminars and conferences, based on the Hyogo Framework of Action adopted by 168 nations across the world in 2005. Hyogo Framework of Action aims at minimizing the risk of natural disasters by 2015 and mitigates impacts in environment and human lives. According to the Hyogo framework, the national strategy will include security of agriculture, food, health and education. This national strategy will also include physical planning, safety, water supply, sanitation and communications. Coordination between national and local government bodies, national and international NGOs and donor agencies is needed to enable the formulation of the strategy which is now in a final stage. This strategy aims to ensure human rights and dignity of people suffering from disaster. 3. ActionAid Nepal ActionAid has been working in Nepal since 1982. Its mission is to empower poor and excluded people to eradicate poverty and injustices. The work of ActionAid Nepal (AAN) over the years has undergone various changes informed by its engagement at the grassroots and other levels. In 1996, AAN changed its approach from direct service delivery to partnerships with local NGOs. It adopted a rights-based approach to development in 1998 with the larger ActionAid global family. AAN believes that poor people have a right to protection, human security as well as right to access appropriate assistance to survive in and recover from disasters. Based on this belief, AAN works towards building appropriate capacities to ensure a more strategic and rapid response to disasters- before, during and after occurrence. According to the Country Strategy Paper III 2005-2010 "Fighting Poverty and Injustice" AAN analyzes poverty as the manifestation of economic, social and political exclusions and discriminations wherein rights of women, men, girls and boys are violated, denied or deficient. AAN believes that poor people forced into perpetual poverty by systematic denial of their rights. 3.1 AAN's EDM Response AAN’s analysis identifies emergency and disaster as more than just a threat to life but to livelihoods and dignity of life. It increases risks to people's livelihoods and leads to destructions which may lead to vicious cycles of chronic poverty, destitution and impoverishment. Disaster has been articulated as one of the key contributing factors in

aggravating and perpetuating poverty in Nepal. Hence, AAN has recognized 'Emergency and Disaster Management' as one of its cross-cutting initiatives. Emergency and disaster management is both preventive and curative. AAN entails risk reduction by addressing issues of vulnerability and hazards, increasing capacity of poor, marginalized and the vulnerable groups in collaboration with appropriate institutions to influence development actors to formulate comprehensive programs to deal with disasters. AAN broadly translates its commitments in emergency and disaster management through Creation of Information Base, Capacity Building, Alliances and Resource Mobilization, Emergency Response, Information and Knowledge sharing at all levels, and Vulnerability Analysis. AAN has undertaken activities that will mitigate the effects of emergencies including capacity-building, communication about people’s rights and promoting early warning systems. AAN’s emergencies strategy primarily aims ‘to reduce poor people’s vulnerability by empowering them to build their resilience and develop their capacity to cope’. 3.1.1 Key Strategies of AAN on Emergency and Disaster Management

• Building the understanding of AAN staff, partners, rights holder groups and Nepali citizens about the link between poverty and emergencies and disasters

• Improving the ability of vulnerable communities to cope with disasters through community-based disaster preparedness strategies

• Establishing and capacity building of alliances and networks for effective disaster preparedness and response

• Building the capacity of partners to conduct hazard mapping and vulnerabilities assessment of disaster prone areas and advocating for necessary mitigation measures

• Providing immediate relief and rehabilitation to the most needy poor people in disaster and post-disaster situation.

• Advocating for the formation of appropriate policies by the government to ensure the rights of the disaster victims to realise compensation and rehabilitation.

4. DIPECHO III Project AAN implemented the DIPECHO III project from 1st March 2006 to 31st May 2007. AAN has conceptualized the key objective of Hyogo Framework of Action [HFA] 2005-2015 to build resilience of community against disasters. This project was funded by ECHO under DIPECHO III Action Plan in South Asia. The total fund of DIPECHO/AAN was Euro 290, 727, 84 and an additional Euro 48000 to strengthen processes and financial management. 4.1 Building Community Resilience to Disaster - SAMARUP

AAN implemented "Building Community Resilience to Disaster (BCRD)" from March 2006 for 15 months in three districts of Nepal which were Sarlahi, Makwanpur and Rupandehi (SAMARUP) with local partner organizations WCDF, Prerana and FSCN. (PNGO profile in Annex1) These three districts represent two physiographic regions, middle mountains, and, eastern and western Terai. Makwanpur, which surrounds the then Mahabharata range in the north along Churia hills and inner Terai, is very rugged and fragile due to its weak geology. Sarlahi and Rupandehi in the Terai are extensions of the Indo-Gangetic plains with Churia in the northern border. The areas immediately south of the mountain front (Churia range) called Bhabhar zone is prone to floods by the short-lived rivers which frequently change their course with water levels rising very fast leading to floods in large areas during the monsoon. On the other hand, another flood problem in the southern part of Terai arises where the dams and embankments along many rivers constructed across the border in the south impound monsoon flood water within the Nepalese border creating severe flood situation every year. These areas have become harsh and regular flood prone localities in Nepal. To collect essential information for the project, representatives of potential partner organizations were invited to a Consultative Workshop with a request to bring baseline data of selected districts, hazard maps, PVA, district maps, case studies and other relevant information. Various documents produced by different organizations were reviewed during the concept development process. AAN's broad programme experiences and learning from other projects provided valuable insights. Learning shared by other organizations working in the field of disaster during different forums and meetings also significantly contributed to shape the idea of prioritising the geographical area and activities when designing the concept. (See the methodology and various sources of information and Annex 2 for organizations involved in assessment in Annex 3.) 5. Key programmes and activities of BCRD 5.1 Awareness generation and advocacy Awareness generation was undertaken to increase peoples’ knowledge and provide adequate information on disaster and preparedness. This was particularly to enhance people's understanding of how disasters occur and its consequences in human lives. BCRD focused on people’s rights to survival, education, health and development. Awareness plays a vital role in sustainable disaster response and ensures protection of life and properties. With this notion BCRD addressed hazard mapping, research and documentation, vulnerability assessment, situation analysis, sharing meetings and mobilization of theatre and media for raising awareness among community people.

Youth to raise awareness

Youths, with their strong will and energy, were mobilized to campaign, advocate and facilitate mitigating activities. Youth groups of Basamadi and Handikhola VDCs of Makwanpur district proved that they can be agents of change in society. They have become catalysts for community building resilience to disaster for disaster risk reduction. Ram Prasad Poudel, YMC treasurer of Basamadi says, "We formed the youth committee to be more actively engaged on disaster risk reduction activities because youth have the resilience to act during any circumstances." The YMC of Basamadi has 13 members amongst whom 5 are girls. Similarly, the YMC of Handikhola has 19 members with a majority of girl members. They have been mobilising youths in the rest of the VDCs. They have acquired knowledge and skills on DRR. YMC of Basamadi have organized district level Folk Song Competition focusing on disaster awareness campaigning and advocacy. On the final day of the folk song competition about 4000 people gathered in the open space of local school premises. This program was aired live by the local FM radio station. "It was a really encouraging moment for us,” says Ramchandra Poudel, treasurer of Basamadi YMC, "there was real participation of thousands of people gathered at one place listening to disaster risk reduction songs.” The youths of these two VDCs are becoming proactive towards addressing disaster issues. "Prior to DIPECHO/AAN project we were not aware about disaster issues and we were largely fatalistic. Now we have realised there are many consequences of disaster. The important thing we learnt is community people can mitigate and reduce the risks of disaster in many circumstances. If we are aware and able to develop coping strategies and mechanisms we can save our lives and livelihoods,” says Shree Krishna Dhakal, president of Handikhola YMC. Gayatri, a young girl, member of Handikhola YMC says, "Only muscle power is not enough to tackle disaster, we need skills and knowledge. We did not have the skills and knowledge in previous years, which BCRD has now given us leading to a sense of security.” The youths of these VDCs have collected dry food and crops to help flood affected communities in other parts of Nepal in the western region. Youth coordinator of Handikhola YMC Prakash Thapa says, "now we are ready to mobilize youth volunteers anywhere in the country and these volunteers are competent on first aid training, search and rescue.” 5.2 Capacity building The capacity building component of the project has contributed to enabling people to cope with disasters while small-scale mitigation activities reduce the loss of lives and properties, thereby reducing the chances of falling into an irrecoverable condition. The capacity building component has helped harness the positive attitudes of people towards disaster preparedness and mitigation creating resilience. This has enabled a culture of prevention and protection. While working towards capacity building enhancing the capacities of communities and supporting their institutions so that they could plan and

implement activities for disaster response was a key element. The activities under capacity building mainly included trainings on CBDP, TOT, SAR, PVA, First Aid nurtured DMCs, YMCs, Women's groups, Teachers, Students and other stakeholders.

Capacity Building Training: Effective Tools for DRR After the formation of DMC in Twangra village of Handikhola VDC in Makwanpur district DIPECHO/AAN conducted PVA training where 35 people from the VDC participated. With this PVA training, the community identified the intensity of the problems caused by disaster. The foremost problem was land-cutting due to floods. This threatened people’s livelihoods entrapping poor people further into poverty. After conducting PVA the community decided to make check-dams in the river, raise awareness, organise advocacy programmes to cope during emergencies caused by floods and build safe shelter for those who have been displaced due to floods during monsoons. Communities of this village were trained on CBDP, First Aid and SAR through which they have gained confidence to address issues and problems related with disaster mitigation. "PVA trainings provided us the knowledge about identifying the nature of disaster, how and why it occurs, and ways for control, reduction and mitigation,” says Madhav Gautam, President of DMC. Manju Karki, a 27 year-old woman DMC member of Twangra VDC says, "With CBDP, SAR, PVA and First Aid trainings we realized our roles to move forward on raising awareness on and mitigate disaster. Even our small efforts can play a big role in disaster reduction.” In the same village, community people have built a safe shelter for flood affected displaced families. DIPECHO/AAN provided the seed money of Rs. 142,735 to build this safe shelter; the shelter is now worth almost 700,000 NRS. Shanti Community Forest Users Group provided the wood worth Rs. 400,000 to construct this site. 5.3 Reducing river-cutting and protection of livelihood Small scale mitigation can prevent people and properties from falling victims to disasters and demonstrate practical measures useful to other communities living in similar conditions and positions. The success can also contribute to influence national policies to make local level small community groups and their organizations, which, if assisted, can be instrumental in disaster preparedness. Small scale mitigation activities conducted by BCRD greatly contributed to minimizing the effects of disaster. BCRD provided technical and financial support to identify and implement small-scale mitigation activities such as embankments, culverts, repair and maintenance of infrastructure to reduce the effects of emergency disasters. These low cost measures are taken by communities once they are exposed to appropriate and replicable measures. This also included selection and use of safe route for evacuation and means of emergency transportation.

Move for Mitigation

We have to cross the Rapti River close to the East West highway to reach Twangra village in Handikhola of Makwanpur District. There is a temporary wooden bridge over

this river which is a daily route for villagers from this VDC. During monsoons the water level rises, submerging the bridge and leaving the entire VDC disconnected and isolated. Flood occurrences have made life in this village miserable. Due to the cutting of fertile land every year, villagers loose cultivable land. Male populations of Twangra Village are forced to migrate to nearby cities and even to India (neighbouring country shares open border with Nepal from east, west and south) to work as daily wage labourers. In between these rivers, there are about 150 house holds. "We see our land being cut every monsoon by floods and we fear it will destroy our shelters and us one day," Madhav Gautam, president of DMC shares his experiences with grief. "We have lost hope. Every monsoon we are caught with fear of the flood destroying our homes,” says Suntali Karki, a woman from this village. The community heard about WCDF engagement on addressing the issues and providing support to communities through FM Radio. With this information the people approached WCDF to support them to deal with flood related disaster. WCDF initiated awareness raising, capacity building and small scale mitigation programs in this VDC with the support of BCRD project. "The villagers believed disasters to be caused by divine powers and nobody would be able to stop them,” says Madhav Gautam, "When DIPECHO/AAN project activities started it opened our eyes to possibilities of reducing and mitigating disasters with our own efforts.” The villagers have now constructed a 178 meter long check dam in Twangra River. BCRD project provided Rs. 470,000 and community people raised Rs. 227,000 to construct this check dam. "We were able to get 18 iron nets for the check dam from Water Induced Disaster Reduction Department and community bought another 10 iron nets. Much of the credit goes to BCRD project that showed us the way to seek support from government agencies as well.” says DMC president Madhav Gautam. 6. Policy advocacy for change The beneficiaries (see Annex 4) of BCRD project are mainly poor and marginalized people primarily women, children, people with disabilities, elderly people, dalits and other ethnic minorities vulnerable to disaster. Therefore, Policy advocacy is an integrated part of the BCRD project. AAN believes that people centered policy can ensure the reduction of vulnerabilities of and risks faced by people in the most susceptible areas.

Building consensus for legitimacy DMC of Devdaha in Rupandehi joined hands with the local government authorities. There are 13 members in Devdaha DMC with an 11 member advisory committee. VDC Secretary and former President are also in the advisory committee. "It is important to engage local government authorities on disaster risk reduction programmes so that they can lobby at district, regional and national level of government,” says Rishiram Sapkota, DMC president of Devdaha, "At the same time it is also their (local government) responsibility to be responsive being members of the same community.” Devdaha VDC authorities are also showing interest in the DMC's activities and promise their support.

"With this participation we are hoping to build consensus of local government authorities to address disaster risk reduction issues effectively in the community. Our primary concern is to work with VDC so that it can release the government budget for disaster risk reduction program and activities for the community. We now plan to register the DMC at district level to be able to work more effectively,” accounts Rishiram Sapkota. 7. PVA process in BCRD Through Participatory Vulnerability Analysis (PVA) communities are empowered to take charge of their own efforts to address their vulnerability. Being aware of one's own vulnerability is a big step, but the essence of PVA is not only for the community to develop action plans, but to be able to constantly seek opportunities to enhance their resilience to difficult conditions. PVA itself evolved from a workshop convened by ActionAid in Dorset, UK in 2000. The workshop recognised the importance of vulnerability in development and emergencies related work. It also identified that one of the gaps was in translating the knowledge of vulnerability into practice. Specific areas included how to build community resilience to disasters; link emergencies and development; influence policy and most of all motivate the most vulnerable. AAN has widely incorporated the PVA methodology while implementing DIPECHO III project BCRD in Sarlahi, Makwanpur and Rupandehi districts. This has proven very effective in identifying the nature and intensity of disaster at local levels along with community understanding. PVA was conducted in 8 VDCs of the three districts. Advantages of PVA- See Annex 5. 8. Search and Rescue Training Search and Rescue (SAR) is a critical component for any post-disaster situation. According to SAR experts, more than 80 percent of survivors of disaster rescued by the community may be prompted with trained and disciplined action. However, very little initiatives have been taken to build or enhance the capacity of the community for skilled SAR, which can prevent major injuries, deaths and chances of higher level of disability in post-disaster situation. With this view DIPECHO/AAN project organised week-long SAR trainings in its project implemented districts in Sarlahi, Makwanpur and Rupandehi in the month of April 2007. Team of experts in SAR came from Bangladesh Emergency Support Corps (ESC). These trainings have helped build capacity of youth groups, disaster activists and some staffs of Nepal Red Cross Society on SAR at the community level focussing on flood related disasters. SAR trainings focused on theoretical knowledge, practical demonstration and exercise through lectures, multi media, demonstration, individual practice, simulation, questionnaire and evaluation. Altogether 68 participants from three districts attended the SAR trainings. Basic concepts on SAR training were set in rural settings and this training was able to provide knowledge and skills for search and rescue during flood disasters as well as during accidents in normal course of life. Similarly, with the use of local materials available in the rural settings, SAR training highlighted the use

of local materials such as ropes, bamboos, Jerry can and whistle which could be easily available. Use of pulleys for various rescue operations were also demonstrated and practiced. With the help of these materials participants were able to build Bamboo and Rope Ladder, Bamboo and Jerry can raft, Rope Bridge and Aerial Runway Techniques.

Ready to Rescue Babita Das 20 years and Rubi Saha 19 years of age, from Madhesi community in Terai - are REFLECT facilitators. They both actively participated in the 5-day First Aid training and 5-day Community Building Disaster Preparedness Programme (CBDP) trainings conducted by Prerana - a local NGO partnering with DIPECHO/AAN in Sarlahi district. "We learnt how to be safe during disasters like fire, flood or earthquake. We have shared what we learnt from the trainings with family and community members. In the past we did not have any idea about disaster preparedness but we now have the confidence to save lives as well ,” says Rubi. According to Rubi and Babita the SAR volunteers learnt about constructing temporary safe evacuation bridge and how to rescue victims trapped in top floors using pulley and ropes. "Time consciousness is another important factor in rescue during emergencies and in fact we realised this from this SAR training. Preparedness is very important, so we must keep the instruments like ropes, pulleys, life jackets, torch lights etc. before emergency comes because it comes without notice,” say Rubi and Babita. Expectations, Achievements and Recommendations of SAR Training, See Annex 6 9. Lessons Learnt DIPECHO/AAN project has provided effective support and resources to vulnerable groups to cope with disaster and emergencies. The Project was committed to build community resilience to disaster. It emphasised building the capacity of local human resources by working in close collaboration with district level stakeholders. It promoted a rights-based approach to work and involved key stakeholders including government, community, education and family institutions. BCRD's comprehensive design was successful in changing the perception and mind set of community people who largely identified disaster as a divine creation and empowered community people for disaster preparedness and helped create an environment for community mobilization for disaster preparedness. The Project also facilitated the community to build a competent network of community people and local government authorities. It created networks of people such as students, teachers, parents, youth groups, women groups, community leaders etc. Among the various important interventions that BCRD carried out are training on CBDP, PVA, First Aid and SAR which has helped communities to prepare themselves to mitigate disaster challenges. a. Disaster Preparedness and Livelihood support can be effective tools to mobilize communities: DIPECHO/AAN has been able to bring significant changes in the lives of people for disaster preparedness. It has supported people in securing their livelihoods. This unique combination of disaster preparedness and livelihood opportunities could

significantly enable people to life secure and dignified lives, and a good alternative to mobilize communities through generating local economies. b. Working together with community is effective tool to resilience to disaster: The Project identified local human resource such as elders, community leaders which included local government leaders at VDC, teachers, students, women and youth groups. The strength of identifying human resource at local level made this project pro-community people and created ownership resulting in active participation of people in the project. c. Community Based Trainings can address people's immediate concerns: DIPECHO/AAN facilitated the PVA, CBDP, First Aid and SAR trainings through which people have been empowered, sensitized, and are ready to act for DRR. The process was participatory and there was inclusion of marginalized groups. With these trainings community people gained skills and knowledge to reduce and mitigate disasters. d. Mobilization of women helps sustain the program: Women were a major focal group of the project. As women have to face multiple burdens of disasters in a family, their engagement in the project was a must. Consequently, over the period women have become more vocal and they have gained knowledge around disaster issues. Some of the initiatives facilitated by women's groups have been very successful clearly indicating that the mobilization of women helps sustaining the spirit of the program. A number of women are active members in the youth groups and DMCs. e. DMC- pillars of the project: DMC became the vital actor on DRR. Eight DMCs and one sub-committee were formed under DIPECHO/AAN project. The process of formation of DMC was people centred, inclusive and participatory. There is equal participation of men, women, ethnic communities, dalits in the DMCs. Local men and women and youth including those from marginalized groups were involved in making key decisions in the disaster response. f. PVA could be an effective participatory methodology: PVA methodology was incorporated in DIPECHO/AAN project. PVA became the most influential methodology as it fully gave mandate to local people to make action plans and work on those plans immediately. In DIPECHO/AAN project areas the local people identified various types of disasters and its intensity. There are numerous problems associated with disaster and community have very minimum resources to deal with this. With PVA community decided to disburse the available resource towards most vulnerable areas. g. Youths engagement on DRR: DIPECHO/AAN recognized the mobilization of youth as valuable resources for disaster preparedness because they often have the ability to adapt quickly and creatively to rapidly changing situations. 10. Key achievements of BCRD project

• Community people of 8 VDC are aware about the risk and vulnerabilities associated with hazards at the local level.

• They are well informed about hazards and preparedness and they have been organized to take action. 24 community groups [DMC, youth groups, and advisory volunteers] have been formed with significant participation of women.

• Nearly 600 persons including school teachers, DMC, youths, people with disability and students have been trained in First Aid, CBDP, SAR and PVA.

• 21 youths were trained in street Drama methods for campaigning/advocacy and 23 streets Drama were organised on disaster preparedness in three districts.

• Local government officials (CDOs, LDOs and DNDRC) have been oriented to disaster issues and they have largely expressed support to the project. There has been effective partnership with local media and government. As a result poor people’s voices are being heard at local level and national level through media, and there has been effective engagement at the policy level.

• Visibility of the project is significant among the NGOs, INGOs, national authorities, experts, national media etc.

• 10 community safe shelters have been built to accommodate the most vulnerable (women, children, pregnant mother, people with disability, elderly and marginalized people). All the shelters have easy accessibility and are flood proof, earthquake resistant and friendly for women and religion minorities.

• 6 check dams and dykes have been constructed. • Safe exits for school going children and other marginalized groups have been

identified.

Table 1. Beneficiaries by district and ethnicities Districts and VDCs

Target Social Groups/Institutions

Beneficiaries

Rupandehi : 3 VDCs Keruwani Dev Daha Makrahar

Dalits (Damai, Kami, Kewat), Ethnic minorities (Tharu, Gurung, Magar) Non-dalits ethnic majorities but living in extreme poverty and vulnerability.

49591

Makawanpur: 2 VDCs Handikhola Basamadi

Dalits (Kami, Damai, Sarki etc.) Ethnic minorities (Tamang, Newar, Gurung, Magar etc.) Non-dalits ethnic majorities but living in extreme poverty and vulnerability.

31940

Sarlahi: 3 VDCs

Dalits (Khatwe, Dusadh, Dom, Chamar, Baitha, Kewat, Harijan and

Laxmipur Sundarpur Fulparasi

Dhobi) Ethnic minorities (Tamang, Newar, Gurung, Magar, Non-dalits ethnic majorities but living in extreme poverty and vulnerability.

13548

Total

95079

Testimonies

Replication of good efforts: learning from neighbours

The disaster mitigation activities are gradually being replicated in Siddhakali village of Handikhola VDC. Learning of DRR from Twangra village, Siddhakali community initially formed a Disaster Management Sub-Committee with support from Twangra DMC. Siddhakali village is highly prone to flood and landslides. The village is trapped between Chyapal and Makari River. Nearly 1000 inhabitants are dwelling in fear. Ganga Bahadur BK, 46 years old, from dalit community migrated to this place about 3 decades ago from a hilly district with hopes of easy livelihood. "When I came here the Makari River a very small water stream but you can see it expanding each year due to floods destroying our land and shelters,” he says. The people of this village have heard about awareness, capacity building and the small mitigation programme in its neighbouring village in Twangra. "There was no one to show us the way, but when we heard about Twangra villager's work for disaster risk reduction we went there to seek advise and support," says Harish Chandra Poudel, President of Siddhakali sub-DMC "We consulted with them and we are now acquainted with the linkages with local NGO called WCDF in the district." Community people of Siddhakali village have recognized flood as the main cause of disaster so they decided to construct a check dam between the Makari and Chyapal River. DIPECHO/AAN provided Rs.100, 000 and the villagers collected Rs. 30,000 and provided free labour to construct the check dam. Similarly, the DDC provided 40 wire nets for the check dam.

Small things can make a difference Gaurigaun, is a village of about 26 households situated at the bank of Rohini River in Devdaha VDC of Rautahat District. The populations of this village mostly comprise of Dalits (marginalized group) who barely have land to grow crops for a living. Men and women work as labourers and make earnings on daily basis of work. Due to abject poverty women are highly burdened with both economic hardships and household work. The story of struggle of this small village does not end here. Every year they live in fear due to the floods. One end of the village is surrounded by the river and the next end has low land and jungle. During the monsoon the lowland gets filled with water. Due to lack of culvert on the lowland, men and women have faced difficulties in reaching other villages or local market for work. Similarly, children are unable to go school. Due to this problem, nearly 28 children stay away from school during the monsoons. Most of the populations of this village are squatters who have came to this land about 12 years ago. "When we first arrived here a decade ago the river far away, now it's almost close to our homes!" says another woman Kumari Pariyar.

“Even adults use both hands and feet to crawl across the water covered path. It has affected our livelihoods and our daily lives. My family is also victim to floods and we lost our small land where we used to grow crops. Now we have this small hut but fear it could also vanish any one of these day.” Chhumi Nepali.

Now, the people of this village have built a small bridge over the lowland where heavy water used to collect during monsoons. For this Rohini Community Forest Users group provided wood worth Rs. 15,000 and local people raised Rs. 3450. Similarly the

households of this village provided free labour equivalent nearly to Rs. 9,000

to build the bridge. Mostly women were engaged to build this bridge and they carried heavy stones from the river. The bridge was made with local efforts, resources and technical support from DIPECHO/AAN project. The villagers are now having planned for plantation the trees at the bank of Rohini River to protect their land and home from the flood.

Skills to save lives “I learnt many things about how to be safe from disaster through DIPECHO/AAN activities. I am sharing whatever I learnt with community people especially to women." Rupkali Darlami Magar says. Rupkali, a widow, 49 years old, could hardly spell written words or write. Today, she is an out spoken lady advocating for disaster preparedness in the community. The 1993 flood displaced her family. "We moved from where we were residing for years and working hard for a secure future for our children," she recalls. It was during Dasain

(the most important Hindu festival celebrated in Nepal) in the year 2003, "One neighbour came and told me that my husband drowned in a nearby canal. I hurried and approached where he was. He was unconscious but was breathing.” Rupkali made

arrangements to take him to the nearest hospital but her husband died.

DMC an effective agency to make a difference Rapti River has posed great risk to mainly the 5 wards of Basamadi VDC in Makwanpur district. Villagers were worried with their situation but very few people were showing concerns over mitigating the disaster. "We came to know about WCDF, a local organization that is working in the field of disaster. They agreed to support us through DIPECHO/AAN project,” says Loknath Pandey, President of DMC of Basamadi. The DMC formed under DIPECHO/AAN decided to construct check dam on Rapti River in ward number 5, where there are 200 households. DIPECHO/AAN provided Rs. 182,000 and community people raised 56,000 RS and provided free labour to construct 2 meter long check dam. The DMC is becoming more proactive. Community members are contributing their efforts by collecting funds and contributing free labours.

Chhumi "It was possible with the support of this project which taught us and boosted our capabilities."

"When I received the First Aid training, I realized that I could have tried to save my husband's life through artificial respiration to keep him alive till we reached hospital. This is the change that I can feel in my life. Now I am convincing others about the importance of capacity building and skills to save lives of victims of disaster, so that people do not loose their loved one.” Rupkali

Recently, the community renovated one check dam constructed a year ago by the government. DMC has started to raise Rs. 10 per month from every household and making its use on disaster risk reduction activities in the village. Basamadi DMC also has built safe shelter for flood affected families. DIPECHO/AAN has supported Rs. 142,735 where as community people have invested Rs. 650,000 worth of liabilities like land, wood and free labour. "We will make its use during emergencies and other time use it for conducting DMC activities," says Kamala Shilwal, female member of DMC.

Women in front Bagkumar is a small village and the flood occurring in close by rivers has put 11 households at great risk. Through PVA community people were able to decide that the priority was to construct the check dam first to save the land and inhabitants of Bagkumar. The check dam in Bagkumar ward number 8 of Devdha VDC is completely built by women of this village. The women from this village formed a Check dam Construction Committee (CCC) under Disaster Management Committee of Devdaha. All 7 members are women. DIPECHO/AAN agreed to provide Rs. 100,000 for constructing of the check dam. These women instantly generated an additional Rs. 27,500 by approaching various organizations. Sports Development Committee in Bhaluhi VDC provided 10 iron nets and 2,000 polyvinyl shacks. Similarly, the women collected another 21 iron nets from different organizations. The CCC then approached the VDC to free the royalties for the stones collected from the river for constructing check dam. VDC prepared the paper work. Then they collected 26 tractor's trolley stones. After stacking all the required materials they proceed to construct the check dam. "We hope that this year's monsoon we will be safe and the women's effort to make this check dam will save our village," says Laxmi Chaudhari.

Flood affected people become resilient Hari Darlami, 34 years old is a flood survivor from Tatera village in Rupandehi district. He still recalls the sufferings caused by the flood. "There was a flood in the middle of the night and all of us climbed trees to be safe. We took shelter in the trees for 10 hours and it was a frightening experience. As we came down from the tree our shelter and everything has been washed away by the flood,” recalls Hari Darlami. The villagers provided his family some unused public land of 4 kaththas, which is also at great risk from floods. There are 50 households in Tatera village of Makrahar VDC where the villagers live in fear like Hari Darlami. Nilu Rana, member of Gyanjyoti Women's group says, “During this short span of time half the land we left have been cut by the floods." Tatera village is surrounded by Rohini and Kajarar River. The rivers are extremely wide and the resources available in the village could not cope with the problem during monsoons.

"As male members are away from home and busy in work outside they could not give quality time to construct the check dam. We decided to make the check dam in the river which is close to our village as every year it has been cutting the land. It has almost approached our homes,” says Laxmi Chaudhari, President of CCC.

BCRD project with FSCN- a local NGO provided Rs. 100,000 to build check dam to protect the village from flood. Community people provided free labour and constructed a check dam on Rohini River. "There was no hope and alternative means till last year but we are gradually gaining hope and confidence from BCRD project which has raised awareness and provided capacity building skills and knowledge," says Keshav Rana, DMC vice-president of Makrahar VDC. Community people of this village appreciated the PVA, CBDP, First Aid and skill to weave iron nets.

"This year children will have a wonderful surprise!" Janta Primary School in Sundarpur VDC where nearly 300 children study was established in 1978. It has not been renovated since then. "The Government pays no attention or responds to requests for renovating it. During monsoons the water enters in to the class rooms," says Jaggu Ram Yadav, Headmaster of the school. The flow of debris due to the flood has piled up on the school ground. Due to this, the ground level has ascended up and the water flows down towards the class rooms. Jaggu Ram Yadav, "We are happy now for the support provided by DIPECHO/AAN and the local NGO Prerana for showing keen interest on the continuation of children’s study disrupted by flood." At the initiation of the DMC of Sundarpur VDC, BCRD project provided Rs. 150,000 and the School and Community people raised Rs. 22,000. With this money they renovated the school building and constructed a compound wall to save water and debris flow entering into the school premises. Similarly, DIPECHO/AAN constructed a Bamboo Bridge over the river in between Sundarpur and Laxmipur VDC where flash flood occurs every monsoon season. There is Devdhari Higher Secondary School in Laxmipur just after crossing the river from Sundarpur. Nearly 200 students from 3 VDCs surrounding this school come to study crossing this river. "When floods arose students from the other side of the river could not come to school," says Narayan Prasad Baral, a school teacher, "the flood disrupted not only the students but too the teachers coming from across the river. We were facing this sort of problem for about 15 years." BCRD project provided Rs. 94,034 to construct this Bamboo Bridge and community people collected Rs. 7,600 and provided free labour to construct this bridge. With the use of locally available resources the construction became cost effective and easy for maintenance by local people. Mohammad Femuddin, DMC Secretary of Sundarpur VDC says, "The Bridge will serve not only the students and teachers but all the community people."

Safe for sheltering The Sukhchaina ward in Laxmipur VDC of Sarlahi district is habitat for Sahani community (an indigenous group whose ancestral profession is fishing). This village is surrounded by Lakhandehi River in the west and Dhwangra River in the east. During monsoons the village becomes an island. There are 44 households in this village. In winter they suffer from severe cold waves and during summer they fall trap to rampant fire.

Karmatiya Devi Shani, a 60 year old woman, lost her home due to the floods. Altogether there are 24 members in her family. She possesses a few kaththas of land where the crops grown are barely enough to feed the family for a bare minimum of 3 months. Young male members of this family have migrated to India for labour work. Monsoon is a terrifying time for them. "We see clouds up in the sky and find highlands so that flood does not reach us," says Tetri Dvi Shah, another woman from the village "for months we spend sleepless nights." "Disaster has made us poor and poverty makes us vulnerable," says Krishna Dev Saha, member of DMC. "We have not received any relief from the government. Sometimes NGO people come here and distribute relief materials but how can it sustain us!" DIPECHO/AAN with Prerana- a local NGO intervened in this village to make the people here safe from the floods. Community people proposed safe shelter as the immediate requirement for emergencies in flood. But they do not have public land to build the shelter. So after several consultations among themselves, community people agreed to collect the money from each house hold. They collected Rs. 54,000 and bought land. DIPECHO/AAN provided financial supported of Rs. 332,000 to construct the safe shelter.

Women as change makers! Rajkali Devi Gosai, is a 45 year old woman from Sundarpur VDC of Sarlahi district. She is a REFLECT facilitator as well as a Woman Health Volunteer in the community. She is now the President of Disaster Management Committee (DMC) formed under DIPECHO/AAN, which has 11 members, amongst whom 9 are women. "In our village men do not work, they only talk and quarrel," says Rajkali Goai "so community people chose us for the DMC and we are working efficiently on disaster risk reduction. We are working on awareness raising and capacity building activities to strengthen the community to response to disaster." Rajkali believes that with the support from DIPECHO/AAN people are more aware of and ready to speak to ensure their rights. "The trainings provided to us on disaster risk reduction is useful to daily life," she explains. Rina Devi Baitha, a 28 years old woman from dalit community of Phulparasi VDC of Sarlahi district, is the DMC treasurer. The few acre of land that her family possessed was turned into sand desert by the flood. Her husband has migrated to India to earn for the family. Rina has 3 daughters. Rina's effort has now become a model for the community. DIPECHO/AAN with Prerana has conducted bio-engineering trainings for the villagers. Rina Devi on her initiation planted banana trees in the desert land and a kind of vegetable which grows on dry and sandy soil. "I grow banana and vegetables in that unused field. I sold crops worth Rs. 10, 000 within a year. The Banana plantation also saves the land from flood,” she says happily. Bhuli Devi Sahini, is another leading woman from Sukhchaina village of Laxmipur VDC of Sarlahi district. There are 8 members in her family and they do not own any land for growing crops. Fishing and working on daily wages is the profession of her husband and sons. Her family has been repeatedly displaced by the flood. "We changed our place for seven times and still we are living in fear of being displaced again," says Bhuli Devi "so I

mobilised the community people of my village to construct the safe shelter.” At 60 she alone took the pony cart to get construction materials like cement and iron rods from the market. She did all these voluntarily. She happily expresses, "Now villagers have faith in my strength and they listen to what I have to say."

12. ANNEXES: Annex 1: Introduction of DIPECHO/AAN local partners

WCDF is a non profit organization formally registered with District Administrative Office, Makwanpur Hetauda under His majesty’s Government of Nepal on 2054 (in accordance with institution registration act 2034). It is formed by a group of women professionals with considerable experience in the sector related to social, education, Health, Sanitation, Environment, Support to Disaster Victims and Legal Reforms. WCDF envisages facilitating the empowerment process of poor, women and children of the grassroots by organizing training programs and conducting community-based initiatives in suitable areas. WCDF intends to work as a facilitator for the acquisition of Social security through creating Safety Nets for a healthy and safe environment to the grassroots poor communities.

PRERANA is a non-governmental social development organization registered under society registration act 2034 in district administration office Lalitpur in 1998. It is also affiliated with the social Welfare Council (SWC) Nepal. PRERANA was established with active involvement of professionals with long experience in the field of integrated community development specifically, community organization, health and disability, micro-finance, gender and empowerment. Since 1999, Prerana is implementing community empowerment programme in Sarlahi district with the aim to alleviate poverty. In Sarlahi, the programme is spread in twelve VDCs. The total population of the area is 34,380 containing 16304 female and 18076 male. Of the total 6,101 households in the area, 77.50% are lying in poverty situation. Thus all the programmes of Prerana focus these households to help them to improve their living condition through right-based Approach. BCRD project have implemented in 3 VDCs of Sarlhi district. FSCN is a non-profit making, non-government; volunteer based social development organization established by the initiatives of a group of socially committed and dedicated people from different walks of life and from different regions of the kingdom. Since its inception, FSC/N has concentrated on implementing programs that address the issues of poverty reduction, community development and women’s empowerment through income generating programs, health and sanitation, accessible rural drinking water, saving and credit programs for women, human rights awareness raising, involvement of the community in local governance, environment and sustainable agriculture, advocacy and lobbying, disaster mitigation and rehabilitation, peace and conflict prevention. Presently, FSCN has initiated innovative right-based interventions and approaches for sustainable management of disaster and FSCN is scaling up its approach through participatory processes by mobilizing the disaster affected community at grass roots and Advocacy and Policy influencing at the National level. Annex 2: Methodology and Source of Information while implementing BCRD project. Annex 2

Methodology Sources of information 1. PVA applying the following methods: Hazard mapping Vulnerability mapping Venn diagram Power analysis Seasonal calendar Time-line Semi Structures Interview (SSI) Focal Group Discussion

Along with community consultations, the views of district line agencies (i.e. District Administration Office, District Forest Office, District Soil Conservation Office, Division office of Water Induced Disasters, District Development Committee, District Public Health Office, District Livestock Service Office, District Agriculture Office and District Irrigation Office), Nepal Red Cross Society, partner organizations, and the leaders of community organizations (CBOs) were also taken into account. Discussed with affected communities, women, children and Dalits.

2. Consultative workshop

Representatives of partner organizations (PNGOs) and professional staff of ActionAid Nepal

3. Consultation meetings with other national level stakeholders

Organizations like ICIMOD (International Centre for Mountain Development), Intermediate Technology Development Group (ITDG), CARE Nepal and Lutheran World Federation were consulted especially to avoid overlapping/double funding and for better cooperation,

4. Literature review Reports and background documents on disaster management prepared by AAN, its partners, government and other stakeholders.

Annex 3: Organisations involved in assessment Friends Service Council, Nepal (FSCN) in partnership with AAN, had conducted a PVA of Rupandehi district and submitted a report that envelopes demographic information and some case studies. Likewise, Prerana a NGO from Sarlahi office collected information from the disaster prone areas in and around their implementing VDCs of their respective districts. Both the partners are working for providing humanitarian support to the disaster affected people through their ongoing project activities. The vulnerability assessment prepared by Makwanpur District Development Committee has ranked the flood and landslide on top most out of ten hazards. Handikhola and Basamadi VDCs fall in very high hazard possible categories. The DDC has also enlisted

ActionAid among the key stakeholders at the central level. Women and Children Development Forum (WCDF) further assessed the need of the area. Other main stakeholders on assessment were the communities represented by DDCs and VDCs, Disaster Management Forums (DMFs), Media, NGOs, Civil Society Organizations and Community Institutions like schools, CBOs and clubs. As Disaster Management Committees are key actors at the grassroots level, VDCs and DDCs are the local governments that create an environment to resource sharing together with policy support. Media is the key to educating by sharing information with the service providers and general public as well. Apparently, community institutions like schools and CBOs have vital role in disaster education and resource mobilization for disaster preparedness. Similarly, development agencies like ICIMOD, Practical Action, CARE Nepal and Lutheran World Federation were consulted to avoid duplication/double funding and confusions to ensure a better coordination and cooperation. (From the proposal developed by AAN for DIPECH III). Annex 4: Advantages of PVA

• It reveals different aspects and causes of vulnerability, and at the same time offers mechanisms for follow-up programmes.

• It increases effectiveness of emergency and development activities in the long-term with vulnerability as an indicator by either categorising poor people into groups according to levels of vulnerability, thereby allowing better targeting, or being used to establish a baseline of new projects.

• It addresses cross cutting themes like HIV/AIDS, gender etc providing an in-depth understanding of vulnerabilities which unveils the dynamics of power, inequality and discrimination between men and women, girls and boys - the analysis is a spring board for women's empowerment.

• It reduces differences in approaches of locals and outsiders, merging them to create acceptability and ownership for both the community and development facilitators.

• PVA can make future vulnerabilities predictive, based on levels of skills and analysis, as such planning and mitigation efforts are made to offset potential future vulnerabilities.

• PVA Analytical Steps: Step 1: Situation Analysis of vulnerability Step 2: Analysing cause of vulnerability Step 3: Analysis of community action Step 4: Drawing Action from analysis

Annex 5: Expectation from SAR training The Participants expectation from SAR trainings were:

• To learn the process of SAR • To learn about how to rescue during accidents • To know how to save victims during disaster • To understand the process of SAR in simple and easy steps

• To learn about SAR procedures • To learn SAR techniques • To understand SAR in easy way

Expectations from community and Organizations

• To implement what has been learned during SAR training • To learn the process of SAR during incidents like flood, landslides using local

resources • To aware community about disaster • To teach other people what have learned about SAR • To learn how to swim and save others • To be mentally strong • To be well trained and train others

Recommendation made by SAR trainers

• Physical fitness and high moral courage and skills are essential for a rescuer • It is strongly recommended that the persons selected for the SAR operation must

be adult, i.e 18 years old • For the personal safety of the SAR volunteers it is recommended that the

volunteers and their authority must know volunteers blood group • For avoiding the risk of Tetanus contamination, the SAR volunteers should

vaccinated anti Tetanus Serum, which will reduce their risks during operation and in normal life

• Knowing First Aid is a prediction for the SAR trainees and volunteers • A TOT is strongly recommended • In TOT curriculum need to include other SAR techniques. Fire incidents rescue

and Landslide scenarios may be included in TOT. • More practice, refreshers need to be planned for the end users/volunteers. • Quarterly drill recommended for the SAR volunteers incorporating the

community • Volunteers may transfer the knowledge to the community • Inclusion of more women and girls in the First Aid courses will enhance the end

results in the community which finally help the rescuer in emergencies • Social maps need to be updated, community rescuers need to be included in the

process • Discipline is vital in the SAR; volunteers/rescuers need to follow these strictly

during the operations. In motivation, awareness building and Leadership training "DISCIPLINE" need to be addressed/discussed with importance

13. References: 1. DIPECHO/AAN proposal 2. Quarterly Review Meetings (QRMs) reports) 3. ActionAid Nepal Country Strategy Report (2005-2010) 4. State of Disaster Management practice in Nepal with reference to the flood disaster occurred in 2002, AAN/EDM report. 5. The nexus between Natural Disasters and Development: Key Policy Issues in Meeting the Millennium Development Goals and Poverty Alleviation; Prof, Dr. Bishal Nath Uprti, Oct 2006. 6. Development of National Strategy for Disaster Risk Management in Nepal, information brochure prepared by Government of Nepal and United Nations Development Program. 7. Sixth Working Draft prepared by Inter- Agency Standing Committee (IASC) Task Force on Mental Health and Psychosocial Support.