BUILDING RESILIENCE

through COMMUNITY LIFELINES

BUILDING RESILIENCE
through COMMUNITY LIFELINES
Preface

T his report explores the process of Localizing the Hyogo Framework for Action (HFA) and building local
resilience through the use of community lifelines, namely schools and hospitals. It is targeted at local
parliamentarians across India, aiming to build awareness and encourage action from this stakeholder group.
The report covers and expands on the following aspects.
Schools and hospitals as community lifelines: The importance of schools and hospitals in a community places
them in a unique position to provide DRR education and capacity building services.
Communities as first responders: Communities are always the first responders, especially in areas like the
Himalayan states where accessibility is poor and emergency response agencies are short on staff and
equipment.
Community lifelines as catalysts for building local resilience: The presence of these community lifelines in
almost every corner of the nation, combined with their catalytic role and suitable contextual conditions
makes them a springboard to empower the local population and build community resilience.
Safe schools and hospitals: The imperative need to invest in these public institutions and the steps needed to
do so.
Government support: The leap forward brought about by the National Disaster Management Act and
ongoing government support to intisutionalise DRR.
Lessons from the field: The case study of the SEEDS India and EHA project, “Localizing the Hyogo Framework
for Action: Integrated community based DRR through school and hospital safety'.
The key emphasis is on the fact that through an integrated model of schools, hospitals and the local
population, communities become more resilient. The combination of community outreach and education,
structural enhancement of public infrastructure and public advocacy empowers the community in a new
manner. Not only do they gain critical DRR skills and knowledge, but by instilling a sense of ownership, the
ongoing process of DRR is truly localized. It opens the door for a much-needed culture of safety to be born.

Manu Gupta
Executive Director
SEEDS
This publication is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-Non Commercial-No Derivative Works 2.5 India
License.
SEEDS, 2010

Design & Layout: Safer World Communications, [Link]

The Building Resilience through Community Lifelines is a part of the “Localizing the HFA, Integrated Community Based
DRR through Schools and Hospital Safety”. The initiative is supported by European Commission Humanitarian Aid
Department in partnership with Christian Aid, Emmanuel Hospital Association (EHA) and SEEDS.

Supported by: Partner: Implemented by:

Content
Preface II
Introduction 3
Community Resilience: How Quickly Can a Community Bounce Back? 5
Community Lifelines as Drivers of Disaster Risk Reduction 7
Building Local Resilience through Schools and Hospitals 9
Communities: First Victims or First Responders? 11
Schools & Children: Agents of Change for Disaster Risk Reduction 13
Community Lifelines: A Public Advocacy System 15
An Integrated Approach to Building Community Resilience 17
Hospitals: Challenges and Opportunities of an Integral Community Lifeline 19
Investing in Safe Schools in South Asia 21
Safety as a Part of Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan (Education for All) 23
The Critical Need to Invest in Community Lifelines 23
Government Support and Disaster Risk Reduction Institutionalization 27
Localizing the Hyogo Framework for Action: Integrated Community Based
Disaster Risk Reduction through School and Hospital Safety - A case study 29
Objective
The Project
Outcomes
The Way Forward 37
Introduction
Every year, India faces the threat of massive natural 2. Identifying, assessing and monitoring
disasters, from floods and landslides to disaster risks and enhancing early warning.
earthquakes and avalanches. The toll from these 3. Building a culture of safety and resilience at
disasters – including human lives and livelihoods, all levels through knowledge, innovation
the destruction of homes and public infrastructure and education.
and disruptions to normal life – runs into financial
losses of billions of dollars. For a developing nation 4. Reducing the underlying risk factors.
like India, especially, this can be a devastating 5. Strengthening disaster preparedness for
setback to progress. effective response at all levels.
Unfortunately, natural disasters themselves cannot The HFA is a ten-year plan and the goal is to meet it
be fully averted. However, investing in disaster by 2015. In order to do so, however, one critical
prevention and disaster risk reduction (DRR) aspect that cuts across many of these priorities
programs can substantially reduce the economic must be addressed. For HFA to succeed,
and social fallout when they do occur. particularly in India, national level acts are not
To this end, in January 2005, India, along with 167 enough. Implementation, education and advocacy
other countries, signed the Hyogo Framework for structures need to be built at the local level.
Action (HFA). The HFA is a guideline to help Strengthening public infrastructure, namely schools
communities become more resilient against natural and hospitals, both structurally and as centers for
disasters and protect their development gains. The knowledge dissemination is a key factor.
aim is to substantially reduce disaster losses to life This report explores the seminal role that public
as well as to social, economic and environmental infrastructure can play, the urgent need to
assets of the community. strengthen schools and hospitals and the steps that
There are five priority actions within the HFA: can be taken to build community resilience through
these community lifelines.
1. Ensuring that disaster risk reduction (DRR)
is a national and local priority and that
there is a strong institutional basis to
implement it.

Building Resilience through Community Lifelines 3

COMMUNITY RESILIENCE:
How Quickly Can a Community
Bounce Back?
The frequency and intensity of natural disasters to be drawn up. A culture of safety must be
means that governments cannot handle the inculcated and the local residents equipped with
response alone. At the local level, communities the necessary skills and knowledge. Underlying all
need to build the strength to bounce back when of this is the critical need for a sense of ownership
disaster strikes. Community resilience is a measure and involvement in disaster risk reduction (DRR)
of this strength, of how quickly a community can among the local population themselves.
recover from a disaster - financially, physically and So with communities growing increasingly
socially. This means not just minimizing structural disparate, especially in semi-urban and urban
damage and death tolls, but the disruption to areas, there needs to be an integrated method that
people's lives. The foundation to this resilience is brings people together and involves them in DRR at
preparedness. Structurally, institutions need to be the grassroots level. Community lifelines serve this
strengthened. Clear disaster management plans very purpose.
that take into account the local vulnerabilities need

Building Resilience through Community Lifelines 5

Community Lifelines as Drivers for DRR
Both legally and socially, education and health are 'hubs' within the local community, prominent,
viewed as a fundamental right of citizens around respected and home to large gatherings of people.
the world. This basic premise ensures that schools This inherent importance day-to-day uniquely
and hospitals occupy a special status within every positions schools and hospitals to serve as
community. They do more than fulfill basic needs, 'community lifelines' for Disaster Risk Reduction
actually serving as powerful symbols of social (DRR), both in terms of developing resilience and
progress and a prerequisite for economic as shelters during a crisis.
development. Perhaps most significantly, they are

Building Resilience through Community Lifelines 7

Building Local Resilience through
Schools and Hospitals
One of the key defining features of a viable critical machinery collapses, then the situation can
community lifeline is its accessibility. Schools and often be worse than the disaster itself, exposing
hospitals are a common thread weaving across the community to a magnified risk. By ensuring
India. For the most part, even remote villages are that they remain functional and safe, the larger
equipped with some means of education and goal of creating resilient societies can be
health facilities. This gives them the innate ability addressed.
to serve as launch pads for disaster risk education, Recent experiences from the Gujarat earthquake of
community social mechanisms and capacity 2001, the Indian Ocean earthquake and tsunami of
building services in all four phases of the disaster 2004 and the Kashmir earthquake of 2005 clearly
cycle: non-disaster, before, during and after a indicate that unprepared communities, coupled
disaster. In fact, the added investment between a with unsafe development patterns and buildings
safe and unsafe school or hospital can spell the lead to a colossal loss of life, primarily women and
difference between the life and death of a future children. At the same time, it has been shown that
generation. when the community is consulted at every phase,
Hospitals and health facilities, especially, assume the success ratio of DRR program is higher.
an even greater role during emergencies. If this

Building Resilience through Community Lifelines 9

COMMUNITIES:
First Victims or First Responders?
Disaster history also reveals that when first aid, the death toll may have been significantly
communities become victims, the affected help different.
each other more than any outside forces. Equipping local communities with the answers to a
After any major disaster, trained first responders few basic questions and facts can help civil
who can provide search and rescue, fire and first societies prepare better to be first responders in a
aid are usually unable to meet the full demand for crisis.
these services. Even in the best case scenario,
·The different hazards and past histories of
many of these communities, particularly in hilly
disasters.
areas such as Uttarakhand, have limited
accessibility and emergency response agencies are ·The immediate basic needs and services in
often low on staff and equipment. It is the local the aftermath of any disaster.
civilian population that is most responsive in ·Dos and don'ts for different disasters.
meeting immediate life saving and life sustaining
needs till outside agencies get through. In other ·Roles and responsibilities of different
words, building community resilience means stakeholders for mitigation, preparedness,
minimizing losses for generations to come. and response.

The 2001 Gujarat earthquake, the 2004 Indian ·Specific training on life saving skills i.e.
Ocean tsunami and the 2005 Kashmir earthquake search and rescue, first aid and use of fire
all saw remarkable case studies of untrained family extinguishers.
members, neighbors, colleagues and employees ·Organizing the community into various task
immediately taking responsibility to help those in forces and emergency response teams to
need. So with insight into search and rescue and serve as first responders.

Building Resilience through Community Lifelines 11

SCHOOLS & CHILDREN:
Agents of Change for DRR
When we talk of engaging the community, one of To Reflect: Students analyze factors leading to
the key stakeholders are the young. Children are a human casualties and injuries in disasters, so that
dynamic and powerful force of change and the they can recognize development practices and
major players in creating awareness in the human actions that can cause disasters or prevent
community. Their unique perspective and energy them. Students are connected to their own local
can help build viable local solutions. communities and families and share their learning
Schools are also more than a place to learn. In the with them.
aftermath of a disaster, education services are one To Empower: Students take concrete action toward
of the most important ways to restore the sense of reducing risks in their environment. Classroom and
pre-emergency routine to the community. It plays a school exercises are introduced to help them take
key role in facilitating the psychological healing of small definitive actions that can lead to bigger
children and adolescents through peer interaction investments for disaster risk reduction. School
and a sense of normalcy. students, teachers and management together
A three-point agenda – learn, reflect, empower- develop disaster management plans for their
based on Dr. Daisaku Ikeda's proposal The schools. In the process, they discover existing
Challenge of Global Empowerment: Education for structural and non-structural weaknesses. Efforts
a Sustainable Future is an effective way to should be made to ensure that the school
approach disaster education in schools. It helps community takes ownership of the plan and makes
engage the students on three levels. the necessary updates.

To Learn: Students deepen their awareness about At the same time, the community as a whole needs
hazards and risks when they understand realities to be involved. Strengthening structural
and learn facts. Recent natural disasters are well investments with participatory on-site and off-site
documented and shared. These serve as case programs is a key factor in ensuring the success of
studies for teachers as well as students. Wherever any DRR initiative. Any adopted risk reduction
needed, disasters are simulated with the help of approaches need to be simple, easy to understand,
portable models. The learning process is implement, replicate and manage with available
strengthened by changes in the curriculum. tools and resources at the community level.

Building Resilience through Community Lifelines 13

COMMUNITY LIFELINES:
A Public Advocacy System
Empowerment in this manner leads to public these practices. This advocacy is a critical
advocacy by the local community themselves. component to ensuring that the idea of
During disaster times, a variety of stakeholders 'preparedness' remains at the forefront of disaster
come together to restore normalcy, acting as a hub management during non-disaster times. With their
for public advocacy. The problem is that DRR is an insight into specific needs of the area and
ongoing process and during non-disaster times, supported by local leaders, grassroots level
when many organizations have left the area, local organizations within the community can bring
communities need to have the skills to continue about significant change.

Building Resilience through Community Lifelines 15

LOCALIZING THE HYOGO FRAMEWORK FOR ACTION
Integrated Community Based Disaster Risk Reduction
through School and Hospital Safety
An Integrated Approach to
Building Community Resilience
Each of these three facets themselves – school The combination of community outreach and
safety, hospital safety and community outreach- education, structural enhancement of public
are not novel concepts. The idea of school safety infrastructure and public advocacy empowers the
has slowly been gathering steam. Hospital safety is community in a new manner. Each of these
a fairly new idea and may take some time to catch elements complements and strengthens the other.
on. Community outreach too is practiced by several Not only does the community gain critical DRR
organizations across India. The novelty lies in skills and knowledge, but by instilling a sense of
connecting these three stakeholders into one ownership, the ongoing process of DRR is truly
cohesive campaign. By building an integrated localized. It opens the door for a much-needed
model of schools, hospitals and the local culture of safety to be born.
population, communities become more resilient.

Building Resilience through Community Lifelines 17

HOSPITALS: Challenges and Opportunities
of an Integral Community Lifeline
While not yet taken seriously in India, the concept especially in the Indian context, faces severe
of hospital safety is clearly emphasized within challenges. A lack of comprehensive policy is
HFA's fourth priority action area. The objective is to compounded by no standard data collection forms.
ensure that new hospitals are built with a level of There is an abundance of irrelevant or duplicate
resilience that helps them remain functional in data collected and the time lag is too long to prove
disaster situations. Existing health facilities, useful.
particularly those providing primary care, need to Most importantly, DRR is still not seen as a priority
be reinforced with mitigation structures. so there is a complete lack of funding for safety
The loss of life in a hospital setting can be due to measures. Every year, crores of rupees are spent on
two main factors: structural failure or falling the health sector. Just a small proportional
hazards. Strengthening building parts using the investment is required to incorporate DRR, a
appropriate retrofit technologies and ensuring that fraction compared to the losses incurred in a
disaster resistant technology is used in all new disaster, yet it is still unaddressed. There is an
construction can address the first. The second is urgent need to learn from past experiences and
answered by non-structural mitigation (NSM) correct the pitfalls. The tendency till today is still to
within the hospital. This refers to arranging just respond immediately after a crisis without
furniture and equipment in a manner that can considering the broader ramifications and
prevent injury and having clear, easily identifiable necessities. This is compounded by a lack of safety
evacuation routes. awareness and disaster safety techniques.
Coupled with in-depth contingency plans and What's more, the complex operational structures,
improved risk reduction capacity, these scant resources and time crunch in most general
investments will play a key role in building hospitals means that any step forward will take
resilience and meeting the United Nations some time to catch on. Clearly, further education
Millennium Development goals. and research is required to bring hospital safety
While the vision is admirable, its implementation, even up to the school safety standard.

Building Resilience through Community Lifelines 19

Investing in Safe School Buildings in
South Asia
Structurally, investments in ensuring school safety schools with an enrollment of 68,706,398 students
are required at two levels. First, retrofitting or (2008).
reconstruction of the existing buildings and second, The analysis revealed that India would need to
ensuring that all new buildings are made safe from spend an estimated $3,200 million to retrofit all of
disasters. Retrofitting costs range from between $ 4 these buildings. This amounts to 12% of the total
to 5.5 per square foot. The cost of reconstruction is expenditure on education in 2008. A total of $7.5
higher, but in cases where retrofitting exceeds 50% billion is needed to retrofit every school in
of reconstruction costs, it may be the only option. vulnerable zones in South Asia. In light of the
On the other hand, as confirmed by an UNDP number of students whose lives can be saved,
supported initiative in India, incorporating safety however, this works out to just $ 55 per student.
measures into new construction only raises costs
by a marginal 8%. At the same time, the 1999 Turkey earthquake
showed us that 50% of the injuries and 3% of the
A broad analysis was carried out in 2008 for seven deaths were caused solely by non-structural
South Asian countries overlaying school data on hazards. Stressing simple non-structural changes
existing vulnerability maps. Schools which fall such as safe storage of flammable and toxic
under seismic zone 4 & 5, high flood prone zones chemicals in the laboratories or minimized fire risk
or within 10 kilometres of the sea and highly in school kitchens can have a profound impact.
vulnerable to cyclone and tsunami risks were
considered. In India alone, this covered 422,799

Building Resilience through Community Lifelines 21

Safety as a Part of Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan
(Education for All)
Funding, as always, becomes the stumbling point Options to share part of the costs of retrofitting
for many of these programs. Yet, upholding the with Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan bugets and strictly
spirit of the Sarva Shikhsa Abhiyan (Education for enforcing structural norms for all new schools built
all) initiative means providing more than just an under the scheme should be explored.
education – it means providing a safe education.

The Critical Need to Invest in

Community Lifelines
While the investment may seem daunting, the this, but can we afford not to? The statistics speak
question today should not be can we afford to do for themselves.

Economic Losses (in 000 $) by Disaster Type between 2000-2009 in India

Year Drought Earthquake Extreme Flood Mass Storm Total

(seismic activity) temperature movement wet

2000 588,000 0 0 907,500 0 0 1,495,500

2001 0 2,623,000 0 361,924 0 0 2,984,924

2002 910,722 0 0 50,772 0 416 961,910

2003 0 0 400,000 169,000 0 44,000 613,000

2004 0 1,022,800 0 2,776,000 0 0 3,798,800

2005 0 1,000,000 0 6,190,000 50,000 0 7,240,000

2006 0 0 0 3,390,000 0 0 3,390,000

2007 0 0 0 376,151 0 0 376,151

2008 0 0 0 1,45,000 0 0 145,000

2009 0 0 0 2,434,000 0 300,000 2,734,000

Total 1,498,722 4,645,800 400,000 16,800,347 50,000 344,416 23,739,285

Source: "EM-DAT: The OFDA/CRED International Disaster Database

Building Resilience through Community Lifelines 23

The Gujarat earthquake on 26th January, 2001
? millions more face regular flood, landslide,
claimed 13,805 lives. extreme winds, cyclones and fire hazards.
An estimated 1,884 school buildings collapsed
?
About 785,550 South Asian schools are located
and 5,950 classrooms were destroyed, while in such high risk zones.
36,584 classrooms were rendered unusable. In 2008, 1,23,89,350 people were affected by
?

1,813 health facilities were also destroyed and

?
natural disasters in India alone.
3,812 partially damaged and rendered The World Disasters Report 2009 data
?
inoperable. estimates damage from disasters just in Asia in
In the 2005 Kashmir earthquake, 2,448 schools
?
2008 to be $115,935 million.
collapsed and 17,000 children died. Worldwide, direct disaster damage costs alone
?

Thousands lost their lives or are missing after

?
have shot up from $75.5 billion in the 1960s to
the South Asian tsunami of 2004. nearly a trillion dollars in the past ten years
(Munich RE 2002, CRED 2009.)
Worldwide, approximately 1.2 billion students
?
are enrolled in primary and secondary school; $3.15 billion spent on reducing the impact of
?

of these 875 million school children live in the floods in China averted losses estimated at $12
high seismic risk zones and hundreds of billion (DFID 2004).

Building Resilience through Community Lifelines 24

Government Support and
DRR Institutionalization
The urgent need to localize the Hyogo Framework other critical areas and are responsible for
for Action and convert paper work into field level generating awareness among their villagers on the
action means that mainstreaming and 'dos' and don'ts' for specific hazards.
institutionalizing disaster risk reduction is critical. It also recommends evaluation and retrofitting of
Over the last five years, the Indian Government has lifeline buildings in seismic zones III, IV & V.
taken significant steps forward in this regard. This Schools, hospitals and other public infrastructure
new approach stems from the conviction that must be in compliance with Bureau of Indian
unless disaster mitigation is built into it, Standards (BIS) codes and bye laws.
development is not sustainable. Investments in What's more, it officially proposes that schools and
mitigation are also much more cost effective than hospitals be utilised to create high public visibility.
expenditure on relief and rehabilitation. Furthering the attempt to inculcate a culture of
Against this backdrop, the National Disaster safety disaster management, disaster management
Management Act (NDMA) constituted by the has been introduced as a subject in the school
Government of India in 2005 laid down curriculum for Class VIII & IX by the Central Board
institutional and coordination mechanisms for of Secondary Education (CBSE). Teachers are being
effective disaster management at the national, trained and State Governments have been advised
state and district levels. For India, this was a much to take similar steps vis-à-vis their school boards. In
needed leap forward. In fact, Dr. Anbumani fact, several State Governments have already
Ramadoss, the Union Minister of Health and Family introduced the same curriculum in Class VIII.
Welfare, Government of India described it as the Over and above the NDMA are certain milestone
right impetus for a paradigm shift from response to initiatives such as a Supreme Court Judgment on
prevention, preparedness and mitigation. 13th April, 2009. Stringent guidelines were issued
At the center of this act are 169 multi-hazard prone for all government and private schools across the
districts in 17 states. Each village will have a country that will help prevent accidents like the
Disaster Management Plan drawn up by the July 2004 fire in a Tamil Nadu school in which 93
Disaster Management Committee consisting of children were killed. The directives include: Fire
government officials, primary health center staff, safety measures in schools; training of teachers and
teachers and other prominent locals. The plan staff; school building specifications; and ensuring
encompasses prevention, mitigation and buildings are safe from 'every angle' before issuing
preparedness measures. The teams are provided recognition or affiliation to schools.
basic training in evacuation, search and rescue and

Building Resilience through Community Lifelines 27

Localizing the Hyogo Framework for Action:
Integrated Community Based Disaster Risk Reduction
through School and Hospital Safety

A case study disaster response and preparedness. On-site and

off-site activities in both locations created
Objective
horizontal linkages with the neighbouring
To demonstrate an integrated, community-based communities. This outreach included engagement
DRR model centered on schools and hospitals that with public officials at both the block and
builds resilience to natural disasters and panchayat level, as well as all respective State
contributes to the localization of the Hyogo Directorates on incorporating the DRR approach
Framework for action. into ongoing health and education programs.
Vulnerable groups such as women and the
differently-abled were paid special attention in the
The Project
structural designs and disaster management plans.
SEEDS in partnership with Emmanuel Hospital
The project covered advocacy for 5,300
Association (EHA) introduced a project called
government officials, policy level stakeholders, civil
'Localizing the HFA: Integrated community-based
society and DRR practitioners. Awareness activities
DRR through school and hospital safety'.
educated 12,350 students, teachers and school
Uttarakhand, where the project took place, is
staff. 280 locals, volunteers and field practitioners
located on the Indo-Australian tectonic plate and is
from local NGOs and CBOs were involved. 200
highly prone to devastating earthquakes,
doctors, nurses and community health workers
landslides, avalanches, forest fires, cloudbursts and
were also trained.
flashfloods.
The project was implemented in two blocks across
Dehradun, covering 10 villages, 10 schools and two Outcomes
well-known hospitals in the area. It was the first For one, the program has encouraged local
time any organization in India has attempted to link governments to become more proactive.
three different entities – schools, hospitals and
Vinod Kumar, Deputy Pradhan, Attenbagh
communities –in an integrated DRR model in line
Panchayat, is appealing to the district
with the Hyogo Framework for Action (HFA).
administration to introduce schemes and
Task forces were set up in areas such as first aid, incentives to encourage the building of disaster
fire safety and search and rescue, while separate resistant houses. Geeta Nautiyal, District Education
volunteer groups worked on advocacy, awareness Officer, Dehradun, has suggested the incorporation
and action. of GOLFRE (Global Open Learning Forum for Risk
The program demonstrated how school and Education) modules into the school curricula. Jot
hospital safety initiatives can be integrated into a Singh Gunsola, MLA, Mussoorie District, is
comprehensive approach to build local level advocating a separate DM policy for Uttarakhand in
disaster preparedness. While the schools became a the State Assembly and aims to make Mussoorie a
hub for disaster reduction activities such as village 'model district' with disaster-resilient practices in
watching, the hospitals served as centers for housing, construction and civil works.

Building Resilience through Community Lifelines 29

Examples from the local population make it clear disabled people and pregnant women in civil
that the community has truly imbibed the values of hospitals in her district.
risk reduction. The school administration in Barotiwala
In the Buraskhanda village on the Mussoorie Government School in Herbertpur, Dehradun
–Dhanaulti road, the sensitization to DRR has district, has already put in place a post-disaster
begun paying off. A women's Self-Help Group (SHG) strategy that includes critical areas such as
led by Mamta Joshi, which has been an evacuation, fire safety and search and rescue.
instrumental partner in empowering women in the Herbertpur Christian Hospital (HCH) has taken
community, has sent a proposal to Uttarakhand's several measures to secure the structural and non-
Department of Disaster. The proposal seeks a structural safety of its buildings and has started
community hall (to serve as a shelter during disaster management training for its staff through
disasters) and an afforestation scheme to arrest SEEDS workshops and drills.
landslides in the area. “As a group, we are learning
to use advocacy with the government to build While these actions cannot be measured in a
disaster resilience in our villages,” says Mamta. traditional sense until tested in an emergency, the
seeds for a more empowered population have
Seema Singh is a SEEDS India Volunteer and Task been sown and the local community is equipped to
Force Member, Chandalgarhi Village, Mussoorie. take the journey forward.
Her group of volunteers has sent a proposal to the
State Government to award priority status to

Building Resilience through Community Lifelines 30

 PORTAL for safe schools & hospitals
[Link]

Building Resilience through Community Lifelines 31

 INTERGRATED APPROACH
Hospital, Community and School Mock Drill

Building Resilience through Community Lifelines 32

The Way Forward
The future of DRR across South Asia, and governments, placing them in an ideal position to
particularly in India, may depend to a large extent campaign and legislate for disaster - resilient
on an integrated model of schools, hospitals and development in their constituencies. Backed by the
the community. Creating awareness and a culture ability to influence national policies, spending and
of safety is the foundation to sustaining the government knowledge on DRR, they can help
momentum of the ongoing process of DRR and bridge the gap between 'national policy' and local
community resilience. Ensuring the construction of implementation.
safer community lifelines such as schools and Embrace DRR as a critical priority and
?
hospitals is the first step. Building them into hubs emphasize preparedness, rather than waiting
for knowledge dissemination and task force action for a disaster to react.
is the second. Much work remains to be done on
the possibilities where hospitals are concerned, but Create disaster preparedness and contingency
?

this integrated model clearly helps reach a much plans for all schools and hospitals.
larger segment of the community. By building their Take local insights from community members in
?
community lifelines, villages, towns and cities account when making decisions DRR issues.
across India can make themselves much more
Build DRR into ongoing development projects.
?
resilient.
Weave DRR into school curriculums.
?

Ensure that as many schools and hospitals as

?
Eight Priority Actions for People's Representatives
possible are structurally up to code.
While an empowered community can bring about
Raise awareness and encourage training in
?
transformational changes, a critical component to
critical DRR skills within the local community.
the success of DRR initiatives is the involvement
and support of local governments. MPs and MLAs Represent local vulnerabilities at the national
?
have a unique role in representing and level to secure funding.
communicating local concerns to national

Building Resilience through Community Lifelines 37

SEEDS is a non-profit voluntary organization working to make vulnerable communities resilient to disasters. For this, SEEDS adopts a multi hazards locally based
approach seeking to empower communities through awareness generation, training and action.

SEEDS
15/A Institutional Area, R.K. Puram, Sector IV, New Delhi-110022
Phone: 91-11-26174272
Fax: 91-11-26174572
Website: [Link]
E-mail: info@[Link]