Disaster Risk Reduction Program of Mukti Under the ACV Project

On 5th August 2022, the Disaster Risk Reduction (DRR)/ Disaster management training program has been conducted by Mukti among the community leaders under the ACV project. The basic ideas regarding BDRR and CBDRR(Community-based Disaster Risk Reduction) have been provided by Mr. Ajay Naskar – the trainer. The training program also discussed ways to form Village Level (Community Based) Disaster Management Task Force (DMTF).

In the first step, they are made to understand what a disaster is, what the types of disasters are, what the consequences of disasters are, identify the consequences that can be controlled and what cannot be controlled at all. There has been a basic orientation program to educate the community leaders on how to understand the hazards of the Sundarbans disaster and how they can protect their communities from it. Some of the identified Community leaders, members of youth and senior citizens groups, have participated in the orientation program to understand the concept of whether it is possible for the community to reduce the risk of hazards caused by disasters, what measures can be taken, how can a task force be formed to reduce the risks of disasters etc.

Most of the time, the community completely depends on the response of the government and local administration. Without increasing dependency on the government, if the community can create a collective group/task force that can work both pre-disaster and post-disaster, then they will be able to protect themselves. The program has aimed to equip the Task Force with the knowledge and training needed to operate in pre and post-disaster situations.

In the beginning, they have been told that these disasters cannot be prevented or suppressed but the hazards can be mitigated if some right steps are taken at the right time. As a method, they have been told to first identify the disaster-prone areas where the damage is high, try to understand the problems in that area, make a plan on how easily those problems can be solved, take training to handle the post-disaster situation, shifting the accident victims to safe places and providing them with first aid or dry food, providing relief through advocacy with the Panchayat, monitoring the cyclone centers, arranging separate accommodation for men and women in the cyclone centers etc.

Through this program, Mukti has basically tried to give a fair idea to the community that some small initiatives can be taken by people themselves to keep their community safe from disasters. Mukti wants to motivate people to form small groups in their respective areas which can later form a task force that will then be given detailed training in disaster management and this force will work for the entire area.