Dipecho nepal newsletter issue 9 july 2010

DIPECHO Newsletter
NEPAL Issue 9, July 2010

Promoting Early Warning: Reducing Risk

IN THIS ISSUE

Page 2 Community based
flood early warning sys-
e ditorial
Keeping in line with the international framework for disaster risk
reduction, Hyogo Framework for Action (HFA) 2005-2015,
tem in Nepal by Dr. Dilip DIPECHO partners in Nepal are formulating ideas and resources
K. Gautam to contribute towards the second priority action of HFA - Risk
identification, assessment, monitoring and enhancing early warn-
Page 3 - Action aid - ing. DIPECHO partners have incorporated several early warning
Early warning: saving components and activities in their project components to help
lives communities at risk to be well prepared and act on time to prevent
the loss of life and property.
Page 4 - CARE -
Integrating early warning DIPECHO partners have emphasised all four elements of EWS -
communication in flood risk knowledge, monitoring and warning services, dissemination
risk reduction and communication, and response capabilities. EWS is considered
a crucial mechanism to raise awareness on flood risk among the
Page 5 - Danish Red vulnerable communities. EWS warns the people prior to flood
Cross - and is a reliable mechanism to increase the response capacity of the
Efficient information communities.
dissemination for
This edition illustrates few initiatives and actions undertaken by
better readiness DIPECHO partners under DIPECHO V with special focus on
Page 5 - Mission East - Promoting Early Warning: Reducing Risk.
Early Warning
Page 7 - Handicap To build the capacity of
International - Department of Hydrology
and Meteorology staff, two of Early Warning System Users
For an early warning workshop will be held from
system that does not its senior technical members
were sent to PAGASA, 6th - 8th August in Nepalgunj
discriminate where different stakeholders
Philippines for training on
Page 8 - Mercy Corps - Flood Early Warning by from community level to
Increasing knowledge and Practical Action and Mercy district and national level will
warning measures Corps. be participating.
Page 9 - Oxfam -
Linking Community to Training manual on Commu-
Community Practical Action and Mercy nity Based Early Warning
Corps together in collabora- System is being prepared
Page 11 - Practical Action jointly by Practical Action and
tion with Department of
- Preparedness with Mercy Corps. The training
Hydrology and Meteorology
early warning system in manual will be available to the
and Ministry of Home Affairs
place... DRR practitioners and actors
are currently drafting National
Strategy for Early warning of by September 2010.
Natural Disasters in Nepal.

DIPECHO Newsletter Issue 9, July 2010 1

Community based flood early
warning system in Nepal

Dr. Dilip K. Gautam
Chief, Flood Forecasting Section,
Department of Hydrology and Meteorology, Nepal

The Community Based Flood Early Warning stations at
System (CBFEWS) is a “people centered” flood Bhairahawa,
warning system that empowers individuals and Bagasoti,
communities threatened by flood hazards to act Kusum and
on time to reduce the possibility of personal Nepalgunj.
injury, loss of life, damage to property, and loss of These stations are equipped with VHF wireless
livelihood. set and PSTN/mobile phone for data transmis-
sion. The forecasting stations at Kusum and
Several factors must be considered before estab- Devghat collaborate with the local communities,
lishing a CBFEWS, such as hydrologic character- media and district disaster relief committee to
istics of the area, frequency of flooding, share flood level data and information of those
community’s interest and awareness, flood loss stations.
potential, warning time versus benefits and cost
of EWS system and community’s capacity to The Flood Forecasting Project of DHM located at
respond. Once the Local Government Unit (LGU) Babarmahal, Kathmandu is the central point to
and the community establish CBFEWS, technical collect, analyse and disseminate flood related
issues have to be settled such as the desired data and information. The water level and
accuracy, warning lead time, cost of operations rainfall data from stations with telemetry are
and sustainability and reliability of the system. obtained in real time through web based data
server www.hydrology.gov.np.
In Nepal, the Department of Hydrology and
Meteorology (DHM) is maintaining a network of CBFEWS in West Rapti and Narayani River is
17 hydrological stations and 28 meteorological successful in developing linkages of upstream
stations for the purpose of flood forecasting and flood forecasting station with downstream
warning. Real time telemetry system has been communities. The efficient information dissemi-
installed in 3 hydrological and 10 rainfall stations nation channel has increased the response time
in the Narayani basin. Such type of telemetry by several hours and increased the potential of
system utilises CDMA modem for data transmis- EWS to reduce the impacts of flood.
sion over the internet. The system will be ex-
panded in West Rapti, Babai, Bagmati and DHM collaborated with Practical Action and
Karnali basins in the coming years. ActionAid to establish CBFEWS in Koshi and
Sunsari River. As CBFEWS will be expanded to
With the objective of establishing CBFEWS in other rivers in the coming years, the
Banke, Bardiya, Nawalparasi, Chitwan and sustainability aspect must be considered by
Kailali Districts, DHM has signed a memoran- everyone involved. To sustain and grow the
dum of understanding (MOU) with Practical number of CBFEWS in other flood prone areas,
Action and Mercy Corps. Within the framework community organisations must approach local
of this MOU, DHM is providing water level and and central government agencies to allocate fund.
rainfall data which is being used for CBFEWS in
these districts.

The flood monitoring devices and instruments
used in DHM stations include water level and
rainfall monitoring devices. Narayani basin has 3 PROMOTING EARLY WARNING:
hydrological stations and 10 rainfall stations with
telemetry. There are two hydrological sites on REDUCING RISK
West Rapti Basin under Flood Forecasting Project
of DHM, one at Bagasoti and the other at Kusum.
West Rapti Basin has 4 rainfall monitoring

DIPECHO Newsletter Issue 9, July 2010

Early warning: saving lives

ActionAid Nepal has been promoting to set up mikes. The knowledge of local people in estab-
community based early warning system lishing EWS is explored through interaction and
(CBEWS) for flood in its project areas-Sunsari visit, and duly incorporated while establishing
and Banke districts. CBEWS is "people-centered" new gauges and other systems. Hence, the
system that empowers individuals and communi- information channel between upstream and the
ties threatened by flood to act in sufficient time community is established.
and in an appropriate manner so as to reduce the
possibility of personal injury, loss of life, damage CBEWS provides the disaster management
to property, environment and loss of livelihood. committee, task forces, volunteers and other
The initiatives are carried out in close collabora- community people with advance information on
tion with the community, the flood risks that
District Development "Because of our community based EWS, we are can be readily
Committee, District translated to disas-
Administration Office,
safer from the flood. We came to know the ter prevention,
Police and Department flood information six hours before from Kusum preparedness and
of Hydrology & Metrol- hence we had enough time to evacuate to safe response actions.
ogy. Practical Action is shelter. EWS will certainly reduce the possibil- CBEWS also helps
the technical partner of ity of loss of lives and properties." - Mr. Kamata reduce economic
ActionAid Nepal in Prasad Morya, Coordinator, Early warning task losses by allowing
establishing EWS. people to better
force, Gangapur 4/5 Banke during Contingency protect their assets
Under the project, early Planning Meet in July 7, 2010. and livelihood.
warning task force is
formed in all the project areas constituting five The project integrated EWS in local level contin-
people. There are 19 such task forces. Meetings gency plan which strengthened the capacity of
are organised with the community people at the communities. The EWS integration will
district level to establish and institutionalise greatly mitigate the flood impact of these com-
CBEWS. EWS task forces are trained in CBEWS, munities. The partnership between the local
and are familiarised with the process of gauge disaster management committee and the local
reading and information flow at the upstream government will certainly help to institutionalise
level. The community people are also equipped the process.
with early warning apparatus like siren and hand

Upstream visit during CBEWS Training, Banke


Integrating early warning
communication in flood
risk reduction

Kailali District stands 19th in the risk of flood, to minimise the risk of flood. Red Cross subdivi-
48th in landslide, 24th in fire and 1st in epidemics sions Lalbhoji is responsible disseminating flood
amongst other districts in Nepal. Thus, in terms information to the villagers to abide the devastat-
of disaster vulnerability it is considered ex- ing consequences. Telephone number of various
tremely vulnerable. Kailali has 42 VDCs and 2 actors on early information flow and flood
municipalities among them Lalbhoji VDC is measurement station was pasted in public places
considered exceptionally vulnerable to flooding. for easy access by all the community members.
Lalbhoji is bordered by Mohana River to the The community people have now started to
South and Kandra River to the North and is also communicate river level readings obtained from
the confluence point of these two rivers. the gauge reader to the downstream community
members via telephone.
Considering the flood vulnerability,
SAMADHAN programme was launched in 6 Recently recorded rainfall reading of 19 and 20
communities of Lalbhoji VDC. Early warning July were communicated to the villagers via
task forces with 4 - 5 members were formed in telephone and verbally ensuring prior prepared-
each community. The EWS task forces attended ness in the community. As mentored during the
three days capacity building training on early training the EWS task force in the community
warning and visited the flood measurement had circulated the information to the community
station. The objective of the training was to members through hand mike. The first level
enhance early warning communication contact warning was to alert the villagers of the incoming
points and channels for the floods in the area. flood. Second level warning was for the people to
Task forces were oriented and trained on efficient act on the first warning and to collect important
information dissemination to the community document and dry foods. Third level warning
people about the increasing water level. A center was to get people to safe places in the higher
point was selected to collate information on grounds with their family members, livestock
increasing flood level in the river. Various stake- and important belongings. This kind of warning
holders, VDC members and community members provided the people of Labhoji VDC with mini-
were familiarised with the rain fall measuring mum 3 – 4 hours of preparedness time saving
gauge and other EWS equipments such as hand lives and property. Thus, the proper functioning
siren and mike. of EWS task force and timely circulation of flood
information has resulted in zero human casual-
On the initiation of Red Cross subdivision, a ties and minimal property loss this year in
VDC level collaborative meeting was conducted Labhoji VDC.

Efficient information
dissemination for
better readiness

Accurate and timely information saves lives and "SAFE – Safer Communities through Multi-
community based early warning is an essential Hazard Risk Reduction" project is implemented
element of disaster risk reduction initiative; by Nepal Red Cross Society with support from
experienced and accepted worldwide. It helps to Danish Red Cross and is funded by the European
mitigate loss of life and property and to reduce Commission through its Humanitarian Aid
the severe impact of hazards. Strengthening early Department. Communities working with SAFE
warning systems (EWS) ensures the efforts made project are vulnerable to multiple hazards such as
towards making communities resilient and the landslide, flash flood and fire due to the geo-
action plans and existing policies are sustainable. climatic condition and other factors caused by


nature or human error. Experience accentuates
that, after continuous heavy rainfall the sky
might be clear but is followed by other hazards,
such as flash floods and debris flow. Further,
areas recently destroyed by wildfires are particu-
larly susceptible to flash floods during rain-
storms. Communities living without EWS must at
least have an effective information dissemination
mechanism so that relevant messages can be
disseminated on time. People can be alerted by
passing information/warning on the probability
of hazards based on the trigger indicators. In
landslide prone areas the communities take
precautionary measures seeing the triggering
factors of landslides such as;

Soil moving away from foundations

Leaning telephone poles, trees, retaining
walls or fences

Offset fence lines or retaining walls

New cracks or unusual bulge in the ground or
street pavement

Sticking doors and windows, and visible open
spaces indicating jambs and frames out of Map showing hazard prone locations in Bigutar
plumb community, Okhaldhunga district.

Tilting or cracking of concrete floors and
foundations when they receive warning messages. People
need to be aware of the risk factors and adopt
Hoarding boards are placed in strategic locations mechanisms to reduce the impact of hazards
in every community showing hazard risks areas, because early warning alone cannot save lives.
location of vulnerable households and available They have realized that effective early warning
resources to tap on the onset of disaster. Commu- systems are the most obvious way to get this
nities are comparatively better aware of the information to populations at risk. The key to
hazard risks and the action they need to take their safety is putting people, not just technology,
at the centre of their warning systems!

Community leaders meeting at the
Disaster Preparedness unit office in
Taluwa community in Okhaldhunga
after receiving information on the
triggering indicators for possible
landslides.


Early Warning

Early warning in mountainous
areas must be addressed
differently as the types of
hazards and its threats are
different. For example address-
ing EWS in case of GLOF is
very different compared to
landslide. In case of GLOF, the
scale of destruction is large.
For many years lots of institu-
tions, NGO and government
bodies and in some case,
Monitoring Station and Early
Warning System were set up to
address specific GLOF threat.
Such system requires heavy
investments and single VDC or Risk of destructive landslide in Humla
even a District cannot allocate
required resources. can help measure a landslide risk: slope, vegeta-
tion and quantity/intensity of rainfall. Devising a
In Humla, where Mission East has started a simple toolkit for communities to understand the
CBDRM project under DIPECHO funding, GLOF causes of landslide, measure the risk as per the
is not an issue but landslide is, and it has a major given indicators (see below box) and to be alert if
impact on the livelihood. But landslides can occur the risk becomes high. All these indicators could
basically everywhere in mountainous environ- be an affordable solution which may save house-
ment, and even if some technical solutions exist holds, human lives and livestock.
for monitoring landslide, it is not realistic to
equip every single hazardous slope with it.
Main triggers of rainfall induced landslides
(source ICIMOD)
Moreover, the few EWS that exists for landslide,
such as a cable tight rope between a stable point
There is a direct correlation between the
and the potentially unstable slope that would
amount of rainfall and the incidence of
break if land start to move and trigger an alert, is
landslides:
only recommended for large scale landslide risk.
Cumulative rainfall between 50-100 mm
In Humla, a landslide will affect mostly the rare
in one day and daily rainfall exceeding 50
agricultural terraces that provide food to its
mm can cause small scale and shallow
population, few houses that could be on the way,
debris landslides - LOW RISK
some livestock and connection path between
Cumulative two day rainfall of about 150
communities. The cost of a monitoring system is
mm, and daily rainfall of about 100 mm
not affordable owing the little savings it will
has a tendency to increase the number of
generate, even if the impact for the affected
landslides - MEDIUM RISK
population can be huge in terms of crops and
Cumulative two day rainfall exceeding
livestock loss.
250 mm, or an average intensity of more
than 8 mm per hour in one day, rapidly
In such context where communities bear little
increases the number of large landslides -
resources and where minor but numerous
HIGH RISK
landslides occur, EWS may not be a viable
solution for remote and isolated locations. Then
The type of slope and the slope angle have a
what can we do?
great influence on landslides. Landslides
rarely occur on slopes less than 25°. The large
Mission East DIPECHO team is currently looking
majority of landslides occur on slopes with
at turning some basic landslide monitoring
angles ranging from 30° to 50°. Presence or
principles by training land owner and villagers to
absence of dense vegetation also determines
assess the level of risk. Basically only 3 indicators


the likelihood of landslide.
For an early warning system
that does not discriminate
will not be heard by somebody who has a total
Under this DIPECHO V Action Plan, Handicap hearing impairment or who lives in the periphery
International has profited from all opportunities (as most of Dalit groups do). The meaning of the
brought by Practical Action and Mercy Corps to noise of a siren may not be understood as a
learn, reflect and bring inputs on Early Warning: warning by people with intellectual impairment,
during the preparatory work and field testing of hearing impairment, young children or isolated
the Training Manual, the presentation and elderly people who have not been involved in
commenting stages of the draft National EWS awareness sessions.
Strategy and trainings at community level.
Two simple ways to enable a people-centered
As per mandate and the focus of its DIPECHO V EWS are: First, participation and involvement of
project, HI inputs for inclusive EWS have been all segments of the population, including persons
given to EWS designers and implementers to with disabilities and other vulnerable or disad-
reach all the people at risk. The Hyogo Frame- vantaged groups (such as women, elderly people,
work for Action invites us to design people Dalit groups, etc.), from the stage of the design to
centered early warning systems, including all the implementation. They are capable of advising
members of the community, especially those who DRR actors as to how they can and should be
are most vulnerable and most at risk of not reached.
acknowledging the warning. The risk occurs
when only a single means of warning is used and Secondly, community-based communication
when people do not participate in DRR activities networks can bring solutions to the challenge of
and trainings because of gender, age, social reaching ALL. For example, the design of a
considerations, or physical, intellectual or senso- “notification tree” for individual notification,
rial impairment. based on the community map.
It is not more difficult to design and implement
A siren that is in place in the centre of the village an inclusive EWS, but it is more efficient and
more lives are saved.

School level awareness programme on inclusiveness


Increasing knowledge and
warning measures

Mercy Corps in collaboration with Nepal Red
Cross Society are implementing the second
Kailali Disaster Risk Reduction Initiatives as part
of DIPECHO Fifth Action Plan. One of the main
components of this project is expansion and
institutionalisation of community based and
district EWS introduced as part of the previous
DIPECHO supported projects.

Kailali District is characterised by many short
rivers originating from the Siwalik Range (please
refer to Map). During monsoon the area experi-
ences heavy localised rain storms. The principal
threat in this area is from flash floods, which
follow intense or prolonged rainfall. These events
are by definition very fast developing, with no
more than 12 hours and sometimes as little as 1.5
hours between the occurrence of precipitation
and the flood. It was therefore decided with
Department of Hydrology and Metrology to pilot
a low tech flash flood forecasting model suitable
for short river systems in Kailali District and for Map of the River Systems in Kailali district
replication elsewhere. The model uses historical
knowledge to define a set of warning levels
upstream which indicate a coming flood event
downstream. The overall idea is to add warning
Wooden pole used for identification of warning time for the communities living along the rivers.

CBEWS is now introduced in 16 communities
along the Mohana River and its tributaries and is
replicated in a number of neighboring communi-
ties. Using a community to community approach,
early warning committees established under the
previous project have supported establishment of
CBEWS in project communities. Upstream
observers trained with project support take
readings of water level and rainfall at gauge sites
along the rivers and relay them to downstream
communities through agreed communication
channels. Early warning is build into community
contingency plans and early warning committees
in each community are responsible for the day to
day management of the systems including
organisation of simulation and equipment such
as hand operated sirens and megaphones.

Early warning is of high priority for district and
VDC stakeholders in Kailali. The Early Warning
Management Committee has therefore developed
overall EWS guidelines for Kailali. The guidelines
include day to day management, financial
management, emergency telephone numbers,


roles and responsibilities of
various stakeholders and
sustainability. A decision to
pool funds for the EWS proves
the commitment of the DDC
and 32 flood prone VDCs in the
district.

Mercy Corps further seeks to
put EWS high on the national
and district agenda through
various initiatives in collabora-
tion with Practical Action and
DHM.

EWS Committee testing siren

Linking Community
to Community

When a community knows ahead of time that a
disaster is about to strike, it will respond more
effectively and will save lives and livelihoods.
Under its Risk Reducing programme funded by
DIPECHO, Oxfam GB and its local partners
(Center for Disaster Management in
Nawalparasi, Bagmati Sewa Samaj Nepal in
Sarlahi and Koshi Victim Society in Saptari) have
established 12 CBEWs in 28 vulnerable communi-
ties of 3 tarai districts in Nepal. These 12 EWS
link communities living on the banks of the
Jarahi and Lakhandehi rivers.

The upstream communities observe the water
level in the rivers using flood markers to deter-
mine the level of risk. The risk is ranked into 3
categories: high, medium and low. These catego-
ries are initially determined through discussions
between the communities during exchange visits
and is based on past flood experiences. During
Early Warning Task Force sounding siren during the the dry season, the water level is below the low
mock drill in Rampur, Maleniya VDC, Saptari District


With the Establishment of this EWS, we are better
prepared and our losses will be minimised"- Rajendra Flood marker placed at Rampura VDC,
Mishra, Chairperson of DMC, Khadauna VDC, Nawalparasi district
Nawalparasi District

risk level and every subsequent increase is
communicated by phone to the downstream
communities. This information is disseminated
within the communities by Early Warning Task
force communities equipped with sirens, mega-
phones and loudspeakers. A system of colour
coded flags is used to notify the hearing im-
paired.

Oxfam GB and its local partners facilitated
community discussions to establish the EWS. As
a component of the Community Response Plans
the EWS are designed and monitored by the
DMC of the downstream communities. Prior to
the monsoon season, these plans, including the
EWS were tested and practiced through mock
drills in all 12 communities. The performance of
the EWS will be evaluated after the monsoon
season to increase its effectiveness.

10

Preparedness with
early warning system in
place...

With the aspiration of doing something for the
community Fulbasiya Tharu, 38 yrs old women
of Padnaha VDC-ward no. 8- Barbatta is being
occupied in social work by getting involved as a
women volunteer. She is also a member of “Babai
Pragatisheel Prokop Byawasthapan Sameete”, a
disaster management committee.

Barbatta community is situated near Babai River.
Hence, the danger of flood every monsoon is a
looming fear in this community.

“In 1995, heavy rain poured for two days con-
tinuously. Around 3 am my house was flooded.
That night, my husband Taratal had been out for
work and could not return because of heavy
rainfall. My children were small so I was baffled.
I had to save my children, store food and other
assets and ultimately save myself. Since I could
not save food we had a big problem. Although I
saved my children during flood I was not sure if I
could save them after the flood for long time”
recalls Fulbasiya with tears.

When asked what she knew about preparedness
Fulbasiya with siren
for flood she said, “Deep down I always thought
that we should have been prepared but the
prediction we made by observing the river and
clouds often went in despair and we always
suffered. She further adds, “When I heard about “We will have at least 5 - 6 hours for preparation.
SEWIN project which came with the aim of Everyone will have ample time to collect food,
raising awareness on preparedness through flood important documents and help each other to get
early warning system, I felt like this program was to the shelter. We have contributed our time and
meant for our community. I felt like I should be a labor for construction of shelter, machan, cul-
part of it to help the entire community be pre- verts, and toilets,” explains Fulbasiya.
pared so that they will not have to lose their
loved ones and their belongings.” Like Fulbasiya there are other women volunteers
who visit people in their houses and explain to
Fulbasiya is responsible for ringing the hand them the benefits of EWS and the danger associ-
siren to warn the community after receiving ated with flood. These volunteers also inform
information on the water level from the up- community people on EWS activities that raise
stream. She has participated in several trainings awareness on floods through street drama, song
and has also visited Chepang the upstream flood competition, trainings and rallies.
monitoring station to see the devices that mea-
sure the water level. She has access to telephone “I am very happy to be a part of this programme.
numbers of the gauge reader, local police station Even though this program ends the knowledge
and other stakeholders whom she can call if she that we have will always remain with us. Know-
feels that there is a danger of flooding. When ing that there is early warning system in place I
they confirm that water level is high in the feel safe and I no longer have to worry about
upstream, she will ring the siren to warn the flood” she adds with full confidence.
community of the impeding flood.

11

Communities and district stakeholders learning about upstream river station. Practical Action SEWIN

Early Warning for all from all

This thematic newsletter has been produced by DIPECHO projects in Nepal with support from the
European Commission through its Humanitarian Aid department. The contents and information has
been provided by the DIPECHO partners - Action Aid, CARE, Danish Red cross, Handicap Interna-
tional, Mercy Corps, Mission East Nepal, Oxfam GB, and Practical Action. This issue is edited and
circulated by Practical Action on behalf of DIPECHO partners in Nepal.

To know more about DIPECHO projects, please contact Luc Verna for DG ECHO/DIPECHO at
hoo@echo-kathmandu.org and respective project Managers at Krishnan.pv@actionaid.org (Action
Aid), rajesh@carenepal.org (CARE), drcdp@mos.com.np (Danish Red Cross), dppm@hi nepal.org
(Handicap International), udons@np.mercycorps.org (mercy Corps),
cristophe.belperron@miseast.org (Mission East Nepal), svanleuffel@oxfam.org.uk (Oxfam GB) and
deb.bej@practicalaction.org.np (Practical Action).

12

Dipecho nepal newsletter issue 9 july 2010

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