Response to a query on indegenious knowledge on Disaster Risk Reduction.

1. Disaster Management
Community, India
Disaster Management and Risk
Reduction Community, Indonesia
Consolidated Reply
Query: Using indigenous knowledge for disaster risk
management activities - Experience; Example
Compiled by G Padmanabhan, Resource Person, Nupur Arora, Research Associate and
Rina Suryani Oktari, Research Assistant
Issue Date: 3 June 2009
From Bibhu Kalyan Mohanty, SAMBANDH, Bhubaneswar
Posted 8 April 2009
SAMBANDH, an NGO is implementing a community based disaster preparedness programme in
Orissa, India. We are conducting training and capacity building on disaster management,
preparing contingency plans and forming structured taskforces for risk management, relief and
recovery during and in the aftermath of a disaster.
While implementing this program, we have come across well-developed traditional indigenous
knowledge systems for early warning mechanisms and coping strategies for natural calamities
within and outside India. Science and technology and traditional knowledge when applied
together enable better disaster risk management. Since time immemorial, disaster management
has been deeply rooted in local communities which apply and use indigenous knowledge to
understand climate and other natural systems and establish early warning indicators and coping
mechanisms.
Similar is the case with Indonesia, where various, the pilot projects of disaster risk management
have been carried out using the indigenous knowledge approach. For examples, they have Song
(a local term for tsunami) early warning system in Simelue Island. Lately, this approach adopted
intentionally by local universities and disaster management experts.
With the above context from the two countries, we would like to conduct a specific study on
indigenous knowledge on various coping mechanisms and early warning systems. For this, we
request community members for the following:
• What experiences are you aware of for carrying out disaster risk management through
use of indigenous knowledge for disaster management?

2. • Are there any studies or research available, and how have these studies have been
incorporated into the current scientific framework for environmental conservation and
natural disaster management?
Your contributions will help us designing our project and encourage the use of indigenous
knowledge for disaster management.
Responses were received, with thanks, from members of the following
Communities:
Solution Exchange for the Disaster Management Community India
1. Man B Thapa, United Nations International Strategy for Disaster Reduction, Nepal
2. Annie George, NGO Coordination and Resource Centre, Nagapattinam
3. Abha Mishra, United Nations Development Programme, New Delhi
4. Prashant Khattri, Department of Anthropology, University of Delhi, New Delhi
5. Caroline Borchard, UNDP - Bureau for Crisis Prevention and Recovery, New Delhi
6. P. C. Joshi, Department of Anthropology, Delhi University, New Delhi
7. Alinawaz Nanjee , Focus Humanitarian Assistance India, Bhavnagar
8. Chandrasekhar, India Disaster Management Support Project, USAID, New Delhi
9. Gyaneshwar Singh, Gorakhpur Environmental Action Group, India
10. Anshu Sharma, SEEDS, New Delhi
11. Rudra prasanna Rath, National Rural Health Mission, Orissa
12. Abhilash Panda, UNISDR Asia Pacific, Bangkok, Thailand
13. H.S. Sharma, Dr. K M Modi Institute of Engineering, Ghaziabad
14. Parimita Routray, Sphere India, New Delhi
15. Amit Kumar, Gorakhpur Environmental Action Group (GEAG), Lucknow
16. Pradeep Mohapatra, UDYAMA, Bhubaneswar*
17. Ranjan Praharaj, Focus Humanitarian Assistance India, Gujarat*
18. Kedareswar Choudhury, Darabar Sahitya Sansad, Khurda, Orissa*
Solution Exchange for the Disaster Management and Risk Reduction
Community, Indonesia
19. Herriansyah, Indonesian Red Cross, Medan- Sumut
20. Asep Moh Muhsin, TAGANA, Cianjur*
21. Nursyamsu Kusuma, UNORC, Takengon*
22. Adharianti Septuina , NGO Mitra Peduli, Banten*
23. M. Fahrul Effendi, Indonesian Red Cross, Yogyakarta
The Disaster Risk Management Community- Asia
24. Shantana R. Halder, Comprehensive Disaster Management Programme (CDMP)
and UNDP, Bangladesh
25. Arvinds Sinha, DRR Practitioner, India
26. Angger Wibowo, Crisis Prevention and Recovery, UNDP Indonesia*
*Offline Contribution
Further contributions are welcome!

3. Summary of Responses
Comparative Experiences
Related Resources
Responses in Full
Summary of Responses
The query on using indigenous knowledge for disaster risk management activities yielded
interesting responses from members of Disaster Risk Management Asia Community, Solution
Exchange for Disaster Management Community India and Indonesia.
Members outlined various traditional practices for early warning and other disaster management
activities. In Orissa (India) and other parts of India, some very interesting practices are used
for weather forecasting and disaster warning. In the Mentawai Islands (Indonesia) unusual
bird songs are traditionally taken as warning signals for tsunami. Also, in Orissa (India), tribes
like Munda, Kondha, Saura, Kolha have their own way of preserving nature and coping with
catastrophes.
To protect crops from floods, farmers in Tamilnadu (India) use flood resistant paddy seed
along with indigenous agricultural practices. In West Bengal and Orissa (india), coastal
farmers tie bamboo pegs and hang fried fenugreek leaves on rivers banks to save fishes from
floods. Indigenous communities from Orissa and Andhra Pradesh (India) practice shifting
cultivation and grow drought resistant tuber crops which follow a cycle providing enough space
for conservation.
While sharing experiences, respondents laid down traditional warning signals for the
following hazards:
Land slide: New cracks or unusual bulges in the ground or street pavements; Rapid increase in
stream water levels; Sticking doors and windows and sudden decrease in stream water levels
though rain is still falling or just recently stopped.
Earthquake: Different behavior of a particular variety of fish (Singhi) which comes to the top of
the water level before an earthquake.
Tornado: Sudden change in the colour of sky.
Members welcomed the idea of studying indigenous knowledge and coping mechanisms. They
suggested categorizing coping mechanisms and application of indigenous knowledge for DRR
into:
• Economic; including construction of houses on raised platforms or houses build on stilts;
• Social; focusing on strengthening the social network and
• Physical; involving practical actions
Discussants made interesting observations on incorporating traditional knowledge into scientific
framework for disaster management. Some studies from India state that communities dependent
on natural resources are closer to nature. They understand natural phenomenon and so use
traditional wisdom to manage disasters. Across countries, one can see examples of building
wooden houses in hilly areas; netted/tied/mushroom shaped roofs in coastal belts and use of
bamboo/poles as pillars in mud houses. This is to ensure that the impact of disasters is least on
assets. The variety of rice grains across different plains are signs of robust community coping

4. mechanisms. An NGO in Uttar Pradesh (India) studied and documented successful Indigenous
agriculture interventions from flood affected area.
Members opined that indigenous capacity does exist but it withers in inverse proportion to the
external support systems available. Cohesive communities with strong traditional governance
mechanisms (e.g. tribal communities), that are not accessed by formal systems have evolved
their own indigenous methods. In Tamilnadu (India) a tribal community has developed their
own systems for Early Warning, tracking floods, rescue and rehabilitation.
Respondents pointed out that there have been many proven traditional technologies for Disaster
Risk Reduction from across Asia. Disaster Reduction Hyperbase - Asia is a repository where the
traditional technologies are classified into three categories of Implementation Oriented
Technologies, Process Technologies, and Transferable Indigenous Knowledge (TIK).
Members expressed concern that in the present context traditional coping skills and knowledge
base of the community is gradually loosing effectiveness. Due to high incidences of disasters and
increased multi level vulnerability of communities, traditional skills have not been adequately
adapted and practiced. They felt need to look at knowledge and capacities within the
communities and leverage on them for disaster response and preparedness.
Pointing out that every region has its special characteristic, social regulations and techniques to
cope with emergencies, discussants opined not applying one DRR program model to all regions.
However, they suggested digging local potential and prioritize on strengthening and
empowerment of social institutions.
Finally members strongly recommended that agencies working on disaster risk reduction must
understand, respect and build upon traditional systems and practices and existing governance
structures, before attempting something that could be totally alien the communities life style.
Comparative Experiences
Tamilnadu
Traditional practices for monitoring river water, Cudallore (from Annie George, NGO
Coordination and Resource Centre, Nagapattinam and Amit Kumar, Gorakhpur Environmental
Action Group (GEAG), Lucknow)
A tribal community living in a flood prone area involved youth to monitor river water level and
inform the community in case of a rise. They also had other systems like tying ropes across the
river to hold while crossing the flooded river and collecting money per month per family to meet
their needs during the floods. With these mechanisms in place they have managed to
successfully face frequent flooding.
Flood resistant paddy seeds, Chennai (from Ranjan Praharaj, Focus Humanitarian Assistance
India, Gujarat)
To protect crops from floods, farmers plant flood resistant paddy seed using indigenous
agriculture practices. They broadcast the seeds in late summer and in early monsoon without any
chemical fertilizer, it grows well and before the flood season its root goes deep and plant
becomes strong. Such plants grow so well that during harvesting the plant are cut into two
pieces; one is used for fodder and the other part for annual renovation of thatched houses.
Uttar Pradesh

5. Indigenous agriculture interventions from flood affected area, (from Gyaneshwar Singh,
Gorakhpur Environmental Action Group, India)
GEAG with 20 local partners collected more than 100 indigenous agricultural interventions from
the flood prone area. These include diverse agricultural issues and help in improving livelihood
and food security of the community. Also more than 364 indigenous technical knowledge
practices on biocides, bio-manure, etc have been collected and documented. Their application
has given many folds benefits to the farming community specially to small and marginal farmers.
Orissa
Traditional coping mechanisms of tribals, Bhubaneswar (from Rudra prasanna Rath,
State Documentation and Media Consultant, National Rural Health Mission, Orissa)
In Orissa tribes like Munda, Kondha, Saura, Kolha have their own way of preserving the nature
and coping against the distress. They follow proper cycle for shifting cultivation providing enough
space for conservation and consider forests sacred and therefore dong destroy the environment.
This has helped them conserving the environment they live in with practices which are more
ancient than human kind.
Using bio-indicators for disaster preparedness and warning, (from Pradeep Mohapatra,
UDYAMA, Bhubaneswar)
In Orissa, since ancient times community has been using bio-indicators like Tree-Tempe-tank
being situated at elevated areas is the safest flood shelter, black ants with eggs climbing up,
symbolises heavy rain or de depression and running cows indicates severity during village fire,
direction of wind indicates the weather forecast and growth of wild indicates desertification.
These have over the years been culturally accepted and tested for successful results.
West Bengal and Orissa
Saving fish cultivation from Floods. (from Ranjan Praharaj, Focus Humanitarian Assistance
India, Gujarat)
To save fish from floods, farmers in the coastal regions put bamboo pegs in the fish pond before
the flood and just before the pond submerge with flood water they hang fried fenugreek on
these pegs at different places in a pond putting it in thin cotton cloths. As per the farmers, if the
fried fenugreek is hanged inside the pond then the fishes dont leave the pond. This considerably
reduced the risk of washing away of the fishes in flood water.
Orissa and Andhra Pradesh
Traditional Practices to protect crops against drought. (from Ranjan Praharaj, Focus
Humanitarian Assistance India, Gujarat)
Indigenous communities here practice shifting cultivation which provides enough space for
conservation. They cut the forest, put fire and clean the sifting cultivation site. Then they collect
and keep the residues and loose boulders of the top soil layer across the slope following the
contour lines. This is a unique practice of conservation of soil and water and to resist drought.
Indonesia
Animal singing as tsunami warning. Mentawai Islands, (from Asep Moh Muhsin, TAGANA,
Cianjur, Indonesia)
In the island singing of the animal bilou is believed to work as a premonition of disaster. This
phenomenon is used as an early warning sign for tsunami waves. The local community is already
aware of this indigenous knowledge for early warning systems and therefore bilou is protected by
the Government of Indonesia and the world community. This has significantly helped the tsunami
vulnerable island community to take appropriate action on the tsunami warning. Read more

6. Traditional practices to manage Drought. Kidul Mountain, (from M. Fahrul Effendi,
Indonesian Red Cross, Yogyakarta)
The community in Kidul Mountain has for a very long time become familiarized to live in drought
conditions. They have their own way to adapt with the natural environment in order to meet the
needs of their daily necessity and their agricultural land. The community works together to
maintain their environment. They have also developed custom regulation for the community in
order to maintain and manage their existing water resources.
Related Resources
Recommended Documentation
Indigenous Knowledge for Disaster Risk Reduction: Good Practices and Lessons
Learned from Experiences in the Asia-Pacific (from Man B Thapa, United Nations
International Strategy for Disaster Reduction, Nepal and Alinawaz Nanjee , Focus Humanitarian
Assistance India, Bhavnagar)
Publication; UN ISDR Asia and Pacific; Bangkok; July 2008; English version available at
http://www.unisdr.org/eng/about_isdr/isdr-publications/19-Indigenous_Knowledge-
DRR/Indigenous_Knowledge-DRR.pdf (PDF, Size: 2.96 MB)
Captures some existing examples of indigenous practices for several types of disasters
and lessons learned in the community in the Asia-Pacific region
Coping Strategies and Early Warning Systems of Tribal People in India in the face of
Natural Disasters (from Abha Mishra, United Nations Development Programme, UNDP, Delhi)
Case Study; by ILO; New Delhi; English version available at:
www.solutionexchange-un.net.in/drm/cr/res08040901.pdf (PDF, Size: 112 KB)
Identifies the needs of tribal community in dealing with natural disasters, specifically on
employment and protection of the most vulnerable part of the society
Draft Report: Case Study on Indigenous Knowledge for Disaster Risk Reduction in
South Asia (from Prashant Khattri, Department of Anthropology, University of Delhi, New Delhi
and P. C. Joshi, Department of Anthropology Delhi University, Delhi)
Report; SDMC-ADRC; English version available at http://saarc-sdmc.nic.in/ind_p.asp
Draws out key findings of some case studies on indigenous knowledge used by
communities in disaster prone areas of India Nepal and Sri Lanka
From Caroline Borchard, UNDP - Bureau for Crisis Prevention and Recovery, New Delhi
Listening to Communities: A Study on Traditional Disaster Risk Reduction Activities in
Northern Afghanistan
Research Paper; ActionAid; Afghanistan; October 2008; English version available at
http://dipechoafg.com/downloads/pdf/Dipecho%20DRR%20Research%20Paper.pdf (PDF, Size:
624 KB)
Explores some indigenous practices and coping mechanisms of the community in
Northern Afghanistan to mitigate the effects of multi hazards
Local Knowledge for Disaster Preparedness: A Literature Review
Publication; by Julia Dekens; 2007; ICIMOD; Nepal; English Version available at
http://books.icimod.org/index.php/search/publication/290
Provides an overview of case studies on practices and framework of local knowledge in
disaster management and preparedness

7. The Snake and the River Don't Run Straight: Local Knowledge on Disaster
Preparedness in the Eastern Terain of Nepal
Report; by Julia Dekens April 2007; ICIMOD; Nepal; English Version available at
http://books.icimod.org/index.php/downloads/pd/143
Highlights the identification and documentation of local knowledge and practices for DRR
as well as developing and testing an analytical framework for local knowledge
From Shantana R. Halder, Comprehensive Disaster Management Programme (CDMP) and United
Nations Development Programme (UNDP), Bangladesh
Study on capturing indigenous /traditional coping mechanisms in Disaster
Management
Terms Of Reference; CDMP; English version available at:
www.solutionexchange-un.net.in/drm/cr/res08040902.doc (Size: 80 KB)
Enlightens the study on identification and documentation the indigenous coping practices
that be used to face disaster situations
Endowed Wisdom: Knowledge of Nature and Coping with disaster in Bangladesh
Book review; by Hasan SHAFIE et al; CDMP; English version available at
www.solutionexchange-un.net.in/drm/cr/res08040903.doc (Size: 98 KB)
Highlights the using of indigenous knowledge to cope with flood, flash flood, water
logging, salinity intrusion, cyclone, drought and wild life disturbances in Bangladesh
Disaster Relief and response by Mahila Mandal (Village Women’s group) in Kullu
District of Himachal Pradesh in Village fire at Malana (Oldest Traditional Panchayat in
the country) (from Arvinds Sinha, DRR Practitioner, India)
Article; by Arvind Kumar Sinha; Mountain Forum Himalayas, Shimla; English version available at:
www.solutionexchange-un.net.in/drm/cr/res08040904.doc (Size: 110 KB)
Stipulates the significant roles of Mahila Mandal in facing with village fire and supplying
the relief materials to support the victims
Indigenous Knowledge and Disaster Risk Reduction: From Practice to Policy (from
Anshu Sharma, SEEDS, New Delhi)
Books; by Rajib Shaw et al.; 2009; Permission Required: Yes, Paid Publication; English version of
ordering details and reviews available at
http://www.novapublishers.com/catalog/product_info.php?products_id=10039
Offers systematic studies that analyze the principles of indigenous knowledge in Disaster
Risk Reduction activities and its correlation to the modern context
Indigenous Knowledge Disaster Risk Reduction: Policy Note (from Abhilash Panda,
UNISDR Asia Pacific, Bangkok, Thailand)
Publication; by Rajib Shaw et al.; Kyoto University – SEEDS; Japan; 2008; English version
available at http://www.solutionexchange-un.net.in/drm/cr/res08040906.pdf (PDF, Size: 1 MB)
Lays down the policy note as a guidance for mainstreaming indigenous knowledge in
Disaster Risk Reduction by disaster management actors and institutions in Asian region
Documentation of Good Practices in Community Based Disaster Risk Reduction in
India (from Parimita Routray, Sphere India, New Delhi)
Research Proposal; Sphere India-Eficor; English version available at
http://www.sphereindia.org.in/URLs/Proposal_on_DRR_Research.pdf (PDF, 240 KB)
Proposes a project to identify and document the good practices and experiences on
indigenous risk reduction mechanisms

8. Adaptive Capacities of Community to Cope Up with Flood Situations: Flood and
Livelihood Adaptive Capacity Based Compilation (from Amit Kumar, Gorakhpur
Environmental Action Group (GEAG), Lucknow)
Report; by Dr.Shiraz A.Wajih; GEAG; January 2008; English version available at
http://www.geagindia.org/Flood_Manual__English_.pdf (PDF, Size: 5.58 MB)
Identifies some practices on coping mechanisms of the community in flood prone areas
as well as other practices on indigenous livelihood interventions
Bilou’s Singing Can Work as a Tsunami Early Detection (from Asep Moh Muhsin, TAGANA,
Cianjur, Indonesia)
Article; Antara News; 20 March 2009; Bahasa version available at
http://www.antara.co.id/arc/2009/3/20/nyanyian-bilou-mentawai-dijadikan-deteksi-dini-tsunami/
Explores the indigenous knowledge of the local community of the Mentawai Islands for
early warning systems of various symptoms
Report of Coping Mechanisms during Bihar Flood: Indigenous Coping Strategy (from
Munish Kaushik, Association For Stimulating Know How (ASK), Gurgaon)
Report; Association for Stimulating Know How (ASK), Gurgaon; English version available at
http://www.solex-un.net/repository/id/dmrr/CR4-res1-eng.doc (DOC, Size: 201 KB)
Identifies some indigenous coping mechanisms which can be used for future action plan
based on the outcome of the Community Disaster risk Reduction study
Orissa Super Cyclone, 99 (from Chandrasekhar, India Disaster Management Support Project,
USAID/International Resources Group, New Delhi)
Books; by Mr. M.C.Gupta,Director; National Center for Disaster Management, 2000; Permission
Required: Yes, Paid Publication; English version available at:
http://www.nidm.net/NCDMPublications6.asp
Lays on some essential lesson learnt from orissa super cyclone in 1999 and address some
issues that need to be put in place to avoid such calamities in future
Recommended Contacts and Experts
Mr. Biswa Ranjan Behera, Secretary, Society of Development Action (SODA),
Mayurbhanj (from Abha Mishra, United Nations Development Programme, UNDP, Delhi)
Vill. Indapahi, Post Laxmiposi, Via Baripada, Mayurbhanj-757107, Orissa, India; Tel.: +62-6792-
52841/ 78179
Recommended as the representative person who was involved in the study related to
early warning system supported by ILO
Recommended Organizations and Programmes
Oxfam America, Boston, USA (from Annie George, NGO Coordination and Resource Centre,
Nagapattinam)
226 Causeway Street 5th Floor Boston, MA 02114; Tel.: +1-800-7769326; Fax: +1-617 728-
2594; info@oxfamamerica.org; http://www.oxfamamerica.org/
Empowers organizations of indigenous peoples and minorities, increase the capacities of
local leadership for DRR post-tsunami activities
Gorakhpur Environmental Action Group (GEAG), Gorakhpur, India (from Gyaneshwar
Singh, Research and Evaluation Professional, and Amit Kumar)

9. Post Box No. 60, 224, Purdilpur, M G College Road Gorakhpur 273001, Uttar Pradesh; Tel.: +91-
551-2230004; Fax: +91-551-2230005; geag2@sancharnet.in; http://www.geagindia.org/
Collects and works on documenting the indigenous technical knowledge practices on
agricultural interventions of flood area as well as on biocides and bio-manure
From Angger Wibowo, Crisis Prevention and Recovery, United Nations Development Programme,
Indonesia*
United Nations Development Programme, Jakarta, Indonesia
9th Floor, Menara Thamrin Building, Jl. M.H. Thamrin Kav.3, Jakarta 10250; Email:
registry.id@undp.org; http://www.undp.or.id/press/view.asp?FileID=20090428-1&lang=en
Performs activities on the Safer Communities for Disaster Risk Reduction in Development
to empower local governments in DRR efforts
The Indonesian National Agency for Disaster Management (BNPB), Jakarta,
Indonesia
Jl. Ir. H. Juanda No. 36 Jakarta Pusat; Tel.: +62-21-3458400; Fax: +62-21-3458500;
posko@bnpb.go.id; http://bnpb.go.id/website/
Carried out workshop on local indigenous wisdom on disaster risk reduction which
included many paper presentations on DRR activities using indigenous knowledge
From Rudra Prasanna Rath, State Documentation and Media Consultant, National Rural Health
Mission, Orissa
I-Concept Initiatives, Bhubaneswar, Orissa, India
4th lane, Aerodrome Area, Plot No-1140/2401, Bhubaneswar 751020, Orissa; Tel.: +91-674-
2594148
Undertakes participatory exercise on traditional indigenous coping mechanisms with
support from Plan International
Plan International, New Delhi, India
E-12, Kailash Colony, New Delhi 110048; Tel.: +91-11-46558484; Email: avijit.dey@plan-
international.org; http://plan-international.org/where-we-work/asia/india/what-we-do
Supports the process of identification of indigenous coping strategies to improve the
preparedness of the community
National Institute of Disaster Management (NIDM), New Delhi (from Anshu Sharma,
SEEDS, New Delhi)
Ministry of Home Affairs, I.P. Estate, Ring Road, New Delhi 110002; Tel.: +91-11-23702432; Fax:
+91-9818997029; institute.nidm@nidm.net; http://www.nidm.net/
Conducts workshop on Indigenous knowledge in Disaster Risk Reduction with support
from United Nations Global Programme
From Parimita Routray, Sphere India, New Delhi
Sphere India, New Delhi
Building No. 3, Flat No. 302/3,Kaushilya Park, Hauz Khas, New Delhi – 110016; Tel.: +91-11-
146070374; Fax: +91-11-46070379; E-mail: info@sphereindia.org.in;
http://www.sphereindia.org.in/
Identifies and document the good practice of indigenous/ traditional disaster risk
reduction mechanism in disaster prone area
EFICOR, New Delhi

10. 308 Mahatta Tower, B Block Community Centre, Janakpuri, New Delhi 110058; Tel.: +91-99-
10398604; Fax 25515383/4/5; Email: hq@eficor.org; www.eficor.org
Supports the documentation process of documentation of good practice in community
based disaster risk reduction
Surf AID Australia, Mentawai (from Asep Moh Muhsin, TAGANA, Cianjur, Indonesia)
Jl. Perintis Kemerdekaan No.11 Jati Padang, West Sumatera Indonesia; Tel.: +62-751-38025;
Fax: +62(0)751-841538; Email: info@surfaidinternational.org; www.surfaidinternational.org
Performs data collection on vulnerability of the community and conduct awareness
program of Indigenous knowledge in Mentawai and some disaster prone areas
Recommended Portals and Information Bases
From Anshu Sharma, SEEDS, New Delhi
Disaster Reduction Hyperbase – Asian Application (DRH-Asia), NIED-Japan
Contact person: Hiroyuki Kameda, DRH Manager; kameda@edm.bosai.go.jp; Tel.: +81-78-
2625521; Fax: +81-78-2625526; e-mail: drhadmin@edm.bosai.go.jp, http://drh.edm.bosai.go.jp/
Offers open and interactive access and participation and consists of database, forum, and
Transferable Indigenous Knowledge Links as well as project activities
Community Monitoring and Preparedness for Natural Disasters (COMPREND)
Contact person: Jean J. Chu, Programme Co-Founder; jeanjchu@gmail.com; Tel.: +1-718-791-
9763 / +86-136-9306-7556/ +63-919-836-5037; http://www.globalwatch.org/ungp/
Promotes indigenous knowledge in Disaster Risk Reduction by sharing of community
disaster experiences and advances in forecasting technologies
Responses in Full
Man B Thapa, United Nations International Strategy for Disaster Reduction, Nepal
I would like to suggest you to kindly go through the ISDR document recently published entitled
"Indigenous Knowledge on DRR". It captured many such practices. However, I am sure that
there are still several undocumented indigenous knowledge and practices on DM/RR which need
to be documented soon otherwise, we will loose them.
To view the document click: http://www.unisdr.org/eng/about_isdr/isdr-publications/19-
Indigenous_Knowledge-DRR/Indigenous_Knowledge-DRR.pdf (Size: 2.96 MB)
Annie George, NGO Coordination and Resource Centre, Nagapattinam
We did a Study for OXFAM America on Understanding the increase in capacities of local
leadership for DRR post- tsunami and stumbled across some very interesting observations. The
most striking thing was that indigenous capacities do exist but atrophy in inverse proportion to
the external support systems available. In areas which are not generally accessed by formal
systems like Govt/ NGOs, especially where there is a cohesive community with strong traditional
governance mechanisms, like tribal communities, they have evolved their own indigenous
methods of EWS, tracking the oncoming floods, rescue and rehabilitation!!!
In one flood-prone tribal community living in a flood prone area, in Cudallore, Tamil Nadu, they
had constituted small groups of youth who would monitor the level of the rising water in the river
with notches on a stick. When it started reaching their pre- marked danger points, the youth
would inform the rest of the community who would then gather whatever they had to and leave
for higher areas. They had a mechanism of tying ropes across the river so that they could hold

11. on to that while crossing the flooded river and not get lost in the flow or lose their direction. They
also had a method of collecting some money per month per family which then went into meeting
their needs while they were without livelihood support during the floods. They have managed to
successfully face frequent flooding this way. The Tribal Leader has the final say in all their
activities and this single voice od control is also useful during such emergency situations. The
concept of a disaster management fund was seen common across both tribal communities
studied.
On studying two slightly more developed villages, with similar vulnerabilities but different support
structures, we found to our surprise that the village closer to a semi- urban area where they
could move during calamities, was ill prepared as far as coping mechanisms were concerned and
nonchalantly replied that they move to the neighboring place and live on Government led relief
systems till the floods recede. On the other had, the other village which did not have such
support systems had their escape routes planned out and the traditional governance systems
taking more responsibilities to safeguard their constituency.
This led us to feel that in our haste to set up DRR systems, we do not pay attention to the
existing traditional systems and practices, thereby not only eroding their knowledge and
capacities, but also leaving them more vulnerable without our continued hand-holding support.
NGOs working in DRR should make it a point to understand, respect and build upon traditional
systems and practices and existing governance structures, before attempting something that
could be totally alien to their style of life.
Looking forward to a discussion on this extremely interesting subject, with a view to reorient
ourselves to what we loosely term "participatory planning processes".
Abha Mishra, United Nations Development Programme, New Delhi
It is a known fact that community dependent on natural resources are closer to nature and
understand its behaviour. This is specifically true for the tribal's and farmers as their daily needs
as well as livelihood is dependent on the natural resources be it for subsistence food materials
like roots, mushrooms, leafy vegetables etc or water for their crops. Old community members
living near rivers tell us during discussion on past disaster that earlier, possibility of flooding was
measured by the river flow sound as there was no scientific warning mechanism. We also have
many traditional mechanism of building our houses-starting with the wooden houses in hilly areas
to netted/tied/mushroom shaped roofs of coastal belts or use of bamboo/poles as pillars in mud
houses to ensure that the impact is least on the assets. The variety of rice grains across the
different plains of India are also signs of robust coping mechanism of the community to ensure
subsistence harvest. But as you have asked for a study that specifically relates to early warning
system, Please refer to a study supported by ILO way back in 2000-2001 in Durgapur, West
Bengal and Mayurbhanj, Orissa which looked at the issues which you would like to focus on.(Click
here to view report: www.solutionexchange-un.net.in/drm/cr/res08040901.pdf (Size: 112 KB).
You could also like to contact Mr. Bishwa Ranjan Behra, Secretary, Society of
Development Action, Mayurbhanj who was involved in this project.
Prashant Khattri, Department of Anthropology, University of Delhi, New Delhi
Please visit the site of SAARC Disaster Management Center. You will find a draft report on
Indigenous Knowledge for Disaster Risk Reduction in South Asia. Here is the link: http://saarc-
sdmc.nic.in/ind_p.asp.
Caroline Borchard, UNDP - Bureau for Crisis Prevention and Recovery, New Delhi

12. Regarding your question on available research, a study was also done on this subject in
Afghanistan last year by Action Aid and DIPECHO: Listening to Communities: A study on
traditional disaster risk reduction activities in Northern Afghanistan
http://dipechoafg.com/downloads/pdf/Dipecho%20DRR%20Research%20Paper.pdf. (Size: 624
KB).
There are also some further publications produced by ICIMOD on this subject.
Local Knowledge for Disaster Preparedness: A literature Review (2007), ICIMOD, Julia Dekens.
http://books.icimod.org/index.php/search/publication/290
The Snake and the River Don't Run Straight: Local Knowledge on Disaster Preparedness in the
Eastern Terai of Nepal (2007) http://books.icimod.org/index.php/downloads/pd/143
Kind regards and best wishes for your study.
P. C. Joshi, Department of Anthropology Delhi University, Delhi
The Saarc Disaster Management Centre has prepared a very detailed document on the subject of
Indigenous Knowledge in DRR with field based case studies from India, Nepal and Sri Lanka.
This centre is also preparing a tool kit for investigating Indigenous Knowledge. The SDMC report
is available at:
http://saarc-sdmc.nic.in/pdf/publications/Indigenous/Executive%20Summary.pdf (Size: 2.96 MB)
Alinawaz Nanjee Focus Humanitarian Assistance India, Bhavnagar
Please find UNISDR link there is a good material on indigenous knowledge and DRR:
http://www.unisdr.org/eng/about_isdr/isdr-publications/19-In digenous_Knowledge-
DRR/Indigenous_Knowledge-DRR.pdf (Size: 2.96 MB)
Chandrasekhar, India Disaster Management Support Project, USAID/International
Resources Group, New Delhi
Thanks Annie for sharing your study findings. Infact, this is my experience when I was
conducting a study in association with Prof. Arbind Sinha, ISRO on early warning communication
system for hydro-meteorological disasters and extreme climatic events supported by USAID last
year. This is an important finding and needs attention of all policy planners, decision makers and
agencies implementing disaster risk reduction and preparedness programmes.
Similarly, a study after the Orissa Super Cyclone' 99 conducted by Roorkie Univeristy that the
traditional housing design is also cyclone resistant and cost effective that needs strengthening
with inputs from modern science and technology. Inspite of this finding, the state government
went ahead with modern housing during rehabilitation phase that has led to gradual eroding of
traditional housing knowledge and skill as well as coping mechanism of local coastal community.
However, I look forward to learn more from you and others from their experiences.
Gyaneshwar Singh, Research and Evaluation Professional, Gorakhpur Environmental
Action Group, India
The raised issue has great importance. The role of indigenous technical knowledge in tackling
emerging disaster challenges has been recognized by Gorakhpur Environmental Action Group,
Gorakhpur (GEAG). Realizing their importance (resistance of surviving in threatful situation,
economic profitability and replicability etc), GEAG in collaboration with 20 local partner

13. organizations in Eastern Uttar Pradesh, has collected more than 100 indigenous agricultural
interventions of flood area. These interventions include diverse agricultural issues and help in
improving livelihood and food security of the community. Addition to it, more than 364
indigenous technical knowledge practices on biocides, bio-manure, etc have been collected and
documented. These practices works effectively on agricultural crops and livestock. Their
application has given many folds benefits to the farming community specially to small and
marginal farmers. These benefits include improving soil fertility, reducing market dependency,
increasing income and self-dependency etc. Large numbers of peoples have enjoyed the benefits
of these practices in improving their socio-economic status.
Some flood related practices collected from other state, have been tested in this area and found
successful and beneficial.
The compilation of indigenous technical knowledge practices of drought prone area is under
process.
These practices can be found by contacting www.geagindia.org.
Shantana R. Halder, Comprehensive Disaster Management Programme (CDMP) and
United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), Bangladesh
This is great to know that you are planning to document the indigenous knowledge with regard
to early warning, coping and adaptation practices in the field of disaster risk management.
Recently we conducted the same and produced a book which is under peer review. We consider
an all hazard approach and initially made a scan of all available secondary information which
helped us identified the geographical location, the reported good practices and the agencies
supporting/contributing towards scaling up those good practices for survey. We did an efficiency
analysis of the practices and found no clash with the science rather these many of the years of
practices are now validated through scientific explanations. Many of the indigenous knowledge
and practices have been scaled up with NGO interventions. To read the TOR click
www.solutionexchange-un.net.in/drm/cr/res08040902.doc (Size: 80 KB) and the summary of the
book here. www.solutionexchange-un.net.in/drm/cr/res08040903.doc
(Size: 98 KB).
Arvinds Sinha, DRR Practitioner, India
Please refer to a document on relief response by the local community for your discussion -
basically response from a village women's group here: . www.solutionexchange-
un.net.in/drm/cr/res08040904.doc (Size: 110 KB)
Anshu Sharma, SEEDS, New Delhi
This is a very interesting and useful query raised by Bibhu.
I would like to share the following resources in addition to those already shared:
• DRH-Asia (Disaster Reduction Hyperbase - Asia), a multi-agency initiative led by NIED
(National Research Institute for Earth Science and Disaster Prevention), Japan. The DRH
website (http://drh.edm.bosai.go.jp/) is a repository of proven technologies for Disaster Risk
Reduction from across Asia. The website is classified into three categories: Implementation
Oriented Technologies, Process Technologies, and Transferable Indigenous Knowledge (TIK).
The TIK link and the cases therein will be of interest to you. You are also encouraged to use
the given template to share your own case studies through this platform.

14. • Nova Publishers are bringing out a book titled `Indigenous Knowledge and Disaster Risk
Reduction: From Practice to Policy' this summer. It puts together case studies from the
region and also outlines sectoral strategies for mainstreaming of indigenous knowledge in
DRR. You can see the link at :
www.novapublishers.com/catalog/product_info.php?products_id=10039
• COMPREND (Community Monitoring and Preparedness for Natural Disasters:
www.globalwatch.org/ungp/) built upon the earlier UNGP programme for promoting
indigenous knowledge for disaster reduction. It compiled good practices from China and
other places, where thousands of lives could be saved when local authorities took action on
warnings based on indigenous knowledge. A workshop was organised by UNGP at NCDM
(now NIDM) a few years ago, and you can perhaps find more information there.
I feel it will really help if members share evidences of indigenous knowledge having been of use
in specific instances. Such evidences are usually undocumented and anecdotal, and thus not
given much importance. It will, however, be of great service if we can bring stories, even
informal ones, together and then seek some ways of going out to the field and validating them.
Platforms such as DRH Asia can be used very effectively for such validation and subsequent
dissemination.
Looking forward to an engaging discussion on this query,
Rudra prasanna Rath, State Documentation and Media Consultant, National Rural
Health Mission, Orissa
What seems to be interesting to me is the traditional knowledge of the Tribals/ indigenous people
who have their own set of devised mechanism to cope against disasters like Drought, Flood,
Cyclone and other natural extremes.
Three Years Back i-Concept Initiatives Bhubaneswar with Support from Plan international has
conducted a participatory exercise to bring out traditional indigenous coping mechanism of the
six selected tribes in Orissa. The selected tribes were Munda, Kondha, Saura, Kolha, ganda etc.
Some of the important findings of the study are as follows;
• Tribals are having their own way of preserving the nature and coping against the distress,
• Even the most destructive practices like shifting cultivation follows a cycle providing enough
space for conservation hence is not a reason for deforestation,
• Sacredness is attached to the forest, water and land masses in almost all the tribes to
provoke fear among the destroyers of the environment,
• Some of the ancient water and land conservation methods are more ancient than the present
civilized generation,
• Nature plays a vital role in conserving the natural resources and save people during the
distress even though nature creates disasters to check the population growth rate.
This is for information of all concerned
Abhilash Panda, UNISDR Asia Pacific, Bangkok, Thailand
We recently came up with a Policy Note for Indigenous Knowledge in DRR. Please refer to the
link: http://www.solutionexchange-un.net.in/drm/cr/res08040906.pdf (Size: 1 MB) to view the
file
H.S. Sharma, Dr. K M Modi Institute of Engineering, Ghaziabad

15. For your information no ONGES (the tribal people who live in Andaman and Nicobar) died in
tsunami as all have lived their for thousand of years and have been warned to move away from
the sea as soon as they notice calm sea, it is only so called educated people died in tsunami. No
elephant died in tsunami in Srilanka as they have knowledge and moved upwards as soon as
they observed the noise.
Parimita Routray, Sphere India, New Delhi
It is good to learn that your organisation is planning to conduct a study on indigenous knowledge
on various coping mechanism and early warning systems. I hope the learning and findings of the
study are shared widely upon completion in different forums so that agencies or practitioners
working in the field of disaster risk reduction can use the findings and incorporate in their
respective programmes on DRR.
As per my understanding, the coping mechanisms and application of indigenous knowledge for
DRR can be categorized into three – economic, social and physical, so your study may try to
capture all of them. The economic coping mechanisms could be construction of houses on raised
platforms or houses build on stilts. The social coping mechanism focuses on strengthening the
social network and physical coping mechanisms involves practical actions. And as Indigenous
knowledge is culture specific, and represents people’s lifestyle, so dissemination and application
of the knowledge is often a challenging issue and need to be contextualized.
Sphere India in partnership with EFICOR is also implementing a project in similar field. Under the
project, we are trying to identify scalable models of risk reduction mechanisms
(indigenous/traditional or contextualized), that has potential for replication in disaster prone
communities and document the good practices and experiences that has helped in reducing risk
and strengthening resilience of different communities which face cyclones, droughts, earthquakes
and floods. Some of the good practices will be published into a compendium and then widely
disseminated. In this relation, we are inviting good practices from the practitioners and agencies
working in field of disaster risk reduction. More information about our project can be accessed at
http://www.sphereindia.org.in/ikm.aspx. We have received good practices and some of them are
focused on promotion of indigenous knowledge for disaster risk reduction. We are in the process
of screening the entries and it will be followed by an in-depth documentation. We will be in a
position to share the information once the good practices are finalised.
Amit Kumar, Gorakhpur Environmental Action Group (GEAG), Lucknow
Community’s Capacity to cope with Flood
(Experience of GEAG in flood prone area of Eastern UP
The ‘Purvanchal’ or eastern Uttar Pradesh covers about 39 percent area of the state which has
agriculture as a major source of livelihood. Flood is annual calamity of the region. The soil is very
fertile as the area is situated amidst the plains of north east and Himalayan Terai which has a
network of Mountain Rivers. The unpredictable nature of the river flow makes most of the area
vulnerable for floods.
Due to environmental imbalance in past few years the flood has become more frequent. The
global climate change is also reflecting here. The threat of hazards in the region is increasing due
change in the monsoon cycle resulting in drought and water-logging. The imbalance is such that
heavy downpour in a short period brings flash floods, causing water logging and destroys Rabi
crops while; on the other hand, insufficient rain perishes Kharif crops.

16. The livelihood and food security of the region is endangered due to increased flood frequency
and natural imbalance. This adversely affects production and productivity. This further culminates
into the migration of the population, increased unemployment and also increase in the calamity.
Not only this, the imbalance is affecting the life of females also. While the male population
migrates it leaves behind the huge burden of looking after the land and other immovable on the
shoulder of women. This makes them more vulnerable towards malnutrition and they fall prey to
various diseases.
How the community is coping with?
Community always accustom with nature in order to deal with calamities. The knowledge and
adaptive strategies of the local community to deal with calamities is worth-praising. The people
of this region have accustomed themselves with the calamity by adopting appropriate agriculture
techniques and strategies. The flood has badly hit the agriculture-based rural economy of the
region. Despite this, the local knowledge and resilience of the community has helped them to
cope up with hazards. However, in spite of immense potential such practices and local knowledge
was confined to very limited area and known to very few people. Gorakhpur Environmental
Action Group (GEAG), a state level resource organization, felt the need of identifying and
documenting such indigenous knowledge of community in order to develop a pool of potential
livelihood practices within the region. The organization, with the help of 20 local voluntary
organizations conducted a research in 7 most flood affected districts. It had found that the
farmers in these districts were not only coping up the situation by changing the agricultural
techniques, land and water management and preparedness activities, but they were also
engaged in innovative practices of advocacy with stake holders. More than 100 practices related
to agricultural livelihood adaptation and preparedness strategies were documented by GEAG and
partners and propagated in the entire region to make people aware on such knowledge. Some
identified practices, in brief, are as follows-
Before floods:
• Turanta (early variety): Turanta is also an early variety of paddy. It can also tolerate
conditions of drought and flood but its seeds are not readily available. It is not useful for
heavily waterlogged areas as its plants are very small.
• Maize It can be used as cash crop after losses due to flood. It can be consumed in many
ways apart from as fodder. The crop season is from April to June and requires low input. It is
reaped before the onset of floods so the crop loss is negligible.
• Musk : It can be implanted in the low lying areas near the rivers, where the silt is deposited
after receding of flood water. The sandy land near the river is otherwise useless and no crop
can be taken on this land. The protection of crop from stray cattle is important because there
is no fodder for them after floods.
• Narendra 97 (Early variety of paddy): Narendra 97 grows in 90 to 100 days. As the
variety is less sensitive to the sunlight, can tolerate the scorching heat of May-June and
demand less water.
During floods/deep water:
• Barseem : It grows in marshy land which is abundant during floods. This gives dual benefit
– the otherwise waste land is utilized and the scarcity of fodder can be avoided.
• Trapa Cultivation- Trapa, usually called Singharah, is cultivated in stagnant waters. It has
religious value as it is mainly eaten on fasting occasion, festivals, etc. In some districts of UP,
people often cultivate this crop in lakes and water logged areas.
• Desariya Paddy- It is hardy, traditional variety of paddy that grows on clayey soil and is
able to withstand high water inundation for as long as six months as well as drought like
condition. It can withstand even with 10 ft water inundation.
After floods:

17. • Kulthi (with Practice and Interview): Kulthi is a pulse crop. It’s a creeping plant like
Moong and Urad. It does not need plenty of water or manure and not even any care. Kulthi
can be grown on infertile land. It gives high yield. It has medicinal properties and beneficial
in curing kidney stone.
• Boro Paddy (with Practice and Interview): It is not possible to take most of Rabi crops
on low-lying land. But weather resistant Boro paddy can be grown on these lands. Despite
requiring high labour, it is high yielding variety that can be grown in standing water.
• Arkil Peas- Arkil peas grow well in the fields where floods affect the paddy crops. It does
not only provide food (both green and dried/preserved for times of scarcity) but also the
income. It is a fast growing variety.
Other Practices-
• Duck rearing -Apart from agriculture other agro-based activities like duck rearing is also
a means of income generation. It help minimizing the losses due to flood. The farmers are
also adopting plantation and storage of fodder as an effective technique.
• Grain Bank- The innovative practice of grain bank is being adopted at the community level.
It gives food security as well as help in coping with the scarcity of seeds. The practice is
being particularly adopted by the women farmer. This effectively minimizes the damage due
to floods and other calamities.
• Land and water management- Apart from these, many efforts have been made other
than agriculture like land and water management, calamity preparedness, and advocacy on
public issues. These efforts are worth-knowing as they give inspiration for integrated
development and to use local knowledge. Preventing soil erosion, participatory sand casting
from the field, improving old drainage structures and constructing new ones are some of the
examples at community levels that prove their efficiency to mitigate the disaster impact.
From such community level initiatives it is apparent that people indigenously use a mix of their
local and externally gathered knowledge, as required. This knowledge together with their
generational experience enables community to anticipate events, make accurate decisions of
cropping and prepare themselves accordingly. Several practices are visible at local level hence
there is strong need to bring out such practices and disseminate largely for wide adoption.
Download the english document (short version of original) from- www.geagindia.org
Herriansyah, Indonesian Red Cross, Medan – Sumut, Indonesia
I am so excited to receive many inputs on this topic.
In my opinion, those who are living in the disaster prone area should be responsible to minimize
the impact of future disaster. Yet it is often forgotten to improve the capacity of the neighboring
areas close to disaster prone area.
I assume that this is a classical concept and attributed to our mind. But we also sometimes forget
about it. For instance: when disaster hit NAD and Nias, Medan district which is on the border to
the two areas should be part of the aid center. The smoothness of this operation depends on the
preparedness of Medan district at that moment.
Eventually, the capacity of the neighboring disaster prone area will also minimize the impact of
the disaster.
Angger Wibowo, Crisis Prevention and Recovery, United Nations Development
Programme, Indonesia
With support from UNDP through the Safer Communities for Disaster Risk Reduction in
Development, the Indonesian National Agency for Disaster Management (BNPB) conducted a
workshop on local indigenous wisdom on disaster risk reduction in February 2009. During this

18. workshop, several DRR activities using the indigenous knowledge were presented. Please find
attached some papers presented in the workshop that might be relevant to this query.
Credits and intellectual property right of the papers remains with the person/organization
presenting the papers
Pradeep Mohapatra, UDYAMA, Bhubaneswar
It is a good discussion.
There are few bio-indicator that still community is using since ancient. these knowledges are
being used during disaster warning, development and forecast and also few things that locally
people are using as one of toll ,instrument , experience ,belief even few are culturally accepted.
few things am giving from Orissa perspective:
• Tree-Tempe-tank- it is culturally accepted not only for community cohesion, but it unites
whole range, it is the place to resolve conflicts, this place has a binding factor for rituals, this
place is very safest place to accommodate during floods as usually this places are high and
elevated areas, , the leaf of tree like bela or pipal is totally medicated,
• during village fire people do take rest till the house is restored
• black ants with eggs climbs up - this symbolises there must be rain continuity or
dedepression
• if cows are running fast that indicates there will be severity during village fire
• cockroaches , rats other reptiles are indicating regarding floods and submergence of houses
• dogs barking without any thing it shows there will ham to house
• wind from south that indicates the rain will be wiped out
• wind from north indicated there will be cool
• wind from west indicates heavy heat wave
• wind from east indicates rain will be nearer.
• poi leaf indicates the toxic element in air as I have noticed and validated at Kendrapada
during my CARE days when OSWAL now PPL releases toxic elements to air.
• Wild dates (local called bana khajur) indicates the desertification, because that plant comes
out at the last stage when every thing from soil strata goes out
• even in coastal mangrove area may be different but looks like ban kahur come out when
the rich mangroves washes out
• if there will be 100 days rain there will be severe drought, if 50 days there will be floods
and crops can damaged out flash floods, if there will be 80 or 96 days rain there will be
good harvest as per loka katha
This are from community dialects, still few things are allocable and people are believing it. This is
the part of life and livelihoods of country men.
Ranjan Praharaj, Focus Humanitarian Assistance India, Gujarat
It’s really an interesting subject. To my understanding, the query needs response on Indigenous
Knowledge on Early Warning as well as Disaster Risk Management practices.
I would suggest contributing to the query and share knowledge/experiences specific to particular
hazards and separately for early warning and other coping mechanisms in accordance with DM
cycle / the pre, during and post disaster situations.
Further, it will be clearer to present the indigenous knowledge on early warning separately as (i)
warning generation and (ii) warning dissemination.
Some of the Indigenous Knowledge is given below:

19. A. Warning generation,
Land slide:
• New cracks or unusual bulges in the ground or street pavements.
• Rapid increase in creek water levels.
• Sticking doors and windows, and visible open spaces indicating jambs and frames out of
plumb.
• Sudden decrease in creek water levels though rain is still falling or just recently stopped etc.
Earthquake:
• Different behavior of a particular variety of fish (Singhi) which comes to the top of the water
level before an earthquake, but this variety of fish usually stays inside the mud in sweet
water which has two poisonous sharp pins at both the side of its head.
Tornado:
• Immediate changed colour of the sky.
B. Warning Dissemination:
Indigenous knowledge and practices of warning dissemination are well kwon to all of us. Some of
which are, drum beating, playing buffalo’s horn etc.
C. Some Indigenous Coping Mechanisms:
• Flood/water logging: Most of the members have already highlighted the flood/water
logging resistant paddy seed varieties which were used by the farmers in the low lying fields.
But, associated to it were the indigenous agriculture practices also. As per the farmers, such
variety of seeds are broadcasted (not transplanted) in late summer and the seedlings
sustains after struggling with extreme heat and sunshine. Different methods of broadcasting
are bunch sowing, line sowing and normal hazard sowing etc. In early monsoon without any
chemical fertilizer, it grows well and before the flood season its root goes deep and the
plants became very strong. Such paddy variety plants grow so well that at the time of
harvesting the farmers cut the plant into two pieces,’ the top part after harvesting is used for
fodder and the bottom part, for annual renovation of the thatched houses. I have seen some
varieties of such paddy seeds are showcased in the seeds bank of MS Swaminathan
Foundation, Chennai.
• Flood is a big threat for sweet water fish cultivation. To save their fish in the pond, some
coastal region farmers in WB and Orissa put bamboo pegs in the fish pond before the flood
and just before the pond submerges with flood water they hang fried fenugreek (methi) on
these pegs at different places in a pond putting it in thin cotton cloths. As per the farmers, if
the fried fenugreek will be hanged inside the pond then the fishes will not left the pond
thereby the risk of washing away of the fishes in flood water will be reduced.
• Draught: Rudra has already stated about the shifting cultivation practice of indigenous
communities in south Orissa and North AP, which follows a cycle providing enough space for
conservation. The most interesting fact is that once they cut the forest, put fire and clean the
sifting cultivation site, the next process is to collect and keep the residues and loose boulders
of the top soil layer across the slope following the contour lines. This is a unique practice of
conservation of soil and water and to resist with drought. Besides, the mixed crop cultivation
in the sifting cultivation site (including several varieties of pulses) is another best practice of
the people.
• Cultivation of drought resistant tuber crops (especially Katha Kanda/Ram Kanda variety) in
high lands is regularly practiced in the same area. In case of sever draught, if the main crops

20. (paddy and ragi etc) fail then the farmers use it as alternate food. At present, most of the
chips (snacks item) found in the market are made of the same crop. To meet the food need
most of the indigenous community also use date palm juice and salpa juice. In most critical
cases they cut the salpa tree, collects its inner parts, dry it, make its powder and use it as
main food after boiling with water for some times. One such plant meets the food need of 20
families about one month.
• Draught and land slide: The knowledge, skill and practice of contour bounding for soil and
water conservation and land terracing and shoulder bonding to control land sliding, using
dry stones/ loose boulders is also a unique practice in the same area. Generations old model
patches are available at present with such type of measures which are really examples for
technical experts of soil and water conservation. The techniques applied for construction of
such structures and to maintain slope of the shoulder bonds etc. are more than that of an
engineered design.
Besides the above, community grain bank/seed bank, creation of community fund etc are also
some of the coping practices at most of the rural village.
Kedareswar Choudhury, Darabar Sahitya Sansad, Khurda, Orissa
Indigenous knowledge and traditional coping mechanism are quite important for the community
fighting the disasters. It is rather more important in case of communities facing disasters
regularly. There have been lot of discussions on the issue. But friends, this aspect seems to be
weakening and loosing priorities in our planning process, in the era of increasing occurance of
natural and man made disasters. This is due to diferreent reasons like
• The degree of occurence and impact of disasters have increased considerably.
• The livelihood pattern and the surrounding environment of the communities is changing due
to development interventions by the state as well as the by the effect of climate change.
• The traditinal community life is under a process of change from socio economic and political
front.
Therefore the traditional coping skill and knowlegde base of the community, which were once
appropriate to combat the disasters successfully, are either gradually loosing effectiveness in the
present context of high incidence of disasters, or have not been adequately adapted and
practised to reduce the increased and multi level vulnerability of the communities.
There is a need to look at these knowlegde and capacities of the communities in the changing
context of the community life and nuturing the skills with adaptability
Asep Moh Muhsin, TAGANA, Cianjur, Indonesia
Thank you for the opportunity given to me.
I would like to contribute with some information about the work of disaster detection, using
Indigenous knowledge. Here I will introduce bilou, (Hylobates klossii) an animal similar to
endemic primates, from the Mentawai Islands, situated on the western coast of Sumatra. It has a
herediatary singing voice. The local residents believe that the sound of bilou’s singing can work
as a premonition of disaster. This phenomenon could therefore be used as an early warning sign
for tsunami waves.
The awareness program of Indigenous knowledge on Mentawai was initially socialized by SurfAid
autralia, an international NGO involved in disaster aid. SurfAid has been implementing the
program in Mentawai since 2007 after the tsunami in Aceh 26th of December 2004, and also
including disaster-prone areas.

21. In some areas on the Mentawai Islands the local community is already aware of their indigenous
knowledge for early warning systems of various symptoms of natural disasters that dominates
the tropical forest. The community believes that when they hear the singing sound coming from
the creature with the special melody, it is a sign of danger.
Bilou is a type of gibbon-like primate, unique endemic only found on the Mentawai Islands. The
body of bilou is full of hair and has a white-feathered head with black eyes. As an endemic
primate, bilou is protected by the Government of Indonesia and the world community, including
the locals of Mentawai.
From generation to generation, the locals of Mentawai have prohibited the hunting of bilous. In
addition to disaster detection, the voice of bilou could also work foreshadowing, to stop activities
in the forest of Mentawai. If people are hunting and then hear the singing, they will stop because
if they proceed there will be danger.
At present, Mentawai is a tsunami-prone area. From SurfAid's data collection, it is found that
about 16,000 residents around the Mentawai Islands living in coastal areas which is vulnerable to
tsunamis.
Quoted from http://www.antara.co.id/arc/2009/3/20/nyanyian-bilou-mentawai-dijadikan-deteksi-
dini-tsunami/ .
Hopefully it will be beneficiary for all of us.
Nursyamsu Kusuma, UNORC, Takengon, Indonesia
With this opportunity, I would like to share a few stories/ experiences from when I was a child,
related to Indigenous knowledge for DRR.
Kecobong is a small sub district of the Purbalingga District on Central Java. Currently, the
community is categorized as an “urban” community, but they are still far behind compared to
other developed sub district on the Java islands. Until now, most of the community work as
farmers. The community’s settlement has a rice field and farms which are separated by a river
named Pekacangan River. Consequently every time they work they need to cross the river in
order to reach their work places. Another alternative is to turn around the upper course of the
river which is very far away. At present there is a bridge, which is good enough, but the distance
is about 5 km from their villages (inefficient in terms of time).
I still remember when I went to my friend’s house in 1994. It was a rainy season at the time and
the community checked whether the water in the river would overflow or not by dipping their
hand into the water. If the water felt warm, it was a sign that the river would overflow. They
were watchful and abandoned their plan to cross the river when going to the farm or rice field.
They would also warn their kids not to swim in the river. When the water felt warm and they
were already at the farm or on the rice field, they would wait until the floods stopped, finding out
by dipping their hand to check if the water was still warm or not. Sometimes some of the
community stayed at loom up (gazebo) and lodge (small house) that they have constructed in
their farm and rice field. There were also some communities that preferred to turn around the
river if they would have some important things to do at home. To make sure that the “warm
sensation” on their hand was not deceitful, they would try it repeatedly until they definitely felt
the warmth which indicated that the big overflow or flood would occur.
This is only one of many stories, showing that different communities in the region have their own
local customs/ indigenous knowledge to respond to the natural circumstance and the natural
calamity around them. Their ancestors introduced these self defense efforts as a heritage and it

22. has become a custom for the community. Every region has their special characteristics which will
be different from others, in order to survive when faced with the challenges in life. We should
therefore not apply one DRR program model to all regions as every region has its own potential
“social regulation”.
The firm step is acting as the correlative and supportive constellation if DRR programs don’t
generalize its concepts and its programs implementations. However, what needs to be done first
is digging the local potential and prioritizes the strengthening and empowerment of social
institutions to become the social capital which is owned by each region.
The program packages should be pointed towards supporting and empowering the existence of
the potential of local community through advocacy activity for local government with aim to set
local policies.
Adharianti Septuina , NGO Mitra Peduli, Banten, Indonesia
Sometimes we do not realize that there are types of animals that could assist us with early
warning signals for future natural disasters. Animals have an excess in terms of their five senses.
Some animals have a high sensitivity towards sound, temperature, vibration, touch, etc. This
sensitivity enables them to identify the disaster before it occurs.
For instance, birds, dogs, elephants, etc have the ability to hear potential tsunamis that could
follow an earthquake under sea. After the earthquake these animals will act with an unusual or
even excessive behavior. We can by observing these animals behavior become more aware on
future disasters.
M. Fahrul Effendi, Indonesian Red Cross, Yogyakarta
With this opportunity, I would like to share my experience on the indigenous knowledge of the
local community in Kidul Mountain when facing droughts. The community in Kidul Mountain has
for a very long time become familiarized to live in drought conditions. They have their own way
to adapt with the natural environment in order to meet the needs of their daily necessity and
their agricultural land. The community in Kidul Mountain is working together to maintain their
environment. They have also developed custom regulation for the community in order to
maintain and manage their existing water resources.
Indeed, even today the community in the Kidul Mountain area persists on developing and
improving their indigenous knowledge which has become a local culture in managing the
environment. There is a lot of indigenous knowledge used when managing the environment in
this region, which is used and integrated into the community program to manage the area and
the water resources but also to expand tourism in the Kidul Mountain area
From this experience of Kidul Mountain, we should perhaps take some of the lessons learned,
and try to ensure that our programs are synergized with the existing indigenous knowledge of
the community.
Many thanks to all who contributed to this query!
If you have further information to share on this topic, please send it to Solution Exchange for the
Disaster Management Community in India at se-drm@solutionexchange-un.net.in or se-dmrr-
id@solex-un.net with the subject heading “Re: [se-drm] Query: Using indigenous knowledge for
disaster risk management activities - Experience; Example. Additional Reply.”
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