1. ROLE OF NGOS IN DISASTER MANAGEMENT
M.K. Jyosthna
TAD/2014-10
Dept of Plant Pathology
2. Outline
•Definitions
•India’s disaster risk and vulnerability
•Major disasters in the country
•Role of NGOs in disaster preparedness
•Role of NGOs in disaster mitigation
•Role of NGOs in disaster response
•Mainstreaming disaster risk reduction and development
•Challenges encountered while responding to disasters
•Opportunities provided by the NGOs
3. Definitions
Disaster-a sudden accident or a natural catastrophe that causes
great damage or loss of life.
NGOs are organisations that are nonprofit making, voluntary and
independent of government, engaged in activities concerning
various societal and developmental issues
Voluntary organizations are defined as formal as well as informal
groups such as: community-based organizations (CBOs); non-
governmental development organizations (NGDOs); charitable
organizations; support organizations; networks or federations of
such organizations; as well as professional membership
associations
4. India’s Disaster Risk and Vulnerability
About 40 million hectares of land in India is identified as
flood-prone and on an average 18.6 million hectares of land
gets flooded annually.
More than half of India’s total area of 3.28 million square
kilometres falls in moderate to high seismic risk zones
Of the nearly 7,500 km long coastline, approximately 5,700
km is prone to cyclones arising from the Bay of Bengal and
the Arabian Sea.
The hilly regions of India are susceptible to forest fires,
landslides and snow avalanche hazards.
The most vulnerable to landslides are the Himalayan
Mountains followed by the North-Eastern hill ranges.
6. Major disasters in the country
•The Latur Earthquake in Maharashtra in 1993
•Chamoli Earthquake in Uttarakhand in 1999
•Super Cyclone in Orissa in 1999
•Bhuj Earthquake in Gujarat in 2001
•Indian Ocean Tsunami in 2004,
•Kashmir Earthquake in 2005
• Barmer Floods in Rajasthan in 2006
•Kosi Floods in Bihar in 2008
•Cyclone Aila in West Bengal in 2009
•The Cyclone Laila in Andhra Pradesh
•Cloudburst in Leh in August 2010
•Sikkim earth quake
•Floods in Kashmir in 2014
7. Role of NGOs in
Disaster preparedness
Disaster mitigation
Disaster response
Mainstreaming disaster risk reduction in
development
9. Disaster preparedness is
ability to quickly and appropriately respond when required
“the state of readiness to deal with a threatening disaster
situation or disaster and the effects thereof
It includes-
early warning systems
risk and vulnerability assessment,
capacity building,
the creation and maintenance of stand-by capacities
contingency planning
stockpiling of equipment and supplies
arrangements for inter agency coordination
evacuation plans and public information and
associated training and field exercises
10. Areas of intervention by NGOs
•Advocacy
•Assessment
•Capacity building
•Knowledge management
13. Any action that seeks to make the impacts of a disaster/ hazard
less likely to cause losses or to reduce its negative impacts
The focus of disaster mitigation measures is to minimise disaster
risks and losses by:
a. Analysing the risk (likelihoods and consequences)
b. Taking Risk reduction measures
c. Risk Hedging (Transferring, sharing, or spreading disaster
risks)
14. Measures of disaster management
Structural measures focus on some form of construction,
engineering or employing physical changes or
improvements to the risk context, such as building or
strengthening flood embankments, constructing
community shelters, and installing earthquake
vulnerability reduction measures.
-
15. Non-structural measures
focus on non-engineered activities like adopting and
enforcing land use and building codes, conducting
community training programmes in disaster risks and
essential disaster management skills, diversifying
livelihoods, fostering behavioural changes, and
developing environmental controls.
16. The Role of NGOs in Disaster Mitigation
Pre disasters Post Disaster & Pre (till the next event)
- advocating at the appropriate forums including legislative
and policy levels for disaster mitigation to be
institutionalised in policy, legislative and institutional
frameworks,
- disaster mitigation awareness and capacity-building
activities- promoting inclusive disaster management
approaches
17. Participatory and inclusive approach in mitigation
by NGOs
•Mitigation planning
•Information dissemination
•Sector specific mitigation efforts
•Climate related adaptive mitigation
mechanisms
•Techno legal and techno financial regime
18. Disaster mitigation initiatives
Multi hazard mapping, including development of different hazard
maps at community levels and collating them for block, district and
higher levels, using PRA, remote sensing and GIS based
community information systems
.
ii. Vulnerability mapping, including local level assessment
covering geographical location, structures, occupations, living
pattern, cultural practices etc.
iii. Capacity mapping, including identifying capacities from
community level upwards, incorporating indigenous coping
practices and identifying capacities of CBO and NGOs.
iv. Action planning for disaster mitigation, based on local actions
towards targetted achievements of avoidance of adverse impact
of disasters through multi-stakeholder participation, should extend
to participatory implementation and monitoring processes.
20. Aggregate of decisions and measures taken to
•contain or mitigate the effects of a disastrous
event to prevent any further loss of life;
property and/or environment
•Restore order in its immediate aftermath
•Reestablish normality through early recovery
reconstruction and rehabilitation shortly
thereafter
21. Fundamental principles of disaster response
•The Humanitarian Imperative
•Neutrality
•Impartiality (non-discrimination)
•Do no harm
•Accountability
•Participation of affected populations
•Respect for culture & custom
22. Phase Needs and Timely Actions Timeline/remark
Phase-I
Acute emergency phase
or
early recovery
Search and rescue, first aid, disposal of
dead bodies and animal carcasses,
damage and needs assessment,
relief mobilisation and distribution,
temporary shelter, registration,
information management, coordination etc.
1 to 30 days (depending on extent and
gravity of disaster)
Timely and appropriate response will
depend on the preparedness and
contingency planning put in place by
the Government and NGOs, CBOs and
CSOs.
Phase-II
Care, maintenance and
recovery phase
Food, water, sanitation, health care,
psycho-social care, education, livelihoods,
training, coordination
The length of this phase will depend on the
type of emergency. In floods this might not
exist while in case of big earthquake it
might be couple
of years. This is the phase before affected
population can return to normal ways of
living. It also called transitional phase.
Phase-III
Reconstruction and long
term
recovery
‘Durable solution’ for livelihoods, housing,
skill building, institution building,
coordination etc.
It may take 2 to 5 years to restore the
life back to normalcy and establish
all the institutions and infrastructure
‘better than pre-disaster days’
Key phases of disaster response
23. NGO Disaster Response Processes
•Early Warning and evacuation
•Search and rescue
•Damage and needs assessment
•Relief and humanitarian assistance
•Social protection
•Advocacy
•Monitoring evaluation and learning documentation
•Planning for early recovery
•Coordination during response
•Accountability
•Civil-military coordination
•Rapid and Progressive Needs Assessment
•Participation and Self Reliance
•Proactively Addressing Vulnerabilities
•Appropriate Technical Support
•Capacity Building
24. Typical NGO Responses to Emergencies
Water
Sanitation
Public Health Promotion
Vector Control
Food Security and Nutrition
Shelter
Reconstruction
26. DRR refers to a wide sector of work on disaster
management including: mitigation, prevention, risk
reduction, preparedness, and vulnerabilities
As defined by the United Nations,
DRR represents “the conceptual framework of elements
considered with the possibilities to minimize
vulnerabilities and disaster risks throughout a society, to
avoid (prevention) or to limit (mitigation and
preparedness) the adverse impacts of hazards, within
the broad context of sustainable development
27. Opportunities for NGOs in mainstreaming DRR
•Integration of DRR in to their developmental policy
•Mainstreaming DRR in to their developmental strategy
•Ensuring DRR through capacity building and training of
NGOs
•Geographical planning as an opportunity for
mainstreaming DRR
•Mainstreaming DRR in their project cycle management
•Integration of DRR into development through mutual
collaboration with others
28. Challenges encountered while responding to
disasters
Weak Coordination
Brief time-spans for relief interventions
Neglect of remote and inaccessible disaster-affected areas
Tendency to rush to the epicentre of disasters
Inadequate adherence to humanitarian standards and good
practices
In adequate transperacy and accountability to donors and
disaster affected Communities
Neglect of Rural-Urban Diversity and Primacy of Attention to
Rural areas
Lack of clear exit strategy during transition
Advocacy Role of NGOs – “Do No Harm Approach
29. Opportunities provided by the NGOs
•Setting up a Functional GO-NGO Coordination Platform
•GO-NGO institutional arrangements
•Common accessibility to disaster affected areas
•Focus on the most vulnerable
•Setting and Committing to Minimum standards by GO-NGO
•Institutionalizing Knowledge Creation and Management
