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Community Based DRM

Sunday, 27 June 2010 16:18 administrator
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Navua training

To minimise the scale of impact and improve on the ground disaster recovery, there is a need to increase community awareness and preparedness programmes, and promote engagement and ownership of ground-level initiatives in DRM and CCA. Involving the community in DRM and CCA is crucial to enhancing resilience particularly in small island countries in the region.

Whilst the bulk of the Disaster Reduction Programme’s work focuses on building national DRM capacity, DRP also has a strong commitment to supporting community based disaster risk management initiatives.

 

Navua launch

 

DRP in partnership with UNDP, NDMO, Fiji Red Cross and Live and Learn are working with communities on the Navua floodplain on reducing their risk to flooding.  The project has brought together local government and the community to improve flood response which included the installation of a flood warning system in Navua.  A flood response plan was developed and Community-based First Aid and Disaster Preparedness Workshops in Serua and Namosi Province carried out in support of this.

Specific services that the Disaster Risk Programme can provide in relation to Community based Disaster Risk  Management are the following:

  • Training support and facilitation of Vulnerability and Capacity Assessments  (VCA)
  • Community based Disaster Preparedness and Emergency Response Planning
  • Particapatory Community based Disaster Risk Reduction Planning
  • Documentation of traditional practices and protocol in Pacific Island countries and territories
  • Advise on integration into national disaster risk management systems

For more information, contact:

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Adviser Community based Disaster Risk Management


Last Updated on Wednesday, 16 February 2011 12:07  


Newsflash

Monday, 14 October, Secretariat of the Pacific Community (SPC) - From 14th to 17th October, a team from the Secretariat of the Pacific Community’s (SPC) Applied Geoscience and Technology Division (SOPAC) will be visiting French Polynesia. They will report on the results of a series of studies designed to reduce the risk of storm surge in the Tuamotu Islands, a strategic area for pearl culture, tourism and environmental conservation.

This project was implemented over a two-year period and is now entering its final phase. Its objective was to define with more accuracy the impact of storm surge in coastal areas in order to enhance community safety.

Based on proven scientific techniques, four studies were conducted to determine the risk of flooding during an extreme tropical cyclone. Flood hazard was assessed using bathymetric, oceanographic and topographic data collected in strategic areas of the Tuamotu Islands. These data were used to produce a bathymetric chart of Rangiroa, the largest atoll in French Polynesia, detailing the depth of the lagoon and channels. SPC experts also produced inundation maps by modelling storm surge in a number of key areas.