NCERT Textbook - Planning Ahead - Class 10 PDF Download

 Page 1


52
Planning ahead…
by the people, for the people
Gopal Hazong aged 57 years having a family of 5 members lived in Nalbari village of Assam. Every
year the tyrant Brahmaputra River washed his house away. Apart from his house the whole village was
being affected and ninety percent of the houses washed off. One day a trained volunteer approached
him and said that they could reduce the loss that they have
been facing since years. They first decided to prepare a
Community Plan to combat floods. They involved all the
villagers and prepared a village map. The map became a
key reference point and this exercise was carried out for
three days.
More details were added day by day, until every household
detail was added in the map. This mapping exercise gave
the villagers a chance to identify the most vulnerable and
it led to discussions that described how the situations could
change. It was decided by the villagers that henceforth all
the houses would be built on raised platforms and to combat
the problem of drinking water, all the tube wells would be raised. All the villagers then decided to
contribute their best of efforts in this gigantic task and formed Village Disaster Management Teams.
In Standard IX Chapter 6, we discussed about the process of community planning for disasters. In
continuation to the earlier chapter this chapter outlines the practical steps of community level disaster
preparedness. It covers important steps such as awareness building in the neighborhood or community,
analyzing the situation, formation of task force and drawing emergency response plans for taking long-
term measures to reduce risk.
Planning ahead…
by the people, for the people
7.
Page 2


52
Planning ahead…
by the people, for the people
Gopal Hazong aged 57 years having a family of 5 members lived in Nalbari village of Assam. Every
year the tyrant Brahmaputra River washed his house away. Apart from his house the whole village was
being affected and ninety percent of the houses washed off. One day a trained volunteer approached
him and said that they could reduce the loss that they have
been facing since years. They first decided to prepare a
Community Plan to combat floods. They involved all the
villagers and prepared a village map. The map became a
key reference point and this exercise was carried out for
three days.
More details were added day by day, until every household
detail was added in the map. This mapping exercise gave
the villagers a chance to identify the most vulnerable and
it led to discussions that described how the situations could
change. It was decided by the villagers that henceforth all
the houses would be built on raised platforms and to combat
the problem of drinking water, all the tube wells would be raised. All the villagers then decided to
contribute their best of efforts in this gigantic task and formed Village Disaster Management Teams.
In Standard IX Chapter 6, we discussed about the process of community planning for disasters. In
continuation to the earlier chapter this chapter outlines the practical steps of community level disaster
preparedness. It covers important steps such as awareness building in the neighborhood or community,
analyzing the situation, formation of task force and drawing emergency response plans for taking long-
term measures to reduce risk.
Planning ahead…
by the people, for the people
7.
53
Community Planning
Community planning is a forward planning process, which identifies human and material resources
and puts in place potential response system. It involves active participation from the people residing
in that locality in making decision about the implementation of processes, programmes and projects,
which affect them.
In other words, a community plan is a list of activities a neighborhood, community or a group of people
agree to follow to prevent loss of life, livelihoods and property in case of warning or a disaster. The
Plan identifies in advance action to be taken by individuals, in the community so that each one knows
what to do when a warning is received or when a disaster strikes. The major thrust is to address
possible scenario of an event and focus on the impact the humanitarian operations.
Contingency Plan can be :
? Natural disaster affecting
humanitarian operations and needs.
? Outbreak of an epidemic or serious
health problem
? Industrial accidents (Onsite/Offsite
Plans)
? Threat to staff, staff evacuation,
attack on premises etc.
? Outbreak of civil conflict affecting
civilian population
? Sudden shortage of food or other
commodities.
For what do we need to plan?
We can plan for any possible critical event. It can vary
upon the scale of operations or processes involved as
well as the population that could possibly be affected
in case of an untoward event. The most common could
be natural disasters affecting human operations or
industrial disaster.  The primary goal of Community
Planning for disasters is to reduce the vulnerability of
the concerned community and strengthen its existing
capacity to cope up with disasters. The approach of
preparing a Community Based Disaster Management
Plan considers people’s participation a necessary pre-
requisite for disaster management. By involving the
community in the preparedness phase, it increases
the likelihood of coordinated action by the communities
during emergencies.
Importance of Peoples’ Contingency Plan
A contingency plan need not be sophisticated, very
scientific, or computer generated model. It need not
have a series of flow diagrams showing the process of
planning. Use of technology or sophisticated analysis
is only useful when it is combined with the people’s
participation. Basic information, risk assessment and
intelligence analysis is normally adequate to have a
functional people contingency plan for various hazards.
The task cannot be of a single person in the preparation
of a working plan, since accuracy is considerably
Why peoples’ Contingency plan?
? They know better about the risk,
their vulnerabilities and the
capacities.
? They have the best idea of the place
where they stay and also the
strengths and weaknesses of the
community to cope wth an eventuality.
? They are the First Responders.
? They are also the ultimate sufferers.
Their plans will be more effective to
respond to any situation if confronted.
enhanced through the assimilation of experience, information and skills of widest possible range
of sources.
Contingency plans are prepared at different levels such as Neighborhood, Village,
Block, District, State and National Levels. It has to be made very specific by
involving both government and non-government organizations. The plan
should be ideally people-centric and hence the term peoples’ contingency
plans.
Page 3


52
Planning ahead…
by the people, for the people
Gopal Hazong aged 57 years having a family of 5 members lived in Nalbari village of Assam. Every
year the tyrant Brahmaputra River washed his house away. Apart from his house the whole village was
being affected and ninety percent of the houses washed off. One day a trained volunteer approached
him and said that they could reduce the loss that they have
been facing since years. They first decided to prepare a
Community Plan to combat floods. They involved all the
villagers and prepared a village map. The map became a
key reference point and this exercise was carried out for
three days.
More details were added day by day, until every household
detail was added in the map. This mapping exercise gave
the villagers a chance to identify the most vulnerable and
it led to discussions that described how the situations could
change. It was decided by the villagers that henceforth all
the houses would be built on raised platforms and to combat
the problem of drinking water, all the tube wells would be raised. All the villagers then decided to
contribute their best of efforts in this gigantic task and formed Village Disaster Management Teams.
In Standard IX Chapter 6, we discussed about the process of community planning for disasters. In
continuation to the earlier chapter this chapter outlines the practical steps of community level disaster
preparedness. It covers important steps such as awareness building in the neighborhood or community,
analyzing the situation, formation of task force and drawing emergency response plans for taking long-
term measures to reduce risk.
Planning ahead…
by the people, for the people
7.
53
Community Planning
Community planning is a forward planning process, which identifies human and material resources
and puts in place potential response system. It involves active participation from the people residing
in that locality in making decision about the implementation of processes, programmes and projects,
which affect them.
In other words, a community plan is a list of activities a neighborhood, community or a group of people
agree to follow to prevent loss of life, livelihoods and property in case of warning or a disaster. The
Plan identifies in advance action to be taken by individuals, in the community so that each one knows
what to do when a warning is received or when a disaster strikes. The major thrust is to address
possible scenario of an event and focus on the impact the humanitarian operations.
Contingency Plan can be :
? Natural disaster affecting
humanitarian operations and needs.
? Outbreak of an epidemic or serious
health problem
? Industrial accidents (Onsite/Offsite
Plans)
? Threat to staff, staff evacuation,
attack on premises etc.
? Outbreak of civil conflict affecting
civilian population
? Sudden shortage of food or other
commodities.
For what do we need to plan?
We can plan for any possible critical event. It can vary
upon the scale of operations or processes involved as
well as the population that could possibly be affected
in case of an untoward event. The most common could
be natural disasters affecting human operations or
industrial disaster.  The primary goal of Community
Planning for disasters is to reduce the vulnerability of
the concerned community and strengthen its existing
capacity to cope up with disasters. The approach of
preparing a Community Based Disaster Management
Plan considers people’s participation a necessary pre-
requisite for disaster management. By involving the
community in the preparedness phase, it increases
the likelihood of coordinated action by the communities
during emergencies.
Importance of Peoples’ Contingency Plan
A contingency plan need not be sophisticated, very
scientific, or computer generated model. It need not
have a series of flow diagrams showing the process of
planning. Use of technology or sophisticated analysis
is only useful when it is combined with the people’s
participation. Basic information, risk assessment and
intelligence analysis is normally adequate to have a
functional people contingency plan for various hazards.
The task cannot be of a single person in the preparation
of a working plan, since accuracy is considerably
Why peoples’ Contingency plan?
? They know better about the risk,
their vulnerabilities and the
capacities.
? They have the best idea of the place
where they stay and also the
strengths and weaknesses of the
community to cope wth an eventuality.
? They are the First Responders.
? They are also the ultimate sufferers.
Their plans will be more effective to
respond to any situation if confronted.
enhanced through the assimilation of experience, information and skills of widest possible range
of sources.
Contingency plans are prepared at different levels such as Neighborhood, Village,
Block, District, State and National Levels. It has to be made very specific by
involving both government and non-government organizations. The plan
should be ideally people-centric and hence the term peoples’ contingency
plans.
54
An effective contingency plan is prepared involving people from all areas and different categories
using participatory process. The active community members take a lead in facilitating and developing
the plan. It is also important that the plan prepared at the lowest level should be in lines to the plans
prepared at the higher levels for effective coordination during a disaster.
What should a Community Contingency Plan answer?
A typical contingency plan should answer the WHO, WHERE, WHEN, WHAT and WHY with regard
to Disaster Preparedness. The Plan should answer the following:
Who/Whom Who is assigned what?
Who is living where?
Whom to give priority?
Who will listen to messages?
Who will mobilize what?
Where/Where to Where to inform?
Where does each family live?
Where do they go?
Where do they work?
Where are the safe places for shelter?
When If it is an event with early warning: (Well before the event or on raise of early
warning/Just before the event or a season/During different stages of the
event/ After the event)
If it is a sudden event: (Before the event - preparedness measures/ During
the event/After the event)
What What arrangements are there at the community level?
What are the available resources?
What material needs to be stocked to meet the emergency?
What equipments are available?
What is the condition of safe shelters and the equipments?
What is to be done at different time intervals?
How How to reach a place?
How to get the message?
How to disseminate the message in case of early warning?
How to plan movement of people to safe places?
How to ensure security?
How to ensure stock in supply of essential food/water?
How to take care of emerging rescue/medical attention?
How to keep in touch and seek outside help?
Why? Why each of the above?
Note: This is not to be treated as a complete list. It is just an example.
The contingency plan is followed by a set of operational plans by various individuals,
teams and agencies. Further improvement of the plan should be carried out based
on the lessons learnt during practice.
Page 4


52
Planning ahead…
by the people, for the people
Gopal Hazong aged 57 years having a family of 5 members lived in Nalbari village of Assam. Every
year the tyrant Brahmaputra River washed his house away. Apart from his house the whole village was
being affected and ninety percent of the houses washed off. One day a trained volunteer approached
him and said that they could reduce the loss that they have
been facing since years. They first decided to prepare a
Community Plan to combat floods. They involved all the
villagers and prepared a village map. The map became a
key reference point and this exercise was carried out for
three days.
More details were added day by day, until every household
detail was added in the map. This mapping exercise gave
the villagers a chance to identify the most vulnerable and
it led to discussions that described how the situations could
change. It was decided by the villagers that henceforth all
the houses would be built on raised platforms and to combat
the problem of drinking water, all the tube wells would be raised. All the villagers then decided to
contribute their best of efforts in this gigantic task and formed Village Disaster Management Teams.
In Standard IX Chapter 6, we discussed about the process of community planning for disasters. In
continuation to the earlier chapter this chapter outlines the practical steps of community level disaster
preparedness. It covers important steps such as awareness building in the neighborhood or community,
analyzing the situation, formation of task force and drawing emergency response plans for taking long-
term measures to reduce risk.
Planning ahead…
by the people, for the people
7.
53
Community Planning
Community planning is a forward planning process, which identifies human and material resources
and puts in place potential response system. It involves active participation from the people residing
in that locality in making decision about the implementation of processes, programmes and projects,
which affect them.
In other words, a community plan is a list of activities a neighborhood, community or a group of people
agree to follow to prevent loss of life, livelihoods and property in case of warning or a disaster. The
Plan identifies in advance action to be taken by individuals, in the community so that each one knows
what to do when a warning is received or when a disaster strikes. The major thrust is to address
possible scenario of an event and focus on the impact the humanitarian operations.
Contingency Plan can be :
? Natural disaster affecting
humanitarian operations and needs.
? Outbreak of an epidemic or serious
health problem
? Industrial accidents (Onsite/Offsite
Plans)
? Threat to staff, staff evacuation,
attack on premises etc.
? Outbreak of civil conflict affecting
civilian population
? Sudden shortage of food or other
commodities.
For what do we need to plan?
We can plan for any possible critical event. It can vary
upon the scale of operations or processes involved as
well as the population that could possibly be affected
in case of an untoward event. The most common could
be natural disasters affecting human operations or
industrial disaster.  The primary goal of Community
Planning for disasters is to reduce the vulnerability of
the concerned community and strengthen its existing
capacity to cope up with disasters. The approach of
preparing a Community Based Disaster Management
Plan considers people’s participation a necessary pre-
requisite for disaster management. By involving the
community in the preparedness phase, it increases
the likelihood of coordinated action by the communities
during emergencies.
Importance of Peoples’ Contingency Plan
A contingency plan need not be sophisticated, very
scientific, or computer generated model. It need not
have a series of flow diagrams showing the process of
planning. Use of technology or sophisticated analysis
is only useful when it is combined with the people’s
participation. Basic information, risk assessment and
intelligence analysis is normally adequate to have a
functional people contingency plan for various hazards.
The task cannot be of a single person in the preparation
of a working plan, since accuracy is considerably
Why peoples’ Contingency plan?
? They know better about the risk,
their vulnerabilities and the
capacities.
? They have the best idea of the place
where they stay and also the
strengths and weaknesses of the
community to cope wth an eventuality.
? They are the First Responders.
? They are also the ultimate sufferers.
Their plans will be more effective to
respond to any situation if confronted.
enhanced through the assimilation of experience, information and skills of widest possible range
of sources.
Contingency plans are prepared at different levels such as Neighborhood, Village,
Block, District, State and National Levels. It has to be made very specific by
involving both government and non-government organizations. The plan
should be ideally people-centric and hence the term peoples’ contingency
plans.
54
An effective contingency plan is prepared involving people from all areas and different categories
using participatory process. The active community members take a lead in facilitating and developing
the plan. It is also important that the plan prepared at the lowest level should be in lines to the plans
prepared at the higher levels for effective coordination during a disaster.
What should a Community Contingency Plan answer?
A typical contingency plan should answer the WHO, WHERE, WHEN, WHAT and WHY with regard
to Disaster Preparedness. The Plan should answer the following:
Who/Whom Who is assigned what?
Who is living where?
Whom to give priority?
Who will listen to messages?
Who will mobilize what?
Where/Where to Where to inform?
Where does each family live?
Where do they go?
Where do they work?
Where are the safe places for shelter?
When If it is an event with early warning: (Well before the event or on raise of early
warning/Just before the event or a season/During different stages of the
event/ After the event)
If it is a sudden event: (Before the event - preparedness measures/ During
the event/After the event)
What What arrangements are there at the community level?
What are the available resources?
What material needs to be stocked to meet the emergency?
What equipments are available?
What is the condition of safe shelters and the equipments?
What is to be done at different time intervals?
How How to reach a place?
How to get the message?
How to disseminate the message in case of early warning?
How to plan movement of people to safe places?
How to ensure security?
How to ensure stock in supply of essential food/water?
How to take care of emerging rescue/medical attention?
How to keep in touch and seek outside help?
Why? Why each of the above?
Note: This is not to be treated as a complete list. It is just an example.
The contingency plan is followed by a set of operational plans by various individuals,
teams and agencies. Further improvement of the plan should be carried out based
on the lessons learnt during practice.
55
How to prepare a plan and what should a contingency plan consist of?
The Contingency Planning Exercise is a forum and opportunity for all sections of the society to
participate. Each has something useful to contribute to the planning. The views of one may differ from
others, but this will often be to the advantage of the planning process since it provides a useful forum
for all assumptions to be questioned and refined. The end product is thus more realistic. To start with
the plan one individual or a group of people may facilitate the Contingency Planning Exercise. Due
importance is given to each individual in the development of the Plan.
In this part we will look into some detail on the preparation of the Contingency Planning process. There
is no clear demarcation of an exact procedure as situation may vary in terms of geographical spread,
the hazard, the location from the hazard, the exposure, vulnerability aspects and processes involved.
A typical Community Contingency Plan will involve following basic steps:
? Initial awareness and rapport building
? Outlining the profile of the community
? Analyzing the situation on a participatory basis
? Selection of Task Forces, Indicative Responsibilities and Capacity Building of Task Forces
? Rehearsals/ Mock Drills.
1. Rapport Building and Initial Awareness
Rapport building with the senior citizens, Village Self Help
Groups, youth clubs, elected representatives etc .is the first
step in preparation of the Community Contingency Plan. The
main objective is to motivate them and get them involved in
the planning process. Usually Government functionaries
working at the village level, elected representatives and
voluntary organizations help in the preparation of plans at
the community level.
Discussing the recent disaster incident and the losses
and risks that were involved could generate initial
interest. The discussion has to be done through a
participatory process. If the community does not have
a recent experience to recollect, but still is a potentially
vulnerable area the incidences of nearby areas should
be discussed.
Local knowledge to cope up with the disaster should
not be overlooked during these discussions. It is
essential to tap information and take it forward towards
a meaningful process during the next step of analyzing
situations.
People in group discussion
Street play in an urban area to sensitize the
community
The important task here is to mobilize community participation through awareness generation
techniques by various options such as:
? Mass meetings
? Cultural activities
? Street plays
? Audio/visual aids
Page 5


52
Planning ahead…
by the people, for the people
Gopal Hazong aged 57 years having a family of 5 members lived in Nalbari village of Assam. Every
year the tyrant Brahmaputra River washed his house away. Apart from his house the whole village was
being affected and ninety percent of the houses washed off. One day a trained volunteer approached
him and said that they could reduce the loss that they have
been facing since years. They first decided to prepare a
Community Plan to combat floods. They involved all the
villagers and prepared a village map. The map became a
key reference point and this exercise was carried out for
three days.
More details were added day by day, until every household
detail was added in the map. This mapping exercise gave
the villagers a chance to identify the most vulnerable and
it led to discussions that described how the situations could
change. It was decided by the villagers that henceforth all
the houses would be built on raised platforms and to combat
the problem of drinking water, all the tube wells would be raised. All the villagers then decided to
contribute their best of efforts in this gigantic task and formed Village Disaster Management Teams.
In Standard IX Chapter 6, we discussed about the process of community planning for disasters. In
continuation to the earlier chapter this chapter outlines the practical steps of community level disaster
preparedness. It covers important steps such as awareness building in the neighborhood or community,
analyzing the situation, formation of task force and drawing emergency response plans for taking long-
term measures to reduce risk.
Planning ahead…
by the people, for the people
7.
53
Community Planning
Community planning is a forward planning process, which identifies human and material resources
and puts in place potential response system. It involves active participation from the people residing
in that locality in making decision about the implementation of processes, programmes and projects,
which affect them.
In other words, a community plan is a list of activities a neighborhood, community or a group of people
agree to follow to prevent loss of life, livelihoods and property in case of warning or a disaster. The
Plan identifies in advance action to be taken by individuals, in the community so that each one knows
what to do when a warning is received or when a disaster strikes. The major thrust is to address
possible scenario of an event and focus on the impact the humanitarian operations.
Contingency Plan can be :
? Natural disaster affecting
humanitarian operations and needs.
? Outbreak of an epidemic or serious
health problem
? Industrial accidents (Onsite/Offsite
Plans)
? Threat to staff, staff evacuation,
attack on premises etc.
? Outbreak of civil conflict affecting
civilian population
? Sudden shortage of food or other
commodities.
For what do we need to plan?
We can plan for any possible critical event. It can vary
upon the scale of operations or processes involved as
well as the population that could possibly be affected
in case of an untoward event. The most common could
be natural disasters affecting human operations or
industrial disaster.  The primary goal of Community
Planning for disasters is to reduce the vulnerability of
the concerned community and strengthen its existing
capacity to cope up with disasters. The approach of
preparing a Community Based Disaster Management
Plan considers people’s participation a necessary pre-
requisite for disaster management. By involving the
community in the preparedness phase, it increases
the likelihood of coordinated action by the communities
during emergencies.
Importance of Peoples’ Contingency Plan
A contingency plan need not be sophisticated, very
scientific, or computer generated model. It need not
have a series of flow diagrams showing the process of
planning. Use of technology or sophisticated analysis
is only useful when it is combined with the people’s
participation. Basic information, risk assessment and
intelligence analysis is normally adequate to have a
functional people contingency plan for various hazards.
The task cannot be of a single person in the preparation
of a working plan, since accuracy is considerably
Why peoples’ Contingency plan?
? They know better about the risk,
their vulnerabilities and the
capacities.
? They have the best idea of the place
where they stay and also the
strengths and weaknesses of the
community to cope wth an eventuality.
? They are the First Responders.
? They are also the ultimate sufferers.
Their plans will be more effective to
respond to any situation if confronted.
enhanced through the assimilation of experience, information and skills of widest possible range
of sources.
Contingency plans are prepared at different levels such as Neighborhood, Village,
Block, District, State and National Levels. It has to be made very specific by
involving both government and non-government organizations. The plan
should be ideally people-centric and hence the term peoples’ contingency
plans.
54
An effective contingency plan is prepared involving people from all areas and different categories
using participatory process. The active community members take a lead in facilitating and developing
the plan. It is also important that the plan prepared at the lowest level should be in lines to the plans
prepared at the higher levels for effective coordination during a disaster.
What should a Community Contingency Plan answer?
A typical contingency plan should answer the WHO, WHERE, WHEN, WHAT and WHY with regard
to Disaster Preparedness. The Plan should answer the following:
Who/Whom Who is assigned what?
Who is living where?
Whom to give priority?
Who will listen to messages?
Who will mobilize what?
Where/Where to Where to inform?
Where does each family live?
Where do they go?
Where do they work?
Where are the safe places for shelter?
When If it is an event with early warning: (Well before the event or on raise of early
warning/Just before the event or a season/During different stages of the
event/ After the event)
If it is a sudden event: (Before the event - preparedness measures/ During
the event/After the event)
What What arrangements are there at the community level?
What are the available resources?
What material needs to be stocked to meet the emergency?
What equipments are available?
What is the condition of safe shelters and the equipments?
What is to be done at different time intervals?
How How to reach a place?
How to get the message?
How to disseminate the message in case of early warning?
How to plan movement of people to safe places?
How to ensure security?
How to ensure stock in supply of essential food/water?
How to take care of emerging rescue/medical attention?
How to keep in touch and seek outside help?
Why? Why each of the above?
Note: This is not to be treated as a complete list. It is just an example.
The contingency plan is followed by a set of operational plans by various individuals,
teams and agencies. Further improvement of the plan should be carried out based
on the lessons learnt during practice.
55
How to prepare a plan and what should a contingency plan consist of?
The Contingency Planning Exercise is a forum and opportunity for all sections of the society to
participate. Each has something useful to contribute to the planning. The views of one may differ from
others, but this will often be to the advantage of the planning process since it provides a useful forum
for all assumptions to be questioned and refined. The end product is thus more realistic. To start with
the plan one individual or a group of people may facilitate the Contingency Planning Exercise. Due
importance is given to each individual in the development of the Plan.
In this part we will look into some detail on the preparation of the Contingency Planning process. There
is no clear demarcation of an exact procedure as situation may vary in terms of geographical spread,
the hazard, the location from the hazard, the exposure, vulnerability aspects and processes involved.
A typical Community Contingency Plan will involve following basic steps:
? Initial awareness and rapport building
? Outlining the profile of the community
? Analyzing the situation on a participatory basis
? Selection of Task Forces, Indicative Responsibilities and Capacity Building of Task Forces
? Rehearsals/ Mock Drills.
1. Rapport Building and Initial Awareness
Rapport building with the senior citizens, Village Self Help
Groups, youth clubs, elected representatives etc .is the first
step in preparation of the Community Contingency Plan. The
main objective is to motivate them and get them involved in
the planning process. Usually Government functionaries
working at the village level, elected representatives and
voluntary organizations help in the preparation of plans at
the community level.
Discussing the recent disaster incident and the losses
and risks that were involved could generate initial
interest. The discussion has to be done through a
participatory process. If the community does not have
a recent experience to recollect, but still is a potentially
vulnerable area the incidences of nearby areas should
be discussed.
Local knowledge to cope up with the disaster should
not be overlooked during these discussions. It is
essential to tap information and take it forward towards
a meaningful process during the next step of analyzing
situations.
People in group discussion
Street play in an urban area to sensitize the
community
The important task here is to mobilize community participation through awareness generation
techniques by various options such as:
? Mass meetings
? Cultural activities
? Street plays
? Audio/visual aids
56
3. Outlining the profile of the community
It involves outlining data pertaining to the following
namely:
? Population
? Local resources (both human like skilled manpower
- health practitioners, Ex- servicemen etc and
material like boats, generators etc).
? Housing pattern in that locality (RCC, tiled etc).
? Cropping and Occupational pattern
4. Review and Analysis of Past Disasters
It refers to prioritizing disasters based on its frequency
and analysis of the estimated losses. This can be
carried out by taking the help of elderly people of the
village. The villagers analyze the losses that they had
incurred during various disasters and learn the best
practices carried out. Based on the assessment of the
situation actions need to be assigned to the community
members.
A village disaster management
committee save dozens lives……
Villagers of a sea coast village in
Cuddalore district in Tamil Nadu were
taking lessons on Disaster management
when they were caught by killer tsunami
waves. The lesson learnt came handy
to them in saving many lives. The death
toll restricted to 22 -21 in this village
of around 2000 population. Villagers
were asked to make use of local
resources such as dry tree stem or
empty drums when drowning in sea. The
Village had of the VDMC set up in
October last year. Women in team were
engaged in giving first aid to the
victims.
Source: Dainik jagaran
? Displaying of posters
This awareness campaign will help the people to understand the need for planning.
2. Formation of a village disaster management committee (VDMC)
Village Disaster management Committee (VDMC) is formed in each of the village and it is responsible
for initiating disaster preparedness activities. It consists of local elected representatives, grass root
level government functionaries, NGOs, CBOs, youth clubs and members from the Mahila samities.
Senior citizens too are a part of the committee. The head of the VDMC takes a lead in mobilizing the
community for the preparation of the Disaster Management Plan.
Seasonality Disaster Calendar
Hazards Jan Feb Mar April May June July August Sept. Oct Nov Dec
1 Flood vv v
2 Cyclone vv v v
3 Drought vv
4 Forest fire vv
v Month of Occurrence
5. Seasonality Calendar for Disasters
While analyzing the past experiences pertaining to various natural hazards, communities develop the
seasonality calendar based on the occurrence of the disaster.