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ECHOs from the Field 
News from Partners National Community-Based Disaster
Management Course
A Community-Based Disaster Management (CBDM) course was conducted in Nha Trang, Vietnam from 10-19 September 2001 by ADPC, in collaboration with the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC) - Vietnam. The course was organized under the ECHO-funded Partnerships for Disaster Reduction - South East Asia project. Twenty-two participants took part in the course. They represented various NGOs and GOs, including ADRA, CARE, CECI, CIDSE, CISP, CODEV, CRS, Danish Red Cross, Development Workshop, Maryknoll, Oxfam-Hong Kong, Oxfam-GB, Save the Children-Sweden, Vietnam Red Cross, World Vision, YWAM, and the Disaster Management Center of the Government of Vietnam. As part of PDR-SEA’s curriculum adaptation initiative, the course was done entirely in Vietnamese. Course exercises, transparencies and participants’ workbooks and readings were all translated into Vietnamese, with examples and case studies adapted to the Vietnamese context. The course director had participated in the regional Training of Trainers course on CBDM in Manila in July 2001, while the seven course facilitators had taken part in the Training of Trainers course on CBDM conducted by IFRC-Vietnam in August. The training equipped the participants with knowledge and skills in participatory risk assessment and various risk reduction measures. Feedback from the various organizations represented in the training has been positive: Ms. Kim Mai has already been making positive reports to
me. The training should enhance the capacity of our agency to respond to
disasters in a positive way. Thank you for supporting our partner to successfully
participate in the CBDM course. Mr. Cuong will be able to use his knowledge in
local community-based disaster preparedness planning.
Following recent increases in volcanic activity at Mt. Merapi, in Central Java,
Indonesia, Oxfam GB Indonesia, in collaboration with Kappala (a local partner),
conducted a series of community-based disaster preparedness training workshops (Paguyuban
Sabuk Gunung Merapi, or Community Forum of the Merapi Volcano Belt)
for communities on the slopes of the volcano. Training materials covered basic
concepts of community-based disaster management, preparedness and mitigation of
volcanic hazards, capacity and vulnerability mapping, first aid management and
establishment of early warning systems. A total of 201 people (21 women and 190 men) have been
trained in disaster preparedness, potentially benefiting 12,600 people living in
villages on the volcano's slopes. A number of actions were subsequently
initiated to increase people’s capacity to deal with disasters:
In late February 2001, there was a small eruption followed by an explosion of ash and vaporous gas. Residents of two villages fled to evacuation shelters for three days. They were able to demonstrate their readiness and new skills through early detection of the eruption and their orderly evacuation. Government officials arrived in the villages to assist the evacuation, hours after the community had evacuated itself. As communities were well prepared, having identified the Evacuation Center and having prepared basic items needed during evacuation, no emergency assistance was required. Having identified inadequate roads as a factor hindering rapid evacuation during a volcanic eruption, vulnerable communities lobbied the district government to support improved road construction, and received a favorable and quick response. The government provided asphalt and equipment to rehabilitate one km of road identified as critical for rapid evacuation. The communities contributed stone, sand, labor and funds to the project. During their regular meetings, communities on the volcano’s slopes continue to roll out skills and knowledge in preparedness for a volcanic eruption. An initiative has also been explored to share the community’s preparedness activities through a film for communities in neighboring areas and other stakeholders, such as the government, NGOs, and international organizations. Contributed by Oxfam GB Indonesia
Lessons learned from the humanitarian assistance to communities displaced internally by the Poso conflict, Central Sulawesi, Indonesia Oxfam GB Indonesia has recently conducted a cross programme exchange (CPE) in Central Sulawesi, Indonesia, involving six participants from Aceh partner NGOs and the Oxfam Aceh Sub-office engaged in public health activities for displaced and returnee communities, and one participant from a Jakarta-based research foundation (AKSARA) conducting research on internally displaced communities in Indonesia. The CPE aimed to share with partners in Aceh approaches and methods used in Central Sulawesi for providing humanitarian relief for displaced communities, and to build capacity for similar interventions in Aceh. Learning focused on community organization for water supply, sanitation and health promotion among internally displaced persons (IDPs) in Central Sulawesi camps, coordination and delivery of assistance by other stakeholders, linkage with other stakeholders to provide assistance in similar situations, and security management in conflict situations. Central Sulawesi was chosen for the CPE activity, as the complexity of humanitarian issues concerning the affected community offers extensive learning opportunities in terms of conditions observed, responses delivered, approaches used by various actors, and the technical and social aspects of public health projects, including gender equity in community organizing for public health. Activities included a pre-departure briefing; discussions with local stakeholders and a visit to IDP camps in Central Sulawesi, including those to which Oxfam has provided assistance; discussion among the participants on approaches to assistance delivery, security management, minimum standards, and other topics; drafting of lessons learned, case studies and evaluation of learning experiences; and reporting. Visits to IDP collective centres enabled the Aceh partners to gain a better understanding of the complexity of needs arising in conflict situations. Discussions with government officials and local NGOs in different locations provided opportunities to see the causes of displacement in a broader context, and to distinguish effective and ineffective response and approaches used in various sectors, such as public health, food security and nutrition. Actors in Central Sulawesi also gained knowledge from the experience of the Aceh team, who have been dealing with displacement for a much longer time. Experiences using different tools for capacity and vulnerability analysis, approaches to needs assessment, assistance delivery, as well as best practices and lessons learned case studies have been compiled and will be shared with actors working in different conflict-affected areas. Upon their return to Aceh, participants are expected to share lessons learned with their colleagues. Contributed by Oxfam GB Indonesia Emergency Management Seminar Organizing for Rural Development (ORD), in partnership with Action d’Urgence
Internationale and the European Community Humanitarian Aid Office (ECHO), held a
seminar on Emergency Management from 26-28 September 2001 in Tayabas, Quezon
Province, Philippines. The seminar was for heads of selected municipal disaster
coordinating councils, provincial disaster coordinating councils, the Department
of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD), and NGOs working in disaster
management. The seminar’s aim was to strengthen the capability of disaster
management practitioners toward risk reduction in Quezon Province. It enabled
participants to identify various disaster management models, to describe the
requirements of an Emergency Operating Center, to describe damage assessment and
needs analysis, and to come up with a desired reporting format for damage
assessment and needs analysis. South East Asia Regional Disaster Management Practitioners
Meeting The International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC) – Vietnam, in collaboration with the Vietnam Red Cross and the Asian Disaster Preparedness Center, with funding support from the European Commission Humanitarian Aid Office, is organizing a regional meeting of Red Cross Societies, representatives of national disaster management offices, and NGOs involved in disaster management in 11 countries of the region: Brunei Darassalam, Cambodia, East Timor, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, Philippines, Singapore, Thailand, and Vietnam. The meeting, which will be held from 13-15 November 2001 in Da Nang, Vietnam, aims to discuss key issues in disaster management that affect the Southeast Asian region, examine the community-based approach to disaster management, analyze risk reduction measures undertaken by disaster management organizations, share best practices and lessons learned, and enhance regional networking and knowledge sharing. For more information, contact Ian Wilderspin, IFRC Vietnam, Tel. (84-4) 943-8250, 943-2889, Fax (84-4) 943-6177, E-mail: ifrc@hn.vnn.vn
Oxfam GB Indonesia is currently implementing an integrated pilot project for flood mitigation and preparedness in Central Java, Indonesia. The project, which started in April 2001, aims at assessing the causes and impacts of flooding in Central Java in order to identify mitigation and preparedness measures. Rather than developing programmes for flood mitigation and preparedness, the project is being implemented with a partner, with emphasis on promoting replication and effecting change in policies, practices, ideas and beliefs beyond the project period. The study team comprises four NGOs, and is supported by two NGO networks. The study looks at the Buayan river system in Kebumen District and the Kali Lasern river system in Rembang District, which influence water systems and are representative of Central Java, where floods presently occur annually. Using a ‘hydrology management’ approach, it involves observation of the whole river systems and identification of the causes of floods, together with analysis of watershed management policies influencing hydrology management in the area, and action research using participatory rural appraisal (PRA) tools to involve the community. Specific focuses are:
Findings so far indicate that recent environmental changes are linked to increased vulnerability to flooding, particularly in the shift from natural forests to monoculture plantation, construction of irrigation infrastructure, livelihoods degradation related to changing land use patterns, and controversy over land ownership. In 1998-1999, during the peak of the economic crisis, illegal cutting in state-owned plantations along the river systems studied greatly increased. The study has now completed the pre-study field orientation, trial runs of participatory tools developed for the study, a workshop to identify constraints and opportunities in the field (such as weaknesses of the tools vis-a-vis gender analysis and the need to involve children in the study), and participatory action research. Monitoring is conducted regularly to evaluate progress and to discuss findings to date. Results and recommendations will be disseminated to interested parties. Contributed by Oxfam GB Indonesia
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