What does Institutionalization of CBDRM mean?

Community-Based Disaster Risk Management, CBDRM institutionalization is a multi-sectoral, multi-level and participatory process based on agreed values leading to permanence, regularization, sustainability of CBDRM through its integration in the socio-economic development processes in multiple sectors and at various levels in the government and non-government sectors.

From the perspective of Community groups and organizations, the institutionalization is a state in which the role of these groups is recognized by the government in disaster risk management and their efforts are supported. The roles and functions of various players in CBDRM are defined for all levels ranging from the village, town, provincial, and regional to the national level. response.

In different organizational and cultural contexts, the process is referred to with different names. They include: institutionalize, mainstream, scaling up, normalize, legitimize, integrate, adopt, replicate or sustain.

The Institutionalization of CBDRM is required in order to:
Achieve the vision for developed and disaster-resilient communities
Scale up the impact (more people, more communities, more risks addressed)
Enhance learning (more stakeholders, more cases, more lessons)
Sustain the gains (more structural, more permanent improvements)
Recognize that strategic success of disaster risk management undertakings lay in the hands of people in the communities
Appreciate CBDRM as a viable approach to sustainable development
Mobilize counterpart resources for disaster risk management.

Compiled by Mr Zubair Murshed, Training Manager PDR-SEA 2 from the proceedings of the Third Disaster Management Practioners' Workshop for Southeast Asia, 10-13 May, 2004, Bangkok, Thailand.

Disaster ABC's

Southern Oscillation - It is a sea-saw of atmospheric pressure between the Pacific and Indo-Australian areas. For example, when pressure is low in the South-Pacific high pressure cell and hight over Indonesia and Australia, the Pacific trade winds weaken, upwelling of cool water on the Pacific equator and along the Peruvian coast weakens or stops and sea surface temperatures increase in these areas where the upwelling weakens.

Southern Oscillation Index (SOI)- The SOI has been developed to monitor the Southern Oscillation using the difference between sea level pressures at Darwin, Australia, and Tahiti, although other stations have sometimes been used. Large negative values of the SOI indicate a warm event, and large positive values indicate a cold event (also referred to as La Niña). It is important to note that there is not a one-to-one correspondence between the occurrence of Southern Oscillation events and El Niño events, using the spatially restrictive original definition of El Niño.

ENSO - ENSO is the term currently used by scientists to describe the full range of the Southern Oscillation that includes both SST increases (a warming) as well as SST decreases (a cooling) when compared to a long-term average. It has sometimes been used by scientists to relate only to the broader view of El Niño or the warm events, the warming of SSTs in the central and eastern equatorial Pacific. The acronym, ENSO, is composed of El Niño-Southern Oscillation, where El Niño is the oceanic component and the Southern Oscillation is the atmospheric component of the phenomenon. The broader definition of El Niño has sometimes been used interchangeably with ENSO, because ENSO is less well known in the popular electronic and printed media.

(http:/www.esig.ucar.edu/elnino/glossary.html)

Disaster Trivia: Floods in Cambodia (1996)
In 1996 the flooding of the Mekong river was more serious than the flooding in previous years. The rainfall of 1996 was generally good enough for rice production and other crops, but unfortunately the rainfall pattern was quite different from the previous years. In August the flooding was lower than the previous year however, after September 19 its flow rose rapidly. This resulted from the thunderstorm in China, which hit Laos and resulted in flooding in the provinces of Ratanakiri, Stung Treng, Kratie, Kampong Cham, Kandal, Prey veng, Takeo and Phnom Penh. The North Western provinces of Pursat, Battambang, Banteay Mean Chey were seriously affected by flooding due to heavy rains and flood water running off from Thailand. Pursat has been consecutively flooded for three years. Unfortunately it has been flooded three times in 1996 alone. The 1996 floods affected nearly the whole country and the damages was estimated at about 85 million us dollars.

www.geos.unicaen.fr/mecaflu/Flocodsweb/ Data/Eco_web/HTML/b27.htm

Guidelines for writing job descriptions
The primary purpose of a job description is to identify the essential functions of the position. According to the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC), essential functions are those tasks or functions of a practical position that are fundamental to the position. Knowing the essential functions of the job will aid in writing appropriate interview questions and dertermine whether a person is qualified to perform the essential functions. In defining the essential functions of a job, it is important to distinguish between methods and results. For example, is the essential function moving a fifty pound box from one part of the lab to another, or is it carrying the box? While essential functions need to be performed, they often do not need to be performed in one particular manner.

In writing the job description we need to,
List all the knowledge, skills, and abilities necessary to perform the job; divide them into requirements and preferences,
The requirements listed on the job description must support the essential functions, and serve as the primary criteria for selecting/rejecting candidates,
Don't lock yourself into strict requirements that may prevent you from considering qualified candidates. Consider substitutions (ex., 4 years of professional experience or a bachelor's degree)
Extracted from www.ruf.rice.edu

Twelfth Course on Community Based Disaster Risk Management, 5-16 July 2004, Manila, Philippines
ADPC will organize the twelfth Community-Based Disaster Risk Management, which will provide an opportunity for learners to acquire tools and obtain knowledge on "how to" design and implement programs for reducing disaster risks and vulnerability and building community capacity to promote a "culture of safety". Through exercise and simulations, the participants will practice risk assessment and risk management planning.

For more information, please contact Director of Training and Education <tedadpc@adpc.net> Online application available at http://www.adpc.net/training/

The Media and Climate: Building Partnerships Workshop, 26-27 July 2004, Bangkok, Thailand
An ADPC course, this workshop aims to strengthen and sustain partnerships between media and climate communities in Southeast Asia for the accurate and effective communication of the nature and implications of climate variability and change. Target participants are journalists from the print and broadcast media and representatives of national meteorological and climatological services from 10 Association of Southeast Asian (ASEAN) countries.
For more information, please contact Ms. Lolita Bildan lolita@adpc.net

Public Health in Complex Emergencies (PHCE) Training Program, 26 July - 7 August 2004, Bangkok, Thailand
This course will focus on the critical public health issues faced by government, non-government and private organizations working in complex emergencies. The course aims to enhance the capacity of humanitarian assistance workers and their organizations to respond to the health needs of refugees and internally displaced persons affected by these emergencies. Participants will master the key competencies in all of the following sectors: context of emergencies, epidemiology, communicable diseases, environmental health nutrition, reproductive health, weapons, violence and trauma, protection and security, psychosocial issues and coordination.

For more information on the above two courses, please contact Janette Ugsang, PHCE Course Manager at janette@adpc.net

Urban Flood Mitigation (UFM) Course, 23 August - 3 September 2004, Naga City, Philippines
Jointly organized by ADPC and the ITC Netherlands, the course will focus on urban flood mitigation issues, specifically on the impact of floods and the structural and non structural interventions available to mitigate urban impact. It aspires to integrate GIS application into the curriculum to enrich the course and to give hands-on experience to participants on application aspects. It is required that participants have prior exposure to GIS work.

Fourth Regional Training Course on Earthquake Vulnerability Reduction for Cities (EVRC-4), 3-9 October 2004, Jakarta, Indonesia
This course by ADPC, is particularly useful for those concerned with the reduction of vulnerability to earthquakes in urban areas. The course aims at enlightening the participants about the causes and effects of earthquakes as well as the possible strategies and approaches to reduce the damage and loss of life caused by these destructive events. The course content is outlined as follows: (i) Overview on Urbanization, Urban Hazards, Vulnerabilities, Risk and Disaster Management; (ii) Earthquake Hazard and Risk Assessment Methods; (iii) Earthquake Vulnerabilities; (iv) Earthquake Vulnerability Reduction Methods; (v) Planning for Vulnerability Reduction; and (v) Plan Implementation for Vulnerability Reduction.

For more details, contact Ms. Clarence Carlos clarence@adpc.net

Here are a few photos from third disaster management practitioners' workshop held last few month. Click to view a larger image with captions. A complete photo album will be made available to you by the end of the month.