nepal disaster risk_case_study

KAILALI DISASTER RISK REDUCTION INITIATIVES

Contribution To Hyogo Framework Of Action

Community Based Disaster Risk Reduction

Nepal Red Cross SocietyKailali

CASE STUDY

February 2009

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Authors:Authors:Authors:Authors:Authors:Dhruba Raj GautamIndependent Researcher and ConsultantPhone: 98510-95808E-mail: [email protected]

Sudarshan KhanalStudent at the School of Forestry and Environmental Studies,Yale University, USAEmail: [email protected]

Special contributors:Special contributors:Special contributors:

Foreword IAcknowledgements IIAcronyms IIIExecutive Summary IV

1. The Context 1

2. Methodology 2

3. The Hyogo Framework for Action (2005-2015) 2

4. Project contributions in achieving the priority actions of HFA 34.1 Priority action 1 34.2 Priority action 2 54.3 Priority action 3 84.4 Priority action 4 134.5. Priority action 5 15

5. Project contribution in achieving the strategic goals of HFA 175.1 Strategic goal 1 175.2 Strategic goal 2 175.3 Strategic goal 3 17

List of tablesTable 1: Number of households and ethnic composition by community and VDC 1Table 2: Gender and ethnic composition of DPC 3Table 3: Lead-time of flooding for different locations 6Table 4: Warnings based on water levels 6Table 5: Number of participants in various trainings 10Table 6: Status of mitigation work, community nurseries and plantation 13

Table of Content

Mercy Corps Nepal is pleased to release the enclosed case study: Community Based DisasterRisk Reduction - Contribution to Hyogo Framework for Action. This case study is the result ofan evaluation of a DG ECHO-supported project implemented by Mercy Corps and the Nepal

We would like to acknowledge the support of the European Commission's Hu-manitarian Aid department, both in the production of this publication and for itsfunding of the Kailali Disaster Risk Reduction Initiatives Project under the 4thDIPECHO Action Plan for South Asia.

This case study report has been possible because of the support of project com-munities of Bisanpur, Jokaiyapur, Mankapur, Lalitpur, Mohanpur and Shivaratanpurof Kailali district for their patience and cooperation during this study. Members ofDisaster Preparedness Committees, community members and stakeholders, teach-ers and students, Village Development Committee and district level stakehold-ers enthusiastically shared their experience shared their experiences so manypeople personally and professionally. We would like to extend our sincere grati-tude to all persons who contributed to this study in many different ways: bysharing their experience, during the study, helping the study team to under-stand the contribution of the project towards the Hyogo Framework of Action bycontributing time, advice and hospitality.

We would also like to acknowledge the Kailali District Chapter of the Nepal RedCross Society, Mercy Coprs partner for activities under the Kailali Disaster RiskReduction Initiatives Project. The importance of their role both in terms of thisstudy and in terms of overall project implementation cannot be overstated.

We are grateful to Ulla Dons and Project Team for their feedback and suggestionin the methodology as well as coordination of the whole study. The painstakingefforts made by project team during the study were highly appreciable. Wewould like to appreciate Josh DeWald, Country Director and other senior man-agement of Mercy Corps Nepal for their valuable comments in the draft report.Last but not least, our thanks go to Mercy Corps Nepal who entrusted us with thetask of conducting this case study.

Thanks,Dhruba Raj Gautam and Sudarshan Khanal

Acknowledgements

II Case StudyFebruary 2009

BASE Backward Society Education

CSSD Conscious Society for Social Development

DDC District Development Committee

DoHM Department of Hydrology and Metrology

DP Disaster Preparedness

DPC Disaster Preparedness Committee

DRM Disaster Risk Management

DRR Disaster Risk reduction

DSCO District Soil Conservation Office

DTO District Technical Office

DWIDP District Water Induced Disaster Prevention

EWS Early Warning System

FGD Focus Group Discussion

HFA Hyogo Framework of Action

JRC Junior Red Cross Circles

KII Key Informant Interview

S&R Search and Rescue

SHP Sub-health Post

VCA Vulnerability and Capacity Assessment

VDC Village Development Committee

VDMC Village Disaster Management Committee

Acronyms and Abbreviation

IIICommunity Based Disaster Risk Reduction

Contribution To Hyogo FrameworkKailali Disaster Risk Reduction Initiatives Of Action

Executive summary

The context: In cooperation with the Nepal Red CrossSociety (NRCS) in Kailali, Mercy Corps is currentlyimplementing the Kailali Disaster Risk Reduction Ini-tiatives project in six communities. The European Com-mission supports this project through its Humanitar-ian Aid Department (under the DIPECHO 4th ActionPlan for South Asia). This case study was conductedto demonstrate whether and how and to what ex-tent the project contributes toward achieving the goalstowards the Hyogo Framework for Action (HFA). Con-sultations with NRCS and Mercy Corps staff, key in-formant interviews, focus group discussions, exitmeeting with project staff and analysis and report-ing were some of the main approaches used in car-rying out the study.

Project contributions toward achieving the priority ac-tions of HFA: The project has made several efforts toensure that DRR is a national and local priority withstrong institutional basis for implementation (priorityaction 1). In each community, it established disasterpreparedness committees (DPCs) and sub-commit-tees with clearly defined roles and responsibilitiesfor reducing flood risks and people’s vulnerability.Financial transparency is maintained through well-established social auditing. Emergency funds, a com-munity-managed initiative, have been instrumentalin initiating the disaster preparedness, response andmaintenance activities. So far, the six communitieshave saved a total of Rs. 74,300 (EUR 728). Bylinking community-level disaster preparedness (DP)plans to village development committee (VDC)-levelDP plans, the villagers have secured the resourcesthey need to execute their plans.

The project has helped project communities to iden-tify risks, assess, monitor and carry out early warn-ing initiatives (priority action 2). Physical, attitudi-nal, and social risks and vulnerability were identifiedthrough vulnerability and capacity assessment ex-ercises in each community. In coordination with theDepartment of Hydrology and Meteorology (DoHM)

field office, early warning information was madeavailable to communities and community-based earlywarning systems were established. At the commu-nity level, either agharia (a local messenger whocirculates messages to local people) or other personsassigned by the DPC monitor flood levels. Emergencyand first aid kits were provided to each community.CDMA phones and hand-operated sirens helped alertpeople to and save them from flood risks. The dis-semination of emergency news and weather-relatedbulletins by local FM stations was also very effectivein providing advance preparation.

For the proper use of knowledge, innovation, andeducation to build a culture of safety and resilienceat all levels (priority action 3), the project publishedIEC materials for widespread dissemination, showedDRR video documentary, organised cross visits andperformed street dramas. Early warning system andevacuation simulations are beneficial for knowledgemanagement. So far, more than 1,000 local people,schoolteachers and students have attended variouscapacity-building trainings. Viewing students andteachers as the key agents for change, the project’sschool-level programme focuses on DP and DRR aswell as conservation education.

The project has contributed to reducing the underly-ing risk factors (priority action 4) through introducinglow-cost, replicable and easily maintained bioengi-neering mitigation techniques including bamboo workand sand-filled cement sacks. To reinforce bioengi-neering efforts and save productive land alongriverbanks, 43,000 plants have been planted overan area of 27,300 m2. These initiatives have signifi-cantly reduced riverbank erosion and increased thelocal communities’ confidence in the possibility thatagriculture land and communities can be saved. Com-munity boats have become a means for safe evacu-ation during flood, and provisions for community shel-ters have effectively saved lives during periods ofinundation. The construction of evacuation routes (so

IV Case StudyFebruary 2009

far 4.2 km have been completed) has helped peoplereach these shelters or other safe places. Raising handpumps has ensured a source of safe water and re-duced the risk of epidemics and the spread of water-borne diseases during the monsoon season.

The project has positively contributed to increasingpreparedness for effective response and recovery

4 A bhalmansha is a traditional Tharu leader or village guardian selected or elected every year during the Maghi festival (15 to run the village systems. It is a

highly respected position found only in Tharu-dominated villages.5 An agharia is an assistant to a bhalmasha who circulates messages to local people as instructed by a bhalmash6 The five sub-committees are 1) nursery management, 2) early warning and rescue, 3) procurement and accounting, 4) construction and 5) community

mobilisation.

This report is based on field research conducted in sixproject communities. Before checklists and guide-lines for questions to ask in the field were prepared,project documents and relevant literature were re-viewed.

A consultation between Mercy Corps and the KailaliChapter of NRCS was held before the fieldwork be-gan in order to identify the key areas of interven-tions, the emerging issues and the concerns of lo-cal people with respect to DRR and DP. A briefmeeting with project field staff in Hasuliya revealedsome key outputs as well as good practices andsuccess stories. A sharing meeting with district-levelstakeholders helped to identify the level of coordi-nation and networking which exists for providingtechnical backstopping and synergetic impacts

through resource sharing. Primary data was collectedusing participatory tools and techniques such as fo-cus group discussions (FGDs) and key informant in-terviews (KIIs). FGDs were carried out with disasterpreparedness committees (DPCs) and Junior Red CrossCircles (JRCs) to provide insight into the project’s keyaccomplishments. KIIs with bhalmansha4, agharia5,coordinators of sub-committees6, early warning sys-tem (EWS) volunteers, schoolteachers and studentswere conducted to explore their perceptions of theproject’s contributions toward reducing disaster risks.Transects walks with DPC members and nursery man-agement committees helped reveal the extent of miti-gation work carried out by the communities, the pro-cesses and procedures they followed during that workand the benefits in DRR they acquired from it.

Methodology

The HFA provides a strong basis for priority actionsby governments and governmental organisationsas well as by local, regional and international non-governmental organisations. It is designed to buildthe resilience of nations and communities to disas-ters. The HFA has five priorities for action and threestrategic goals. The five priorities for action are (i)ensure that disaster risk reduction is a national andlocal priority with strong institutional basis forimplementation, (ii) identify, assess and monitordisaster risks and enhance early warning, (iii) useknowledge, innovation and education to build aculture of safety and resilience at all levels, (iv)reducing the underlying risk factors, and (v) and

strengthen disaster preparedness for effective re-sponse. The three strategic goals are (i) integra-tion of disaster risk reduction into sustainable de-velopment policies and planning, (ii) developmentand strengthening of institutions, mechanisms andcapacities to build resilience to hazards, and (iii)incorporation of risk reduction approaches into theimplementation of emergency preparedness, re-sponse and recovery programmes.

This report is organised according to the broad cat-egories set out in the HFA’s priorities for action (sec-tion 4 of this case study) and its strategic goals (sec-tion 5 of this case study).

The Hyogo Framework for Action (2005-2015)

2.

3.

2Community Based Disaster Risk Reduction


the community level: all expenditures are discussedat community gatherings both at the initial and finalstages of project activities. All key decisions and trans-actions are displayed on community notice boards aswell as on the walls of DPC offices. Both the DPC andprocurement sub-committee members are involvedin procuring materials from outside, so financial trans-

VDCs secretaries serve as VDCM coordinators and arecurrently overseeing the formulation of VDC-level DPplans which will consolidate community- level plansand consider common issues pertinent to DRR. Thisstep has opened the way to mobilising VDC-level re-sources in the execution of community-level DP plans.For instance, Hasuliya VDC provided Rs 5,000 toShivaratanpur DPC to construct a boat. Inspired byShivaratanpur, other DPCs also plan to solicit fundsfrom their VDCs. Once community-level DP plans arelinked with VDC plans, they will automatically belinked to the plans of Kailali District and DRR will bemainstreamed in district policies, planning and imple-mentation.

In short, the establishment of strengthened commu-nity-based institutions to carry out DP and DRR activi-ties, the development of knowledge-sharing mecha-nisms, the maintenance of financial transparency ineach project activities, and the drafting of commu-nity- as well as VDC-level DP plans have ensured thatdisaster risk reduction is a local priority with stronginstitutional basis for implementation.

4.2 Priority action 2: Identify, assess andmonitor disaster risks and enhance earlywarning

a. Developed knowledge and skills to identifyand assess riskThe project introduced vulnerability and capacity as-sessment (VCA) exercises in each community to iden-tify physical, attitudinal, and social risks and vulner-abilities. It also facilitated the assessment of naturaland man-made hazards in line with communities’perceptions of the associated risks. Local people haveidentified and ranked flooding as the main hazard intheir area. The factors that increase their vulnerabil-ity include ignorance, social disunity, the location ofsettlements on low land near riverbanks and the lackof preparedness. These VCA exercises are beneficialin that they increase awareness and preparednessand change the attitudes and behaviours of localswith respect to risks and how they cope with them.

Project communities are well aware of which areasare vulnerable to flooding and inundation and were

7 A popular festival among Tharus in which people throw coloured powder and water balloons at each other. It usually falls in March.8 A song and dance programme practiced from house to house by hill migrants during Tihar, the Festival of Lights, which falls in October or November. 9 A department under the Ministry of Science, Technology and Environment

able to develop risk maps based on the level of riskidentified. The categorised areas as being at low,medium or high risk. They identified areas at lowrisk as those inundated during a general flood. Iffloodwaters enter areas at medium and high risk,preparations for evacuation to save lives and impor-tant belongings are required. During the flood of Sep-tember 2008, local communities used the skills andknowledge they had acquired with great success toreduce flood risks.

People are well informed about the time it takes aflood to reach their localities from different up-stream river gauge stations. Through coordinationwith the Department of Hydrology and Meteorology(DoHM9) field office, early warning information wasmade available to downstream communities. In or-der to reduce the possibility of errors being made,

Since learning that Shivratanpur got resourcesfrom Hasuliya VDC to construct a boat, we haveplanned to visit our VDC to request some resourcesto replicate bioengineering work. We now knowthat making such a request is our right. I am quitehopeful that once the VDC-level DP plan isfinalised, incorporating our community-level DPplan, it will be easier to secure resources fromthe VDC to execute the plan’s activities. I don’tthink we need to worry about funds for the VDCeither as its plan will automatically be linked withthe DDC plan.

-Mr Chheduram Chaudhari, DPC Coordinator, Jokaiyapur

Box 2 No need to worry about getting resources

VDC level stakeholders meeting

5 Case StudyFebruary 2009

flood warning information was circulated to projectcommunities one to one-and-a-half hours earlier thanthe calculated lead time (see Table 3). The commu-nities thought that this information was very helpfulas it enable them to evacuate in time.

b. Hazard monitoringThe project has introduced both watershed and com-munity-level approaches to hazard monitoring. In col-laboration with five upstream rain gauge stations andsix upstream and three downstream water-levelgauging stations, project communities are able tomonitor the extent of flood risks in their localities.The project has helped train gauge recorders to moni-tor water levels hourly so that they can disseminatereal-time data to downstream communities. DPC andEWS coordinators are responsible for maintaining com-munications with upstream stations and for dissemi-nating information to communities. Cross-visits to fourrain gauge stations and four water-level gauging sta-tions clarified to DPC and EWS sub-committee mem-bers how rain and water levels are monitored andhow information is communicated. They learnedabout average and warning levels and how thisknowledge can be translated into preparedness intheir communities (see Table 4).

The mechanism for disseminating information aboutflood hazards is also well defined and functional. At

River Location Calculated Suggestedhours hour

Mohona Malakheti to Bisanpur 9 8Malakheti to Bhansar 3 2.5Bhansar to Bisanpur 6 5

Khutiya Khutiya Mudi Bhavar 10 9to Bisanpur

Gauri Ganga Highway to Lalitpur 3 2.5Kataini Highway to Manikapur 4.2 3.5

Source: Project record, 2008

Table 3 Lead time of flooding for different locations

the community level, either the agharia or a personassigned by the DPC monitors flood levels. This projectprovision built on rather than interfering with tradi-tional EWS-based practices. Hazard monitoring prac-tices vary across the communities. Shivaratanpur, forinstance, has allocated a team of people to monitorfloods twice a day, at 9 a.m. and 8 p.m., whereasBisanpur requires that the EWS coordinator monitorflood levels three times a day, at 5 a.m., 1 p.m. and9 p.m. Keeping safety and security in mind, eachmonitor has been provided with an umbrella, rubberboots, a torchlight and a raincoat.

Community-based local practices are designed to beaccessible to illiterate people. For instance, each com-munity has established a wooden post marked withyellow and red bands at riverbanks. Such a marker isa very simple method of DRR: water reaching the

yellow band is a sign to get prepared; reaching thered, a warning to evacuate immediately. In terms ofrainfall-based warnings, an intensity of 110-150 mmper hour is considered the first warning; 151-200 mm,the second; and above 200 mm, the third. Warningsare issued through FM radio stations.

c. Early warning disseminationThe project has coordinated with district-level stake-holders, and enhanced the capacity of communitiesthrough training and equipment and simulation ex-

Table 4 Warnings based on water levels

River Location Average flood level Warning flood level (1st stage) Warning flood level (2nd stage)Ready Get set Go

Mohona Malakheti 2.0 m 2.5 m 3.4 mKhutiya Mudi Bhavar 2.1m 3.6 m 4.8 mShiva Ganaga Highway Bridge 1.5 m 1.8 m 2.5 mGuruha Highway Bridge 1.2 m 1.5 m 2 mKataini Highway Bridge 1.8 m 2.2 m 2.8 m

With the careful use of EWS devices andapplication of the skills and knowledge wegained through various trainings and exposures,we made sure that no human casualties werereported in our project communities although24 people died in adjoining communities. Thesefigures show that if locals are preparedsufficiently in advance, the extent of flood riskscan be reduced dramatically.

-Mr Chhallu Ram Chaudhari, Teacher, Hasulia

Box 3 We are proud that no one has died in our communities.

Source: Project record, 2008



ercises to develop local knowledge-based early warn-ing systems.

To facilitate the dissemination of early warning mes-sages, the project provided nine CDMA phones at thefour downstream and five upstream rainfall andwater-level gauges and a hand-operated siren toeach community. Both were found to be very effec-tive EWS tools during the September 2008 flood. Com-munication channels and contact telephone numberswere disseminated to communities through fliers.Because of these simple mechanisms, locals wereable to evacuate the elderly, pregnant and lactatingmothers, children and livestock before flood levelsapproached the level of risk. Although their responseand evacuation times differed according to the dis-tance to safe shelter and community size, all six com-munities were able to evacuate all their memberssafely.

FM radios have been very effective in disseminatinginformation. The project mobilised local FM stationsto disseminate emergency news and weather-related

bulletins, both of which effectively enabled locals toprepare in advance. During the September 2008flood, project communities informed FM stations abouttheir situation in order to pressure relevant authori-ties into acting immediately to provide support. Work-ing with local media is an effective way of fosteringEWS.

The joint efforts of district-level agencies have helpedestablish watershed-level EWS. The Mohana Water-shed EWS was designed by a committee under thechairmanship of the district techncial office (DTO) withrepresentation from relevant district stakeholders.This committee has given time, energy and otherresources to strengthen watershed-level EWS and tolink it with downstream communities.

The project provided emergency and first aid kits toall six communities so they could carry out EWS andsearch and rescue work. The emergency supplies in-clude life jackets, safety vests, throw bags,carabineers, inner tubes, rope, helmets, hand-oper-ated sirens, and stretchers. These materials wereput to good use during the last monsoon. The peopleof Mohanpur saved lives using their emergency ma-terials during the flood of September 2008. InShivaratnapur, a drowning person was rescued withthe help of a life jacket. The first aid kits were widelyused during flooding. First aid kits are kept in thehouses of sudeni10) so that services can be instantlyprovided to locals.

Before we took exposure visits to upstream rainguage and flood monitoring stations andinteracted with technicians at the DoHM fieldoffice, we never understood the weather reportsbroadcast on radio and TV. Those reports werenot useful for us because we did not know thetechical terms. We are surprised that with amechanism as simple as installing a red-and-yellow banded wooden post, so much informationcan be collected and used for EWS. The exposurevisit helped us understand the meanings of floodlevels and estimated time for water to reach ourcommunities. This information is very useful forEWS. I think small initiatives are very important inmaking local communities aware.

-Ms. Gandhabi Devi Chaudhari, EWS Sub-committeeCoordinator, Manikapur

Box 4 Small initiatives promote knowledge about EWS

We appreciated the project’s support in providingemergency kits. Life jackets felt like friends in hardtimes. During the last monsoon, Aitabari Chaudhari,who lives on the other side of the Mohana, had toreturn home immediately because his wife Draupadihad died unexpectedly. It was night and there was a

In short, endeavours in risk identification and assess-ment were made by increasing knowledge about risksand about suitable strategies for coping with and mea-sures for reducing those risks. EWSs were establishedby drawing upon the existing knowledge of localsabout specific hazards and risks. Information wasdisseminated by those systems in a timely fashionusing simple and understandable language.

boo protection work with assistance from WFP/Back-ward Society Education (BASE). Emulating Bisanpur,the Lalitpur community plans to make wooden spursto protect their bio-engineering work. This same bio-engineering work inspired Phulbari-7, Shivtal, whichlies outside the project area, to establish 100 metresof bio-engineering. Similarly, Krishnanagar andBhiteria communities have requested funds from theDistrict Soil Conservation Office (DSCO) to implementbio-engineering in their communities. Inspired byShivaratanpur’s example, other communities havestarted to raise grains for their emergency funds onthe basis of landholding (one kilogramme per kattha).There is a growing tendency to collect cash and grainsfrom cultural and religious events like Fagui in Marchand Deusi and Bailo in October.

c. Street drama: an effective tool for increasingawarenessStreet drama is an important way of communicatingkey messages to illiterate communities. Locals saidthey found street drama effective in communicatinguseful information about DP and DRR initiatives. Sincedramas were presented in the local language bytrained local people, they were lively and their mes-sages accessible. The street drama team also dis-seminated its messages through the radio stationDinesh FM. That street dramas are effective in aware-ness raising can be seen through the example ofJokahiyapur: according to the DPC Coordinator, thecommunity were prepared for the September 2008flood and were able to evacuate and rescue com-munity members because of what they had learnedfrom street drama events. So far, 24 young peoplehave been trained to conceive and perform street

drama, thus creating local capacity for this importantservice. Altogether, more than 16,000 people haveobserved street dramas staged in schools and in com-munities.

d. Video documentaries: learning from others’experiencesVideo documentaries can sometimes galvanise view-ers into reducing disaster risks. Using their emergencyfunds, each DPC organized to show documentary filmsabout the various coping mechanisms people in high-risk situations adopt. Like street drama, videos suc-cessfully generated awareness among illiteratepeople. Some of the particular risk reduction activi-ties the videos communicated well and that havebeen emulated on the ground include the enforce-ment of rules like zero grazing and the practice ofagro forestry-based income-generating activities.

e. EWS simulations: increasing confidenceThe EWS and evacuation simulation exercises sharp-ened people’s knowledge about and skills in EWSand evacuation but also helped spawn necessaryamendments to local plans and practices. Each com-munity conducted these exercises in order to dem-onstrate the steps of the community evacuation andemergency plan as well as the use of project-pro-vided equipment and material. The steps demon-strated included the communication of a flood warn-ing message by upstream monitoring stations, basicpreparation for evacuation, the operation of EWS,evacuation, search and rescue, shelter management,first aid, and distribution of relief materials for recov-ery and rehabilitation. After the simulation, Mankapur

I was impressed by the street drama. Its subjecttouched my heart. My eyes were filled with tearswhen I saw how the irresponsibility of one characterincreased his own vulnerability and that of hisfamily. Most of the audience was sombre, and manywere teary-eyed. We were inspired to use localresources rather than waiting for externalresources, and now plan to assess local resourcesand start risks reduction initiatives. We have heardthat the project will not stay with us for muchlonger.

-Ms. Binita Chaudhary, Treasurer/DPC, Mohanpur,Hasulia -4

Box 6 Street dramas were helpful to explore local resources

mass observing street drama


d. Disaster risk management training: Project fieldstaff organised local-level disaster risk management(DRM) trainings after themselves participating in com-munity-based DRM trainings. These trainings were seenas instrumental in changing beliefs about internal re-source mobilisation. Locals are now less likely to waitfor external assistance to reduce disaster risk; their knowl-

Dipendra Higher Secondary School, Hasulia, startedconducting sanitation campaigns around the schoolin order to reduce the risk of snake bites. The trainingsare instrumental in establishing a student-guardianlink to DRR and in enabling students to fill in theknowledge and skills gaps among their fellow stu-dents and family members, particularly their moth-

After reclaiming land along a riverbank through bio-engineering work, people often start to farm off-sea-sonal vegetables, watermelon and nuts, to diversifylocal sources of income.

b. Using community- managed boatsto reduce riskCommunity-managed boats can effectively savepeople’s lives and livelihoods during floods. Withproject resources and community contributions, all sixcommunities run community boat services. Besidestheir regular function of helping people cross rivers

safely, the boats facilitate safe evacuation duringfloods. With these boats, children, elderly people,pregnant and lactating mothers and important be-longings were saved. The locals of Shivaratnapur be-lieve that they would have lost 10-12 people of theKhalla community during the last flood if the projecthad not provided boats. The locals of Shivaratnapur

used to use doond (wooden troughs used to feed live-stock) as boats though the risk of their overturningwas great. The rescuers of Bisanpur rescued some mem-bers of Chotki Palia community after their boat wassubmerged. The community members of Lalitpur andBisanpur even managed to save some police officers.

c. Community shelters serve as a refugeduring floodingShelters play an important role in mitigating the fearof floods and inundation. Mohanpur andShivaratnapur communities are constructing safebuildings linked to safe evacuation routes in orderso serve as community shelters. In Bisanpur, peoplerealised the importance of such shelters after 15households were displaced for seven days last year.

d. Construction of evacuation routesEvacuation routes are needed so that people can reachsafe places before major risks arrive. The project hasfacilitated the effort to construct such routes. So far, atotal of 4.2 kilometeres (1.7 in Lalitpur and 1.5 inJokahiyapur) have been completed with additionalsupport from a “cash for work”14 scheme. The heightsof routes are determined by assessing the flood lev-els of the last 50 years. The evacuation route atShivratanpur is high enough to serve as a dike andprevent water from flowing in from the Indian side.

We were sceptical about the project’s proposalto use bamboo spurs for flood mitigation. Afterthe project suggested we make them in ourcommunity, I met project officials to request themto focus on gabion boxes instead of bamboo spurs.I remember our community saying, ‘Aandhikaagadi benako ke kam (What is the use of a fan infront of a hurricane)?’ to the officials. When wesaw what bamboo spurs can do, we were amazed.Now we are committed to making more bamboospurs upstream from the present bioengineeringsite with the support of the DSCO. We are thinkingabout requesting other agencies to support us inintroducing bio-engineering work because it hasalready demonstrated its strength and itsfunctionality during heavy flooding. Gabion workis no longer our main demand.

-Mr. Maya Ram Chaudhari, Coordinator, DPC, MohanpurHausulia-4

Box 9 We are now fully convinced that bamboo works

community management bio engineering workcommunity managed boat

14 This initiative was supported by World Food Programme



to the project communities’ efforts, especially thosein bio-engineering, the DSCO has sent its training par-ticipants to visit the six project communities and tolearn from them. The DSCO’s interest suggests thatdistrict-level stakeholders view project communitiesas learning laboratories.

b. Promote and support dialogue, exchange ofinformation and coordination

low-income community members for their losses dueto floods.

With its provisions for strengthening policy, technicaland institutional capacities for local disaster manage-ment; promoting and supporting dialogue, the ex-change of information and coordination; and endors-ing regular disaster-preparedness exercises at the locallevel, the project has contributed to strengtheningdisaster preparedness for effective response.

Observation of IEC posters


Mercy Corps NepalP.O.Box 24374

Sanepa Chowk, Lalitpur, NepalTelephone: +977 1 555 5532

Fax: +977 1 555 4370E-mail: [email protected]

Mercy Corps European Headquarters40 Sciennes, Edinburgh, EH9 1NJ, UK

Telephone: +44 (0)131 662 5160Fax: +44 (0)131 662 6648

DIPECHODIPECHODIPECHODIPECHODIPECHO is the Disaster Preparedness Programme ofthe European Commission’s Humanitarian Aid depart-ment, the largest single humanitarian donor in theworld. The DIPECHO programme funds pilot projectsintended to demonstrate that simple, inexpensive pre-paratory measures, particularly those implementedby communities themselves, can limit damage andincrease resilience and save lives.

Mercy CorpsMercy CorpsMercy CorpsMercy CorpsMercy Corps is an international non-governmentalhumanitarian relief and development organizationwith headquarters in the USA and UK that focuses onproviding support to countries in transition. MercyCorps exists to alleviate suffering; poverty and op-pression by helping people build secure, productiveand just communities. Mercy Corps is primarily focus-ing on emergency relief; economic development; and,initiatives that strengthen civil society. The goal ofMercy Corps Nepal is to alleviate poverty by increas-ing resilience to shocks, expanding economic oppor-tunity, and fostering social inclusion.

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