Disaster Risk Reduction: A review of DRR work by DEC Member Agencies in response to the 2004 Tsunami

The Disasters Emergency Committee (DEC) decided to mark the close of the Tsunami programme at the end of five years with a special report which examined whether its vision of a more long-lasting impact had been achieved in terms of the strengthening affected population’s resilience to future environmental shocks and disasters in Tsunami-affected countries namely Sri Lanka, India and Indonesia.

The purpose of this review was to inform future disaster responses by identifying lessons learnt. This review focused on two key concepts: disaster risk reduction (DRR) and building/ strengthening community resilience. The central question this review asked was: how had DEC members addressed these concepts and what had they achieved?

The review methodology was based on an adaptation of the international instrument known as Hyogo Framework for Action, and used some of the ‘Characteristics’ of a disaster-resilient community, developed by John Twigg for the DFID DRR Interagency Group. It focused on three countries – India, Indonesia and Sri Lanka

Key Lessons:

1. Effective interventions on DRR have the potential to strengthen grassroots institutions at the local and district level as well as create strong interface between grassroots community organisations and local authorities, making local governance more inclusive and participatory.

2. While village level hazard maps and preparedness plans have been developed, unless these lead to practical action aimed at mitigation measures, people will lose interest in keeping these updated. Already in Sri Lanka, communities interviewed complained that they have identified local hazards which accentuate flooding, but there have been not enough resources made available by government or NGOs for taking corrective actions.

3. Interventions which are based on strong partnership and links with local organisations including private sector (banks/financial and insurance companies) were far more likely to succeed than one-off asset distributions.

4. Disaster preparedness has been mainly focused on preparedness for emergency response, and that too, with focus on Tsunami-like disasters. So far, with a few exceptions, not enough attention and investment has gone into early warning, preventive and mitigation measures and recurring disasters like floods and droughts.

5. A great deal of training and capacity building activities are carried out by DEC members, but more systematic, collaborative, and public research and learning efforts are yet to emerge.