|
Magazine
Trained to survive
MALVIKA KAUL
|
In villages across India, women are learning to face and cope with natural disasters.
|
Photo: A. Muralitharan
Prepared to handle emergencies: Women undergoing a training programme in Chennai.
In thousands of villages across India, a growing number of ordinary people are learning to deal with disasters better and recover from them faster. This growing force includes many illiterate women trained to protect themselves and others during floo
ds, earthquakes, rural fires and tsunami.
The potential of such a training is immense: This year three States in India — Orissa, Bihar and Assam — suffered unprecedented floods, destroying lives and property. In fact, floods are an annual feature with 60 per cent of India’s land prone to them. Past experiences suggest that if the local people are equipped to handle the first 8-10 hours after the floods strikes, the losses can be drastically reduced.
Women like Kalpana Sahoo from Kakudikuda village, Jajpur district, Orissa, have been trained in disaster preparedness skills like first aid and conducting search and rescue operations. Last year, during floods, Kalpana, along with her Self Help Group (SHG) members took on the responsibility of providing food and medical supplies to stranded villagers. They collected dry food, rice, bread and jaggery from different houses, packed them and floated the materials to the submerged villages in boats made of truck tubes.
Thinking on their feet
The women also used rafts made from the trunk of banana tree to transport supplies of kerosene oil and candles to villages cut off from the rest of the district. “We experience floods every year and have been responding to it at an individual level. But now we have learnt to respond collectively to a disaster,” says Kalpana.
Kalpana has been trained under the Disaster Risk Management (DRM) programme, a joint initiative of the Government of India and UNDP. The programme, which started in 2002, aims to develop the capacity of the local community and the Panchayati Raj Institutions (PRIs) for disaster mitigation, preparedness and recovery.
The DRM programme runs in 169 multi-hazard districts in 17 States — Assam, Manipur, Tripura, Nagaland, Mizoram, Meghalaya, Sikkim, Bihar, Gujarat, Maharashtra, Orissa, Uttar Pradesh, Uttaranchal, West Bengal, Arunachal Pradesh, Tamil Nadu and Delhi.
The tsunami in 2004 exposed the vulnerability of women to disaster — more women drowned because they wore saris and could not run to safety; they wasted time looking out for support from male folk and in finding secure places to keep their money and jewellery.
Besides, gender bias operated during distribution of relief. In one post-tsunami feedback report, K M Ramathal, chairwoman, State Women’s Commission, Tamil Nadu, said, “Women were sidelined and not consulted during the tsunami relief operations. The government officials took down the names of head of the families, mostly men, while handing over relief. These men drank away most of the relief money and women were forced to fend for themselves.”
Tremendous enthusiasm
In all the 17 States, women have shown remarkable enthusiasm during the first aid trainings and search and rescue drills. The DRM programme’s real value was exhibited in Samiyarpettai village in Cuddalore district, just two months before the Tsunami hit Tamil Nadu’s coastal belt in December 2004. The villagers had been trained to face an emergency — provide first aid, tie red, yellow and green ribbons on people according to their medical condition, convert doors into stretchers and skilfully rescue persons from unsafe places.
When the Tsunami hit this village, both men and women tried to put the lessons into practice. Result: Compared to the adjoining village of Pudupettai, Samiyarpettai recorded very few deaths and many fisher folk were able to get medical treatment on time.
Today they are trained to respond to the early warning signs, change into a long skirt and shirt in case they hear an alarm, and many have also learnt to swim.
In Gujarat, Bihar and Orissa, women in different villages regularly list out what they need to reduce the impact of recurring disasters — repair of roads and canals so that they are connected with the outside world; clearing of drains that will allow flood waters to drain away; strengthening fragile homes to ensure safety during disaster.
“The idea behind the programme is to tap the community’s existing skills or coping mechanism to handle disasters in a better manner,” says Pradeep Jena, Team Leader, UNDP Orissa Programmes. “A prepared community recovers faster from a disaster,” he adds.
Initially, the villagers first collectively draw out a vulnerability map highlighting vulnerable areas (low-lying areas, backwaters, etc). This map identifies the safer local places, road communication (main and arterial roads,. and also alternate routes) if a disaster strikes. This exercise helps the community to identify safe places and to take shelter during an emergency.
Kalpana is also part of the Disaster Management Committee (DMC) which supervises relief, training and recovery in a disaster. Its key responsibility is to plan in detail how the community will manage during the initial three days. It links up with various groups — panchayats, the block development officer, school authorities and health officials — all of whom help during mock drills, conducted in the village as part of the programme.
For Kavita Ghadai from Bari village, Jajpur district, Orissa, the extensive training by civil defence personnel under the DRM programme has given her both confidence and a focus for future.
“I have travelled several villages teaching men and women about what to do before, during and after a flood. I teach them about personal hygiene, sanitation, and gender specific needs of women like private toilets, how to organise sanitary pads, care of pregnant women, privacy, safety etc,” says Kavita. “We learnt through this training that we can actually save many lives once we learn to save ourselves,” say Kavita.
Ingenious ways
In any disaster, an effective early warning system is crucial. In many Orissa villages, fire outbreaks and lightning are frequent, causing massive damages. Again, the local women have used their ingenuity to warn others — they blow on their conch shells to warn the village about a fire outbreak. They also know which number to call for the fire brigade and insist that each house places a bucket of water at the entrance for emergencies during summer season. “We put a fine Rs. 50 on those families who fail to keep the bucket”, says Manika Patra, ex-ward member, who is also a member of the women SHG of Barshingha village in Angul District of Orissa. She, along with other villagers, mapped all the thatched houses and ponds in her village.
Involving women means recognising the human face of disaster, working towards reducing their vulnerability and acknowledging them as partners in disaster risk reduction.
Mumtaz, from Kilvelur village in Nagapattinam, one of the worst affected districts by the Tsunami, was trained this April by the Tamil Nadu Fire Force in all aspects of emergency survival and disaster management. She says, “The training has given me self-confidence. I understand now that women can also contribute in disaster relief and rehabilitation and not just be passive victims of a disaster."
Printer friendly
page
Send this article to Friends by
E-Mail
Magazine
|
