It is neither possible nor desirable to prescribe details of what should be done in each diocese. The points mentioned here needs to be contextualised to the type of disasters and the local situation, within the resources available.

Integrating preparedness in ongoing activities/daily life is the need of the hour to help reduce the impact caused due to frequency and nature of calamities. However preparedness measures can start from day-1 either during an early warning phase or when any outbreak occurs.

Each diocese operating in a disaster prone area needs to have a trained team – Emergency Rapid Action Team - having the basic knowledge of participatory processes, preparedness measures for different disasters and capable of imparting training. A part of the available funds should be used for this.

Participatory Damage assessment by the community through PLA (Participatory Learning and Action) can include vulnerability assessment and resource identification at village and family level in view of preparedness for future disasters. PLA is preferred to PRA due to its focus on the community’s learning and community action. The types and contents of PLA tools will vary according to the nature of a disaster, the ground reality and the time available. The process of conducting a PLA exercise is very important as it should generate a sense of willingness among the people to understand what they can do best with their own resources. A minimum of six PLA tools are recommended namely– Transect chart, Vulnerability and Resource map, Historical analysis of disasters, Seasonality chart, Venn diagram and Problem prioritisation. The number may vary according to the situation. In places where transect is not possible, a list of vulnerables and resources can be penned down. But the PLA should generate sufficient baseline data for planning the response, rehabilitation as well as preparedness. Whether drawn on the ground or on chart paper, the PLA charts should be copied into A4 size paper with sufficient copies for the use of various stakeholders such as the community, task force teams, field workers, diocesan office, the PRI and the Government personnel.

A plan of action for response and rehabilitation would be made by the community and it would include how the locally available resources were utilized, what the community did and can do and the intervention of the Government and other agencies. The plan also would include measures of preparedness for the future disasters and the names of the Task Force Team members.

Task Force Teams formed by the village communities would play an active role in the response, rehabilitation as well as preparedness. The number and type of teams will depend on the nature of disaster, gravity and the local situation (teams can be formed for early warning, rescue, first aid, water and sanitation, shelter etc.) There should be a back up in terms of personnel and alternate plan of action, in case a situation takes a different toll. A coordination team should be set up to help the task force teams to plan and organise their activities and maintain linkages with Panchayats and the Government. Emphasis would be given on including, persons from various subsets of the population. Task Force Teams need to be trained in the necessary skills. Each team should make an activity plan for their respective tasks. One team should maintain necessary records such as a family register with information on each family, list of vulnerable persons, necessary phone numbers etc.

From the beginning of the disaster prone season the previously/existing trained teams would keep in touch with every family and get into action with updating the PLA data and community based plan of action, refreshing the skills for rescue, first aid and more.

Some Principles of CBDP can be applied to response and rehabilitation, such as:

Family survival kit should include, besides food rations, valuable documents, important belongings, gender specific and child specific items such as immunisation card, school text books etc.

Safety measures should include imparting basic knowledge on first level action to children, women, men and differently abled to their age. Small children should know the names of their parents and their full address. Small infants can have a tag with their name and address as an identification mark, which will be useful in case of displacement. To also help develop simple mechanisms that individuals can use at their personal front, to ensure their safety.

Health awareness and hygienic practices need to be part of preparedness especially in flood/cyclone prone areas to avoid water borne diseases.

Gender perspective is already included in the guidelines given by Caritas India. These are not repeated here.

Psychological issues, especially community-based support systems need to get due consideration, with focus on what each family can do. Family needs to stay together in the temporary shelters; Children in the age of 5-10 years, who are psychologically most vulnerable, should remain with their parents at night. (Family shelter is preferable to common shelters). Counselling sessions, should be an ongoing practice in every household to ameliorate quick response and action.

Networking is essential for preparedness. The people of the community, the institutions in the village, the CBOs, the Panchayati Raj Institutions and the Government administrative structure should be seen as one team. Attempts should be made to see that all work together in a spirit of collaboration as far as possible within the local situation. Activities of networking such as sensitisation and meeting with various stakeholders should get due importance while budgeting.

Having some trained teams and conducting a few activities of CBDP, without any focus on the families and on creating a proactive mindset of self-reliance, can make a caricature of CBDP, with very little impact in the community.

CBDP is a process-oriented programme. It can be initiated during the response or rehabilitation phase or even earlier. But the process should continue until a transformation takes place at the community level and the change of mindset is visible in the sustained behavioural change in every family.

According to the guidelines of Caritas India 30 % of the funds allocated for response or rehabilitation is to be set apart for preparedness. The diocese concerned can prepared a budget for the utilisation of this and have it approved by Caritas India.