On International Day of Risk reduction, Caritas India launched an annual campaign around building resilient communities based on the inherent potential of these communities to risk asses, calamity response, and post-disaster rehabilitation under the Global Program India Initiative. Caritas India also dedicated its annual series of lectures to be around the topic of the annual campaign. Stalwarts, practitioners, and stakeholders from Disaster Management & Risk Reduction participated and shared their valuable inputs.

The International Day for Disaster Risk Reduction was started in 1989, after a call by the United Nations General Assembly for a day to promote a global culture of risk-awareness and disaster reduction. Every 13 October, the day is an opportunity to acknowledge the progress of reducing the disaster risk and loss of lives, resources, and infrastructure. This year’s edition focuses on “International cooperation for developing countries to reduce their disaster risk and disaster losses. – sixth of Sendai Sevan targets.  Aligning with the theme, Caritas India- organized its annual lecture along with a campaign launch in the presence of Fr (Dr) Paul Moonjely, executive Director Caritas India, Fr (Dr) Jolly Puthenpura, Assistant Executive Director of Caritas India, guest of Honor Mr. Tom White Chief of Emergency (DRR) at UNICEF, India and honourable guest speaker G. Padmanabhan, Former DRR Analyst at UNDP, India and 100 plus stalwarts who have extensively worked in the domain of disaster risk reduction.

Fr (Dr) Jolly Puthenpura, Assistant Executive Director of Caritas India, welcomed all the delegates and participants, and he introduced the relevance and theme of the International DRR Day. He also stressed that the yearlong activities, including the We4Reilinece campaign, would enable Caritas India and partners to think and act in line with the international cooperation and DRR strategies.

During the introductory remarks, Fr (Dr) Paul Moonjely, director, Caritas India, emphasized that disaster risk reduction is the slogan of preparedness to meet any eventualities in the form of disasters and calamities, which is always a prime focus area of Caritas India. Fr. Paul also added that Caritas India is always prepared to be at the side of the people and community whenever a disaster strikes, and during the first wave of Covid 19 Caritas India reached out to 22 million people and, in the second wave, supported over 18 lakhs population with life-saving measures.

Fr. Paul also shared that the DRR day introduced a new campaign, We4Resilence, to reach a larger audience through different engagement. “We have the responsibility to save the planet with love and commitment to protect the people for a better prosperity leading to sustainability of every human being at the last mile,” added Fr Paul.

Shri G Padmanabhan, former DRR analyst UNDP, led a talk on International Cooperation to Reduce Disaster Risk and Disaster Losses. The DRR day observation is identified as a better strategy to create awareness about the Sendai Framework and its targets, and the day invites various experts and practitioners to take about the Sendai targets in detail. Shri Padmanabhan shared that to meet the 21st-century challenges in livelihood, health, etc., we must reduce the systemic risk. He also emphasized that the time has reached mainstream Disaster Risk Reduction in development, and any investment in the development would have a component of DRR, and India has done very well in this context.

Mr. Tom White, Chief Emergency and DRR, launched the We4Reslience campaign.  Considering the disaster risk profile and status of disaster resilience in the country, Mr. White acknowledged that the We 4 change is indeed a significant and pertinent campaign. The knowledge exchange and dialogue between civil societies and government stakeholders is a first step toward building disaster-resilient societies. Creating awareness amongst the vulnerable communities is the need of an hour. He also added that children are more vulnerable to climate change risks and impacts. It is crucial to make sure that children are kept at the centre of a discussion. He also emphasized that it is essential for communities like Caritas India and UNICEF to work closely to reduce the impact of unprecedented times.

A special promo video was released to showcasing the #We4Resilience campaign and its objective.

Soon after, the campaign launch video was screened. An open discussion session followed the screening by Mr. Ghanshyam Jethwa, Head of Programmes (CI). The event was concluded with thanking remarks by  Dr. Jaison Varghese, Programme Lead, Global Programme India.