Resilience Building Campaign: Mobilization of village communities through public information campaigns

The pressure on humanitarian response is more than ever before. The frequency and risk from natural disasters have increased in recent times. Climate change has been triggered an increase in the frequency and intensity of natural disasters in many regions. UN Office for Disaster Risk Reduction (UNDRR) has ranked India in 3rd place after China and the USA, recording the highest number of natural disasters over the last 20 years.

National and International humanitarian organisations are focusing on capacity building of the local community for resilience to cope with increasing disasters. The community are the first responder in any disaster and their capacities need to be built to minimize the risk and eventualities.

The State of Odisha is located on the eastern coast of the Indian peninsula is vulnerable to natural disasters like cyclones, Flood, Tsunami and Drought. Every year, the State faces the loss of lives and property due to natural disasters which disrupt the whole ecosystem and lives of the poor people especially those living at the periphery of the coast.

Caritas India has initiated the mass awareness campaign on resilience building at Keutakudi village, Krushnaprasad block of Puri on 19 August 2021 and covered the entire program areas. The objective is to educate people and create consciousness on preparedness and safety measures for prevailing disasters and at the same time introduce Global Programme India to the people of program villages. Community Representatives, ward members, AWW, ASHA, ANM and Women Self Help Group members were invited from each program village.

The Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ) and Caritas Germany funded Global Programme India is designed to help the communities to improve planning in high-risk areas under the Disaster Risk Reduction.

The mass awareness campaign was planned with the community leaders and ward members through a training program. To maximise the reach, the campaign was run by AJSA, the partner organisation in Puri on a mobile van with a banner and pre-recorded audio messages on preparedness measures for various natural disasters, safety guidelines for snakebite and Lightning. Along with the audio messages, pamphlets carrying messages of preparedness and safety guidelines were also distributed in the community.

They were also being informed regarding the importance of Disaster Risk Management plans and were appealed to conduct coordination meetings at the village level by ensuring representation of each community. The mobile van covered all the 10 program villages for two days with more than 20,000 people active participating in the mobilisation activities.