If I say Dhemaji, what comes to your mind? Probably the Arunachal border or the floods. Located in Assam, Dhemaji is known for the nuance of large-scale flooding and drowning. People have been co-living with floods for years now.

However, this time was a bit different. Around 19th – 20th April the region was hit by heavy storms which uprooted and damaged many houses. “We witnessed such a destructive storm after almost 22 years,” said Mr. Luit Goswami, Director of Rural Volunteers Centre. A few of the damaged houses became even more hazardous as they were tilted towards one side, thus becoming unstable.

When our teams immediately reached the affected areas for the assessment of the extent of damages, and to talk with the communities about their needs and requirements, there came a second storm. This was even more fierce than the previous one with large scale losses in some villages. Our team had got stuck on their way and had to wait till the uprooted trees and wires were removed from the roads to resume their assessment.

In this situation, Caritas India extended support, through emergency relief supported by START Network to the storm-affected families. However, we observed that people in some of the villages had been able to rebound faster than others.

So, when we investigated, we were informed that the communities had a special task force formed under Global Program India who were trained for first aid, search and rescue etc. The GPI is an ongoing program initiative being implemented by Caritas India to build disaster-resilient villages. These villages mostly have chang ghar which are houses/home structures built as elevated structures from the ground with emergency and task force kits stored in advance as a preparedness measure.

As a component of the program, efforts were made to build resilience among communities through planning and application of Gram panchayat level action plans, rapid response by the community members themselves through task force formations, trainings, awareness programmes and innovations to have livelihood options that can be continued through such times disaster prone times.

One such initiative is the Farmer’s Producer Organisation/Company with almost 80 women who are in the process of registering themselves as a small business in weaving and homemade products. These female members also primarily form 70% of the task force group and continue to be instrumental in rendering their services towards building resilience and sustainability in Bhangidia Pathar, a village in Murkongselek block.

Apart from the Global Program India areas, the losses were comparatively higher as there was no such preparedness or rapid response within the community. This highlights the importance of preparedness as a measure to battle against unforeseen disasters. Through Caritas India’s efforts, the initiatives that are undertaken by the communities helped cultivate resilience which in turn helped them bounce back to normalcy much faster.

In one of the villages of Kangkan Chapori, the ASHA, who is also a member of the village task force, had immediately gone around the village after the 2-hour storm had stopped to investigate the number of injured members and provide immediate assistance. She stated, “The search and rescue training helped us work rapidly and efficiently.” “I was fortunate enough that I had been trained previously and therefore I could help the people of my village,” said Songlen Boro, a task force member who had been trained on first aid through GPI and was able to provide first aid to a person who faced a severe hand injury during the storm.

Instances and situations like these are the ones that show us the real result of a program and its implementation. In these testing times when the real needs and situations are faced, a program’s real impact can be measured, and it seems that Global Programme India has been able to make an impact quite well.