Last year, India received the heaviest monsoon rainfall in the 25 years. The monsoon which normally begins in June and ends by September delayed its retreat and sparked floods which killed more than 200 people. India has experienced increasingly extreme weather conditions in the last decade. A debilitating heat wave in the summer coupled with delayed monsoon led to the drought-like situation in several parts of the country. One side Metropolitan cities like Chennai in South India was nearly out of the water, whereas monsoon flooding had brought the death toll to 182 in Maharashtra state, 130 in Bihar, 93 in Assam, 53 in Gujrat, 34 in Karnataka, 26 in Kerala, and 13 in Rajasthan.

Given the fact that change in climate conditions leads to an increase in the number of emergencies and to be better prepared becomes the utmost necessity. To address the future disaster threats, Caritas India organized a five-day “Training on Humanitarian Response and Simulation Exercise” at Guwahati, Assam under Assam Bihar Flood Response programme.

Facilitated by the ReDR India team, the training was attended by the partner staff from Assam, Bihar, Odisha, and Kolkata. The training helped the participants to understand the prevention approaches in disaster risk based on geographical, cultural and economically vast context and take appropriate measures for efficient and effective management during emergencies and disaster risk reduction practices. The training followed that Sphere Standards with the common principle of rights and duties which are the right to life with dignity; the right to receive humanitarian assistance; and the right to protection and security. It describes the core ethical and legal principles that govern the actions of states, non- state actors and civil society in humanitarian response. It also reaffirms the primacy of the humanitarian imperative to provide immediate aid to people whose survival is threatened and spells out three overarching rights.

To help the partners in understanding disaster preparedness, Caritas India through the emergency response programme integrated DRR measures in the design, planning, and implementation of response like linking short term humanitarian activity with longer-term recovery needs. The training also covered the disaster risks and climate change impact at every stage; preparedness response and recovery needs will vary from one location or affected group to another; and complex emergencies can involve multiple crises, each at different stages.

“Build back better” approach is a very important aspect to be considered in the response to ensure resilience to disaster. Crosscutting themes like Children, gender, disabled are affected globally by armed conflict and violence and their rights to protection and development are severely compromised. The impact of emergencies on children and disabled are majorly neglected due to the loss of parents and other caregivers, reduced attention from people and the inability to access basic services. Moreover, vulnerability is more in terms of dangers and injuries through road traffic accidence, drowning, and fire. The psychosocial and mental disorders cry induce severe stress, toxic stress which causes significant physical, emotional and developmental damage to them.

Disaster impacts differently to women, men, and children as they react differently and have different needs, vulnerabilities, concerns and capacities to recover. Traditional roles are disrupted, existing inequalities may worsen, and new inequalities arise e.g. women may suffer the loss of livelihood and status and be at risk of coercion into conflict.

Emergency need assessment tools and techniques based on community and participation was shared and discussed with the participants to attain a better understanding of humanitarian response, minimize negative impact, enhance effectiveness & efficiency, establish mutual understanding, response, increase resource availability and help learn new skills and respect organizational mandate and principles.

The aspect of communication for community participation was discussed along with its different elements like communicator (who), message (what), treatment, channels (how), the audience (whom) and response (effect).

The simulation exercise was conducted based on the training to provide practical insight to ground zero situation. Besides these, the platform also provided an opportunity to share their learning, challenges faced and resolved for the region-specific intervention which would enable the participants.