Community Based Disaster Preparedness

What is Community Based Disaster Preparedness ?

Community-based disaster Preparedness  is an approach to building the capacity of communities to assess their vulnerability to both human induced and natural hazards and develop strategies and resources necessary to prevent and/or mitigate the impact of identified hazards as well as respond, rehabilitate, and reconstruct following its onset. CBDP strategies have become increasingly important in the face of global climate change, increased populations expanding into more vulnerable regions, and the heightened recognition of a need for greater linkages between top-down governmental and community level responses. CBDP empowers communities to be pro-active in disaster management and creates a space for them to develop strategies on their own terms rather than waiting for already overstretched governments and NGO's. The government alone  cannot and will not be able to properly manage and handle all types of disasters with its machinery without active participation by the people of any country, a common theory given by policy makers, experts and professionals. Failures of top-down effective disaster management approach to reduce the risk of disaster are the evident of that notion. As a consequence, numerous scholars and stakeholders feel that it is high time to adopt a new strategy that will involve vulnerable people directly in the planning and implementation of mitigation, preparedness, response, and recovery measures because communities are the best judges of their own vulnerability and capable of making the best decisions regarding their well-being. This philosophy, involves local level people, leaders and community to provide necessary services and logistics to their victims during and after disaster has been encouraged both in the developed and developing countries and launched the generation of (CBDP) strategy.