Photo: IOM 2013
By Mark Koski with Peter Kern, Elham Pourazar and Bradley Mellicker
Indonesia
In the disaster prone and heavily populated West Java province, IOM Indonesia has developed a programme to strengthen Disaster Risk Reduction (DRR) capacity and to enhance community resilience in seven districts. This programme will run from May 2012 until May 2014 and aims to enhance official disaster management capacity, integrate government agencies into coordinated disaster management plan and to empower communities to participate in the disaster management implementation. Despite a two-month delay due to flooding, IOM has engaged in several capacity building activities with the newly formed disaster management agencies (BPBD), including training over 200 officials in basic disaster management and more than 50 officials in advanced disaster management. IOM has held 12 DRR awareness campaigns for the general public as in addition to promoting awareness in 25 radio addresses.
Visit IOM Indonesia’s site and find more
Photo: IOM 2013
Namibia
In May 2013, IOM Namibia completed two training of trainers in disaster risk management, in partnership with the Office of the Prime Minister and with financial assistance from USAID’s Office of Foreign Disaster Assistance. The trainings are part of a regional programme, including Namibia, Botswana and Mozambique, with the aim to enhance national disaster risk management capacity for risk reduction and resilience in southern Africa. The participating trainers became certified disaster risk management trainers with the responsibility to train fellow disaster risk management actors at national, regional and local level as well as most-at-risk communities. The trainings and the training package used in Namibia build on the national framework for disaster risk management and the country’s strong commitment to address the risks of hazards such as flood, drought and fire. The capacity building approach is derived from the Camp Coordination and Camp Management capacity building programmes implemented in Namibia in 2011 and 2012 respectively.
Photo: IOM 2012
Haiti
In preparation for Tropical Storms Isaac and Sandy that hit Haiti in August and October 2012, IOM helped carry out the first and second ever preventative evacuations of exposed communities. In both cases, IOM contributed with logistical, Water, Sanitation and Hygiene (WASH) support and registration support for local civil protection authorities. The steps taken by the Government of Haiti and IOM were part of the Guide to Evacuation Shelter Management developed by IOM and adopted by the Secretariat Permanent de Gestion des Risques des Desastres in 2011.