& çâÌæÚUæð´ ·¤è ¥ôÚU Îð¹Ùæ ÁæÚUè ÚU¹ð´ ¥ÍæüÌ ¥ÂÙð ÜÿØ ÂÚU ŠØæÙ ÚU¹ð´Ð ãæÚU Ù ×æÙð´, €UØô´ç·¤ ·¤æ× ·¤ÚUÙð âð ¥æÂ·¤ô ©gðàØ ·¤è Âýæç# ãôÌè ãñ ¥õÚU ÁèßÙ ·¤æ ¹æÜèÂÙ ÎêÚU ãôÌæ ãñÐ ÖÜð ãè ÁèßÙ ×ð´ ç·¤ÌÙè Öè ·¤çÆÙæ§ü €UØô´ Ù ¥æ°, çÁ™ææâæ ¥õÚU ©ˆâæã ÕÙæ° ÚU¹ð´Ð ŠØæÙ ÚU¹ð´, ÜÿØ ã×ðàææ ¥æÂ·Ô¤ Âæâ ãôÌð ãñ´ çÁ‹ãð´ ÂæÙð ·Ô¤ çÜ° ÂýØæâ ¥æÂ ·¤Öè Öè àæéM¤ ·¤ÚU â·¤Ìð ãñ´Ð

Utilising the Wealth of Experience

Elderly inclusive DRR Programmes

It is for disaster management to decide how the long experience and indigenous knowledge of elderly people can be accumulated or stored and where these enduring experience or knowledge can be utilised. This wealth of knowledge and experiences is no less important than modern science based knowledge.

Md. Abdul Qayyum
THE participation of local community is considered as the strength of disaster management in Bangladesh. Over the decades local communities have accumulated indigenous knowledge on how to utilise their natural resources and variety of innovations to deal with natural
disasters. In this accumulation process the contribution of elderly people is incomparable.
Natural disasters impact the coping behaviour of the individual, household and community level in different ways. Constant dealing with disasters makes people develop this copying strategy. Indigenous knowledge of community people about disaster preparedness and response is sometimes undervalued. When the disaster management community is exploring feasible disaster risk reduction (DRR) options for disadvantaged people, it should utilise the people's experience, knowledge base and response practices. On this year's International Day for Disaster Reduction (IDDR), UNISDR has focused on the older people, including their needs and what they contribute to better planning and understanding of disaster risk in their own communities. This has created an opportunity to advocate this critical inclusive issue at national policy level and discussion for the post-2015 framework for disaster risk reduction.
According to UNFPA, Bangladesh will experience one of the fastest increases of ageing population in the region, where the elderly will multiply from 6.6% of the population in 2010 to 22.5% in 2050. The elderly are the most vulnerable to disasters and need access to emergency shelter, fuel, food, nutrition, and transportation after any disaster. At the same time they can contribute to build resilient community with their enduring experience, as focused by IDDR-2014.
Evidence suggests that some older people with real life experiences may be more resilient than younger people in emergencies and disaster situation. When people do not get safe drinkingwater during floods due to submerged tube wells, different coping strategies like raising tube well plinths or saving pond water are utilised to supplement the supply of water. Sometimes local people can predict rainfall through observing clouds, density of stars and even apparent behaviour of insects. To cope with water-logging, people carry out agricultural activities on bamboo beds built above water level. This method has been found effective for cultivating vegetables. Salinity intrusion in coastal areas has damaged soil fertility; that's why local people have changed their livelihood pattern and started shrimp cultivation. Experienced community people apply their indigenous knowledge indicators such as wind speed and direction, and temperature changes for cyclone forecasting. Scorching heat signals local
people to be prepared for rainfall. Such indigenous knowledge has immense potential to complement modern early warning systems and DRR.
Adaptation is a continuous process where long experience and knowledge are prerequisite. Elderly people can act as a bridge between knowledge and change agents in DRR advocacy. Because they learnt from tragedies, they can provide valuable leadership in relief and rehabilitation activities where they often take the lead in mobilisation of disaster management resources as well as transfmission of knowledge.
In a disaster prone country like Bangladesh, it is important to learn about local coping practices, indigenous knowledge, and livelihood diversification so that these can be incorporated in local DRR activities. Our National Plan for Disaster Management (NPDM, 2010-
2015) has emphasised on social protection of community-at-risk, including elderly people. So, there is a policy to include elderly people in DRR programmes.
We still have a long way to go. As NPDM mentions, disaster risk management approaches need to include indigenous coping mechanism guidelines to assist ministries, NGOs, disaster management committees and civil society in implementing DRR programmes. Plans for active participation of older people should assess needs and develop alternative care arrangement and emergency evacuation plan convenient for elderly people. We need to invest in DRR programmes that recognise knowledge of elderly people for building resilience and strengthening their capacity to prepare for, cope with, and respond to the effects
of emergencies and disasters. Local disaster management committees should be strengthened to take into account the needs and contributions of different age groups including elderly people.
Bangladesh has successfully implemented community level disaster risk assessment, determining levels of individual and community needs, and development of community-based disaster management. Now it is time to build supportive environments for older people's involvement and contribution before, during, and after emergencies and disasters. The government, with local and international organisations, should be more innovative in promoting and implementing policies and programmes to address the challenges elderly population are facing and make the best of the opportunities that population ageing brings.Scarcity of resources, poverty, insufficient health facilities and absence of strong social security exacerbate vulnerability of ageing population. We need to have policy support to reach older people who are vulnerable, and provide required assistance and protection to them. When a disaster arises, older people are particularly vulnerable to injury, death, neglect and disease. Home support and care arrangements are often interrupted due to disaster. So we need to consider how they can afford health care facility in disaster situation.
For developing inclusive disaster management system, change of mindset towards elderly people is the most important thing. They should never be labeled as liability in disaster management; rather it is for disaster management to decide how the long experience and indigenous knowledge of elderly people can be accumulated or stored and where these enduring experience or knowledge can be utilised. This wealth of knowledge and experiences is no less important than modern science based knowledge. We have to agree that both are complementary. This urgency was echoed in the 6th Asian Ministerial Conference on Disaster Risk Reduction in Bangkok on 22-26 June 2014, which the writer attended.
Significantly, the Bangkok declaration included enhancing resilience issues at local levels and called for taking community resilience approaches into local development planning; giving attention to meaningful participation and positive contribution of at-risk groups such as children and youth, the older persons, persons with disabilities, as well as other disadvantaged groups. It also calls for taking advantage of traditional knowledge and communicating scientific information in simple, accessible and understandable manner. There is an opportunity to place the agenda in the 3rd World Conference on Disaster Risk Reduction which will be held in 2015 in Japan.
The writer Is National Project Director, Comprehensive Disaster Management Programme, and Additional Secretary, Ministry of Disaster Management & Relief.
Email: qayyuml958@gmail.com