Journals Information
International Journal of Social Work and Human Services Practice(CEASE PUBLICATION) Vol. 2(6), pp. 207 - 212
DOI: 10.13189/ijrh.2014.020601
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Sustainability and Community Empowerment in Disaster Management
Rajeev. M.M *
Department of Social Work, Amrita University, Kollam, Kerala
ABSTRACT
The community is at the frontier of any kind of natural hazard and disaster. Empowering the community by internalizing the tools and methods of disaster risk reduction is a good way to deal with future potential risks. Community empowerment is a type of capacity development where its members decide on the goals and strategies for disaster risk management, contribute some, if not all, of the resources needed, and monitor their performance (Asian Disaster Preparedness Center,2013).The most common elements of community involvement are partnership, participation, empowerment and ownership by the local people. Unless the disaster management efforts are sustainable at individual and community level, it is difficult to reduce the losses and scale of the tragedy. The objectives of this paper are: 1) to discuss the emerging needs of survivors during the various phases of the post-disaster situation; 2) to emphasize the need for designing interventions incorporating the principles of sustainability and community empowerment and; 3) to focus our attention toward management of disasters technologies and disaster preparedness programs that foster the resilience. The utility of the empowerment approach in addressing the socio-economic conditions of local communities and the active involvement of disaster-affected people in the pre- and post-disaster initiatives is argued as a requisite to deal with disasters in a more effective and efficient way.
KEYWORDS
Empowerment, Sustainability, Disaster Risk Management, Andaman & Nicobar Islands
Cite This Paper in IEEE or APA Citation Styles
(a). IEEE Format:
[1] Rajeev. M.M , "Sustainability and Community Empowerment in Disaster Management," International Journal of Social Work and Human Services Practice(CEASE PUBLICATION), Vol. 2, No. 6, pp. 207 - 212, 2014. DOI: 10.13189/ijrh.2014.020601.
(b). APA Format:
Rajeev. M.M (2014). Sustainability and Community Empowerment in Disaster Management. International Journal of Social Work and Human Services Practice(CEASE PUBLICATION), 2(6), 207 - 212. DOI: 10.13189/ijrh.2014.020601.