Programme de bourses "Echanges Universitaires"

Co-Management in Disaster Mitigation
Indo-Swiss internship and social science research program of Basel University’s Department of Geography/Urban and Regional Studies, and All India Disaster Mitigation Institute, Ahmedabad.

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Background
India is a country at risk: Geo-climatic and socio-political conditions make the country vulnerable both to natural hazards and man-made disasters. In addition to natural hazards in the form of earthquakes, floods, droughts, tsunami, cyclones, man-made disasters due to social and political unrest endanger the fabric of society in India which directly translates into poverty in urban and rural communities. India has begun massive efforts in disaster management, establishing government and nongovernmental agencies, and linking up with international disaster management resource networks. Emergency response measures have been set up that include rehabilitation and preventive measures towards enhancing societal resilience to disasters. How local communities adapt to disasters and how they can be assisted in their adaptive capacities is still not very much known. This is the concern of this project. It focuses on how local communities and households can and do involve themselves in the co-management of disaster mitigation.

Aim of the project
The individual studies carried out under the Indo-Swiss Internship and Social Science Studies’ Program deal with local adaptive capacities towards risk, with the ways local communities activate their disaster preparedness in cooperation with local NGOs, and how households build up resilience towards the occurrence of disasters that individual stakeholders normally could not cope with. The studies focus on:

• Livelihood security strategies in the informal sector of disaster affected areas
• Mitigating disaster impact – effectiveness, problems and potentials of selected technical approaches.
• Microcredit impact and effectiveness in livelihood security
• Different responses to disaster and adaptability of disaster mitigation strategies.

Project target
Building up resilience and adaptive capacities, thus reducing vulnerability and poverty in areas of natural hazards and man-made disasters. Education and capacity building for young Swiss professionals in the field of development work.

Target group
Local NGOs and communities engaged in disaster mitigation, young Swiss professionals interested in building up capacities for development work.

Duration
March 2008 – March 2009

Contact
Department of Geography/Urban and Regional Studies, University of Basel
Prof. Dr. Rita Schneider-Sliwa, Claudia Saalfrank, M.A.
Rita.Schneider-Sliwa@unibas.ch, Claudia.Saalfrank@unibas.ch

All India Disaster Mitigation Institute, Ahmedabad, India
Mihir Bhatt, Honorary Director
mihir@aidmi.org
website: www.southasiadisasters.net, www.sphereinindia.net