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8.3 Enocouraging Community Preparedness
Section VIII : NGOs and Voluntary Agencies
Disasters may result in cutting off essential services and in spite of administrative
preparedness it may not be possible for the administration to reach out immediately.
Mitigation efforts and preparation of the disaster management action plan for local areas are
essential elements and pre-requisites. Preparedness to a large extent would reduce the impact
and the damage. Training and simulation exercises for enhancing the community’s
preparedness and response capability will simultaneously strengthen and enhance the
capacity of the administration to undertake necessary preparedness or evacuation measures.
The district administration is encouraging and supporting initiatives towards community
preparedness measures including formation of Community Emergency Response Teams
(CERTs)
On the basis of discussions, apart from the NGOs mentioned earlier, the following Private
Sector units, Mahila Mandals and CBOs have been identified as resource groups for
involvement in community preparedness measures. They will all undergo training for the
same. These Private Sector units, Mahila Mandals, CBOs, NGOs would adopt a conscious
effort towards community level preparedness measures. They would also promote the
formation of CERTs.
As a part of general preparedness at community level, the families in the community would
be made conscious about the type of hazard that the household situation presents and the
threats from outside. Also, communities would be encouraged to undertake exercises in risk
and vulnerability analysis and preparation of community response plan to possible disasters.
Thus local disaster management action plans for hot-spot areas in the context of specific
vulnerability would be developed. For areas with high concentration of industries MARGs
have been set-up, whereas for areas prone to other types of disasters Community Emergency
Response Teams (CERTs) are being set-up. Special efforts have also been taken to involve
Sugar Co-operatives towards Community Preparedness Measures.
Jalna District Disaster Response Plan Vol II - 129