Community disaster response teams for malawenna village

Abstract

Malawenna village is situated in Galle district, bordering southern coast of Sri Lanka and prone to different disasters. Annual flooding, Tsunami, and Epidemics are the leading hazards in this community. The village has a population of 1724 community members. Also this village was heavily affected by the tsunami in December 2004. Disasters cause damages and losses to the communities in many ways. Community members are the very first responders to any emergency or disaster situation. Disaster response depends on the capacity of the community. Also the community disaster response teams increase the capacity of the grass root level. Early warming, search & rescue, first aid, camp management and village security are the community disaster response teams according to the Disaster Preparedness and Response Plan of Disaster management centre - Sri Lanka. This research project identifies appropriate people for above teams in Malawenna village. Selection criteria for each team were prepared. Research was done in the Malawenna village to develop a set of selection criteria for community disaster response teams. Information collected by carrying out literature survey and meeting community members. Semi structured interview carried out with practitioners on each field for additional information. Data from three sources were used and compiled. Based on these compiled data a set of final selection criteria was developed. Final community disaster response teams for Malawenna village was selected based on these selection criteria. These disaster response teams will increase the capacity of Malawenna village. Also the selection criteria could be used as a guide to form disaster response teams in other villages.