Building Community Resilience to Flood Risks in Kaisarganj Block, U.P., India

Bahraich District in the state of Uttar Pradesh situated near the southern border of Nepal is a heavy flood prone zone. Bahraich district gets flooded when there is heavy rain upstream in the rivers in Nepal and when there is over flow discharge from the barrages on the Indo-Nepal boarder. Bahraich District and Kaisarganj Block were submerged from end of July to September 2007 due to four consecutive flooding of the Ghaghara River in three months.

As per government reports about 16,000 people were affected by these floods, out of which 2,000 people were displaced in Bahraich district. The total affected area was 3,930 hectare, out of which 3,530 hectare, approximately 90% land was agricultural land. The floods also resulted in 36 deaths in Bahraich district. In Uttar Pradesh, although maximum devastation was seen in early August, when 2,634 villages were affected , in the beginning of October, 886 villages were still submerged having seen several cycles of inundation.

The Initial Assessments:
The first assessment was undertaken in early August 2007 during the floods with the objective to assess immediate needs which could be addressed by direct relief by Malteser International. The second assessment was undertaken at the end of October 2007 to monitor the ongoing relief by Malteser International as well as to assess the rehabilitation needs to further plan a rehabilitation phase.

These assessments were undertaken by senior staff of Unnati and SSK. The visits for the assessment were undertaken in cooperation with the Lucknow based local NGO, Sahbhagi Shikshan Kendra (SSK). Village level discussions were held with men and women separately on coping mechanisms, housing needs and options, as well as rescue methods. Two meetings were conducted with 8 local NGOs who were partnering with SSK in Bahraich district. Discussions were also held with Block officials and Disaster Management Department. Consultations were also held to share experiences and work together with other international NGOs working in the region.

During the visit to the affected areas, it was observed that the houses were severely damaged or destroyed as they were submerged during the long-lasting flood. Most of the affected families live in the area 4-5 km between the river and the embankments (bund) built in the 1960s. During the months of the flooding people survived in makeshift shelters on top of these embankments. Support from the government was minimal and did not reach the neediest for reconstruction of their shelters.
People suffered heavy losses of crops and livestock. Loss of work opportunities in agriculture resulted in severe food shortage and shortage of cash for survival as most of the families living in the area are from the marginalized and/ or dalit communities who depend on daily wages for their survival.

During the flood, many hand pumps from which people normally would fetch water were submerged and the other water sources got soiled. In places of refuge people often had no access to clean water and suffered from water born diseases.
Emergency response was very slow and minimal. There was a shortage of rescue devices, especially means of transport, i.e. boats for people to move within the flooded area to fetch supplies or go to find work.

The main stakeholders in the region were the affected community, particularly dalits and artisan castes like Yadavs, Keots, Godiya, Pasi, Nishad, Lohars Muslims, Chamars, etc. Most of these community members are either marginal farmers or agriculture labourers. Some of them are also involved in share cropping. Due to extensivedamage of the agricultural lands and crops, the vulnerability of these community members increased. Due to loss of work, the coping capacities were low and likelihood of migration or distress sale of whatever little assets they may have was very high. Through this project, it was flood Map of the Region flood Map of Baharaich satellite Image of the Area Locating the Project Villages and Surroundings envisaged that the affected community members, particularly the above mentioned socio-economically marginalised castes, would get some income through work opportunities and long term habitat security was to be built into the project.

The Gram panchayats were the next important stakeholders. They lacked the capacity to effectively deal with the situation. It was essential to strengthen them as they are the ones to take decisions in any emergency situations. The Gram panchayats in Bahraich district are spread over many hamlets. Thus, the hamlet level units were considered for developing a preparedness system for the Gram panchayats.

Although the Block and District level administration were responsible for managing the disaster response and coordination at the local level, the government response was limited to early relief work and the rehabilitation responses were not adequate. Under the Disaster Management Act, disaster response, preparedness and management was to be strengthened at the district level but this process remained out of public scrutiny and not known to people. The government plans were limited due to lack of people’s participation and effective implementation models. It was therefore essential that the knowledge and experiences be shared for further strengthening of the processes influencing ‘disaster preparedness plans’. Similar models could be implemented using the opportunities provided under the various government schemes to ensure Disaster Risk Reduction (DRR).
Based on the above observations and discussions with different stakeholders, an intervention  strategy was developed. Further visits were made to the project area along with local partners to consult with the affected families on the activities proposed in the intervention strategy before formulating the final proposal.

Project Villages
The villages selected for the project were all on the east bank of the river and west side of the bund (satellite images on previous page). Thus they were prone to heavy flooding during the monsoons when the river Ghaghara overflew, eventhough some of the villages were as far away as 5 km from river. Being close to the river also meant that the land there is very furtile and productive. Nearest town from these villages is Kaisarganj, block headquarter in Behraich district. It is approximately 150 km from Lucknow. The border with Nepal is approximately 90 km from Kaisarganj. The villages selected for the project are within 5 to 7 km from Kaisarganj.

 

Baghahiya
No. of Purvas	BPL Families	Total Population	Male	Female
02	39	1210	689	521
Kandauli
No. of Purvas	BPL Families	Total Population	Male	Female
03	349	1045	569	476
Kohali
No. of Purvas	BPL Families	Total Population	Male	Female
01	119	1239	658	581
Chulambha
No. of Purvas	BPL Families	Total Population	Male	Female
13	148	2148	1148	990
Matarepur
No. of Purvas	BPL Families	Total Population	Male	Female
07	483	3094	1747	1347

Main Activities:
As discussed earlier, four main activities were defined in the project.

1. Development of homestead plots
2. Raising of water hand pumps for water source protection
3. Cash for work
4. Early warning, evacuation and rescue trainings

All these activities were not seen as different components, instead was developed as an integrated approach for strengthening the community’s resilience towards flood risks.

Level raising of Homestead plots and material support

The objective of this activity was not only to create shelter security but also to build flood resilience by increasing the height of the homestead plots. Although the community members had to move to safer places during the few days of flood, the project sought to ensure that when they came back, they had a shelter for living. The overall focus was to enable the vulnerable households on use of wattle and daub technology for construction of the houses. A technical team would monitor the construction done by the people and provide them with technological assistance for constructing better shelter. As labour was required for the construction of the shelter and hand pump level raising and there was need for livelihood support, the cash-forwork activity was targeted the local people.

Analysis of present housing conditions and proposed shelter:
People in this region live in small hut-like houses in settlements called ‘purva’. A few of these purvas put together make a village. Most families have a small piece of land on which they build their houses with locally available wood and grass. There is generally a little land available for agriculture, where they produce grains for their yearly consumption and financial needs.

A quick assessment of the present housing situation in the region shows that the quality of housing was very poor. Though there is ample material available for house construction, due to concurrent floods and widespread poverty, the housing quality is very bad.

A typical house in the rural area is built with bamboo or wooden poles acting as columns. The roof structure is generally made of bamboo or local wood covered by thatch. Even though bamboo is available in abundance it is not used for the screen walls, rather thatch or local grass along with wooden sticks are used to make wattle and daub construction. Many a times the walls are plastered with mud, but leaving some parts of the wall exposed. In some cases the people had also constructed the walls with cob wall construction. It was also observed that the plinths of the houses were very low and could not protect the houses from the floods during the monsoon. The roof did not have enough overhangs and hence during the monsoons, the mud plaster (in case of wattle and daub construction) or mud wall (in case of cob construction) would get washed away every year. Also, the roof made up of thatch would not withstand the monsoon showers. Overall, the average life of the house was one or two years only.

To improve this situation, few immediate steps (outlined below) were considered:

• It was important to raise the plinth level of the house such that it does not get submerged in the floods year after year. It was observed that a minimum 3 feet level raising was necessary in almost all cases, while in some the floor level of the shelter needed to be raised by up to 5 to 6 feet. In order to protect the raised homestead plot plinth, there was a need to create a retaining wall. Instead of using brick and cement which was costly, through various discussions another alternative was developed. Gunny bags filled with mixture of sand and cement as retention walling material has been in use locally. It was identified as most appropriate and cost effective technique. This technique was adopted in the project by contextual modification like bamboo reinforcement placed externally. These bags were covered with mud plaster to further protect against erosion. In places where the plinth had to be raised more, it needed to be further protected against soil erosion in monsoon. The internal area was then filled with soil brought by people from their agricultural plots. Since the area gets flooded regularly, it was thought that the next flood would fill up the excavated part with fertile river soil and therefore the farming would not suffer.

• Provide more durable materials so that the life of the house increases. Thus, Balli (eucalyptus pole) was decided to be used as column and main structure of the roof. It was also decided that bamboo could be used for rest of the roof structure.

• While it was very important to improve the roofing such that it could resist the monsoon rains it was difficult
  to find an alternative to the thatch for roofing material. Country tiles were not being manufactured anymore in the region and Mangalore tiles were also not available easily or were costly. Hence, other options were explored. Development Alternative, an organisation based in Delhi which manufactures Micro-Concrete Roofing tiles (MCR Tiles) in their manufacturing unit at Jhansi was contacted. In the entire shelter programme this was the only material sourced from outside the region.

• Materials used for construction of the shelter should be such that it is affordable to repair the shelter or replace the parts without requiring high skilled labour, preferably by the people themselves.

• As it was observed that the skill for building construction was very poor in the region, skill up-gradation should be integrated within the programme. Also the materials used should be affordable.
  Thus, easily available local materials like bamboo, eucalyptus poles (balli in local language) and mud, which were also affordable, could be used to construct durable shelter keeping the cost of construction and subsequent repair within control. Although all these materials were used by the people to construct their houses, they were lacking in the skill to optimally utilise them. Hence they was a need to enhance their skills.
  Through community consultation it was decided that balli would be used as structure of the shelter, while bamboo was also combined in the roof and walls. It was also decided that the walls would be made with bamboo mat tied between two columns. They would then be plastered with mud. Bamboo mat making for screen wall construction was not common here and would require new skills, though it is a common way of construction in Assam and other Himalayan regions, and known as Ikra construction. It was decided that people would be trained in making bamboo mat for screen walls.

Selection of families:

After selecting the villages, discussions were held with the panchayats and the people to identify the most vulnerable families. In each village, a shelter committee was formed to carry out social processes related to shelter provision. The project team also carried out an independent vulnerability analysis in these villages to identify the families requiring shelter support. Based on the inputs from the village shelter committee, community meetings and consultation with the panchayat’s the poorest of poor families were identified to be part of the project.
Special focus was given to single women, disabled, elderly and refugees who did not have any support. Some families did not have land, or the land was not sufficient for them to build shelter and do farming. In some cases, community consultations were held to provide such families land from the neighbour or community land . In some cases, the owner of the farm where the family worked as labourer agreed to give his land for the construction of the shelter. A community consensus was arrived at so that the shelter remained with the family even after the completion of the project when the project team would not be in the village. While selecting the families, social vulnerability was also kept in mind. All the 60 families were identified by commuity, based on different vulnerability criteria.

Process of Shelter Construction:
Once the families were selected, technical assessment regarding the shelter needs was carried out by the project engineer with the selected families. The land was surveyed for area, location, flood-level history etc. before finalising the exact location, direction of the shelter and level of the raised plinth.

As the families selected for the project were poorest of the poor, some of them did not have enough land to build their house and some others also faced problems to get the soil for plinth filling. These issues were solved by discussing with the panchayats or with help from relativesand neighbours. Most people cleared their own plots so that the construction could begin. Some families required the support of cash-for-work programme to do the work. In case the soil could not be sourced by the owner, the project team helped source the soil from nearby common plot with help of the panchayat. In some cases, the programme supported the cost for trailer to transport the soil. Material for construction was distributed to the individual families on the basis of estimated Bill of Quantities (BoQ) on site. Challan was issued for all the transactions.

The construction began with marking on the plot along with the family. First columns were erected with balli (eucalyptus poles) which were dipped in used engine oil to protect them from white ants and termites. They were embedded at least 1.5 feet below the ground to make the construction safe. After the balli columns were erected, plinth filling was done with help of gunny bags and soil as structure for roof, with bamboo and balli per the assessed flood level.

Carpentry work began after the plinth was raised. Badhais (local carpenters) were appointed as contractors for skilledwork in shelter construction. Unskilled workers were also appointed through cash-for-work activity of the project. The main structure of the shelter including roof structure was constructed before the screen walls were put up.

Initially it was thought that thatch could be used for the walls and roof but as thatch was not available during the monsoon the idea of using thatch was dropped. It was decided to use more durable material instead. Hence, roofing was decided to be of MCR tiles and the walls to be made of bamboo mats. The carpenters and the labourers had to be trained in making the mat for the screen wall. Locals who were interested in learning new ways of using bamboo were trained in making the bamboo mat by project engineer. MCR tiles were the only elements used in the shelter programme that was not procured from the surrounding. Hence, rest of the money to purchase the materials as well as labour went into the local economy.

The first few houses that were constructed using different materials withstood the floods during the project period. This rebuilt the faith of the community on raising homestead plots as a measure for flood resilience to the housing stock. Eventhough people had to leave due to water surrounding their houses, when they returned, they had a shelter to live into.

Ensuring Safe Drinking Water by Hand Pump Level Raising

Hand pump level raising was another important activity of the project. The objective of this activity was to provide safe drinking water not only during floods but throughout the year.

Hand pumps were the main source of water for the villagers. People relied on either government installed, privately owned or community owned hand pump for their daily domestic water requirements, both for drinking or
washing purposes.

Due to the proximity to the river Ghaghara and the flat terrain, it was observed that the ground water level in the region was very high. Water was available at 10 to 15 feet depth but this could not be used for drinking. Potable water was available approximately at 80 feet depth. Water was abundantly available but the monsoon posed the problem of water contamination, especially during the floods. The existing pumps were almost at the ground level, which were submerged during the floods as the water level used to raise up to 5 feet or more above the ground level. The villagers did not have access to potable water during the floods and even after the water level receded the hand pumps were blocked with silt and the water was contaminated increasing the risk of an epidemic. It was necessary to improve the situation of drinking water as part of flood resilience strategy.

To involve the local people in the decision making and also for the people to understand the usefulness of this activity, a Hand Pump Nigarani Samiti (Hand-Pump caretaking committee) of five to six members was formed with representatives (especially women representatives) from different purvas in each project village. These committees would be pivotal in making decisions regarding the hand pumps in the village. It would also be active in their maintenance and other issues related to the hand pump.

On analysing the situation, the committee felt that there was an urgent need to raise the levels of the hand pumps which was the main source of water for the community. The decision was then taken to raise the levels of the existing pumps. There were three types of hand pumps, privately owned, government hand pumps and other community owned hand pumps. The privately owned hand pumps were in the control of few individuals while most others did not under construction plinth for hand pump installation of the hand pump new hand pump during the floods problem of water contamination hand pump submerged during floods plan explaining the raised platform design of hand pump have access to them. The government owned hand pumps needed permissions from the water-supply department. The department informed that once the repair-modification was done to the hand pumps, it would become the liability of the organisation to ensure its functioning and the government would not be responsible for its working. It was also observed that many of these hand pumps were very old and may get damaged during the level raising. Discussions with other organisations that had modified the hand pumps in the past showed that this option was not viable. It was then thought that the community owned hand pumps could be taken up for level raising. However on further analysis, it was observed that they were of very inferior quality, since the local administrative body or community themselves had installed them with very limited monetary resources available to them. Hence the water quality from the pump even in normal times was questionable.

Community consultations led to the decision that the new hand pumps would be installed on a raised plinth that was above the highest flood levels observed in the past. After exploring different options, locally available hand pump was selected. In addition to being a ‘power-pump’ that fetched more water with less effort, the selected pump had a few technical advantages (besides the raised level) over the existing pumps. The pump used double filtering with perforated extra casing pipe which was filled with gravel, in addition to the nylon filter wrapped around the pipe. The PVC used for the pipe was of higher quality than that was normally used for hand pumps in the region. It also had better detailing due to the double pipes at the joint near the pump handle. Hence, the contaminated water did not seep into the pipe from the top. The pump used, locally available components, hence its details of joinery could be understood and repaired locally. Additionally the pump was manufactured in a nearby town of Barabanki, making it easier to approach the manufacturer directly in case of repair or replacement.

Several platform designs for accessing the raised pump were considered. Two main designs were further worked out involving local masons. One used the similar technique of plinth raising used for the shelter. This was economical, easy to make and repair. The second design with provision of steps from all the four sides was developed with the help of a designer. After examining both the options, the community came up with third option, which was a combination of the above two mentioned designs. It used a bricks base with cement plastered plinth and used the area of the platform more efficiently. Hence the cost was controlled. The construction of the platform was also executed under the cash-for-work activity of the project. The table below shows the number of hand pumps installed along with the main user group of the pump in each project village.

Supporting Emergency Livelihood Needs through Cash-for-Work

The cash-for-work approach in the project was seen as an integral part of the project for accomplishing the construction work. This activity focused on the livelihood issue and also helped, strengthen the community’s skills in the areas of masonry construction and bamboo crafts.

Most of the people in this region are marginal farmers or landless labourers. With very little land they barely manage to produce enough for themselves. Wage labour is the only opportunity to supplement their income. During and after the floods, the biggest problem is that there is no labour work available for days together. As the crops are destroyed and due to the non availability of daily labour work, the families face severe hardship. It was important to create a livelihood option that could be a source of income. The construction work for the project provided such an opportunity for the locals.

Under this Scheme, total 6010 labour days were required for the entire project. This was divided amongst five villages of project area as per prevailing wages under similar government under cash-for-work component. Total Rs. 6,34,915 were disbursed under this component amongst villagers as the labour employment. digging and filling of earth at housing plots as well as hand pump raising sites, preparation of under-roof and bamboo mats for screen walls, and hand plastering of floors and walls with mud and construction of hand pump platforms.

Process:

The wage computation of cash for work programme was made after studying the schedule of rates under National Rural Employment Gurantee Act (NREGA). People’s point of view was considered to fix the daily wage. Finally the wage rate was fixed at Rs.100/- for one person per family. It is a daily wage and not against piece rate. People take responsibility that full work is done by all.

Several meetings were held with the village panchayats for implementing cash-for-work scheme. It was decided that this activity would provide work opportunities to as many people as possible in the villages regardless of them being selected for shelter construction. Surveys were carried out in the villages for listing out the families that would need financial support. It was important to find out that if they were selected, would they really be interested in working, as some of them might not prefer to do construction labour.

It was estimated that approximately 6000 man days of work was required for the shelter construction and raising the levels of the hand pumps. It was estimated that the work would be distributed equally; hence 1200 days or 60 people/ families would be given opportunity to work for the project.

In one of the village meetings the employment opportunity available within the project was announced. To be part of the cash-for-work activity, the selected people were required to fill an application form and agree to the rules of the scheme decided by the project team along with village panchayats.

The rules are as described below -

• Employment would be provided to one person from the family. Women would be given priority for employment.

• A card would be issued to the selected person. The card would give them the opportunity of 20 days of work at the existing NREGA rate of Rs 100.00 / day.

• Payments would be done on a weekly basis, usually on monday.

• The person working for the scheme would be insured for life.

• First aid kit would always be available on the site.

• Drinking water and shed would also be available on the site.

While selecting the people for cash-for-work, priority was given to the poorest of poor families. Whenever possible, the woman of the family was selected. Job cards were made for the selected people which guaranteed twenty days of work. 

As shown earlier, 6010 labour days were utilised at the end of the project.

Disaster Preparedness

Disaster preparedness requires community capacity to build resilience to risks so that the impact is reduced and people recover and build back as quickly as possible. This is linked to reducing structural vulnerability in terms of housing, water etc. and building capacity for early warning and efficient evacuation at the time of disaster. It not only develops local systems to deal with disasters but also builds community confidence for resilience.

Present situation and needs:

As initial analysis and community consultations suggested that neither the government nor the people were prepared for the annually recurring floods. It was therefore a must to develop flood resilience amongst the people, village panchayats and the block administration in line with the vulnerability and risk assessment done with the people.

The region did not have any early warning systems. From their experience and informal news the people would prepare themselves for the floods. Usually they would rush and climb on the bund situated towards the west side of these villages (see the map of region). They would spend a few days on the bund till the water level receded. Though there would be very few casualties, there was heavy loss of assets, especially domestic animals. Sometimes the village panchayats had access to boats but there were no trained persons to operate the oars. The boats were usually operated with long bamboo. This method was not efficient. Controlling the boat in whirlpools and navigating in the right direction was an issue. Some people managed to swim and reach safer places but rescuing others or carrying cattle and household articles to safer places was very difficult.

Also, snake and scorpion bites, and injuries during the floods were some of the other issues that the villagers had to deal with without having proper medical facilities or knowledge of first aid. Keeping all these in mind, a comprehensive disaster preparedness program was devised along with the community.

The disaster preparedness activity had three main components.

• Strengthen community response mechanisms/capacity for early warning and evacuation

• Equip the community volunteers with rescue materials and equipments

• Train people to use those equipments for better preparedness

Developing systems and government mechanisms:

The village panchayats would be the first to respond in a flood situation but they lacked any equipments or orientation. The main issue was the lack of a warning system and coordination with block level administration to establish communication for warning against flood. After discussing the issue with the village panchayats and the block administration, an early warning system was established through telephone line. Thus, the villages would be informed of the possible floods much in advance. This would give them time to safely reach the bund and also save their assets.

Providing equipments and materials for flood resilience:

The main need of the village panchayats was to have access to boats and life saving equipments like life-jackets and life-buoys. The panchayats did not have resources to acquire the boats and equipments. On analysing the past floods, it was realised that the water level was generally low, and that wooden boats with oars would be best suitable for rescue operations as it can operate in up to 2 or 3 feet deep water, and could be controlled efficiently with basic trainings. Also, it was cheaper to acquire as well as operate them as it did not require any fuel. Maintenance would not require sophisticated technical knowledge and could be done by the carpenters after providing them some basic training. Each panchayat was supplied with six wooden boats with oars. Each boat had three life jackets and two life buoys. ten sets of life buoys and life jackets were kept separately for emergency distribution. Since the smaller unit of a village was a purva, it was discussed with the village panchayats that the boats would be distributed in different purvas, thus making it always available to the people in the hour of the need.

In addition to the wooden boats, one motorized boat was provided to each village. At the same time, block level administration did not have any motorized boats. It was also realized that Kohali village (selected for the project) was a small village having just two purvas and was situated very close to Kandauli village as well as the bund. Hence it was decided that it can share the boats with Kandauli village. Similarly, Matarepur village is located very close to Baghahiya village, hence both these villages could share one motorised boat. It was also observed that although Godahiya No 4 village was not included in the project for shelter construction and hand pumps level raising, it was quite prone to flooding and suffered a lot of damage during the last floods. Thus it needed mechanized boats as well. The motorized boats were therefore distributed to Kandauli, Chulambha, Baghahiya and Godahiya No. 4. villages. As there was no flood resistance mechanism at the block level it was also thought necessary to provide one motorized boat to the block administration. The motorized boat would help them reach out to other villages and more people could be saved. The table below shows the boat distribution amongst the different panchayats and block administration.

Trainings for flood rescue and first aid:

It was important to train the people for flood resilience so that they could save not only their own life but also help save other’s lives, as well as assets, cattle etc. Efforts were therefore made to identify the local techniques and equipments for flood resilience. Through games (with children) and street plays, lot of information regarding the flood situations and how the villagers dealt with it was gathered. Local volunteers suggested that in some situations the local knowledge would work but a formal training would be required to strengthen their skills. Training was required in better swimming techniques, using life jackets and life buoys, and first aid. To have better control over the wooden boats during the floods, peoples’ skills for rowing these boats had to be upgraded. It was also realised that since the motorised boats were new to them, they would require special training on the same.

A training institution by the name ‘Monters, Nuka Talim Kendra’ from Vadodara was identified and contacted for the training in flood resilience. A three day training programme, in coordination with them was organised in December 2008. Few young and enthusiastic individuals who were going to remain in the villages were identified from each village. The training programme included different aspects of flood resilience such as operating the boats, swimming and rescuing. First aid training was also provided by a Red Cross trained instructor.

In the boat training, different skills for rowing the boat, turning the boat, stopping the boat immediately and rowing in a whirlpool were covered. The training also included how to use the life jacket and how to save oneself and others with the life buoy. The villagers were also trained to swim efficiently by avoiding obstacles that were common in flood situations. The training also covered rescue operations for others, including people, cattle, and other assets. The first aid training included saving life of the flood affected person, carrying the injured and disabled in water, through boat or on road, and simple techniques of making stretchers. Special first aid training was also given for snake and scorpion bites that are very common during the floods. The training concluded with a mock drill / real life situation at the water stream near the bund where all the participants enthusiastically took part along with other villagers. They demonstrated their skills in boat rowing, saving life and livestock, as well as assets, first aid, etc. In February 2009, another training was organised with help of motor boat manufacturing company ‘Sensea Marine Services’, Kolkata, for the driving and maintenance of motorised boats,. The training included theoretical explanations on the working of the boats, practical training for driving and maintaining the boat, using life jackets, life buoys, ropes, anchor etc. The on site training also included checking the boats, understanding different aspects of the boat’s functioning and installing the engine. This training was attended by selected trainees from the village panchayats and block administration. Since the boats would remain with the panchayats, the head of the panchayat, known as the ‘Pradhan’ also participated in the training.

Training in Flood Resilience

1. using life jackets

2. rowing boats and rescue operations during floods

3. using life buoys to save the drowning person

4. first aid training and saving the lives

Motor Boat Training

5. theory of andinformation on motorised boats

6. driving lessons on river Ghaghara for trainees

Rescue operations during the project tenure: putting the training to real life situations in floods of monsoon, 2008

7. bringing people to the bund from villages

8. saving live-stocks with help of life jackets- using techniques explained during the training for flood resilience

9. helping old aged people to reach to safety

Learnings and Challenges:

This project aimed to demonstrate community based disaster risk reduction practices. The project was able to establish that with community level awareness building, training and various local material support could develop their disaster preparedness. While the project has targeted the vulnerable families to develop a sense of shelter security by raising the homestead plots and hand pumps, it has covered the entire community of five panchayats for preparedness to respond to flood risks.

1. People’s Knowledge and Practices Provide Best Options
   The houses of the poor people used to get damaged recurrently by annual floods of river Ghaghra. They do not afford to invest in housing year after year. It was learnt from the community that if the homestead plots are raised above the flood risk level the houses will not be damaged. It will develop a sense of permanency and people will slowly and incrementally invest on housing. It need to be emphasized that Bamboo as a walling material in the form of wattle and daub which used to be n practiced earlier has been gradually out of practice as people stopped investing in houses. The project could revitalize the traditional walling technology by closely working with the people.

In the flooding years there is a paucity of thatch for roofing as the rice fields are damaged due to denudation of the agriculture fields. Local people prefer corrugated tin sheets as the roofing material. The project introduced Micro Concrete Roofing (MRC) tile prepared by a mason guild promoted by Development Alternatives, an NGO in nearby cities. This roofing material was introduced as there is immense scope to introduce production of MCR tiles locally, thereby creating an alternate source of livelihood. Although this idea was demonstrated, it did not materialize into any production unit in the region. This can be taken up as a future initiative not only for safe housing but also for alternate livelihood option.

The scope of the project is dependent upon the extent of people participation. When the homestead plots were raised, people could feel their internal resilience to flood risks. This has increased their sense of ownership and participation in the entire process of the project. The project has brought out multiple options on use of technology and materials from people’s own experience. It was empowering for all the people that they were making their own choices rather than some external ‘expert’ making those choices for them. To cite another example, it was a commonly suggested solutions to raise the level of entire settlement to address the flood risks. However, the villagers felt that it will require large mass of earth to be excavated from outside which will be costly and may not be feasible looking into the geographical terrain. People opted for raising the homestead plot only. Even such small amount of earth was difficult to acquire at times. In the hindsight, such a people’s decision to raise homestead plot instead of the entire settlement helped in maintaining the natural scope without disturbing the flood current. An artificial obstruction may have potential to create many adverse effects which the people’s wisdom and practices have averted.

It was not possible to acquire a large plot from where the earth could be dug up for a sizeable number of homestead plots. Small area of individual agriculture plot was identified for soil excavation. People find it beneficial as agriculre field would be filled up again with silt during the next monsoon floods adding to the fertility of the land. Hence there was no long term negative impact of the activity on the land and environment.

2. Simple Activities Have Better Chance of Mainstreaming
   Incorporating the cash-for-work activity in the project helped demonstrate how the local governing body, Panchayat could utilize various government schemes like NREGA for building useful assets for the village that would help build disaster resilience, in addition to providing just employment to the people.

Raising the level of the hand pumps was another successful activity which is now being undertaken by the government for the already existing government installed hand pumps in the region. Before erecting the high level hand pumps the water needs to be tested to examine possible contamination. The project has tested the quality of water of the hand pumps. The project has also made efforts to train the local people on testing of water. Simple water kits were procured with the help of a reputed government organisation working in Gujarat (WASMO). The water testing by local people could not be fully achieved due to short time frame of the project which can be further taken up.

While designing the project it was also consciously decided to keep the material costs as low as possible such that more money could be put into labour intensive activities, thus boosting the local economy. It was made possible, as people defined the different factors of the projectand found solutions themselves which increasedthelabour component.

3. Need For Further Exploration
   Sanitation is another issue in housing that could not be addressed in this project. What kind of system should be used in such areas that are prone to heavyfloods needs to be explored. While plastic tank as septic tank was considered as one of the options, that does not contaminate the ground water but it costs high and also requires frequent cleaning. The issue of toilets in the region is very important and needs to be taken up as a priority. It can be resolved only through constant experimentation.

4. Community Based DRR Need to Recognise Capacity Buidling of Both the Community and Administration
   As for the disaster preparedness, it was realized that the materials or facilities provided should have a use in daily activities as well. Local boats were a good example in this case. Motorised boats were more expensive and require costly maintenance while local wooden boats were cheaper and easy to use. In terms of utility, wooden boats fared better and could also be used for transportation of people and goods regularly. The mechanized motor boats, could be best used if put at the Block and district level in command of the government disaster response. It can serve a larger population and increase the capacity of the administration for efficient response. The issue of increasing capacity of community and local administration need to be viewed together for better response mechanisms.

5. Make the Coordination Simple by capacitating Local Partners
   This project required long distance coordination between UNNATI in Gujarat and partner organisations in Uttar Pradesh. In order to reduce such long distance coordination, perhaps there is a need to develop SSK as a state resource center for disaster risk reduction.

Overall, it was a small scale intervention for the annually recurring floods, which marks the beginning of developing community resilience for floods in the region. Long term disaster response should be planned for the region. SSK is planning to get involved with disaster preparedness programmes along with the support of Malteser International and Unnati. 

Team