Once again, the staff of SRD’s Hue office had a very busy week. On May 27th and 28th, they accompanied the local partners of the project “Support to People with disability” in Gio Linh district, Quang Tri province to the Malteser International project concerning Community based disaster risk management (CBDRM) toward people with disability in the communities of Dai Hong and Dai Lanh, Dai Loc district in Quang Nam province. Those regions are at high risk of experiencing floods during August - December of the year. It is thus very important to implement good disaster risk management practices for everybody, especially one of the most vulnerables, people with disability (PWD). Many people took part in the event with 30 participants on the first day and several hundred on the second.

On the first day, they met with the Disabled People Organization (DPO) of the district and province and together, shared experiences on how to organize training in CBDRM for the PWD, how to mobilize PWD and get their families involved, how to make preparedness plan focusing on PWD.

The second day was more practical. In addition to exchanging stories, the local people were introduced to the 4 steps to take in an emergency: early warning, evacuation plan, save drowning victims and first aid. The participants were provided with boats, life jackets and rope and also received first aid training. They were then able to practice the rescue methods with a flood simulation.

Member of rescue team moved a child with disability to higher place in the house for safety

This project received very good feedback from the participants. The fact that PWD were included in the Disaster Risk Management discussion was well recognized. The participants were also satisfied with the high level of mobilization within the villages and early warning to allow PWD and their family to prepare for. However, women involvement still remains a challenge. The staff of SRD’s Hue office thought it was a great opportunity for them and their local partners to learn how other organizations carry this type of activities.

-SRD-