women risk managers

8/7/2019 women risk managers

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Women: the risk managers in natural disasters1By Madhavi Ariyabandu

Natural disasters- a cause for concern

Natural disasters devastate the lives and livelihoods of people and cause substantialdents in the economies. South Asia is the worst affected sub continent from naturalhazards in the world. We in South Asia face a variety of hazards - cyclones, floods,earthquakes, drought and landslides. The impact of hazards is severe on the largenumbers of populations living in poverty, in hazard prone areas under extremelyvulnerable conditions. Statistics given below indicate the damages natural hazardscause in the sub continent to life and property. In the last century alone, in India andBangladesh 11,915,317 were killed because of drought, cyclones, earthquake andrelated epidemics. In the year 2001, 56% of people killed across the world by disasterswere from South Asia, and 729, 033 people from Bangladesh, 21,026 from Nepal and1,000,200 from Sri Lanka, got affected in various ways.

Situation in Sri Lanka

Given its location in the Indian Ocean, Sri Lanka is at the mercy of the weather changesin the Gulf of Bengal, the Arabian Sea and the Indian sub-continent. Drought, floods andlandslides appear as most recurring and constant natural hazards in Sri Lanka. Despitean annual rainfall which is in the range of 900-6000 mm, Sri Lanka has areas in its vastdry zone, which are constantly in a state of drought, mostly resulting from monsoonfailure. An extensive drought is recorded every year in dry zone areas, and there isinadequate mechanisms to store the 1000 mm of monsoon rainfall it receives. Due to theseasonal nature of rainfall2, drought can prevail almost eight months of the year, andpopulations in these areas depend on several sources of water and adopt their own

techniques to deal with the shortage.

The seasonal monsoons almost regularly bring about floods in certain parts of low-lyingriver basins. Areas belonging to the wet and dry zones, and sometimes, even the capital,Colombo and its suburbs experience floods. Ironically the floods mostly affect the low-income families, squatters who encroach on the low-lying areas along the rivers. Butthere are instances, resulting from fierce monsoons, when the flooding can extend totowns and villages downstream of the rivers - inundating roads, buildings and otherinfrastructure facilities.

Heavy rains and flooding is generally followed by landslides. The occurrence oflandslides increased in the recent past, largely due to human activity. Demand for land

for cultivation and settlements and ill-sited infrastructure projects have paved the way for

A concise version of the paper was published in Voice of Women, a Sri Lanka Journal for Womens

Liberation, Volume 6, Issue 1, August 2003, Colombo

2Dry zone receives rain in two monsoon seasons; North East monsoonsSeptember to December, South

West monsoons April to June


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such hazards. The recent events in the month of May recorded the largest incidence oflandslides in the country and a record number of lives were lost due to this hazard.

Natural disasters now show an upward trend, in terms of frequency, intensity and thedamages they cause. The year 2001 recorded one of the worst drought years in SriLanka, for a major part of the dry zone, affecting food and water security of people and

damaging crops and livestock. It is estimated that 354,015 families consisting of1,577,235 people were adversely affected and suffered great difficulties. TheGovernment of Sri Lanka allocated 438 million Rs. as drought relief i. The countryexperienced its worst floods and landslides in 50 years in last May, which hit six districtsin the country. The ministry of Social welfare estimates that approximately 150,000families or 600,000 peoples have been directly affected. There were 236 deathsreported, 9136 houses completely damaged displacing 138973 families. In addition30,385 houses are estimated to be partly damaged3.

Disaster Management charity & relief

With such calamities in store, disaster management is a must. The present system fornatural disaster management in Sri Lanka comes under the Ministry of Social Welfare.Under the Ministry, there are two main institutes overlooking the disaster managementfunctions; namely the National Disaster Management Centre and the Department ofSocial Welfare.

At the same time, a number of other state organizations that have links with, or a stakein disaster management, carry out individual plans and projects under the presentframework. These include the Meteorological, Irrigation, and the Forest Departments,the Urban Development Authority, the National Building Research Organisation amongothers. What is lacking is any form of co-ordination between these institutions on theissues of hazard and disaster management.

At the grassroots level, Local Governments, Divisional and District Secretariats presentlyreport to the Department of Social Welfare in case of disaster, mainly for the purpose ofobtaining relief and rehabilitation assistance.

The commonly shared perception in the country is that the Government is responsiblefor disasters management. From ancient times we carry the notions that disasters areActs of God unleashing fury & punishment, on people, and there is nothing you cando, but grin and bear when it occurs. Accordingly, the disaster management style islargely one of charity and relief, rather than of disaster preparedness. Once a calamityoccurs, the designated state institutions rush with assistance, followed by the otherformal charitable institutions, individuals and the communities who are not directly

affected.

Except for initial mention, disaster preparedness and mitigation do not portrayadequately in the national plans yet. Invariably It is the emergency responses which

3 Source: http://www.socialwelfare.gov.lk/floods/.


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dominate, whether it be a sudden onslaught like floods and landslides, or in managingslow onset of a disaster, like the drought.

Role of Community

Whether it is a major calamity, or small scale disaster, people play an important role in

preparing for the management of the emergency situations, and in rebuilding thedisrupted services and infrastructure. A substantial amount of risk management takesplace at the community level, without any external support. Risk management is partand parcel of the life of millions of people living in poverty in South Asia. Being poor,often they are forced to live in marginal lands prone to floods, drought, and dangerousslopes, which are prone to landslides. In such conditions, risk is a factor people havelearnt to deal with.

Women- the risk managers

Women play a major role in risk and emergency management. Taking care of the familyin emergencies, taking children and animals to safety, and the storage of food and other

essential items, are some of the functions carried out entirely by women in suchsituations. The social role assigned to women in South Asian societies as caregivers andnurturers naturally extend to risk management, to secure life and the continuity oflivelihoods, and to maintain the life support systems, in times of disasters.

Research studies carried out in Bangladesh, India, Nepal, Pakistan, and Sri Lanka ii onGender issues in disasters show the risk management strategies deployed by peoplefor surviving the vagaries of nature. The studies reveal that there is a clear division oflabour based on gender, in how disaster risk is managed. Often, men and womencomplement each other by taking on gender specific roles and responsibilities in overallrisk management.

Living with Floods

In Bangladesh, where frequent flooding is a regular feature in most parts of the country,women take on the role of preparing and storing food items, which can be the source ofenergy and nutrition for the family for days when the floods come. As the studiesshowed, in Faridpur, women prepare a mixture of puffed rice, and dried coconuts for thispurpose, secured in appropriate packaging, safe from flood waters. This is a food itemwhich has a long keeping quality, and gives sufficient energy when consumed in smallquantities. Women in this area also ensure that their meagre belongings such asclothing and bedding are stored in such a way that they can be easily removed whenflood waters rise.

Phulkumari, is a Nepali woman who is living in a small village in Chitwan District, nearthe river Rapti, who gets perpetually affected by its rising waters almost every year. Inresponding to the question as to why she is not moving away and settling elsewhere,she said one needs to learn to live with the river. This is my native place, the riversupports our crops, but when it turns angry we move away from it.

During the monsoon period, observing the water levels in the river is done by all, butparticular by women. Accustomed to spending most of their day, in and around thevillage - engaged in cultivation, collecting water and fuel wood, they have extensive


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knowledge and powers of observation to know the slight changes in the movement andthe levels of water. Such observations help them to make the decisions, when to leavetheir huts, and move to safety. Guided by their own judgment, they move to nearby safeplaces with the cattle, when the water levels rise beyond the safety levels. Once thewater levels recede, they come back to continue with their livelihood.

However it is observed that they are at high risk, due to the weak structures along theriver, and people live in constant fear and uncertainty. Further, if it is a flash flood due tothe rains upstream (such as the 1993 flash flood in the area which washed away entirevillages), there will be hardly any time for the people to move to safety.

Women in Jhang area in Punjab, Pakistan, have mastered the skills to survive floodsthrough generations. While male members of the family take the livestock to protectiveembankments or distant places, and arrange for their fodder women make preparationsto take care of the children, the valuables, and the cooking utensils. It is the women whomake provision for food to support the family during the floods, and preserve seed forthe next cultivation season.

Vigilance the one option

Gondennawa, in Nawalapitiya, Sri Lanka is an area where people live in constant fear ofdual threats - landslides and rock falls. The area has been identified and declared highrisk by the authorities, but people continue to occupy the houses with cracked walls,which is a clear sign of possible landslides. The occupants claim that they have nowhereelse to go. The Government has offered settlement in an alternative location, however,the people claim that it will jeopardise their income earning opportunities, which arelinked with the Nawalapitiya township. Men go out for labour and other workopportunities in the town, while women stay at home occupying themselves in pettyincome generating activities such as preparing various food items for sale. Living in risk,women keep regular vigil, and observe signs of cracks on earth, and the walls. Womenin this area have taken the initiative to form themselves into vigilant groups along with

men to keep vigil in the nights, for possible threats of rock fall during the heavymonsoons, so that they can alert the neighbours to run for safety.

Womens art of surviving drought

In the dry zone of Sri Lanka, people face scarcity of food and water during the long dryperiods. Women, as regular managers of the food and water needs of the family, resortto various mechanisms to survive the difficult conditions. Families, who generally take 3meals of rice a day, change the composition of the meals to reduce the riceconsumption; millet, corn and other cheaper and less favourable food grains areintroduced to substitute rice. As drought advances, the numbers of meals taken for a dayis reduced, in order to preserve the available food grains. Rice Seettu4 organised by

women in the drought affected villages is a common practice, to avoid the risk ofstarvation of the family. In Andarawewa, it was noted, that women also get in to seettu,where small amounts of cash is contributed. Generally, under normal circumstances,when it is their turn to collect the lump some of money, women are in the habit ofpurchasing special items such as furniture, crockery for the house, or long awaited itemsof jewellery, with this money. However in Andarawewa, many women went into seettu

4 5-10 families get together to contribute with a given quantity of rice to a common pot every week/month. The collection isaccessed by each family on a rotating basis.


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to collect money to purchase large plastic barrels, to collect and preserve water to meettheir familys water requirements during the long dry periods.

The story of how Sumanawathie, a mother of four children from Andarawewa,Sooriyawewa, in Hambabthota district, Sri Lanka meet the domestic water needs of her

household is an example, of how she survives many risks the drought conditions pose.People in Andarawewa face water problems round the year. Ground water is saline andnot suitable for drinking, since it is injurious to their health. There is only one well for theentire village, to which over 30 families come to wash clothes, bathe, and collect waterfor other domestic needs.

Sumanawathie, who spends a minimum of 3 hours a day in collecting water for drinkingand other household needs throughout the year, has figured out which particular sourceof water, is suitable and safe for different family requirements. She secures andpreserves water from 3 different sources, to protect her family from disease, and toensure that there are sufficient quantities available. The water in the village tube well istoo saline for consumption, thus its water is used only for washing and cleaning

purposes. To access water for cooking she walks to the village well which is about a twokm away. Even this well water, she feels, is not good enough for drinking, since it isoften muddy due to over consumption. For drinking purposes, she collects water fromthe Government distribution bowser, which visits the village not too regularly. On theseirregular visits of the bowser, she collects water into large plastic cans and stores themfor future use. These tasks are managed, while working as a daily wage labourer, whenthere is work available, or making Beedi at home for sale, when outside work is notavailable. Her husband is a labourer, working away from home in the city.

Drought in dessert

In Tharparkar dessert area in Pakistan, where annual rainfall is not more than 300 mm a

year, women carry the responsibility of ensuring drinking water needs of the familyduring the long dry months which last 6- 8 months a year. Men go out of the villagetaking the herds of animals to areas where there is irrigation water and wage work isavailable. It is the women who are left in the villages to mange the crisis, to look after thefood and water needs of the children, elderly and the sick. They trek long distances tocollect pots of drinking water. Sometimes a journey for a single pot of water can be aslong as 4-5 Km. Food becomes extremely scarce in the long dry months, and womentend the indigenous fruit and other plants, which are sources of nutrition for the family.They collect the fodder for animals - camels, cattle and goats who are left behind fromthe herds taken by men to the irrigated areas 5.

These are just a few examples which demonstrate how women employ their knowledge

and skills to manage risks, and to steer their families to survival, living in hazardousconditions.

5 Animal population in Tharpakar is 4 times the human population. Animals are an integral part of the livelihoods of peoplein Tharpakar. They are a source of food, draught power and transport.


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When disaster strikes

It is the members of their own community, who provide the first emergency assistance toone another when a disaster strikes, such as calling out warnings to neighbours, andtaking the children, the sick and the elderly to safety. They help each other to save theirproduction assets; seed and livestock, and other household belongings. Women, along

with men play a crucially important role in emergencies. There are strong gender-baseddifferences in the capacity to deal with a situation, as well as in the in the way copingmechanisms are employed.

Women are the first to provide nursing care to the most affected family memberswhether it is a flood, earthquake or drought, before any official relief work begins. Alongwith the task of providing immediate care, women also take the necessary steps to findfood, water, and fuel to prepare the next meal for their families.

A study on floods in Jolpur, Bangladesh notes that, with floods, most of the drinkingwater sources go under water. Women take considerable risks to procure drinking waterfrom great distances, walking through chest-high water or swimming to collect fresh and

clean water.The study also noted that women use various techniques to take water outof the tube wells so as not to mix it with flood water, and to purify the water, in theabsence of fuel wood iii.

Also, in procuring food for the family during flood emergencies, women mange the risk ofstarvation by various means; by gathering edible wild plants, and rotten or discardedvegetables. Often, the collection of food from common land was womens work. Thestudy also observes that the social networks of women provide emergency survivalsupport during floods. For instance, food items, fuel, bedding, and material for makeshifthousehold purposes are borrowed on loan or given as charity. Borrowing of food orminor items is not identified as a mans responsibility, asking for help from others islooked down, as beneath his dignity iv .

The study also noted that men often sat idle or moved elsewhere, leaving theirhousehold members behind. It was left to the women to take the responsibility forprotecting children and other members of the family, livestock, and belongings. v

Post disaster rebuilding

Most part of the immediate rehabilitation also lies with the community members, oncetemporary relief and support leaves the area. Here too, women contribute in a variety offorms, along with their regular chores of preparing food, collecting water and fuel wood.

In Jhang, Punjab, Pakistan, in the aftermath of floods when affected people return to

their destroyed houses, male members usually start rehabilitation work on agriculturalland and in caring for livestock. Women share responsibilities with them in the handlingof animals and in the rebuilding of houses which involves preparing mud and doingconstruction work. v i

A research conducted in the earthquake hit Gujarat in 2001 recordsvii the role womenplayed in postquake reconstruction. Women were found to be engaged in rubbleclearing, in masonry for reconstruction, as well as in community work. They were takingpart in community meetings about the quake, and were meeting other villagers to


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address the drought issues, which were also affecting the earthquake hit areas inGujarat. Women were seen taking extra efforts to bring the situation back to normal, toensure sense of security fir the families for the community.

Turning victims to a resource

Due to the gender division in labour in daily life, men and women possess specializedskills and strengths to cope with crisis. Yet, womens roles in mitigating and preparing fordisasters, in managing emergencies, go unheralded and unrecognised, even thoughtheir skills and contributions both at the household and community levels, are crucial.Case studies presented here illustrate how this contribution is made in real lifesituations.

Having faced multiple disasters of floods and landslides in the recent months, which areconsidered the worst of its kind, in the last 50 years, Sri Lanka is faced with thechallenge of coming up with rehabilitation and disaster management plans, which aresound, and cost effective. This challenge offers an opportunity to look deeper in to the

vital role communities play, with and without external support in managing disaster risk.

At present, disaster management plans suffer from severe gaps in terms ofpreparedness action and community involvement. Communities are largely seen asvictims who need help, thus overlooking the contribution they are capable of making indisaster preparedness and emergency management. Women are particularlydisadvantaged in this regard, and are often kept away from the planning process.

A change in the approach towards disaster management is required, where theresourcefulness of victims is recognised, and space given to realise its full potential. Adecentralised approach towards disaster preparedness and risk management wouldprovide opportunity for greater involvement of the community, for options which are cost

effective, more appropriate to the local environment, resources, and way of life. Insteadof completely depending on centrally managed warning and response systems, whichare costly to operate and often not too effective, systems where community basedinitiatives are linked to the local and district level disaster management plans are morelikely to succeed.

Such an approach would provide the space and opportunity for both women and men totake part in the risk management process more constructively, improve their riskmanagement skills, expand their potential, so that they will in turn, change fromhelpless victims to a useful resource.

Madhavi M alalgoda A riyabandu

ITDG South Asia

# 05, Lionel Edirisinghe Mawatha

Colombo 5

Sri Lanka

Phone: 00 94 11 2829412

Fax: 00 94 11 2856188

Email: [email protected]


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i Hettiarachchi N.D., National Disaster Management Centre, Sri Lanka Impact of drought and initiatives in Sri Lanka,Paper prepared for the ADPC regional consultative committee on Disaster Management, October 2002

ii ITDG South Asia, Research studies on Gender issues in Disasters carried out for the regional project LivelihoodOptions for Disaster Risk Reduction in South Asia, ITDG South Asia, 2001

iii Nasreen M, Coping Mechanisms of Rural Women in Bangladesh During Floods; a Gender Perspective in Disaster:

issues and gender perspectives, Ahmed N, Khatun H eds ,Department of geography and Environment, University of Dhaka, 2000, p 316

iv Opcit

v Opcit

vi Hameed K, Gender issues in livelihoods and flood disaster; case studies on Kamra and Kot Murad Villages, JhangDistrict, Punjab, Pakistan, carried out for ITDG South Asia, Journalists Resource Centre, Islamabad , 2001

vii Enarson E, We want work: Rural Women in the Gujarat drought and earthquake, Report based on a Quick ResponseGrant from The Natural Hazards Research and Applications Centre and the National Science Foundation,2001,www.colorado.edu/hazards/qr/qr135/qr135.html

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