DUSHANBE, October 21, 2011, Asia-Plus — The United Nations designated the second Wednesday of October as the International Day for Natural Disaster Reduction. More recently, it moved this annual observance to October 13, a press release issued by Focus Humanitarian Assistance in Tajikistan (FOCUS) on October 21 said.
The Day is meant to encourage citizens and governments alike to be a part of constructing more disaster resilient communities and countries.
The goals of the European Commission’s Humanitarian Aid and Civil Protection Department (ECHO) and its Disaster Preparedness Program (DIPECHO) align well with the International Day. Since 2003, an affiliate of the Aga Khan Development Network (AKDN), Focus Humanitarian Assistance in Tajikistan (FOCUS) has been an implementing partner of the DIPECHO project, with geographic coverage primarily in the eastern province of Tajikistan in Gorno Badakhshan Autonomous Region (GBAO), in Afghanistan and Kyrgyzstan. FOCUS recently completed the sixth, consecutive DIPECHO Project offered in Central Asia.
Although the project formally ended on August 31, FOCUS received approval from ECHO to use excess funds towards recognizing the International Day and in doing so to increase disaster awareness and preparedness of the communities of GBAO. As part of project’s activities, working with the public education sector to achieve increased disaster risk reduction (DRR) awareness, FOCUS developed two paper-based activities for middle and secondary school children in DRR, which was exclusively published in a monthly journal distributed to schools through the Ministry of Education’s Institute for Professional Development. These activities were based around questions that heighten students’ knowledge of DRR in a very contextual way. Secondly, to increase DRR awareness, FOCUS provided the local television and news station with a short but effective public service announcement on DRR and earthquake preparedness through a video, entitled “Five Minutes for Life: Disaster Preparedness for the Family” which was aired on International Day for Disaster Reduction. On Monday, October 7, the provincial newspaper featured activities on DRR which reached nearly 1,500 readers and on International Day, following the evening news, the DRR video will be broadcasted to an estimated 20,000 viewers. It is anticipated, based on past school and media-based DRR programming under the auspices of FOCUS and through projects like DIPECHO, it is confidently held that these initiatives will make a difference in the lives of communities in Tajikistan. Providing knowledge and education are the most effective way to create a large scale change that is sustainable and empowers ordinary citizens to re-imagine a world that is more disaster resilient and thus is better prepared for the adverse effects on livelihoods that are created by natural hazards.
International Day for Disaster Reduction provides a platform to create awareness to schools and vulnerable communities through DRR activities and media, which has wide access to remote and isolated mountain communities in Eastern Tajikistan to help individuals and families become more resilient to the impact of natural hazards.
