BASELINE SURVEY REPORT COMMUNITY-BASED DISASTER RISK REDUCTION PROJECT FIFTH DIPECHO ACTION PLAN FOR SOUTH ASIA Funded by the European Commission Humanitarian Aid and co-funded by Cordaid The European Union is supporting the Fifth DIPECHO Action Plan for South Asia with the aim to support strategies that enable local communities and institutions to better prepare for, mitigate and respond adequately to natural disasters by enhancing their capacities to cope and respond, thereby increasing resilience and reducing vulnerability. Submitted by: Md. Fazlul Karim Chowdhury Consultant, Baseline Survey CBDRR Project Edited by: Concern Universal December 2009 This report has been produced with the assistance of he European Commission Humanitarian Aid. The contents of this report are the sole responsibility of Concern Universal Bangladesh and can in no ways be taken to reflect the views of the European Union. TABLE OF CONTENTS ACRONYMS AND ABBREVIATIONS .................................................................................... 4 1 EXECUTIVE SUMMARY ................................................................................................. 5 2 INTRODUCTION .............................................................................................................. 7 2.1 Background ................................................................................................................ 7 2.2 The Community-Based Disaster Risk Reduction Project ........................................... 7 2.3 Objectives of the baseline survey .............................................................................. 9 3 APPROACH AND METHODOLOGY FOR THE BASELINE STUDY ............................ 10 3.4 General Approach .................................................................................................... 10 3.5 Methodology ............................................................................................................ 10 3.5.1 Sample Size Determination .............................................................................. 10 3.5.2 Survey Tools ..................................................................................................... 12 3.5.3 Composition of Study Team .............................................................................. 12 3.5.4 Training of Field Staff ........................................................................................ 13 3.5.5 Quality Control of Field Data ............................................................................. 13 3.5.6 Data accumulation and management ............................................................... 13 3.5.7 Data Entry, Processing and Analysis ................................................................ 13 4 FINDINGS ...................................................................................................................... 15 4.1 Brief description of the Household Questionnaire Respondents .............................. 15 4.2 Knowledge levels on DRR and climate change ....................................................... 15 4.2.1 Knowledge on Hazard, Risk and Vulnerability .................................................. 16 4.2.2 Knowledge on early warning ............................................................................. 22 4.2.3 Institutional knowledge on DRR ........................................................................ 23 4.2.4 Knowledge on Climate Change ........................................................................ 24 4.3 Practices and behaviors related to DRR .................................................................. 31 4.3.1 Practice before disaster .................................................................................... 31 4.3.2 Practice during Impending Disaster .................................................................. 33 4.3.3 Practice during Disaster .................................................................................... 35 4.3.4 Practice after disaster ....................................................................................... 38 4.4 Roles of local level Institutions and Coordination ..................................................... 40 4.4.1 Schools ............................................................................................................. 40 4.4.2 Union Parishad ................................................................................................. 41 4.4.3 Children Learning Centers and Learning Centers ............................................. 42 5 CONCLUSION ............................................................................................................... 43 6 LIST OF ANNECES ....................................................................................................... 44 2 LIST OF TABLES AND CHARTS TABLES Table 1: Distribution of the household survey respondents by Upazila Table 2: Most common hazards Table 3: Understanding of warning signals Table 4: Observations of CLC/LC management committees on the consequences of climate change Table 5: Opinions of different groups about climate change Table 6: Observations of CLC/LC management committees on the causes of climate change Table 7: Observations of UP representatives on the causes of climate change Table 8: Roles of various respondents in Shelter Management Table 9: Self-assessment of UP representatives on DRR CHARTS Chart 1: Types of Hazards Chart 2: Perceived vulnerability to different hazards Chart 3: Understanding of Cyclone Signals Chart 4: Training on DRR Chart 5: Climate Change and patterns of disasters Chart 6: Reactions on hearing signal 7 GRAPHS Graph 1: Most at-risk groups Graph 2: Causes of vulnerability Graph 3: Changes in Temperature and Rainfall Graph 4: Changes in Biodiversity - Forestry, Salinity Graph 5: Causes of Climate Changes Graph 5: Measures undertaken for disaster preparedness Graph 6: Measures undertaken during Disasters Graph 7: Measures undertaken after a Disaster 3 ACRONYMS AND ABBREVIATIONS CBDRR Community Based Disaster Risk Reduction CBO Community Based Organization CLC Children Learning Center CMDRR Community Managed Disaster Risk Reduction CPP Cyclone Preparedness Programme CRA Community Risk Assessment CU Concern Universal DAM Dhaka Ahsania Mission DRR Disaster Risk Reduction FGD Focus Group Discussion LC Learning Center NGO Non Governmental Organization PNGO Partner Non Governmental Organization SMC School Management Committee SOD Standing Orders on Disaster UDMC Union Disaster Management Committee UP Union Parishad 4 1 EXECUTIVE SUMMARY The Community Based Disaster Risk Reduction Project is a CU-initiated project implemented jointly by CU and DAM with financial support from the European Union. The overall objective of the project is to achieve a ‘Sustainable decrease of the negative impact of natural disasters in the targeted Districts of Bangladesh’ with the specific objective that ‘communities, Partner NGOs, local NGOs and International Practitioners are practicing standard CBDRR Model in the targeted vulnerable Districts against multiple natural hazards’. Through this baseline study CU wanted to acquire a comprehensive picture of the project areas with regards to DRR knowledge, behaviors and practices, which would allow for the effective measuring of the intervention’s impact at the end of the project. Both qualitative and quantitative approaches were used for the study. Simple random sampling techniques were used to select 395 households from the communities under the project areas and a pre-structured questionnaire was developed for the household survey. FGD were conducted with CLC/LC management committees, UP representatives, school teachers, students and SMC members from randomly selected unions. FGD were also conducted with DAM field staff involved with project implementation and CLC/LC tutors from non-targeted areas. This report presents the findings from the baseline study. The findings of the study are presented sequentially in the report: following the methodology, the first section explores and analyzes existing knowledge levels on DRR and climate change; the second section focuses on practices and behaviors before, during and after disasters; and the third and final section examines the coordination, service provision and roles and responsibilities of different stakeholders. In each section of the report, a graphical analysis of findings from the household survey is presented followed by the FGD findings. One of the main findings of the baseline study is that even though very little institutional knowledge on DRR had reached the targeted communities, people in the area had gained empirical knowledge through their experience over time facing disasters of various types. Knowledge levels and understanding of risk, hazards and vulnerability were found to be high amongst respondents of both the household survey and the FGD, and communities had developed mechanisms to cope with and mitigate the losses due to disasters. Most of the respondents of the study were taking essential pre-disaster measures such as preserving dry food, saving money, keeping important documents in safe places, and becoming familiar with the nearest safe shelters. In particular, following cyclone Sidr in 2007, people had become more responsive towards DRR issues and some of the respondents explained that they had taken responsibility to raise community awareness on preparedness, prevention of losses, coping mechanisms, and warning signals. Awareness