LSGIs to draft disaster management plans

Consultative programme planned as part of RKI strategy

Local self-government institutions (LSGIs) will prepare community-based Local Self-Government Disaster Management Plans as part of the Rebuild Kerala Initiative’s (RKI) strategy to reconstruct the State from its post-flood conditions.

The local community participation is being included as part of the citizen-centric approach for the Rebuild Kerala Development Programme. The plans will be the key outcome of the grassroot-level consultation being planned by the RKI on the sidelines of the forthcoming campaign Nammukayi Nammal.

Resource-intensive

The Kerala Disaster Management Authority (KSDMA) and the Department of Local Self-Government would partner in ‘resource-intensive, limited-time, pan-Kerala ground-level consultations’ for developing the plans, Chief Executive Officer, RKI, V. Venu told The Hindu .

The overall objective of the mission-mode programme to be rolled out in the first week of December is to identify and understand ground-level challenges being faced by citizens in response to the recent natural calamities that struck them.

Situation analysis

A team of locally trained resource persons will be set up for conducting situation analysis of grama panchayat and urban local bodies and the disaster scenario, taking into account the present status and vulnerable areas.

The analysis reports will be prepared specific to each grama sabha/ward sabha. The mitigation measures will find their way to the annual plan of the local bodies for implementation.

Gram sabhas in each ward will be aided by a team of local facilitators for sectoral discussions on the analysis report and for identifying local action points.

The discussions will also focus on spotting larger action points that are beyond the scope of interventions at the panchayat level. A special gram sabha would discuss panchayat-specific issues based on the broad thematic areas, he said.

After this, the grama sabha reports will be consolidated into disaster action plans at the grama panchayat and urban body level. These which will be sent to the block level for vetting by the technical team.

The inputs will be incorporated and the LSG committee will then approve the LSG-level Disaster Action/Management Plan.

Later, the plan will be submitted to the District Disaster Management Authority for consultation and approval. In addition to the ground-level participation by the grama sabha communities, critical stakeholders and experts from across the world would make the programme a consultative one, Dr. Venu said.