Enhancing earthquake resilience of communities: an action by women’s groups in Nepal

Abstract

Purpose

Nepal is exposed to frequent earthquakes. There is a felt need for promoting disaster risk reduction action at community level, promoting existing community cohesion for use in disaster preparedness and replication of positive experiences. Involvement of women has been identified as one of the effective ways to motivate and mobilize communities to reduce disaster risks and enhance disaster preparedness. The paper aims to discuss these issues.

Design/methodology/approach

Frontline program was implemented in the four communities of Chandragiri municipality during 2015 with support from GNDR. Preparing the local risk profile and the action plans to reduce those identified risk was the main approach of the Frontline program.

Findings

During the Frontline survey, the community identified earthquake as the top threat in the community and non-structural mitigation as one of the priority actions. The members of the women network started advocating for earthquake safe communities and implementing the risk reduction measures. This action has developed understanding of the process, scientifically and systematically, and boosted their confidence with important new technical skills and new leadership roles in their community to mitigate the earthquake risk.

Originality/value

This case study records the experience of the women’s group in Nepal using their NSM learning in their own houses to reduce vulnerability. They started vulnerability reduction with their own kitchens and bedrooms by fastening their cupboards, frames, freezes, gas cylinders, etc. This led to implementing the mitigation measures in their locality and outside their community. This has been a step toward achieving a safer community through safer houses and schools.

Citation

Shrestha, N., Shrestha, S.N., Parajuli, B., Dixit, A.M., Upadhyay, B.K., Khanal, O.K. and Sen Oli, K. (2019), "Enhancing earthquake resilience of communities: an action by women’s groups in Nepal", Disaster Prevention and Management, Vol. 28 No. 1, pp. 84-92. https://doi.org/10.1108/DPM-07-2018-0217