Community-Based Response and Recovery: Role of Civil Societies

Abstract

Community-based approach can contribute to addressing the root cause of vulnerability and to making sustainable the community initiatives that help strengthen disaster resilience. The definition of disaster resilience has been studied from a number of viewpoints and no single definition is accepted. In addition to the traditional definition that understands resilience as the capacity and capability to absorb and recover from some shocks, to maintain function and to return to pre-disturbance state, it is crucial to see it as process rather than outcome that includes the aspects of advancing the state through learning and adaptation that often requires the change and innovation. By understanding resilience as process, more attentions to the importance of disaster preparedness and mitigation that require responding effectively and recovering from shocks quickly will increase and the DRR capacity will be enhanced. CSOs can play an important role to develop a programme of the community-based disaster response and recovery especially combining and linking more than two disaster management phases such as response, recovery and mitigation, or recovery, mitigation and preparedness, and eventually to strengthen the disaster resilience of community, city and country.