STH ACTIVITIES : Awareness camp in rural areas - Basilakha, East Sikkim - 13 July 2013

On 13 July 2013, STH was in Basilakha Bustee ( N 27°15.508’ /  E 088°34.969’) East Sikkim, as part of the Disaster Management / Tree Plantation program organised by Amdogolai C.D.C ( Child Development Center). There were 70-75 people in attendance mostly women and children.Among the many topics related to landslides and extreme weather that were covered, STH spoke about the importance of community capacity building both as a preventive as well as a responsive measure against landslides. 

We'd like to thank Amdogolai C.D.C and the members of Compassion International, who were involved in organizing this camp.

Rohan Rao,

Kalimpong,

Dist-Darjeeling,
rohan.rao1313@gmail.com

STH Activities - Community work at CHIBO/PASHYOR villages (27May2010)

STH has been doing some CBDRM (Community Based Disaster Risk Management) work in CHIBO/PASHYOR villages for the past few months (see here). These villages bore the brunt of  landslides in the month of Aug2009 and now that the monsoons are again at our doorstep we met up with some young volunteers of the area in a village school.
What we have been able to do in these villages is sensitize them to the landslide issue, train 11 young people on first aid and equip them with basic FIRST AID equipment. We will also provide them with some rescue equipment shortly. In addition, we have arranged to SMS early warning messagesor bad weather alerts to them about periods of heavy rainfall so that the villagers are better prepared to deal with landslides.

Praful Rao

Working with Communities : Jungpana T.E (Kurseong) - 21Feb2010

Jungpana Tea Estate (T.E) is located 5 kilometers east of NH55 and is 12km from Kurseong town. Everything in the T.E has to be brought in from Kurseong and to do that they have to cross Changey khola (river)  which is the site of a huge landslide.
The situation gets worse during the monsoons, so two persons stand on the either side of the khola to watch if it is safe to cross since even if there is a little rainfall the stones start rolling down. This procedure becomes critical when carrying sick people to the hospital.
Jungpana T.E is surrounded by landslides from three sides; on the east are the Malu Taar slides, with Changey khola in the west and the Majuwa slides in the north. There are many small landslides all over the village and what is really alarming is that cracks have developed all over the village. Jaydeep Tamang a local resident observed "I don’t think my house will withstand this monsoons and we cannot do any thing unless the Tea Estate gives us the permission" he further added “nothing is going to happen unless the house is completely destroyed”
Houses damaged by the Cyclone AILA are still not repaired and many of the compensations claimed have not been received by the villagers.
The people who were present today were eager to learn about the risk management and they assured STH that they will impart the knowledge to other people who were not present in the program.
I urged the villagers to prepare a basic village level disaster management plan in order to face the monsoons in a better and look into the drainage system in the village to the extent possible

-report filed by
Bhushan Chhetri
STH Member,
Kurseong


Remarks by Praful Rao
It is wonderful to have a Bhushan, a young volunteer achieve all this with no help (except guidance from us) from any one. Kudos to him!!

Community awareness workshop (06Feb2010) : "Can we be better prepared to deal with Landslides in the monsoons this year?"

The monsoons of 2009 began with Cyclone AILA smashing through parts of Darjeeling district and continued with unexpected & sudden peaks of high intensity rainfall which caused landslides and destruction for the rest of the monsoon season (all available in blog). 
Now with the monsoons of 2010 just about 3 months away, it is time to ponder whether we learnt anything from the devastation last year?
With this in mind STH along with Centre for Mountain Dynamics (CMD - an NGO working with farmers in Kalimpong subdivision) organized a joint workshop to discuss how we could be better prepared to deal with the monsoons this year. Some 53 community representatives from all over Kalimpong sub-division attended the meeting and over a 2 hour session, the rudiments of Community Based Disaster Risk Management (CBDRM) were discussed. Members of the rural communities actively participated and related their experiences during the proceedings which was moderated by Mr Yusuf Simick of CMD. Ms Kakoli Chowdhury (and her daughter) from Darjeeling were also present in the meeting and we hope to organize a similar meeting there with her.
The meeting was summarized by the octogenarian Mr PR Pradhan who noted that this was the first meeting that he had attended which was based solely on better ways of living with a disaster form (landslides) which was increasing in intensity and frequency each year.

Praful Rao

Commencement of Community Based Disaster Risk Management (CBDRM) work at Chibo/Pashyor

Chibo/Pashyor is one of the most vulnerable areas on the western face of Kalimpong  and the area has been featured on the blog many times. It was also the subject for a paper submitted by STH for the 2nd India Disaster Management Congress held at Vigyan Bhavan (New Delhi) in Nov2009.

STH will be starting Community Based Disaster Risk Management work there with the help of the Govt and other NGOs. This has been welcomed by the community with whom STH held a preliminary meeting on 22Jan2010 at the village school.

The meeting saw representation from Tashiding (Lepcha Gaon), Nava Bikash Samaj, Pashyor, World Vision, Ekta Samaj, Daran Gaon, Magar Samaj, Milon Samaj, Glenn Foundation, Middle Chibo, Panday Gaon, Chibo friends club, Chibo Church and Deep Kalyan Samaj.

Praful Rao