Preparedness and Response Protocols in Yulu and Sutakpin, Nicaragua

Last Sunday I moved from Managua to Puerto Cabezas to have a visit in the field where GVC is developing the Community Based Disaster Preparedness and Institutional Strengthening to Increase Resilience in the Homogenous Cross Border Region of La Moskitia Honduras and Nicaragua in partnership with GOAL financed by ECHO.

In this part of the project GVC accompanies the municipal technical staff and Civil Defense staff who is leading the process of operationalizing the Preparedness and Response Protocols at community level, including the organization of new local emergency committees and emergency brigades in 6 communities of this area where no previous intervention has taken place, and which currently there are no emergency committees.

GVC is promoting the integration of protection of vulnerable groups and gender equality in the emergency committees including updating hazard mapping and evacuation plans to include the latest analysis on storm surge. The training process emphasize capacity building through practical Search & Rescue training and Damage Assessment and Needs Analysis (EDAN for its acronym in Spanish) as well as simulation drills.

At the same time a mainstreaming focus on climate change adaptation has been incorporated to make the people think about how the climate change is affecting their lives in terms of production and cultivation and which are the consequences also directly related to their health.

The Committee will be composed by a Coordinator and different responsible of Health, Census, Supply , Refuge and Damage Assessment and Needs Analysis (EDAN), who will coordinate the action in case of an event or emergency, in collaboration with the Brigade Coordinator.

In this mission we were deployed in two communities of Puerto Cabezas Municipality, Yula and Sukatpin.The first thing I noticed has been the hospitality of the people, as there are not hotels, they offered us to spend the nights in an house of a family that now is not living in the place. On Monday morning there was an assembly to decide who was going to take part in the Commette and the Brigade and to explain to the community which was the aim of the action. The day after the Civil Defense gave the first session about the National System for Prevention of Disasters (SINAPRED) and then my GVC colleagues gave the “Climate Change & Vulnerable Groups Session”. The training will be complemented and enriched through the organization of training camps led by the municipal technicians, Civil Defense and first responder institutions. During the next year other activities will be developed also in the schools of the communities to make the childhood aware about risk management and other related issues.

By David Wiersma