What is the Solution Exchange for the Disaster Management Community?
The Disaster Management Community is a group of professionals from a wide range of organizations and disciplines concerned with preparedness, mitigation, response, recovery and rehabilitation issues with respect to disasters (natural and human induced).
Solution Exchange connects members of this Community and increases the effectiveness of their individual efforts, helping them share and apply each other’s knowledge and experience. Through Solution Exchange, colleagues can turn to their peers across India for solutions to the day-to-day challenges they face.
What are some of the issues covered by this Community? - Hazards: droughts, earthquakes, floods, fires, tsunamis, cyclones, landslides, avalanches, accidents (road, railroad, and air), extreme climate, dam failures, urban disasters, and nuclear, biological, chemical and industrial disasters
- Phases
- Before: preparedness, mitigation, prevention, early warning, awareness, etc
- During: emergency response, relief and rescue
- After: response, rehabilitation/reconstruction and recovery
- Techniques and Tools: damage and vulnerability assessment formats, disaster resistant construction techniques and designs, retrofitting techniques and Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs), etc.
- Institutional and Policy Issues: governance in disaster management, role of coordination among various actors and mainstreaming disaster management into development work
- Addressing the concerns of vulnerable groups
Who should become a member of the Disaster Management Community? - Officials from Government or semi-government organizations dealing with various aspects of disaster management (preparedness, mitigation, response, recovery and long-term sustainable rehabilitation)
- Field workers from Non-Governmental and Civil Society Organizations
- Local administrators from district and local panchayats and urban local bodies
- Representatives of multilateral and bilateral donor agencies supporting projects and programmes pertaining to disaster management
- Academics, researchers and other professionals involved in disaster management capacity-building, training and research
- Corporate and other private sector professionals in the disaster management-related fields, including risk management and the insurance sector.
Membership Profile |  | | | | | Since its start in April 2007, the Disaster Management Community has grown to almost 1,200 members, joining at an average of 23 persons a week. 10% of the members have posted one or more messages. Based on quarterly sample surveys of members, the benefits gained from membership averages out at 3.9 out of 5 "stars" |
| | | | 33% of the members work in NGOs, 14% in Government agencies, and 12% in policy or research institutes or academia. 11% work in the private sector or are independent consultants. 30% work for UN or other donor agencies, programmes and projects, or professional associations. Regionally, membership balances out between 25% in Delhi and 10% in the East; 8% come from outside India.
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