Relief & Disaster Risk Reduction
Our goal
- To help affected populations overcome the immediate effects of crisis and recover into a state of greater resilience
- To prepare communities for potential disasters
The challenges
Chin State experiences frequent cyclones, floods, landslides and earthquakes, and is increasingly feeling the unpredictable weather impacts of climate change. Additionally, conflict in the region periodically leads to displacement. When farming is disrupted or people are displaced from their land, this population of mostly subsistence farmers immediately faces serious food shortages. Coping mechanisms in this region are limited at the best of times, and vulnerable families can quickly find themselves in a dire situation.
The future outlook is concerning. Studies in Chin State have found evidence of climate change impacts, compounded by the fragile mountainous terrain and remoteness of this area. If climate impacts continued, it is feared that this will result in further “heavier rains and floods, more heat waves, stronger winds/storms, and increased droughts” and result in “more frequent landslides, loss of farmland and crops, human health issues, increased pest and disease infestations in crops and animals, water shortages, and the destruction of houses, roads and other infrastructure” (ICIMOD and MoNREC). Most communities have little direction about how to prepare for such events, and national adaptation plans often do not reach these isolated communities.
Our response
When people lose assets, crops, or have to leave their homes, TSD is ready to help with support such as food and hygiene materials to meet immediate needs. We also work to prepare communities for potential disasters by facilitating the formation of Disaster Risk Reduction Committees and establishing various preparedness measures.
Main relief & DRR activities
- Delivering vital relief-items such as food and hygiene items
- Forming Disaster Risk Reduction (DRR) Committees
- Campaigns on natural disaster preparedness and prevention, including protecting natural resources such as water sources and forests
- Establishing Emergency Food Banks as community-based social protection mechanisms
- Encouraging household level preparedness such as keeping at least a 1 month food preserve
- Connecting communities to township and state level emergency contacts
Achievements in Relief & DRR
Current Programme:
- 13 communities have set up DRR Committees responsible for promoting preparedness for disasters
Past Achievements*:
- Over 3,000 people have been supported with emergency relief items such as food, medicine or hygiene items during times of crisis, including:
- The COVID-19 pandemic in 2020
- Displacement due Arakan Army – Myanmar military conflict in 2019
- Cyclone Komen in 2015
- the ‘Bamboo dying food crisis’ that started in 2007
*Some of these achievements were reached before TSD was an independent NGO, but while TSD staff were working as a department of the Mara Evangelical Church.
“In the past, we could predict the exact time to plant and when the rains will come. But now we cannot. The climate is irregular and unpredictable. We want to know how we can modify our ways in order to cope.”.
~Mara elder
TSD’s DRR programme contributes to the following DRR-related target under SDG Goal 1:
• 1.5 – build the resilience of the poor and those in vulnerable situations and reduce their exposure and vulnerability to climate-related extreme events and other economic, social, and environmental shocks and disasters