Fifteen women and 30 men from the Highlands region were trained to address various disaster issues in their communities.
The participants are from the identified disaster prone communities in the highlands provinces including community focal points as well as district and local level government representatives.
The participants were trained to address various issues, including preparedness to the negative effects of natural hazards, risk reduction measures, and the use of early warning systems.
The training will help participants to undertake disaster awareness, preparedness and mitigation activities throughout the drafting and execution of Community-Based Disaster Risk Management plans. This will in-turn help target communities build resilience to disasters induced by natural hazards.
The International Organization for Migration (IOM) with funding from the United States Agency for International Development’s Bureau for Humanitarian Assistance (USAID/BHA) recently completed the five-day training in Community-Based Disaster Risk Management (CBDRM) in Mount Hagen, which was co-facilitated by IOM and Provincial Disaster Coordinators (PDCs) from Hela, Southern Highlands, Enga, Western Highlands and Jiwaka provinces.
The Western Highlands Provincial Disaster Coordinator Robin Yakumb thanked the US Government for its continued support of disaster risk management operations, as well as funding the CBDRM programme, implemented by IOM.
“If these CBDRM trainings had not been conducted by IOM through the partnership with the National Disaster Centre and PDCs, I would not have the skills and knowledge that I now have in disaster risk management. This and other trainings already carried out by IOM such as the Displacement Tracking Matrix, and Camp Coordination and Camp Management are helping me and other PDCs disaster coordinators in delivering our work,” Yakumb said.
The participants also shared their appreciation of the training. Councilor Mark Barry, of the Sigiri community in Jiwaka extended his heartfelt gratitude to USAID/BHA and highlighted that the training has equipped him with the knowledge to help his community when dealing with natural and human-induced hazards.
