Diversity in DRR: Displacement Expert Article

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SUPPORTING COMMUNITY RESILIENCE

IN THE SOUTH CAUCASUS

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GEORGIA

Disaster Preparedness Training for IDPs in Georgia Implemented by Arbeiter-Samariter-Bund (ASB), September 2012-2013. Target group: IDPs living in 50 Collective Centers and their host communities in Samegrelo-Zemo Svaneti Region in Georgia Background: IDPs in this region were considered particularly vulnerable and exposed to hazards as the region frequently experiences landslides, earthquakes, floods and fires; and the collective centres are located in remote areas with limited access to emergency services Objective: to increase awareness and reduce vulnerability of the target group towards natural and technological disasters Activity: 25 first aid trainings and 50 trainings on preparedness and response to disasters; development of evacuation plans and evacuation simulations in each community. internally displaced persons are persons or groups of persons who have been forced or obliged to flee or to leave their homes or places of habitual residence, in as a result of or in order to avoid the effects of armed conflict, situations of generalized violence, violations of human rights or natural or human-made disasters, and who have not crossed an internationally recognized state border. Guiding Principles on Internal Displacement

ARMENIA

It was late autumn when Barseghyans family discovered that were forced to leave their

house in village Hovk and move to c. Ijevan. Their house was on a slide-prone land and

It had become risky to continue living there.

They rent a very poor apartment in Ijevan for a small cost because the family faces on-

going serious socio-economic challenges. Their conditions worsened because they used

to run their small farm and maintain their livelihoods in Hovk.

One of their children Artyom has communication and mental retardation problems.

Thus, since 2013 Artyom attends art-therapy classes and receives pedagogical and

psychologist support at Child Day-Care center of Bridge of Hope. There he also learns

about landslides and other natural hazards.

Families like Barseghyans are not few in the region of Tavush. This is a landslide area

and people are driven to poverty to flee their homes. Intervention to mitigate the effects

of natural hazards should be on the agenda of government.

Oxfams Supporting community resilience in the South Caucasus programme is one of the actions financed by The European Commissions Humanitarian Aid & Civil Protection Department (ECHO) as a part of the third phase of a wider Supporting Disaster Risk Reduction amongst Institutions and Vulnerable Communities in the South Caucasus programme.