CBC Health Services Security Staff Equipped on Disaster Risk Reduction Strategies
The Disability Inclusive Humanitarian Action (DIHA) project and some security staff of the CBC Health Services have been capacitated to respond to disasters while taking the specific needs of persons with disabilities into consideration. This was during a workshop on Disability Inclusive Disaster Risk Reduction organized by the Christian Blind Mission (CBM) Country Office Humanitarian team. The workshop ran from June 28 – 30, 2022 at Up Station Bamenda.
The DIHA project implemented by the CBC Health Services in collaboration with the CBM Cameroon Country Office Humanitarian team, was designed to respond to the needs of populations affected by the socio-political crisis, a major humanitarian disaster plaguing the Northwest and Southwest Regions of Cameroon.
CBM Country Humanitarian team Disability and Inclusive Development Officer, Achwe Barbara said, the workshop aimed at capacitating participants with knowledge that can help them effectively respond to disasters
The main facilitator, Mah Olivia who is a Disaster Risk Reduction expert, defined a disaster as an extraordinary event which can be caused by natural or manmade factors and can seriously and substantially impact the most vulnerable groups. A disaster, according to her, results in serious imbalance in community functioning, significant losses in human lives and materials, and it exceeds the ability of the community to cope using its own resources. This explains why different local and international organisations usually step in to respond to the needs of the affected communities during disasters.
The Disaster Risk Reduction expert explained that disasters are often unforeseen or unplanned, reason why Government (which has the primary responsibility) and other stakeholders ought to prepare for disasters so as to prevent or lesson the effects when they occur. She said this can be realized through a process known as Disaster Management, which refers to the entirety of all coordinated measures in the areas of disaster prevention, preparedness, response, and recovery after disasters.
The CBM Country Office Humanitarian Disability and Inclusive Development Officer and Main Facilitator both revealed that in the event of disasters, persons with disabilities are more likely to be left behind or abandoned during evacuation from disasters and conflicts. This is due to barriers in receiving timely and accessible warning signs and struggle during evacuation as well as lack of preparation and planning and inaccessible facilities, services and transportation systems. The facilitators painted the dark picture of the situation of persons with disabilities in the face of the ongoing crisis in Cameroon as they are among those who have been killed, violently assaulted, or kidnapped by the warring forces.
To ensure persons with disabilities are included in humanitarian response, participants were told that stakeholders ought to recognize the critical role of persons with disabilities and their organisations in all disaster risk reduction phases. The main facilitator concluded that when persons with disabilities are included in disaster risks reduction, they will not become a burden but a resource during disaster response.
During the workshop, participants were exposed to the international frameworks on disaster management including the Sendai Framework with principles like understanding risks, investing on disaster reduction for resilience and enhancing disaster preparedness for effective response, recovery, and rehabilitation reconstruction.
A highlight of the workshop was a practical exercise on extinguishing fire using a fire extinguisher by the CBM Safety and Security Officer, Ndikum Terence.
It is expected that after this workshop, the CBC Health Services will develop and disseminate a disaster Management Plan for effective use in the organisation.