Kulatunga, U, Amaratunga, RDG, Zaman, M, Biswan, A and Parvez, A 2010, Community risk assessment for disaster risk reduction: challenges and future , in: COBRA 2010, 2nd - 3rd September 2010, Paris.

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Abstract

Significant attention is paid towards community based disaster risk reduction (DRR) activities that integrate community participation and scientific knowledge for the development of effective DRR strategies. Community based DRR activities empower communities to take a leading role in developing DRR strategies, thus increasing the commitment and sense of belongingness of the community towards DRR activities. This paper evaluates a community based DRR method called Community Risk Assessment (CRA) through a comprehensive literature review. CRA is a method that assesses local hazards and community vulnerability to develop DRR strategies with the active participation of different groups of the community, community leaders and local authorities. The paper discusses a number of benefits of CRA activities such as increased participation of community towards the preparation of comprehensive DRR strategies, increased understanding of natural hazards and community vulnerabilities of the locality, reduced social tension between the authorities and communities regarding DRR strategies, and opportunities provided for the socially deprived community groups to discuss their risk and vulnerabilities from natural hazards. Despite the aforementioned benefits, CRA is challenged with the significant amount of human resource and time it requires, lack of participation and representation of different groups in the community, cultural attitudes of some community groups towards the engagement of socially deprived people for DRR activities

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