**4. Livelihoods context for disaster management**

While physical tangible assets such as stronger homes, hospitals etc are crucial to reducing risks from disasters, there are many less tangible assets which people depend on to recover and survive. For instance, following an earthquake disaster in India on 26 January 2001, an evaluation by the London-based Disasters Emergencies Committee (DEC), one villager said, "We received 2,000 tents for 900 households because we had a prominent politician in the community". Some villagers proved more capable than others in accessing aid for relief and reconstruction. Why? The DEC's evaluation found that "Women, lower income groups and those representing smaller number stated they were left out of decision-making in the relief committees and hence were also omitted from relief distribution".

The livelihoods – based approach to disaster reduction tries to unpack different aspects of vulnerability and capacity. It describes how people, both rich and poor, access the assets they need, how these assets are controlled and how assets are used both to improve livelihoods and to reduce vulnerability to disasters and "shocks" such as ill-health or unemployment. Tangible assets can be both physical (e.g. relief, safe housing) and financial (such as income, savings, insurance). However, non-tangible assets are just as important. They include alternative skills, training and disaster awareness (human assets); community organization, self-help and solidarity (social assets); representation in decision-making and the ability to lobby leaders for action (political assets). These non-tangible resources are often ignored by disaster managers, but prove pivotal in sustaining disaster preparedness, mitigation and rehabilitation. The nontangible assets which include skills training to improve earning opportunities, raising awareness of vulnerable people's right, building the capacity of self-help community groups, and strengthening the involvement of the poor in the decision-making process should be enhanced.

The livelihoods approach therefore sits on the cross-roads between disasters and development. It makes clear that disasters are part of everyday life, and must be overcome if livelihood is to be sustainable. Within this approach, disaster mitigation is in effect the act of building up tangible and non-tangible assets to reduce vulnerability. This leads to another key feature of the livelihoods approach which is the need to view vulnerable communities in a holistic rather than a sectoral way. The livelihoods approach sees people as the starting point of all interven‐ tions to reduce risk. People's lives are complex and do not fit nearly into the sectoral areas that aid practitioners specialize in. Solidarity among neighbours and their willingness to help in times of disaster, for example, is more valuable than the best drafted preparedness plan. By rooting risk reduction in a developmental context, livelihoods strategies enable disaster managers to take better account of the complex interaction of life that people themselves employ to mitigate, respond to and recover from disaster. According to WDR, 2001-2001, there are three key priorities in accounting for the complex interaction namely:


to receive cloth and make their own clothes rather than receive clothing but no one took any notice.

those representing smaller number stated they were left out of decision-making in the relief

The livelihoods – based approach to disaster reduction tries to unpack different aspects of vulnerability and capacity. It describes how people, both rich and poor, access the assets they need, how these assets are controlled and how assets are used both to improve livelihoods and to reduce vulnerability to disasters and "shocks" such as ill-health or unemployment. Tangible assets can be both physical (e.g. relief, safe housing) and financial (such as income, savings, insurance). However, non-tangible assets are just as important. They include alternative skills, training and disaster awareness (human assets); community organization, self-help and solidarity (social assets); representation in decision-making and the ability to lobby leaders for action (political assets). These non-tangible resources are often ignored by disaster managers, but prove pivotal in sustaining disaster preparedness, mitigation and rehabilitation. The nontangible assets which include skills training to improve earning opportunities, raising awareness of vulnerable people's right, building the capacity of self-help community groups, and strengthening the involvement of the poor in the decision-making process should be

The livelihoods approach therefore sits on the cross-roads between disasters and development. It makes clear that disasters are part of everyday life, and must be overcome if livelihood is to be sustainable. Within this approach, disaster mitigation is in effect the act of building up tangible and non-tangible assets to reduce vulnerability. This leads to another key feature of the livelihoods approach which is the need to view vulnerable communities in a holistic rather than a sectoral way. The livelihoods approach sees people as the starting point of all interven‐ tions to reduce risk. People's lives are complex and do not fit nearly into the sectoral areas that aid practitioners specialize in. Solidarity among neighbours and their willingness to help in times of disaster, for example, is more valuable than the best drafted preparedness plan. By rooting risk reduction in a developmental context, livelihoods strategies enable disaster managers to take better account of the complex interaction of life that people themselves employ to mitigate, respond to and recover from disaster. According to WDR, 2001-2001, there

**•** *Build non-tangible assets*: Improving the skills, self-help and solidarity of households and communities will prove as important in the face of disaster as investing in physical and

**•** *Strengthen everyday lives*: Preparing for major disasters are only part of risk reduction. Smaller, ongoing disasters can over a period of time, take a heavier toll than big one-off disasters. So strengthening everyday lives by investing in human, social and political assets

**•** *Listen to local priorities*: The livelihoods approach puts vulnerable people and their priorities at the center of aid strategies. Despite much rhetoric, thus often doesn't happen. For instance, a London-based Disasters Emergencies Committee Evaluation in Gujarat India discovered people constantly emphasized the need to restore livelihoods rather than receive relief and expressed some frustration that outsiders did not listen to them on this point. They wanted

will help reduce the risk posed by a whole range of hazards, large and small.

are three key priorities in accounting for the complex interaction namely:

committees and hence were also omitted from relief distribution".

enhanced.

268 Environmental Change and Sustainability

financial defenses.
