Andhra Pradesh is one of the Most natural hazard prone states in India because of its long coastline and geographical location. About 44% of the state is vulnerable to tropical storms and related hazards. In addition, monsoon depressions bring heavy to very heavy rains causing floods in the inland rivers between June and September. Many areas in the state, adjacent to coastal districts are vulnerable to flash floods. Coastal erosion is an important problem.Out of the total coastal length of about 974 km, about 440 km faces coastal erosion. Andhra Pradesh is also exposed to earthquakes, though the State lies in moderately low risk zones (Zone I, II and III).

The costal part of Andhra Pradesh consisting of 9 districts is, often, worst affected by the natural calamities and especially by the recent Tsunami, which has claimed people’s lives along with their treasured assets which in turn has robbed of their only means of livelihood. These disasters cause heavy toll on the normal course of life of the people dwelling alongside the coast and making their life miserable.  Many incidences that people have paid it with their lives.  The amount of loss that they undergo both in terms of materials and psychological trauma is no way ever adequately compensated either by the Governments or by the Service agencies.  Therefore, for everybody disaster has opened a new angle that it is by all means a development concern now.

SARDS DRMmission is a comprehensive encompassing the organization of the people, mapping the hazards and vulnerability, formation of taskforce teams to undertake early warning and evacuation, rescue, first aid, water and sanitation and providing shelter and food in the immediate disaster context and permanent houses and livelihood support under the long-run rehabilitation measures. Disaster Risk Management involves identifying organizational resources, determining roles and responsibilities, developing policies and procedures and planning activities in order to reach a level of preparedness to be able to respond timely and effectively to a disaster that occur. The actual planning process is preliminary in nature and is performed in a state of uncertainty until an actual emergency or disaster occurs. After a disaster occurs, plans must be adapted to the actual situation.

Children are among the most vulnerable group during any disaster, especially those attending school at the time of the catastrophe. During disasters, school buildings are destroyed, taking away the precious lives of children and teachers and stalling access to education in the aftermath of disaster. Learning about disaster risk in primary and secondary schools help children play an important role in saving lives and protecting members of the community in times of disaster. Making disaster risk education an integral part of the children learning process helps to build greater awareness of the issues across entire communities. In addition to their essential role in formal education, schools must also protect children in the event of a natural hazard. Investing in strengthening school structures before a disaster occurs, reduces long-term costs, protects generations of children and ensures educational continuity after the event. Recognizing this fact SARDS made Child led Disaster Risk Reduction initiatives as major component in its programs.  Awareness creation among children, safety school nets, disaster preparedness sessions in the schools, mock drills with children and advocacy initiatives are the major activities in child led disaster risk reduction initiatives.

Disasters decelerate the process of development and the recent trends put forward the prominence of incorporating the DRR initiatives as a cross cutting theme/ intervention in all developmental activities. SARDS has been operating in the disaster prone coastal Mandals of Coastal districts of Andhra Pradesh wanted to build a model for replication to demonstrate how the disaster impact can be reduced with the best participation of communities. Hence SARDS has chosen 10vulnerable Mandals in Nellore, Prakasam and Guntur to initiate DRM interventions covering155 villages during the period 2007-2012.

The following DRM interventions have been executed exclusively with the support of CARE India for more than 5 years in the operational Mandals of Prakasam District.

• Community mobilization and stake holders’ sensitization
• Conducting Disaster Risk Assessment
• Development and Updating community and school safety plans
• Promotion and Strengthening of Task Force Committees and mock drill mechanism
• Information, Communication and Technology (ICT) Center:
• Establishment Disaster Resource centers at Panchayat level:
• Tapping NREGA resources to build community protection infrastructure;
• Developing Cadre of Community Resource Persons
• Promotion of Grain and fodder Banks for disaster resilience;
• Fist Full of Rice and Emergency Fund:
• Promotion and strengthening of Community based Disaster Management Associations at Panchayat, Mandal and District level
• Promotion school safety initiatives
• Development of convergence mechanism for social safety of the vulnerable population
• Promotion of life, medical and assets insurance
• Institutionalizationof DRM at PRIs and schools

The Community Based Disaster Risk Managementprogram in the operational area of SARDS developed a show case for building community participation in the disaster preparedness and Risk Management initiatives. The DRM initiatives built sustainable mechanisms as part of mainstreaming the Disaster preparedness within the community.

The long-term association with CARE INDIA in the area of CADRM has motivated SARDS to institutionalize DRM Mechanism with in the Governance and Management of its Development agenda. SARDS has developed task force Mechanism and emergency response plans within SARDS.  The DRM has become one of the core cross cutting thematic areas in all its development, livelihood enhancement and NRM initiatives on the ground. The DRM is one of the core component of our Currently implementing projects related to Climate proofing initiatives under KFW soil project, WSD and TDF projectssupported by NABARD and promoting child friendly gram panchayats and schools (Balahitha) project supported by CCFC in our operational area.

SARDS has involved earlier in the early warning, evacuation, relief, rehabilitation and rebuilding the affected communities and population with a focus on children, single/destitute women, physically and mentally challenged, aged, sick and other vulnerable since 1996 with the support of AWARE, plan, Save the children, CWW, GAA, HIVOS, OXFARM AUS, GIZ, CRY, CARE etc., in Prakasam, Guntur, Nellore, Kurnool, Krishna, East Godavari districts in the state of Andhra Pradesh.