Women: the risk managers in natural disasters1

By Madhavi Ariyabandu

Natural disasters- a cause for concern

Natural disasters devastate the lives and livelihoods of people and cause substantial
dents in the economies. South Asia is the worst affected sub continent from natural
hazards in the world. We in South Asia face a variety of hazards - cyclones, floods,
earthquakes, drought and landslides. The impact of hazards is severe on the large
numbers of populations living in poverty, in hazard prone areas under extremely
vulnerable conditions. Statistics given below indicate the damages natural hazards
cause in the sub continent to life and property. In the last century alone, in India and
Bangladesh 11,915,317 were killed because of drought, cyclones, earthquake and
related epidemics. In the year 2001, 56% of people killed across the world by disasters
were from South Asia, and 729, 033 people from Bangladesh, 21,026 from Nepal and
1,000,200 from Sri Lanka, got affected in various ways.

Situation in Sri Lanka

Given its location in the Indian Ocean, Sri Lanka is at the mercy of the weather changes
in the Gulf of Bengal, the Arabian Sea and the Indian sub-continent. Drought, floods and
landslides appear as most recurring and constant natural hazards in Sri Lanka. Despite
an annual rainfall which is in the range of 900-6000 mm, Sri Lanka has areas in its vast
dry zone, which are constantly in a state of drought, mostly resulting from monsoon
failure. An extensive drought is recorded every year in dry zone areas, and there is
inadequate mechanisms to store the 1000 mm of monsoon rainfall it receives. Due to the
seasonal nature of rainfall2, drought can prevail almost eight months of the year, and
populations in these areas depend on several sources of water and adopt their own
techniques to deal with the shortage.

The seasonal monsoons almost regularly bring about floods in certain parts of low-lying
river basins. Areas belonging to the wet and dry zones, and sometimes, even the capital,
Colombo and its suburbs experience floods. Ironically the floods mostly affect the low-
income families, squatters who encroach on the low-lying areas along the rivers. But
there are instances, resulting from fierce monsoons, when the flooding can extend to
towns and villages downstream of the rivers - inundating roads, buildings and other
infrastructure facilities.

Heavy rains and flooding is generally followed by landslides. The occurrence of

landslides increased in the recent past, largely due to human activity. Demand for land
for cultivation and settlements and ill-sited infrastructure projects have paved the way for

A concise version of the paper was published in ‘Voice of Women’, a Sri Lanka Journal for Women’s
Liberation, Volume 6, Issue 1, August 2003, Colombo
2
Dry zone receives rain in two monsoon seasons; North East monsoons–September to December, South
West monsoons –April to June

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such hazards. The recent events in the month of May recorded the largest incidence of
landslides in the country and a record number of lives were lost due to this hazard.

Natural disasters now show an upward trend, in terms of frequency, intensity and the
damages they cause. The year 2001 recorded one of the worst drought years in Sri
Lanka, for a major part of the dry zone, affecting food and water security of people and
damaging crops and livestock. It is estimated that 354,015 families consisting of
1,577,235 people were adversely affected and suffered great difficulties. The
Government of Sri Lanka allocated 438 million Rs. as drought relief i. The country
experienced its worst floods and landslides in 50 years in last May, which hit six districts
in the country. The ministry of Social welfare estimates that approximately 150,000
families or 600,000 peoples have been directly affected. There were 236 deaths
reported, 9136 houses completely damaged displacing 138973 families. In addition
30,385 houses are estimated to be partly damaged3.

Disaster Management – charity & relief

With such calamities in store, disaster management is a must. The present system for
natural disaster management in Sri Lanka comes under the Ministry of Social Welfare.
Under the Ministry, there are two main institutes overlooking the disaster management
functions; namely the National Disaster Management Centre and the Department of
Social Welfare.

At the same time, a number of other state organizations that have links with, or a stake
in disaster management, carry out individual plans and projects under the present
framework. These include the Meteorological, Irrigation, and the Forest Departments,
the Urban Development Authority, the National Building Research Organisation among
others. What is lacking is any form of co-ordination between these institutions on the
issues of hazard and disaster management.

At the grassroots level, Local Governments, Divisional and District Secretariats presently
report to the Department of Social Welfare in case of disaster, mainly for the purpose of
obtaining relief and rehabilitation assistance.

The commonly shared perception in the country is that the Government is responsible
for disasters management. From ancient times we carry the notions that disasters are
“Acts of God” unleashing fury & punishment, on people, and there is nothing you can
do, but “grin and bear” when it occurs. Accordingly, the disaster management style is
largely one of charity and relief, rather than of disaster preparedness. Once a calamity
occurs, the designated state institutions rush with assistance, followed by the other
formal charitable institutions, individuals and the communities who are not directly
affected.

Except for initial mention, disaster preparedness and mitigation do not portray
adequately in the national plans yet. Invariably It is the emergency responses which

3
Source: http://www.socialwelfare.gov.lk/floods/.

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dominate, whether it be a sudden onslaught like floods and landslides, or in managing
slow onset of a disaster, like the drought.

Role of Community

Whether it is a major calamity, or small scale disaster, people play an important role in
preparing for the management of the emergency situations, and in re- building the
disrupted services and infrastructure. A substantial amount of risk management takes
place at the community level, without any external support. Risk management is part
and parcel of the life of millions of people living in poverty in South Asia. Being poor,
often they are forced to live in marginal lands prone to floods, drought, and dangerous
slopes, which are prone to landslides. In such conditions, risk is a factor people have
learnt to deal with.

Women- the risk managers

Women play a major role in risk and emergency management. Taking care of the family
in emergencies, taking children and animals to safety, and the storage of food and other
essential items, are some of the functions carried out entirely by women in such
situations. The social role assigned to women in South Asian societies as caregivers and
nurturers naturally extend to risk management, to secure life and the continuity of
livelihoods, and to maintain the life support systems, in times of disasters.

Research studies carried out in Bangladesh, India, Nepal, Pakistan, and Sri Lanka ii on
‘Gender issues in disasters’ show the risk management strategies deployed by people
for surviving the vagaries of nature. The studies reveal that there is a clear division of
labour based on gender, in how disaster risk is managed. Often, men and women
complement each other by taking on gender specific roles and responsibilities in overall
risk management.

Living with Floods

In Bangladesh, where frequent flooding is a regular feature in most parts of the country,
women take on the role of preparing and storing food items, which can be the source of
energy and nutrition for the family for days when the floods come. As the studies
showed, in Faridpur, women prepare a mixture of puffed rice, and dried coconuts for this
purpose, secured in appropriate packaging, safe from flood waters. This is a food item
which has a long keeping quality, and gives sufficient energy when consumed in small
quantities. Women in this area also ensure that their meagre belongings such as
clothing and bedding are stored in such a way that they can be easily removed when
flood waters rise.

Phulkumari, is a Nepali woman who is living in a small village in Chitwan District, near
the river Rapti, who gets perpetually affected by its rising waters almost every year. In
responding to the question as to why she is not moving away and settling elsewhere,
she said ‘one needs to learn to live with the river. This is my native place, the river
supports our crops, but when it turns angry we move away from it’.
During the monsoon period, observing the water levels in the river is done by all, but
particular by women. Accustomed to spending most of their day, in and around the
village - engaged in cultivation, collecting water and fuel wood, they have extensive

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knowledge and powers of observation to know the slight changes in the movement and
the levels of water. Such observations help them to make the decisions, when to leave
their huts, and move to safety. Guided by their own judgment, they move to nearby safe
places with the cattle, when the water levels rise beyond the safety levels. Once the
water levels recede, they come back to continue with their livelihood.
However it is observed that they are at high risk, due to the weak structures along the
river, and people live in constant fear and uncertainty. Further, if it is a flash flood due to
the rains upstream (such as the 1993 flash flood in the area which washed away entire
villages), there will be hardly any time for the people to move to safety.
Women in Jhang area in Punjab, Pakistan, have mastered the skills to survive floods
through generations. While male members of the family take the livestock to protective
embankments or distant places, and arrange for their fodder women make preparations
to take care of the children, the valuables, and the cooking utensils. It is the women who
make provision for food to support the family during the floods, and preserve seed for
the next cultivation season.

Vigilance – the one option

Gondennawa, in Nawalapitiya, Sri Lanka is an area where people live in constant fear of
dual threats - landslides and rock falls. The area has been identified and declared high
risk by the authorities, but people continue to occupy the houses with cracked walls,
which is a clear sign of possible landslides. The occupants claim that they have nowhere
else to go. The Government has offered settlement in an alternative location, however,
the people claim that it will jeopardise their income earning opportunities, which are
linked with the Nawalapitiya township. Men go out for labour and other work
opportunities in the town, while women stay at home occupying themselves in petty
income generating activities such as preparing various food items for sale. Living in risk,
women keep regular vigil, and observe signs of cracks on earth, and the walls. Women
in this area have taken the initiative to form themselves into vigilant groups along with
men to keep vigil in the nights, for possible threats of rock fall during the heavy
monsoons, so that they can alert the neighbours to run for safety.

Women’s art of surviving drought

In the dry zone of Sri Lanka, people face scarcity of food and water during the long dry
periods. Women, as regular managers of the food and water needs of the family, resort
to various mechanisms to survive the difficult conditions. Families, who generally take 3
meals of rice a day, change the composition of the meals to reduce the rice
consumption; millet, corn and other cheaper and less favourable food grains are
introduced to substitute rice. As drought advances, the numbers of meals taken for a day
is reduced, in order to preserve the available food grains. ‘Rice Seettu’ 4 organised by
women in the drought affected villages is a common practice, to avoid the risk of
starvation of the family. In Andarawewa, it was noted, that women also get in to seettu,
where small amounts of cash is contributed. Generally, under normal circumstances,
when it is their turn to collect the lump some of money, women are in the habit of
purchasing special items such as furniture, crockery for the house, or long awaited items
of jewellery, with this money. However in Andarawewa, many women went into seettu

4
5-10 families get together to contribute with a given quantity of rice to a common pot every week/month. The collection is
accessed by each family on a rotating basis.

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to collect money to purchase large plastic barrels, to collect and preserve water to meet
their family’s water requirements during the long dry periods.

The story of how Sumanawathie, a mother of four children from Andarawewa,

Sooriyawewa, in Hambabthota district, Sri Lanka meet the domestic water needs of her
household is an example, of how she survives many risks the drought conditions pose.
People in Andarawewa face water problems round the year. Ground water is saline and
not suitable for drinking, since it is injurious to their health. There is only one well for the
entire village, to which over 30 families come to wash clothes, bathe, and collect water
for other domestic needs.

Sumanawathie, who spends a minimum of 3 hours a day in collecting water for drinking
and other household needs throughout the year, has figured out which particular source
of water, is suitable and safe for different family requirements. She secures and
preserves water from 3 different sources, to protect her family from disease, and to
ensure that there are sufficient quantities available. The water in the village tube well is
too saline for consumption, thus its water is used only for washing and cleaning
purposes. To access water for cooking she walks to the village well which is about a two
km away. Even this well water, she feels, is not good enough for drinking, since it is
often muddy due to over consumption. For drinking purposes, she collects water from
the Government distribution bowser, which visits the village not too regularly. On these
irregular visits of the bowser, she collects water into large plastic cans and stores them
for future use. These tasks are managed, while working as a daily wage labourer, when
there is work available, or making Beedi at home for sale, when outside work is not
available. Her husband is a labourer, working away from home in the city.

Drought in dessert

In Tharparkar dessert area in Pakistan, where annual rainfall is not more than 300 mm a
year, women carry the responsibility of ensuring drinking water needs of the family
during the long dry months which last 6- 8 months a year. Men go out of the village
taking the herds of animals to areas where there is irrigation water and wage work is
available. It is the women who are left in the villages to mange the crisis, to look after the
food and water needs of the children, elderly and the sick. They trek long distances to
collect pots of drinking water. Sometimes a journey for a single pot of water can be as
long as 4-5 Km. Food becomes extremely scarce in the long dry months, and women
tend the indigenous fruit and other plants, which are sources of nutrition for the family.
They collect the fodder for animals - camels, cattle and goats who are left behind from
the herds taken by men to the irrigated areas 5.

These are just a few examples which demonstrate how women employ their knowledge
and skills to manage risks, and to steer their families to survival, living in hazardous
conditions.

5
Animal population in Tharpakar is 4 times the human population. Animals are an integral part of the livelihoods of people
in Tharpakar. They are a source of food, draught power and transport.

5
When disaster strikes
It is the members of their own community, who provide the first emergency assistance to
one another when a disaster strikes, such as calling out warnings to neighbours, and
taking the children, the sick and the elderly to safety. They help each other to save their
production assets; seed and livestock, and other household belongings. Women, along
with men play a crucially important role in emergencies. There are strong gender-based
differences in the capacity to deal with a situation, as well as in the in the way coping
mechanisms are employed.

Women are the first to provide nursing care to the most affected family members
whether it is a flood, earthquake or drought, before any official relief work begins. Along
with the task of providing immediate care, women also take the necessary steps to find
food, water, and fuel to prepare the next meal for their families.

A study on floods in Jolpur, Bangladesh notes that, with floods, most of the drinking
water sources go under water. Women take considerable risks to procure drinking water
from great distances, walking through chest-high water or swimming to collect fresh and
clean water. The study also noted that women use various techniques to take water out
of the tube wells so as not to mix it with flood water, and to purify the water, in the
absence of fuel wood iii.

Also, in procuring food for the family during flood emergencies, women mange the risk of
starvation by various means; by gathering edible wild plants, and rotten or discarded
vegetables. Often, the collection of food from common land was women’s work. The
study also observes that the social networks of women provide emergency survival
support during floods. For instance, food items, fuel, bedding, and material for makeshift
household purposes are borrowed on loan or given as charity. Borrowing of food or
minor items is not identified as a man’s responsibility, asking for help from others is
looked down, as beneath his dignity iv .

The study also noted that men often sat idle or moved elsewhere, leaving their
household members behind. It was left to the women to take the responsibility for
protecting children and other members of the family, livestock, and belongings. v

Post disaster re- building

Most part of the immediate rehabilitation also lies with the community members, once
temporary relief and support leaves the area. Here too, women contribute in a variety of
forms, along with their regular chores of preparing food, collecting water and fuel wood.

In Jhang, Punjab, Pakistan, in the aftermath of floods when affected people return to
their destroyed houses, male members usually start rehabilitation work on agricultural
land and in caring for livestock. Women share responsibilities with them in the handling
of animals and in the rebuilding of houses which involves preparing mud and doing
construction work.” v i

A research conducted in the earthquake hit Gujarat in 2001 records vii the role women
played in post–quake reconstruction. Women were found to be engaged in rubble
clearing, in masonry for reconstruction, as well as in community work. They were taking
part in community meetings about the quake, and were meeting other villagers to

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address the drought issues, which were also affecting the earthquake hit areas in
Gujarat. Women were seen taking extra efforts to bring the situation back to normal, to
ensure sense of security fir the families for the community.

Turning victims to a resource

Due to the gender division in labour in daily life, men and women possess specialized
skills and strengths to cope with crisis. Yet, women’s roles in mitigating and preparing for
disasters, in managing emergencies, go unheralded and unrecognised, even though
their skills and contributions both at the household and community levels, are crucial.
Case studies presented here illustrate how this contribution is made in real life
situations.

Having faced multiple disasters of floods and landslides in the recent months, which are
considered the worst of its kind, in the last 50 years, Sri Lanka is faced with the
challenge of coming up with rehabilitation and disaster management plans, which are
sound, and cost effective. This challenge offers an opportunity to look deeper in to the
vital role communities play, with and without external support in managing disaster risk.

At present, disaster management plans suffer from severe gaps in terms of

preparedness action and community involvement. Communities are largely seen as
victims who need help, thus overlooking the contribution they are capable of making in
disaster preparedness and emergency management. Women are particularly
disadvantaged in this regard, and are often kept away from the planning process.

A change in the approach towards disaster management is required, where the

resourcefulness of ‘victims’ is recognised, and space given to realise its full potential. A
decentralised approach towards disaster preparedness and risk management would
provide opportunity for greater involvement of the community, for options which are cost
effective, more appropriate to the local environment, resources, and way of life. Instead
of completely depending on centrally managed warning and response systems, which
are costly to operate and often not too effective, systems where community based
initiatives are linked to the local and district level disaster management plans are more
likely to succeed.

Such an approach would provide the space and opportunity for both women and men to
take part in the risk management process more constructively, improve their risk
management skills, expand their potential, so that they will in turn, change from
‘helpless victims’ to a ‘useful resource”.

Madhavi Malalgoda Ariyabandu

ITDG South Asia

# 05, Lionel Edirisinghe Mawatha
Colombo 5
Sri Lanka
Phone: 00 94 11 2829412
Fax: 00 94 11 2856188
Email: madhavia@itdg.slt.lk

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i
Hettiarachchi N.D., National Disaster Management Centre, Sri Lanka ‘Impact of drought and initiatives in Sri Lanka’,
Paper prepared for the ADPC regional consultative committee on Disaster Management, October 2002
ii
ITDG South Asia, Research studies on ‘Gender issues in Disasters’ carried out for the regional project ‘Livelihood
Options for Disaster Risk Reduction in South Asia’, ITDG South Asia, 2001
iii
Nasreen M, ‘Coping Mechanisms of Rural Women in Bangladesh During Floods; a Gender Perspective’ in Disaster:
issues and gender perspectives, Ahmed N, Khatun H eds ,
Department of geography and Environment, University of Dhaka, 2000, p 316
iv
Opcit
v
Opcit

vi
Hameed K, ‘Gender issues in livelihoods and flood disaster; case studies on Kamra and Kot Murad Villages, Jhang
District, Punjab, Pakistan’, carried out for ITDG South Asia, Journalists Resource Centre, Islamabad , 2001
vii
Enarson E, ‘We want work: Rural Women in the Gujarat drought and earthquake’, Report based on a Quick Response
Grant from The Natural Hazards Research and Applications Centre and the National Science Foundation,
2001,www.colorado.edu/hazards/qr/qr135/qr135.html