Diaster Risk Reduction in Dushanbe by GRC

Ҳилоли Аҳмар ёрӣ медиҳад

Red Crescent Manages Disasters

Disaster Risk Reduction Project in Dushanbe City

On 24 February 2012, a regular partners meeting was held in the Central Committee of Red Crescent Society of Tajikistan within the project “Strengthening local disaster response capacity and disaster resilience of communities in the north-east areas of Dushanbe, Tajikistan”. The project is ongoing in the capital city since July 2011, and is implemented by Red Crescent Society of Tajikistan in close cooperation with the Government of Dushanbe City, Committee of Emergency Situations and Civil Defence under the Government of the Republic of Tajikistan, Education Department of Dushanbe City and the Institute of Geology, Earthquake Engineering and Seismology of the Academy of Sciences of Tajikistan. The project is funded by the Government of Federal Republic of Germany and German Red Cross. The project targets five communities and schools located in the north-eastern area of Dushanbe City, in the districts of Ismoili Somoni and Shohmansur. These areas are mostly prone to seismic risks and local population particularly vulnerable to such natural hazards as earthquakes, mudflows and landslides. During the meeting, presentation was made on 8 months project implementation, and participants reviewed and discussed ongoing issues and forthcoming project activities. The project will be finalized by end of 2012.

The main goal of the project is to strengthen capacities of local populations and schools for more effective disaster preparedness and response. One of the key objectives of the project is to improve knowledge and skills of target populations and schools on rendering first aid to disaster victims. A special attention is given to seismic risk reduction issues.

Overall, up to present day, a number of activities have been carried out and main objectives were met within project. Local Disaster Management Committees were established in the five target communities and were trained on disaster management and first aid. Vulnerability and Capacity Assessments were conducted in target communities and respective reports were developed. Practical and theoretical classes are conducted at schools where children gain knowledge on disaster preparedness and learn how to render first aid. In particular, educational and awareness raising events were conducted in schools No. 6, 11, 41, 61, and 63 during month of February. These arrangements helped to improve schoolchildren’s understanding about disaster preparedness issues, and to increase their knowledge and skills on rendering first aid to disaster victims. It is worthwhile to mention active participation and support of school administrations in organizing such activities, as well as project implementation overall.

During January-February this year, a series of popular science articles on earthquake hazards and existing problems related to seismic risks, as well as disaster preparedness and seismic risk reduction measures were published in Asia-Plus newspaper within project initiative. These articles were produced in cooperation with specialists from Asia-Plus newspaper and with expert support of Doctor of Physics and Mathematics, Karimov Farshed Hilolovich. Specifically, having expressed his expert opinion about the DRR project in Dushanbe, Mr. Karimov emphasized the importance of such projects and stated the need for wider coverage of Dushanbe territory. It should be noted that in upcoming autumn all relevant stakeholders and international partners of Red Crescent Society of Tajikistan and German Red Cross will be invited to visit project target areas and meet with local populations. This will be done with the purpose of sharing experience on implementation of such projects, promotion of Dushanbe city disaster preparedness issues among partners, and, if possible in the future, implementation of new project initiatives in the area of seismic risk reduction in the territory of the capital.

Red Crescent Society of Tajikistan and German Red Cross continue to actively support cooperation with all relevant partner organizations, including partnership in the framework of existing REACT platform in Tajikistan.

For additional information, please contact us at:

120-Omar Khayam Street, Dushanbe 734017, Republic of Tajikistan

Tel: (+ 992-37) 224-00-10

E-mail: grc.mahmudov@gmail.com