In the wake of Cyclone Ockhi, which took the life of fishers, injured many and destroyed fishing vessels in the Indian states of Tamil Nadu and Kerala and the Union Territory of Lakshadweep, the approach needed is that of Disaster Risk Management (DRM), which combines mitigation, prevention and preparedness with response and recovery across institutions of government, private sector and civil society.
This was the message that emerged from the discussions on the first day of the National Workshop on Small-scale Fisheries, Cyclone Ockhi and Disaster Risk Management, organized by the International Collective in Support of Fishworkers (ICSF), at Thiruvananthapuram, Kerala, India, on 29 May 2018.
The Workshop noted that the 2014 Voluntary Guidelines for Securing Sustainable Small-scale Fisheries in the Context of Food Security and Poverty Eradication (the SSF Guidelines) discuss applying the relief-development continuum concept to emergency response and disaster preparedness and the building back better’ concept to relief, rehabilitation, reconstruction and recovery, especially to reduce vulnerabilities to potential future threats.
The Workshop shared the findings of an ICSF study which assessed the response to Cyclone Ockhi, both at the institutional and community level, and reviewed disaster management strategies adopted by concerned actors, while also examining if the loss of lives could have been minimized by a more
co-ordinated institutional response.
Drawing on the FAO SSF Guidelines, the Workshop noted that planning bodies require an understanding of how pre- and post-disaster interventions, i.e., preparedness and response, are related in small-scale fisheries. The relief-development continuum needs to be applied in order to build resilience in fishing communities, the Workshop noted.
The two-day Workshop aims to:
— assess the impacts of Cyclone Ockhi and the emergency at the institutional and community level;
— review the central and state policies and plans to cope with cyclones and how loss of lives and livelihoods of the fishing communities can be minimized, based on the FAO Guidelines for the Fisheries and Aquaculture Sector on Damage and Needs Assessments in Emergencies, and the SSF Guidelines;
— evaluate, within the framework of a human-rights-based approach and the laws governing fisheries, the state’s presence in the fisheries sector and its preparedness in responding to cyclones; and
— suggest solutions to challenges in addressing particular disasters and the possible linkages between various institutions and the fishing community, especially in relation to disaster preparedness and fisheries management.
2018 ICSF