ABSTRACT
CONTENTS Introduction............................................................................................ 338 Disaster Management: A Paradigmatic Shift............................................ 338 Disaster Resilient Communities: A Conceptual Framework .................... 341 Strengthening Community Resilience: Major Strategies .......................... 345
Reducing the Vulnerabilities of the Communities at Risk.............. 346 Building Local Capacities ............................................................... 348 Disaster Resilient Communities: A Gender Perspective.................. 348
Creation of Disaster Resilient Communities: Key Concerns.................... 351 Concluding Observations ........................................................................ 352 References ............................................................................................... 353
Introduction Disasters pose a serious threat to nations, disrupt economic activities, destroy the social structure, and endanger the communities. Once considered as inevitable happenings or occurrences, which are beyond human control, disasters now are being looked at as the outcome of interaction between hazards and vulnerability. These are no longer perceived as sudden eruptions that can be handled by emergency response and rescue services, but as those incidents that can be prevented or the impact of which can be significantly reduced through appropriate risk reduction strategies. Disasters presently are considered an integral part of the development process in contrast to random or isolated acts. These, despite the negative effects, also have at times been a catalyst for social transformation with the community as the focal point.
