Community leaders received training in Damage Assessment and Need Analysis

By Disaster Vulnerability Reduction Project

Local first responders, disaster management staff and community leaders received training in Damage Assessment and Need Analysis (DANA).

As the name suggests, participants were trained in the initial assessment of damage after a natural disaster. One of the trainees, Lydia Joseph, details her experience as instructive.

“We basically looked at the first few hours of a disaster, what are your plans, what do you do, who are the persons that you contact,” Joseph reveals.

Program Development Officer at the National Emergency Management Organisation (NEMO), Kenisha Jeffrey explains, “We wanted to build teams within the various communities where these individuals should in case, if an event occurs before the professionals get there, these individuals are very knowledgeable on all the different aspects of how to do damage assessments in the homes, people’s needs, as well as rescuing and evacuation.”

 Brigadier General (R), Earl Arthurs was the main facilitator for the DANA training. Arthurs is the training institute manager for Regional Security System (RSS).

He is also the Regional Consultant for Training and Operations. Arthurs describes his training regimen as a pragmatic experience.

“We teach them how to interview the residents,” Arthurs says. “The needs part comes from the needs of the people. The damage assessment of the house, or the road or the bridge is separate from the needs of the people. So, if you can tell NEMO, what kind of food stuff, if they need pampers, if they need baby formula or whatever or if they need medicine.”

3 days of training included 8 training modules.

Topics such as data gathering, analysis and interpretation of needs and measurement of event impact were covered. The initiative is part of the Disaster Vulnerability Reduction Project. (DVRP).