Tajikistan - Disaster Management

FOCUS also facilitates cross-border activities like the construction of this underground drainage system in Shegnan, Afghanistan. Focus Humanitarian Assistance (FOCUS) is an international crisis response and disaster risk reduction agency. It is an affiliate of the Aga Khan Development Network and currently has offices in Central and South Asia, Europe and North America.

Tajikistan is uniquely prone to natural disasters, being located along a rift and with 90 percent of its land in the mountains. The Gorno-Badakhshan Autonomous Oblast (GBAO) region, home to the Pamir Mountains, has some of the world’s largest glaciers and is extremely vulnerable to flooding, mudslides, rock falls, avalanches and earthquakes. Many communities within GBAO are also located in remote areas, creating difficulties in disaster relief efforts.

FOCUS works to meet these challenges by fostering disaster-resiliency in the country. Its activities include promoting disaster awareness and safety instruction in communities while working with the Government and academic partners to strengthen disaster management capacities. FOCUS also conducts response activities for affected communities in the wake of disasters.

Since its establishment in Tajikistan in 1997, FOCUS has responded to over 40 natural disasters by providing relief support to communities; its training, planning and disaster mitigation projects have reached over 100,000 beneficiaries.

Disaster Resiliency
FOCUS conducts awareness and preparedness activities at a community level.FOCUS undertakes projects to strengthen the abilities of local communities and institutions, especially those of the Government of Tajikistan’s Committee of Emergency Situations and Civil Defence (CoES), to cope with disasters through initiatives in information management, capacity building, community-based risk reduction and scientific knowledge generation.

Funded by the Disaster Preparedness component of the European Commission Humanitarian Aid Office grant (DIPECHO), these programmes operate in vulnerable areas of all districts in GBAO: Ishkashim, Roshtqala, Murgab, Rushan, Shugnan, Vanj and Darwaz.
DIPECHO Programme Accomplishments at a glance:

Partnered with 270 communities in GBAO to build their preparedness and response capacity to natural disasters
Implemented 98 large-scale disaster risk mitigation projects
Installed 52 wireless communication systems across GBAO
Conducted capacity building activities with the CoES and other organizations

The Savnob School in the Bartang Valley has been reinforced by FOCUS with seismically safer construction techniques. Reducing Poverty in High Mountain Areas
In 2004, FOCUS was awarded a Japanese Social Development Fund (JSDF) grant by the Japanese Government and the World Bank in support of a multi-year project entitled “Reducing Poverty in High Mountain Environments around Lake Sarez.”

This project builds upon earlier activities implemented by FOCUS through the Lake Sarez Risk Mitigation Project, described later in this brief, and targets the same project area: the vulnerable and isolated villages in the Bartang and Pyanj Valley, extending to the Moskovsky District and the Khatlon Oblast in the south.

The project consists of multiple components: disaster mitigation, road rehabilitation, communications enhancement and income-generation activities. Communities are provided with assistance to undertake relatively small-scale projects such as flood protection measures, diversionary channels and other activities to protect against natural hazards that are common to this region.

FOCUS has also been working with communities to rehabilitate roads in the Bartang Valley to facilitate travel, particularly during the difficult winter months. The installation of Very High Frequency (VHF) and High Frequency (HF) radios in project areas has enabled efficient emergency response and has also created income-generation opportunities for local residents.

Disaster Response
FOCUS’ Disaster Response Team (DRT), in collaboration with the Committee of Emergency Situations and Civil Defence (CoES), responds to disaster situations such as flooding, avalanches and landslides within the GBAO region.

Gabions, which FOCUS supports villagers in the Bartang Valley to construct, protect roads and river banks from natural hazards.FOCUS established the DRT with the dual responsibility of tackling immediate response needs of communities in GBAO in the short-term and facilitating capacity building in local agencies, authorities and communities in the long-term. The team is composed of response staff, geologists, communications personnel and engineers.

In its short-term emergency response role, the FOCUS DRT is on alert 24 hours a day, ready to respond to disasters at a moment’s notice. Members of the response team communicate constantly through CODAN radios with all districts of GBAO. In the event of a disaster, information is quickly relayed to FOCUS through this highly sophisticated radio network.

By way of example, on June 28th, 2007, FOCUS’ DRT received notice of a mudflow due to extreme rains in the village of Choshtkandez, GBAO. DRT members arrived promptly on site and quickly evacuated more than eight families to safer areas where they were provided with emergency supplies including blankets, mattresses, tents, shovels, galoshes, buckets and warm robes. A second mudflow eventually occurred, but by this time FOCUS’ quick evacuation efforts had saved more than thirty lives from harm’s way.

In its long-term role, FOCUS’ DRT works to increase the capacity of local agencies, authorities and communities to respond to natural disasters through the recruiting, training and equipping of community-based volunteer response teams.

Since 2006, it has been conducting basic disaster awareness training for school students, teachers and administrative staff, as well as other government and development partners in GBAO. FOCUS’ DRT will continue to develop its programmes and expand them to cover more communities throughout GBAO.

Earthquake Safety Initiative
The Central Asia Region Earthquake Safety Initiative (CARESI) project aims to equip government, civil society and community partners with the tools necessary for public education on earthquake safety through the production and dissemination of disaster awareness publications and training materials.

FOCUS is the implementing partner of CARESI through its partnership with GeoHazard International, the United States Agency for International Development, the Office for Foreign Disaster Assistance and the Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation.

CARESI projects disseminate knowledge through a cascading model in which lead instructors train local ones, who then pass knowledge on directly to the local population through schools, health centres and community gatherings. FOCUS has partnered with the Tajik Ministry of Education in an effort to incorporate disaster awareness training into the curriculum of schools throughout the country.

In collaboration with CARESI and its partners, FOCUS has conducted trainings for over 1,500 communities in Tajikistan. In total, these sessions have reached over 20,000 individuals in Tajikistan; in Central Asia as a whole, FOCUS and its partners have reached over 1.5 million individuals.

Lake Sarez Risk Mitigation
FOCUS was the implementing agency for the social component of the Lake Sarez Risk Mitigation Project (LSRMP). The project aimed to reduce the vulnerability of communities situated along the Bartang and Pyanj river valleys to natural disasters, with particular emphasis on preparedness against a Lake Sarez outburst.

LSRMP was supported by a consortium of agencies, including the United States Agency for International Development, the Government of Switzerland, the Government of Tajikistan, the World Bank and the Aga Khan Foundation.

FOCUS’ strategy encompassed several disaster risk reduction activities. First, it provided preparedness trainings covering topics such as search and rescue, first aid, survival methodology and response to early-warning alarms. Second, FOCUS concentrated upon the development of village disaster management plans, which assist communities in preparing for local hazards, such as rock falls and avalanches, as well as more remote hazards, such as a possible outburst of Lake Sarez.

Third, it assisted in the identification of evacuation paths, safe havens and stockpiles, which provide hazard-free escape opportunities and supplies to support communities before the response of disaster management agencies. Additionally, FOCUS developed a geographic disaster management information system to assist government partners tasked with emergency response in Tajikistan in policy-making and response planning.

LSRMP Accomplishments at a glance:

Developed hazard assessments and disaster management plans for over 150 villages
Conducted over 100 village disaster management trainings
Facilitated over 150 riverbed clearance, slope stabilization and forestation projects
Identified over 90 safe havens and evacuation paths and established over 18 stockpiles
Installed 11 wireless communication systems in Bartang Valley

Looking Forward
Going forward, FOCUS looks to continue its ongoing disaster management activities and enhance them in the following ways:

Expand its coverage to communities not yet reached in GBAO
Further remote hazard sensing and preparedness abilities
Increase disaster response capacity building trainings
Incorporate disaster risk management into school and university curriculums in Tajikistan.

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