Ms Vo Thi Thu Hong is a leader of Phu Thuong Ward Association of Elderly (AE), Hue city, Thua Thien Hue Province. Local AE used to be thought as supporting unit and less role in community- based disaster risk management (CBDRM). OPs were not invited to participate in CBDRM activities because they were regarded as vulnerable. Like other OPs, Ms. Hong wondered whether she could contribute to CBDRM or not.
As a member of Technical Supporting Group (TSG) of the Ward, she was invited to the trainings on Age awareness and older people (OP) inclusion in CBDRM that HelpAge International (HAI) and Thua Thien Hue AE organized in Hue city, Thua Thien Hue province in the year 2022. The trainings focused on various topics, including legal framework of OP and CBDRM, overview of ageing and awareness of OP and implications in CBDRM, age-friendly environments, concept of CBDRM, and how to include OP into CBDRM process and tools. Then, she was much aware of the role of OP in CBDRM. During the discussion with HAI and the project team, Ms Hong could not help expressing her excitement and interest in the trainings. She stated “The trainings are very helpful. I am an OP and I believe that I am still strong and healthy enough to contribute to disaster prevention and control activities in my ward. And I will apply the knowledge I gain from HAI and provincial AE trainings to Phu Thuong ward”. After that, as she promised, many activities were carried out in Phu Thuong ward.
Right after the training, she retrained local AE on age awareness and the role of OP in CBDRM. She developed a list of OP in Phu Thuong ward with different columns to classify poor, near poor, OP in temporary house, disability, OP living alone, etc.
Besides, she established 09 standing support teams for 09 residential groups with the task of promptly responding to disasters (storms and floods) in the area. She guided and assigned work to these teams to participate in disaster prevention and control activities, for example: updating the specific situation of the local OP, listing vulnerable OP, listing safe places for vulnerable OP, preparing food, medicines, and other necessary things for OP in the rainy and stormy season, planning to move OP to safer places and bringing them back to their home after disasters, synthesizing the damage to raise for support, etc. The above activities contributed significantly to the success of the task of disaster prevention and control of Phu Thuong ward in the rainy season in 2022.
During Typhoon Noru hitting the central provinces of Vietnam in September 2022, Phu Thuong AE was active in response. Ms. Hong and her team encouraged and helped OP and people with disability to move to the safe place, and delivered food for affected people, cleaned up the living environment, etc…. As a result, all OPs were safe from the Typhoon.
One outstanding activity implemented by Phu Thuong AE was that they mobilized wheelchairs for people with disability. Thanks to the wheelchairs, OP with disability could move by themselves to reduce vulnerability of OP during disaster. This proves the sayings “Only OP can truly understand OP”. She was eager to share with us “Seeing the smiles and happy eyes of people with disability is the motivation that helps me keep trying to do more and more, bringing many meaningful and practical things to help OP during my tenure”.
Ms. Hong also shared with us that “Although OP have a lot of experiences in responding to natural disasters, very few local AEs are invited to participate in technical support groups. The policies and programs on natural disaster prevention and control do not mention the role of AE and OP in the community”. This again emphasized the need for more awareness raising on OP inclusion in CBDRM.
If not participating in this project, perhaps Ms. Hong and Phu Thuong Association of Elderly would not have the opportunity to promote their full potential in this field. The above story proves that OP in general and AE staff in particular could make significant contributions to disaster risk reduction or CBDRM in their community. So, it is necessary to continuously build their capacity and promote OP inclusion in CBDRM.
