For the International Federation and National Societiesworldwide, community-based early warning is an essentialelement of disaster risk reduction. Early warning helps tomitigate loss of life and property and to reduce economiclosses. By strengthening early warning systems, we help toensure that development projects, action plans andexisting policies are sustainable.

Below are examples of successful community-based earlywarning systems: ■ The Bangladesh cyclone preparedness programme has

successfully warned, evacuated and sheltered millionsof people from cyclones since its inception in the early1970s by the International Federation, the BangladeshRed Crescent Society and the government ofBangladesh (World Disasters Report, 2002).

■ Accurate, timely information saves lives. Effective earlywarning systems are the most obvious way to get thisinformation to populations at risk. In the Caribbean,during 2004’s hurricane season, most countriessuccessfully alerted their populations to approachingstorms and saved many lives as a result. The key totheir success was putting people, not just technology,at the centre of their warning systems (World DisastersReport, 2005).

■ In the Dominican Republic and Jamaica, youthassociations, women’s organizations, churches, the RedCross and many other non-governmental organizationstake part in hurricane warning, evacuation and sheltermanagement (World Disasters Report, 2005).

■ In Jamaica, Red Cross volunteers go from street tostreet issuing warnings by megaphones, 48 hoursbefore hurricanes are due to hit (Niskala Markku,Disaster preparedness saves lives).

■ As a result of early warning systems, there were nodeaths reported in La Independencia, Guatemaladuring the hurricane season in October 2005.Volunteers went from house to house announcing overloudspeakers and local cable television the need toevacuate the area before the river flooded. Followingthe announcements everyone in the community washelped to evacuate. (Rodríguez Manuel, Tecún Umán,an example of Red Cross support to the community,http://www.ifrc.org/docs/news/05/05102101/)

Red Cross Red Crescentgood practices in early warning

Cas

e stu

dy

In Orissa, India, preparedness drills are organized atlocal cyclone shelters to ensure that communities knowwhat to do when storms strike.

© O

rissa

Dis

aste

r M

itiga

tion

Prog

ram

me

85001-earlywarning-gp 3/23/06 5:34 PM Page 1

■ When Hurricane Mitch hit Honduras in 1998, a community-based flood early warning system in LaMasica municipality, in which local people used simpleflood meters to check on river levels, report them byradio and prepare evacuation plans, proved moreresilient than the high-tech alternatives (WorldDisasters Report, 2005).

■ Some 2,000 people in Matasse, a rural community inMozambique, were threatened by flooding from thenearby Save River. In 2001, the Mozambique Red Cross undertook a community-based disasterpreparedness pilot project there with support from theDanish Red Cross. The community identified projectobjectives that reflected their own priorities and Matasse’s real needs: planning of mitigationactivities; recruitment and training of new volunteers;improvement of wells; participation in rescue training;and distribution of radios to improve early warning(World Disasters Report, 2002).

■ In 2003, the Cambodian Red Cross Society and theAmerican Red Cross set up an early warning systemproject in Cambodia. Floods affect parts of thecountry every year. The project aimed at reducing therisk of vulnerable communities to floods that aregreater than normal through improved flood warnings.Flood forecasts and warnings from the Mekong RiverCommission and the Cambodian government’sdepartment of hydrology and rural water supply arecirculated to communities, which send backinformation about water levels to the forecasters.Communities identify flood alarm stages and worktogether to develop response mechanisms. By October2005, the project had been implemented in 38 villagesby more than 75 trained Red Cross volunteers. (Flood early warning information flow,http://www.redcross.org.kh/news_events/2005/EWS_2005.htm)

■ During the August 2002 flash floods and landslides inthe Democratic People’s Republic of Korea, earlywarning flood alert by the Red Cross Society of theDemocratic People’s Republic of Korea and localauthorities enabled safe evacuation of people. (Help needed for tens of thousands of homeless as flashfloods strike DPR Korea,http://www.ifrc.org/docs/News/pr02/5502.asp)

■ Following landslides in Costa Rica in August 2002, theInternational Federation obtained funding from theBritish government to implement an early warningsystem to alert and prepare communities for futurelandslides. The Costa Rican Red Cross began acommunity training programme in disasterpreparedness and prevention, community first aid andpsychological support. A total of 200 people weretrained in disaster preparedness, 100 in communityfirst aid and 30 community members received basictraining as radio operators. In 2003, another landslide– similar to that of August 2002 – hit communities inCosta Rica. This time, however, the change in the waycommunities responded was very clear. People wereready to follow the directions of Red Cross staff andother institutions on site, and showed greater unity anddesire to work as a single team. Community trainingsessions meant that people knew each other and whatthey had to do, making institutional coordination anddecision-making much more effective. (Landslide early warning in Costa Rica,http://www.ifrc.org/docs/pubs/disasters/reduction/CostaRica-Landslide-en.pdf )

For more information, please contact: International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent SocietiesDisaster Preparedness and Response DepartmentP.O. Box 372CH-1211 Geneva 19 - SwitzerlandE-mail: secretariat@ifrc.org / Web site: www.ifrc.org

8500

1 03

/200

6 E

200

Cyclone preparedness saves millions in Bangladesh, World Disasters Report (2002).

85001-earlywarning-gp 3/23/06 5:34 PM Page 2