Saving Our Gold
THERE is a saying “Old is gold”. This is especially true in case of human resources because every resource or wealth gets torn and worn with time and consequently its economic value is reduced- what is called 'depreciation' in economics. However, it is the human resource which is unique - which turns out more with time. The issue of aged people has not been in focus so far. This year UNISDR declared 'Resilience is for Life' as the theme of international day for disaster preparedness. The impetus given by UNISDR is utilising the knowledge and experiences of the older people in managing disasters.
2014 will be the final year in the four-year “Step-Up” Campaign on IDDR. The world population has quadrupled to 7 billion people in just over 100 years. Today, people aged over 60 constitute 11 per cent of the global population. By 2050, this proportion will have doubled, to 22 per cent – that is, 2 billion older persons. Populations are ageing most rapidly in developing countries, which are currently home to 60 per cent of the world's older persons, projected to rise to 80 per cent by 2050. This collision of increasing global disaster risk and increasing numbers of exposed older persons must be addressed at every level of disaster management planning to ensure that the impact of disaster does not continue to grow along with these trends.
Aged people, children and women are especially vulnerable in an event of flood or cyclone due to their limited capacity to move. This is also true for any other hazards. Aged people need extra attention during disasters. Of the beaten track, UNISDR has leaped further ahead with the idea of utilising the wisdom and invaluable experiences of the elderly people in disaster management rather than just safeguarding the aged people during disasters like cyclone, flood, and land slide. They may not have technical knowledge that a disaster expert has but they must be able to guide us with their prudence and far sightedness, especially with their past experiences to cope with disasters. Bearing their need to handle the disastrous situation, we must take initiatives to reduce their vulnerability.
Expertise and knowledge of elderly people can be utilised in a different ways. First and foremost important is inclusion of elderly people in the DMCs, which needs to be implemented from the apex (national) to grassroot levels (ward level). There should be provision of including at least two veteran and elderly persons in the committees. Generally, elderly people (who have good good and working energy) should be given priority in the process of member selection. Secondly, during the normal situation, we do various policy and strategy work for Disaster Risk Reduction (DRR) and resilience building where we should be inclusive and involve elderly and experienced people during consultation and finalising policy papers.
The writer is an Associate Coordinator at the Climate Change Program of the Christian Commission for Development in Bangladesh (CCDB).
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