DAWN’s Structural Approach

By supporting skills training initiatives for builders and masons, education for children, development of safe codes of practice, and involving the community as a whole, DAWN hopes to promote a positive approach towards disaster planning and response.

Working with local NGO partners, DAWN will assist communities to ‘build back better’. As such skills are transferred to enable communities to build schools and other buildings to standards which will provide protection during earthquakes or flooding rather than becoming hazards themselves.

DAWN will also work with communities to develop further structural initiatives which fully address the range of hazards the community may face.

These will vary from place to place according to specific needs. Measures such as low tech irrigation, water purification and general water management systems may be employed.

Roads which are dangerous and prone to landslides, particularly during the monsoon period, are a common hazard in rural areas. Recognising and tackling these routes helps communities go about their daily lives in a safer environment. Supporting the delivery of first aid skills and further emergency preparedness techniques also figures under the broader structural approach.

These methods, and others, will combine to form the basis of support for communities to withstand the potential disasters they may face.