NAME: BEATRICE WAMBUI WAMBUGU.

REG NO: BDMC01/0080/2019.

UNIT NAME: GENDER ISSUE IN DISASTER RISK MANAGEMENT.

ASSIGNMENT: DISCUSSES THE ROLE OF MEN AND WOMEN IN ALL PHASES OF DISASTER
CYCLE.

INTRODUCTION.

Gender differences make a big difference in societies around the world, even in the realm of
disasters. Women and men are not only in terms of temporal and spatial situations, but also of
influential factors such as "differentiated roles and responsibilities, abilities and skills,
vulnerabilities, social relationships, institutional structures, over the past few decades. These
social forces are thought to form a variety of behavioural tendencies, including those related to
their ability to anticipate, prepare, respond to, and recover from disasters.

What is disaster management?

One of the biggest challenges in disaster or emergency management has to prepare for different
situations. A good place to start when discussing disaster management is to think about what a
disaster is.

According to the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies, many people
are facing disasters, violence, financial crises, and heightened fear; often there is no adequate
support, man-made pandemics, technical disasters, or environmental disasters. The

Types of disasters include: Earthquake Tornado Hurricane Pandemic Volcanic Eruption

Wildfire Flood Massive Shooting, Terrorist Act and Nuclear Explosion.

DISASTER MANAGEMENT

Disaster management includes first responders who are the community members, private sector
organizations, public sector agencies, nonprofits and religious groups, volunteers, donations, etc.
to organize and direct resources for dealing with disasters. It specifically points to a role. Then
coordinate the responsibilities of the event. This includes preparedness, response, recovery, and
damage control that are mitigation.

Basically the disaster management cycle involves prepare for the disaster, respond to the disaster
when it happens afterwards the community recovers from the occurrence of the disaster and the
damages made, and lastly prevent further damages and reduce such impacts of disaster through
mitigation.

The diagram below shows a representation of a disaster management cycle.

Basically disaster management is a broad approach in dealing with the 4 phases of disaster
management cycle.

MITIGATION PHASE.

Mitigation activity or prevention activities.

Eliminates or mitigates the possibility of a real disaster or mitigates the impact of an

unavoidable disaster. Mitigation measures include the Building Standards Act. Update of
vulnerability analysis. Zoning and land use management; regulations on building use and safety.
Health care; and public education. The reduction relies on including appropriate measures in
national and regional development plans. Their effectiveness

Also depends on the availability of information on dangers, urgent risks, and actions to be taken.
The disaster management containment phase and complete cycle involves the development of
public policies and plans to change the causes of disasters and reduce their impact on people,
property and infrastructure.
ROLE OF MEN AND WOMEN IN THE MITIGATION PHASE.

Role of men and women in mitigation phase.

Natural hazards such as floods, droughts, and earthquake are gender neutral but the impact they
have is not neutral. Men and women, boys and girl are affected differently from disaster, even if
they live in the same household. Therefore it’s important to learn the role that each gender have
in mitigation phase.

Women can form various groups to build the skills and capacities required to train the members
for disaster mitigation to long-term development. This is essential to ensure effective disaster
reduction policies. These women’s groups address urgent issues such as credit, food security,
water and sanitation, health, education. Involving women in decision making process greatly
help in ensuring women involvement in policy making and participate in governance.

Men on the other hand are left with more physical tasks such as e.g., constructing flood defenses
in the case of floods, building gabions and constructing terraces to prevent occurrence of
landslides. Also, implementation of strict building guidelines to secure against future potential
disasters.

Men are also given the task of surveying current structures such as houses schools and
determining whether they need changes or improvement in order to survive any disaster

PREPARATION PHASE

Preparation is an occurring process that enables individuals, communities, businesses, and

organizations to plan and train what to do in the event of a disaster. Preparation is defined
through continuous training, assessment, and corrective action to ensure the highest level of
preparation.

The purpose of the emergency response program is to create a sufficient level of preparation for
emergency through programs that strengthen the technical and administrative skills of
governments, organizations, and communities. These measures can be described as logistical
support for dealing with disasters and can be enhanced through response mechanisms and
procedures, rehearsals, long-term and short-term strategic development, public education, and
establishment of early warning systems. increase.
Role of men and women in preparation for a disaster

Women are mainly tasked with creating lists of things and equipment that would be needed if the
potential disaster would occur for example compiling a list of household items that are necessary
and personal hygiene items and tools that could be useful.

Women are also left with the task of educating the children and vulnerable on how to react and
behave in the occurrence of a disaster.

Women are also given responsibilities of compiling and stocking up on the items on the list
especially the personal and household items and keeping them in a shelter. And also keeping
emergency gear within reach.

Men are mainly supposed to identify safe locations which would not be affected by the potential
disaster and build the secure shelters in which can offer refuge for those whose houses and areas
of residence may be destroyed by the disaster e.g., floods may carry away some houses or leave
water which may be unsuitable to live in.

Men are also given the work of creating evacuation routes and conduct drills on how people
would go about the evacuation process. This also involves tutorials on how to use some of the
tools need in the disaster e.g., people could be taught how to use fire extinguishers in the event of
a fire disaster.

This also helps to detect any faults in the evacuation plan or any faults and provides important
practice.

RESPONSE PHASE

This phase refers to responding to catastrophic disasters and emergencies. Recovery includes
activities that continue beyond the emergency period, restore critical community functions, and
begin managing stabilization efforts.

The purpose of emergency response is to provide immediate relief to save lives, improve health
and support the morale of affected people. This assistance ranges from providing specific but
limited assistance such as refugee transport, shelter and food aid to the establishment of semi-
permanent settlements in camps and elsewhere. This includes initial repair of damaged
infrastructure. The focus of the reaction phase is to meet the basic needs of people until a more
lasting and sustainable solution is found. Humanitarian organizations are frequently represented
at this stage of the disaster management cycle.

Role of men and women in the response to a disaster

During disaster

Women mostly have the responsibility of ensuring the children are safe and organizing people
for evacuation. They also help by maintaining calmness since women are able to provide
emotional support with ease.

Men take the responsibility of controlling access to the emergency scene and for keeping people
away from unsafe areas together with identifying those that may be injured and require medical
assistance and help give first aid or transport them to the safe shelters for further medical help.

Men also help in trying to reduce the effects of the disaster e.g., if there is a fire they can try and
put it out to help reduce the enormity of a negative outcome.

Post-Disaster

Women build fires at the shelters to keep people warm and also prepare meals for those at the
shelters.

Women also help by nursing those who are wounded and taking care of them.

Women also help by creating self-help groups that allow people to assist each other or have a
forum to air their concerns and to provide mental support since disasters can cause traumas and
mental health issues.

Men have the task of clearing debris and collecting remains which may be important and also
help in looking for any survivors who may be trapped in a search and rescue mission. e.g., In a
landslide or earthquake, people are prone to be trapped in their houses and buildings.
RECOVERY PHASE

This phase occurs after a disaster. The primary purpose of this phase is to recover and reorganize
a community or locality from the effects of a disaster. At this point, the organization has
achieved at least some physical, environmental, economic and social stability. The disaster
recovery phase can take 6 months to a year or even longer, depending on the complexity and
severity of the incident.

As the emergency is brought under control, the affected population is capable of undertaking a
growing number of activities aimed at restoring their lives and the infrastructure that supports
them. 

Role of men and women in recovery from disaster.

Women are given responsibility encourage recreation and leisure activities e.g., Facilitated
playgroups at personal and social levels mainly to help people cope with the difficulties they
may be experiencing especially children.

Women also are in charge of social activities e.g., religion and cultural practices that may help
people recover and be able to handle the pressure the disaster may have caused.

Women also help provide information for parents re: their children’s needs after a disaster and
recovery processes

Men are involved in the renovating of damaged property which was destroyed by the disaster.
This involves also construction of makeshift buildings for necessary services e.g., medical care
and education facilities for the children.

They are also tasked with providing security for the community so as to bring a feeling of safety.

Men also help cultivate land, if possible, for growing of crops so as to maintain food security
e.g., a flood or fire disaster may destroy farms and leave people starving and compromise their
health.
CONCLUSION

All in all men and women play diverse roles and they are all vital and help in achieving positive
outcomes in the event of a disaster from the mitigation phase all the way to the recovery
phase.Each and every gender contributes in an important manner towards the success of
surviving and being able to recuperate from a disaster.

References

1.The Disaster Management Cycle: 5 Key Stages UCF Online. (2021). Retrieved 29 December
2021, from https://www.ucf.edu/online/leadership-management/news/the-disaster-management-
cycle

2.(2021). Retrieved 29 December 2021, from

https://www.preventionweb.net/files/1597_Manual29mod.pdf

3. The Disaster Management Cycle. (2021). Retrieved 29 December 2021, from

https://www.gdrc.org/uem/disasters/1-dm_cycle.html

4. (2021). Retrieved 29 December 2021, from

https://www.cof.org/sites/default/files/documents/files/DisasterandRecoveryPlan.pdf