Community-Based Preparedness Trainings to Build and Strengthen Local Capacities for Disaster Preparedness. With lessons learned from Preparedness Trainings in landslide risk communities in Sri Lanka

Abstract: Disaster response is most effective, if a high level of preparedness is in place before natural hazards strike. As many low-income countries are under-financed when it comes to Disaster Risk Reduction, it is lower-cost interventions such as Community-Based Preparedness Trainings that they often rely on to provide strategies to reduce the vulnerability of communities. These trainings are widely used and aim to address risk challenges at a local level. The purpose of this thesis is to identify key components of Community-Based Preparedness Trainings. A structured literature review provides a significant part of the basis of this analysis. As an additional means of approaching this matter, experts and community members from two communities, one that has and one that has not received Community-Based Preparedness Training, have been interviewed on training related knowledge. The comparison between those communities combined with the information from the academic literature form the core of the discussion as well as the basis for the identification of discourses on and strategies in preparedness trainings. Finally, the conclusion provides a number of key-points that can be targeted in Community-Based Preparedness Trainings in low-income communities.