TITLE:
Participatory Methods in the Georgian Caucasus: Understanding Vulnerability and Response to Debrisflow Hazards
AUTHORS:
Valentina Spanu, George Gaprindashvili, Michael Keith McCall
KEYWORDS:
Participatory Methods, PGS, Debrisflow, Vulnerability, Local Knowledge, Cyber Tracker
JOURNAL NAME:
International Journal of Geosciences,
Vol.6 No.7,
July
22,
2015
ABSTRACT: Assessment and emergency
planning to cope with disaster risks are usually founded primarily on expert
evaluations, in part because local governments and public bodies mainly finance
the recovery activities. Local communities affected by disasters are scarcely
really involved in the processes of information collection, problem analysis,
or design of emergency plans.However, the development of good practices for
incorporating local people’s knowledge into disaster risk management, known as
Community-Based Disaster Risk Management (CBDRM), is becoming more common.
Scientific communities increasingly realize the importance of local knowledge,
though in Georgia this is still uncommon. Georgia
faces frequent natural disasters and threats to its fragile ecosystems caused
by unsustainable natural resource management and agricultural practices,
improper infrastructure and urban development, as well as by innate geological
and climatic factors. In this context, the lack of communication between local
communities and public administrations is absolutely deleterious. The article
analyzes the effectiveness of participatory methods and tools for better
comprehension of people’s vulnerability and responses. Fieldwork in mountain
areas of Caucasus involved local communities to investigate the direct
participation of local people in Disaster Risk Management and assess their
availability and interest to engage in hazard mapping and risk responses.