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Active Participants or Passive Observers?

School of Environmental Studies. The Copperbelt University. PO Box 21692, Kitwe, Zambia

Despite the clear evidence that the victims of disasters are adaptable and likely to take rational action as the situation warrants, the image of 'overwhelmed' communities continues to dominate the minds of the public and of politicians, as well as of most planners. Further, in spite of the evidence that programmes unsupported by the victim communities mostly fail, intervening agencies continue to operate independently of the victims, resulting in the widening of the gulf between the agencies and the victims. This is a gulf which has no hope of narrowing unless intervening agencies work with and become accountable to the victim communities. This calls for a redefinition of the role of outside help. This role should facilitate the establishment of self-reliant communities so as to reduce their vulnerability to natural disasters. In other words, the objective of outside help should be to help implement disaster mitigation strategies in victim communities rather than perpetuating dependency through disaster relief packages.

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