Community Synthesis Essay

Community participation is essential for risk reduction because community relations, actions, and beliefs are at the center of functionality. Communities contain multiple cultures with different religions, views, and livelihoods. It is not feasible or humane to try and implement a universal disaster risk reduction approach; a universal approach strips away factors that make individuals whole, it disregards the high possibility of unplanned actions or responses in the presence of a catastrophe. Moreover, religion, as discussed in chapter 2 of the world disaster report, is a central component in communities that increases the susceptibility of individuals to dangerous situations. To avoid adverse reactions to risk, DRR and CCA must comprehend

Livelihood, as discussed in Chapter 3 also requires the acknowledgment and respect of different perspectives. Likewise, the community cannot immediately be labeled as irrational when the benefits of living in a disaster-prone area outweigh the risks for individual communities. Therefore, the communities opportunity cost can be seen drastically different from both perspectives. Also, the implementers of disaster risk reduction often do not have access to valuable information to make an economically viable and sound decision. Moreover, as discussed in chapter 3, at times even if education and support are provided to communities, it takes generations to see cultural changes, and this is when disaster risk reduction groups should start rethinking their approach and the direction in which they are viewing the issue. A majority of people who tend to live in high-risk areas are typically low income or indigenous individuals who are not the greatest contributors to factors that trigger some natural disasters, yet they tend to carry the most burden. Larger contributors, such as industries, poorly planned infrastructures, and global emission contributors and their role in risk should be re-analyzed. In other words, a community should not be incorporated just so their actions and beliefs can be changed. In contrast, an exceptional community, their livelihoods, ideas,