A community-based disaster preparedness (CBDP) programme was praised as a life and livelihoods saving intervention in the 2004 West Bengal, India floods. The project was launched by the Inter Agency Group (IAG)7 and the Government of West Bengal after the 2000 floods affected over 22 million people in the state. In 2004, the project had reached more than 1,500 villages in four districts of the state.

"CBDP saved our lives and our livelihoods" said Sujit Kumar Roy, Gram Pradhan of Bahirgachi Gram Panchayat (GP), which has about 6,000 families. When the project team visited one of the worst affected villages of the GP, community women said that during the previous flood, they were very afraid. All of them reported that this time they were not fearful of the floods because they were better prepared.

More information on this programme can be found in the following section from the Behaviour Change Communication in Emergencies Toolkit, which has been left intact in its originally published .pdf format for download and offline viewing and printing.

Practical experience: the Bahirgachi Gram Panchayat CBDP programme