Friday, 15 May 2009 - The DRR department of MERCY Malaysia conducted a 3-day training workshop on the Community-based Disaster Risk Management for the Mingalar Myanmar staff in Yangon on 28-30 April 2009. This workshop was attended by 25 Mingalar Myanmar staff. 2 MERCY Malaysia staff provided various sessions on disaster risk reduction including project management cycle, monitoring and evaluation and the Town Watching exercise.

MERCY Malaysia and Mingalar Myanmar signed the Memorandum of Understanding for a DRR project that covers the period of April – December 2009. This project aims to strengthen the disaster preparedness capacity of the communities affected by the Cyclone Nargis in 2008. The major activities of this project include a DRR training workshop for Mingalar Myanmar staff, Socialization activities on this project for the local authorities and the communities, Workshops on disaster preparedness in seven affected villages, Mangrove plantation and Simulation exercise of the evacuation plan. At the Workshops on disaster preparedness, the evacuation plan will be developed by each village and used as a guideline in case of emergencies.

Before the Cyclone Nargis, the concept of disaster preparedness was not well-known and disseminated in Myanmar. However, after the tragic experience of the cyclone, the importance of disaster preparedness has been addressed. The disaster preparedness activities need to be more strengthened and expanded in Myanmar for the communities to learn how to respond to and prepare themselves for future extreme events. MERCY Malaysia supports in building and enhancing the community resilience to disasters in Myanmar in collaboration with Mingalar Myanmar.