Preface

Communities are at the core of the risk reduction initiatives, since it is related to their lives and properties. There are different ways of putting the term, community based, community centered, community owned, etc. Needless to say, risk reduction initiatives started at the community level. Even before the existence of the states, the communities were the managers and solution providers. They used to take care of themselves individually or collectively. That time, it was not called “community based,” since it was the only option available. After the establishment of the state, the government took the control of disaster risk reduction and failed in several cases. Thus, over the past 30–40 years, the concept of community based or community centered has emerged once again, is now gaining momentum. This means, we are going back to the basics.