Our first day in Uganda (well, our first two days if you include the day we arrived) have been relatively relaxed, although not without unique experiences. Last night at our hotel there was a wedding that took over the facility (and our eardrums).
We have gathered from around the world, and it's fair to say that The Salvation Army's leaders in Emergency Response are a unique and hardy bunch, with their own sense of humour. Within the group are Australians, Americans, Canadians, English, a Nigerian, a German, a Swiss, a Czech, some Chinese, a Malaysian, one person from Bangladesh and a Kenyan. All have worked in the wildest of environments, but all seem to have quite a bond.
Today we spoke about disaster preparedness. What kind of activities our territories do to prepare for disasters, and how we do assessments of needs and concerns once disasters occur. In our analysis there is a keeness to engage with sustainable livelihood issues and look beyond the immediate disaster to longer term development wherever possible.
Tonight we are looking at the lessons that have been learned from the largest world disasters that The Salvation Army have been involved in over the past 5 (or so) years. These include earthquakes in Kashmir and Christchurch, Tsunami in Japan, Earthquakes in Haiti, droughts in East Africa and so on. It is hoped that learning from the past will obviously teach us much for future preparedness.
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