After the flood in 2013, arche noVa started a reconstruction project and supported eleven charitable institutions in Northern Bohemia. Our main tasks were replacing destroyed furniture and organizing preventive measures. Additionally, we provided free time activities for children of families affected by the flood. As of now, we want to improve the personal protection against floods and other natural catastrophes together with our partner organization. For that purpose, we presented what we already achieved in this field in Saxony to our partners at the beginning of April.
It was soon clear that charitable institutions and private individuals in the area around the Elbe in Northern Bohemia need this kind of support as well. The goal of our cooperation project is to enable them to create their own provision plans in order to be able to react immediately and coordinately in the case of another flood and thus to reduce the damage of mobile facilities. We also want to implement protective measures for buildings.
The project will include trainings and conferences where participants can develop their own provision plans. They will have access to the entire knowledge about this topic which arche noVa has already compiled and refined. Therefore, we have our handbook “Catastrophe management in associations” translated and adapted to Czech circumstances.
Furthermore, arche noVa educates Czech trainers and supports our partner organization in the conceptual design of the trainings in Litoměřice, Ústí nad Labem and Děčín. Lenka Černá, head of the Dobrovolnické Centrum, is sure that the project will strengthen the self-help capacity of charitable institutions.
The Dobrovolnické Centrum is very familiar with the topic of natural hazards. The organization has been advocating the improvement of cooperation between governmental and non-governmental organizations in the field of disaster protection for years. It also maintains an active coordination with other associations and organizations to include volunteers and to use the available funds effectively. arche noVa plans to incorporate the experience gained in this project in further catastrophe prevention activities all over the world.
