DISASTER MANAGEMENT India has been traditionally vulnerable to natural disasters on account of its unique geo-climatic conditions. Floods, droughts, cyclones, earthquakes and landslides have been a recurrent phenomena. About 60% of the landmass is prone to earthquakes of various intensities; over 40 million hectares is prone to floods; about 8% of the total area is prone to cyclones and 68% of the area is susceptible to drought. In the decade 1990-2000, an average of about 4344 people lost their lives and about 30 million people were affected by disasters every year. The loss in terms of private, community and public assets has been astronomical. At the global level, there has been considerable concern over natural disasters. Even as substantial scientific and material progress is made, the loss of lives and property due to disasters has not decreased. In fact, the human toll and economic losses have mounted. It was in this background that the United Nations General Assembly, in 1989, declared the decade 1990-2000 as the International Decade for Natural Disaster Reduction with the objective to reduce loss of lives and property and restrict socio-economic damage through concerted international action, especially in developing countries. The super cyclone in Orissa in October, 1999 and the Bhuj earthquake in Gujarat in January, 2001 underscored the need to adopt a multi dimensional endeavor involving diverse scientific, engineering, financial and social processes; the need to adopt multi disciplinary and multi sect oral approach and incorporation of risk reduction in the developmental plans and strategies. Over the past couple of years, the Government of J &K, have brought about a paradigm shift in the approach to disaster management. The new approach should proceed from the conviction that development cannot be sustainable unless disaster mitigation is built into the development process. Another corner stone of the approach is that mitigation has to be multi-disciplinary spanning across all sectors of development. It is also evident that investments in mitigation are much more cost effective than expenditure on relief and rehabilitation. Disaster management should occupy an important place in our states policy framework as it is the poor and the under-privileged who are worst affected on account of calamities/disasters. The steps being taken by the Government should emanate from the approach outlined by National Disaster Framework [a roadmap] covering institutional mechanisms, disaster prevention strategy, early warning system, disaster mitigation, preparedness and response and human resource development. The expected inputs, areas of intervention and agencies to be involved at the National, State and district levels have been identified and listed in the roadmap. In the federal set up of India, the basic responsibility for undertaking rescue, relief and rehabilitation measures in the event of a disaster is that of the State Government concern. Existing mechanisms in J&k are based on post-disaster relief and rehabilitation and they can not prove to be robust and effective mechanisms in addressing these requirements. The changed policy/approach, however, mandates a priority to full disaster aspects of mitigation, prevention and preparedness and new institutional and policy mechanisms being put in place to address the policy change. Disaster management should have institutional capabilities of i) Coordinating/mandating Government’s policies for disaster reduction/mitigation. ii) Ensuring adequate preparedness at all levels in order to meet disasters. iii) Coordinating response to a disaster when it strikes. iv) Coordination of post disaster relief and rehabilitation. In order to further institutionalize the new approach, the Government of India have decided to enunciate a National Policy on Disaster Management. A draft policy has accordingly been formulated and is expected to be put in place shortly. The policy shall inform all spheres of Central Government activity and shall take precedence over all existing sectoral policies. The broad objectives of the policy are to minimize the loss of lives and social, private and community assets because of natural or manmade disasters and contribute to sustainable development and better standards of living for all, more specifically for the poor and vulnerable sections by ensuring that the development gains are not lost through natural calamities/disasters. Community involvement and awareness generation, particularly that of the vulnerable segments of population and women should be emphasized as necessary for sustainable disaster risk reduction. This is a critical component of the policy since communities are the first responders to disasters and, therefore, unless they are empowered and made capable of managing disasters, any amount of external support cannot lead to optimal results. There shall be close interaction with the corporate sector, nongovernmental organizations and the media in the national efforts for disaster prevention/vulnerability reduction. Institutional structures/appropriate chain of command shall be built up by introducing specialized occupational safety and health experts and appropriate training imparted to disaster managers at various levels to ensure coordinated and quick response at all levels; and development of inter-State arrangements for sharing of resources during emergencies. A culture of planning and preparedness is to be inculcated at all levels for capacity building measures. Standard operating procedures and disaster management plans at state and district levels as well as by relevant central government departments for handling specific disasters shall be laid down. Construction designs must correspond to the requirements as laid down in relevant Indian Standards. All lifeline buildings in seismic zones III, IV & V – hospitals, railway stations, airports/airport control towers, fire station buildings, bus stands major administrative centres will need to be evaluated and, if necessary, retro-fitted. The existing relief codes in the States shall be revised to develop them into disaster management codes/manuals for institutionalizing the planning process with particular attention to mitigation and preparedness. With the above mentioned institutional mechanism and policy framework in position and the actions taken to implement the policy guidelines, it is expected that the task of moving towards vulnerability reduction shall be greatly facilitated. Early warning systems, disaster prevention, mitigation, preparedness and relief are essential elements which contribute and gain, from the implementation of the sustainable development policies. These elements along with environmental protection and sustainable development, are closely inter related. Therefore, nations should incorporate them in their development plans and ensure efficient follow up measures at the community, sub-regional, regional, national and international levels. It is also emphasized that disaster prevention, mitigation and preparedness are better than disaster response in achieving the goals and objectives of vulnerability reduction. Disaster response alone is not sufficient as it yields only temporary results at a very high cost. Prevention and mitigation contribute to lasting improvement in safety and are essential to integrated disaster management. Although, the BIS has laid down the standards for construction in the seismic zones, these were not being followed. The building construction in urban and suburban areas is regulated by the Town and Country Planning Acts and Building Regulations. In many cases, the Building regulations do not incorporate the BIS codes. Even where they do, the lack of knowledge regarding seismically safe construction among the architects and engineers as well as lack of awareness regarding their vulnerability among the population led to most of the construction in the urban/sub-urban areas being without reference to BIS standards. In the rural areas, the bulk of the housing is non-engineered construction. The mode of construction in the rural areas has also changed from mud and thatch to brick and concrete construction thereby increasing the vulnerability. The increasing population has led to settlements in vulnerable areas close to the river bed areas which are prone to liquefaction. The Government shall move to address these issues. A Disaster Risk Management Programme has been taken up with the assistance from UNDP, USAID and European Union in 169 most hazard prone districts in 17 States including all the 8 North Eastern State in India. The programme components include awareness generation and public education, preparedness, planning and capacity building, developing appropriate policies, institutional, administrative, legal and techno-legal regime at State, District, Block, village, urban local body and ward levels for vulnerability reduction. Our state needs to follow same policy to achieve at most safety . Disaster Management has to be a multi-disciplinary and pro-active approach. Besides various measures for putting in place institutional and policy framework, disaster prevention, mitigation and preparedness enunciated and initiatives being taken by the Central and State Governments, the community, civil society organizations and media also have a key role to play in achieving our goal of moving together, towards a safer J and K. The message being put across is that, in order to move towards safer and sustainable national development, development projects should be sensitive towards disaster mitigation. Dr. Manzoor Ahmed yetoo (The author is an expert in environment ,project & waste Management, occupational safety& health & pollution control &empanelled expert in Indo European Chamber and commerce &Industry) (You may reach him at [email protected])
Posted on: Thu, 13 Jun 2013 18:46:30 +0000
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