Disaster Management

Definition of Disaster

Disaster Management Act of 2005 defines a disaster as catastrophic mishap, calamity or a grave occurrence from a natural or man-made cause.

What is disaster management

Disaster management or Disaster Risk management is concerned with

• Policy formulation
• Policy Implementation

to reduce the risk associated with disaster. The key component is to reduce the existing level of vulnerability to disaster.

Prevention and Mitigation

• Appropriate response mechanism
• Post-disaster rehab and reconstruction

India's Vulnerability

• 85% of the country is vulnerable to multiple disaster
• 50% is in high seismic zone
• 70% is drought prone
• 40 million hectares is flood prone
• On average, 2.25% if GDP is lost due to disaster

Types of Disaster

• Geological
  • Earth Quake (not in our hand)
  • Landslide (mitigation possible)
• Climatic
  • Flood and drought (mitigation possible)
• Environment Degradation
  • Deforestation
  • Land Slides
  • Soil Erosion and Degradation
• Accidents
  • Bhopal Gas Tragedy
  • Industrial Accidents
  • Lg Polimars Vizag
• Public Health
  • Corona
  • Dengue
  • H1N1
• Man-made
  • Mob, crowd, stampede
  • War, terrorism

Changing paradigm in Disaster Management - post 2005 Disaster management Act

• Change in nodal agencies ( Ministry of Agriculture to Home Affairs)
• Change in the legislative and institutional framework
• NDMA - National Disaster Management Authority headed by Prime Minister
• SDMA - State Disaster Management Authority headed by Chief Minister
• DDMA - District Disaster Management Authority headed by District Magistrate
• NDRF - National Disaster Response Force was formed
• NIDM - National Institute of Disaster Management was constituted
• R³ to P⁴ = Rescue, Relief & Rehab to Prediction, Prevention, Protection and Preparedness
• From Adhoc response to systematic and institutional response
• Rule-based Decision Making (Statutory basis)
• Global recognition and intervention since disasters have a worldwide and a humanitarian impact - e.g Kyoto protocol, Hyogo framework....etc
• Focus on sustainable development - intergenerational equity
• Building national, local and community level capabilities through disaster awareness, improving risk management, mitigation and building resilience (absorb and again getup)
• Use as a window of opportunity - "Build Back Better " - e.g Surat after plague and Odisha after 1999 super cyclone

What are the Steps and Strategies for Disaster Management

• Risk reduction - legal and institutional framework
• Hazard and Vulnerability analysis. e.g EIA
• Planning for risk reduction
• Promoting culture of Safety
• Innovation in learning and education
• Building resilience at all levels
• Encourage mitigation based on technology, traditional wisdom and environmental sustainability
• Main Stream disaster management into developmental planning
• Focus on creation and enforcement of environmental safeguards
• Identification and monitoring of disaster risk
• Promoting partnership with media LSG, Civil society
• Use financial instrument in risk reduction e.g crop insurance
• Install early warning systems and predication mechanism

What should be the Risk Response

• Trigger mechanism - SOP's
  • Standard Operation procedure
  • Safety Operation protocol
• Immediate rescue & relief
• Coordination among agencies
• Install info dissemination system, dedication helplines and control centre
• Special focus on vulnerable sections

Risk recovery

• Build resilience - use window of opportunity - rehab with sustained livelihood.

CAG's Observation on Disaster Management

• National plan for Disaster management is not yet formulated
• NDMA's project management capacity is deficient - bcos of poor planning and incomplete projects
• Poor SDRF - State Disaster Response Fund status
• Communication projects incomplete or not operational
• NDRF's fund, utilized for other purposes - so NDRF has not emerged as a well equipped, well trained and a specialised force
• E.g
  • Uttarakhand Floods
    • Raises question on the development model in ecologically fragile states.
    • Exposed poor disaster management and coordination
  • Kashmir
    • Poor city planning
    • Absolutely un-prepared state machinery
    • Uran flood phenomenon - human loss of life with economic costs
    • More a military-driven operation rather than NDRF, State and district efforts
    • NDMA's organisation was headless - No role clarity and goal clarity

NDMA Weakness

• No role and goal clarity
• No proper allocation of funds
• Insiders observe that members were politically appointed.
• Top-heavy
• No domain expertise
• Taskforce set up to re-organize NDMA recommended reduction of members and downgrading their status from Ministry of state to secretary

NDRF

• It needs to improve its competence, reaction time and presence
• Need for ground-level coordination. e.g Kashmir orders were being issued by CM but there was no one to execute it.
• Lack of uninterrupted communication networks
• No capacity to interpret data .e.g rising water levels in Jhelum didn't trigger flood warning
• Lack of coordination, monitoring and robust decision support system
• Need to move from simple forecasting to impact forecasting
• Need to have a one-point interface like a Disaster management section instead of having multiple agencies which either duplicate or either lack synergy -coordination

Case study of Odisha

• 1999 - Super Cyclone - 10000 casualties
• 2013 - Phalin
• 2014 - Hud-Hud - 1 Million evacuated

Even UN appreciated India for reducing exposure to risk. They highlighted the combined efforts of state, district, civil societies and political executives.