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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
- Uttarakhand Floods
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.