COPING WITH NATURAL DISASTERS
R.C.
Panigrahi *
Disasters, be they
natural or man-made, come in many ways and cause substantive damage
to humanity. Sometimes disasters like earthquakes occur repeatedly
with a serious impact on all spheres of life. Be it forest fire
in the Amazons or in Australia, earthquakes in South-East Asia
and West Asia or cyclones in the Indian subcontinent, they cause
immense loss of human life and leave a trail of human tragedy
that the society fails to recover from.
In India cyclone,
earthquakes and severe droughts in parts of the country create
a huge loss of life and property. They damage the crops and bring
immense misery to the people. In the super cyclone of Orissa in
1999 and the Gujarat earthquake of 2001, the human tragedy was
devastating. Till today people find it difficult to recover from
the shock. The Government of India has constituted a High Power
Committee (HPC) for preparation of disaster management plans at
the national and State levels. The HPC has submitted its report
to the Government and its recommendations are expected to give
a new direction to the Disaster Management Programme.
Disasters
Natural disasters
are the manifestation of Nature trying to maintain an equilibrium
that gets disturbed by developmental activities and levels of
human inefficiency. A number of factors contribute to natural
disasters in different parts of the world. These can be traced
to the process of evolution of the earth and the impact of developmental
activities on nature and environment - consumption of natural
resources without regeneration to meet endless demands of man,
explosion and concentration of population and changing social
patterns of life. The effects of the developmental activities
are reflected in global warming, excessive generation of thermal
energy and depletion of the protective environmental layer.
Not much can be done
about these disasters. They cannot be visualized. But in case
of disasters which are anticipated but not expected, the precautionary
measures play an important role. These disasters relate to water
and climate such as - floods, cyclones, tornadoes, hailstorms,
cloud bursts, thunder and lightning, heat waves and droughts whereas
earthquakes take place when there is a shake up or major movement
in the earth’s crust. The process of development creates hazards
but effective steps reduce the vulnerability risks. Preparedness
plays a crucial role in reducing the risks and minimizing the
losses in case of anticipated and expected natural disasters.
Most of the man-made disasters fall in this category. They include
forest fires, urban fires, electrical and road accidents.
Disaster Management
As and when a calamity
takes place, natural or man-made, disaster managers struggle to
mitigate its effects on human lives and material losses on two
counts. The first is administrative insensitivity. Public apathy
towards disasters poses a big challenge in mobilizing the community
towards preparedness. The most vulnerable sections in disasters
are the poor.
Time is of essence
in providing immediate relief and rescue operations, to save human
lives and mitigate miseries as soon as possible. The response
mechanism envisages that on receiving signals of a disaster, happening
or likely to happen, all activities related with the mitigation
process are activated without loss of time. The primary objective
of the mechanism is to undertake immediate rescue and relief operations
and stabilize the mitigation process.
Disaster management
is a coordinated effort. A number of activities need to be undertaken
in the event of a disaster. These include coordination, command
and control, rapid assessment of damage, restoration of power,
telecommunication and surface transport, deployment of search
and rescue teams, medical and para-medical teams, arrangements
for drinking water and food material, setting up of temporary
shelters, sanitation and hygiene, identification and earmarking
of resources and last but not the least, maintenance of law and
order.
Although it is the
primary responsibility of the State governments to be in a state
of preparedness and provide relief to the people affected in a
disaster, the Central Government supplements their efforts by
providing logistic and financial support in case of a severe calamity.The
Central Government has set up a National Centre for Disaster Management.
It has been set up primarily for the purpose of providing human
resource development support in disaster management. After the
devastating earthquake in Gujarat, the National Disaster Management
Control, earlier with the Agriculture Ministry, has been brought
under the direct control of the Home Ministry. A High Power Committee
in the Ministry of Home Affairs periodically meets to discuss
effective steps in the event of any disaster including flood and
drought.
Community participation
in rescue and relief operations and reconstruction after a disaster
is always essential. Of late, the corporate sector in India has
come out in a big way to strengthen community response with material
and monetary assistance in calamitous situations. This is a good
trend indeed.
* Information Officer, PIB, New Delhi
