Sunday, April 28, 2019


NATURAL DISASTER MANAGEMENT IN INDIA
WITH FOCUS ON FLOODS AND CYCLONES


1.     INTRODUCTION
The Disaster Management Act, 2005 defines disaster as “a catastrophe, mishap, calamity or grave occurrence in any area, arising from natural or manmade causes, or by accident or negligence which results in substantial loss of life or human suffering or damage to, and destruction of, property, or damage to, or degradation of, environment, and is of such a nature or magnitude as to be beyond the coping capacity of the community of the affected area”. In this paper, two case studies – cyclones and floods – are taken up for comparison of disaster management strategies adopted in the country and the areas that need improvement are highlighted.


2.     NATURAL DISASTERS
Disasters are of two major types – natural and manmade. As the names imply, natural disasters are caused by the earth’s natural processes that occur on a regular basis whereas manmade disasters are due to human actions. From a larger perspective, no natural process can be a disaster by itself; it just occurs as a result of the causal effects. For example, the movement of plates gives rise to earthquakes and tsunamis; climate processes give rise to cyclones, floods and droughts. These have been occurring and will keep occurring through time. When such a resultant process interacts with the human populations and their belongings so as to cause a widespread loss of lives and property, we call that a disaster. If an earthquake or tsunami occurs in the middle of an ocean and we are not affected by it, we don’t consider that a disaster. Hence, disaster is purely from an anthropogenic point of view, and thus all disasters are “manmade” to a certain extent, as it is we who decide to settle down in the path of a natural process. Apart from that, by our sheer mismanagement of the natural resources, what ought to be a normal event with little consequence sometimes end up as a disaster, e.g. the floods that recur in our cities. Thus, disaster management, in addition to planning, preparedness and mitigation of disasters, should also include proper management of natural resources as a preventive measure including consideration of the consequences of the (mis)management of such resources.


2.1. NATURAL DISASTERS IN INDIA
As per India’s National Policy on Disaster Management, the natural disasters that India is prone to are earthquakes, floods, droughts, cyclones, tsunamis, landslips and avalanches.  Almost 59% of India’s landmass is prone to earthquakes; over 12% of land is prone to floods; about 76% of the coastline is prone to cyclones and tsunamis; 68% of the cultivable area is drought-prone; and hilly areas are subjected to wet and dry landslides and avalanches. Around 2% of the GDP is lost due to disasters. India ranks fifth in the number of incidences, but what we should focus is on the importance of the nature of the disaster. Except for countries more prone to earthquakes, most of the disasters are caused by hydrological and meteorological factors, i.e., floods and storms/cyclones. Earthquakes of course create huge losses when they occur with high magnitude but they are far fewer in occurrence. Floods, droughts and cyclones, however, occur year after year and cause insidious damage just by the sheer frequency and geographical spread. Climate change is enhancing the risk and unpredictability now. Hence it is very important to focus on implementing preventive and relief measures for these events on a war footing.

3.     DISASTER MANAGEMENT IN INDIA
During the British era and post-Independence years, disaster management was largely limited to post disaster relief works, food-for-work programmes etc., under a Central Relief Commissioner who headed the State Relief Commissioners. A disaster management cell was set up in the 1990s following the declaration of the International Decade for Natural Disaster Reduction by the United Nations. This was later moved to the Ministry of Home Affairs.

The National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA) is currently the nodal government agency dealing with disaster management in India. It was created by the Government of India by enacting the Disaster Management Act on 23 December 2005. It is headed by the Prime Minister and oversees the State Disaster Management Authorities (SDMAs) headed by the respective Chief Ministers. The National Institute of Disaster Management (NIDM) for capacity building and National Disaster Response Force (NDRF) for response were also set up subsequently. The primary aim of the NDMA is to lead and implement a holistic and integrated approach to disaster management.
Following the setting up of the NDMA, measures for prevention and mitigation were formulated for the major disasters. The following paragraphs focus on cyclones and floods.


3.1. CYCLONES
The almost 8000 km-long Indian coastline is exposed to about 10% of the world’s tropical cyclones. Of these, the majority originate over the Bay of Bengal and strike the east coast. The cyclones bring heavy rains and storm surges into the coastal regions. The major destructive force, however, is the wind that accompanies the cyclone. It causes huge damage. States affected by tropical cyclones in India are Gujarat, AP, Karnataka, Kerala, Maharashtra, Odisha and Tamil Nadu.
Mitigation Project was launched by the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) covering Odisha and AP to upgrade cyclone forecasting, to track cyclones and provide warning systems. The project also aimed to build capacity and construct cyclone shelters and embankments. The total cost of the project was Rs. 1496.71 crores with 80% assistance from the World Bank and the rest from the two states.
The India Meteorological Department (IMD) is the nodal agency for early warning of cyclones. Floods
India experiences flood havoc every year due to natural and manmade causes. The total flood affected area is 456.40 lakh ha and an average of 72.75 lakh ha is affected annually. Apart from flooding of river banks during monsoon rains and cloudbursts, the urban cities in the country are increasingly witnessing flooding events leading to huge losses. As per a report in the magazine Down to Earth, 10, 22, 35, 37 and 17+ cities in India bore the brunt of flooding in 2005, 2006, 2007, 2010 and 2014, respectively
The National Flood Risk Mitigation Project wasstarted to mitigate risk, severity and effects of floods.
The Ministry of Water Resources launched the Flood Management Programme (FMP) at a total cost of Rs.8000 crores for the 11th Plan period (2007–12). It aimed to monetarily assist the state governments for undertaking flood management works in critical areas. As of 31 March, 2010, 117 works for 10 states were reportedly complete; 1.33 billion hectares restoredandprotected, andabout12.89 million people would be rendered safe, according to the report [4]. 42 new flood management schemes were included under the FMP from Assam, Bihar, Goa, Gujarat, J&K, Kerala, Manipur, Odisha, Pondicherry, Tamil Nadu, Uttarakhand, Uttar Pradesh and West Bengal for 2010– 11.
The Central Water Commission (CWC) is the nodal agency for flood forecasting and warning. On average, 6000 forecasts are issued during monsoon every year.

4.     CASE STUDIES
The pre- and post-disaster management strategies adopted for two annually recurrent disasters in India are explained below with case studies.

4.1. CYCLONES
Due to more awareness and monitoring of cyclones in the last several years, the track and magnitude are known beforehand and evacuation and relief measures are taken up on a large scale whenever a cyclone is set for landfall along the Indian coast. The deaths due to cyclones have decreased as a result. Cyclone Hudhud that made landfall near Visakhapatnam in Andhra Pradesh (AP) in October 2014 was a very severe cyclonic storm. It impacted AP, Odisha and Chhattisgarh. Around 7 lakh people were evacuated prior to landfall and this minimized the death toll to around 100 . The NDRF was massively deployed for rescue and relief operations. The cyclone caused extensive damage to Visakhapatnam city and the neighbouring districts and the total damage is estimated at Rs. 70,000 crore, the highest till date in India.
After Cyclone Phailin hit Odisha in 2013, there were reports of looting of relief materials and absence of relief measures. Thus, even though human fatalities have been reduced because of advance information and the steps taken by the government and the people, the destruction of infrastructure in the aftermath of a cyclone has still not been reduced. This leads to the weaker sections of society suffering in the post-disaster scenario.
One of the shocks for India in 2016, especially Chennai, was the Vardah Cyclone. A low pressure area created in Malay Peninsula and the Sumatra region moved towards southeast Bay of Bengal and created the tropical disturbance and then evolved into a cyclone with a maximum wind speed of 192 kmph and impacted AP and TN. Chennai was in the eye of the cyclone. Due to the warning given by the Cyclone Warning Division of India Meteorological Department, over 15 teams of NDRF had been already deployed to the coastal areas of Tamil Nadu and Andhra Pradesh. The cyclone uprooted more than 12,000 trees and disrupted telecommunication in TN and made a landfall in Chennai. Around 20,000 people were evacuated and this minimized the death toll to around 16.The total damage was estimated at Rs. 6,749crores to the state. The people who were affected by Vardah were also helped by the Indian Armed Forces. The losses were huge but people helped each other to bring up the situation to a normal state.
4.2. FLOODS
In the first week of September 2014, the Srinagar weather station in J&K recorded more than 500 mm of rainfall leading to disastrous floods, which killed more than 215 people and displaced tens of thousands more in the state. The state emergency forces were ineffective and people in responsible positions were prominent by their absence. Around 2.5 lakh people were rescued by 30,000 troops of armed forces, the NDRF and the locals. The Central Water Commission (CWC) had no flood forecasts for the state. Infrastructure losses are pegged at Rs.6000 crores. Deforestation in the catchment areas of rivers – especially Jhelum, Chenab and Indus – and streams is a big problem in the Kashmir valley. The loss of treeshas caused more erosion from catchment areas and raised the riverbeds; consequently the water carrying capacity of the streams and rivers is much reduced leading to breaching of river banks and inundation. Illegal and unplanned construction in the floodplains has altered the natural flow as the existing contour drainage is cutoff. Unplanned road construction in the Himalayas destabilises the upstream slope and chokes the river bed with debris. More importantly, failure to preserve wetlands and lakes has played a major role in ecological degradation as their sponge action is cut off. Wularlake, which was 20,200 ha has been reduced to 2,400 ha and the Dal lake in Srinagar has been shrunk to almost half its size. Almost half of Srinagar’s lakes, ponds and wetlands have been encroached over the years and untreated sewage and sullage are being discharged into it. This has led to eutrophication of water bodies leading to further reduction in storage capacity. Excessive usage of chemical fertilisers in the fruit orchards throughout Kashmir has compounded this problem. Relief measures have been implemented slowly and there is now a fear that the problems will only increase because of the harsh winter. The imminent danger to Srinagar was highlighted in 2010 itself [10] but no action was taken.
The Nov-Dec 2015 floods of Chennai is described as the worst in a century [11]. According to Skymet data, Chennai recorded a whopping rainfall of about 1218.6mm in November 2015.The ensuing flood affected the Coromandel coast of TN and the Union Territory of Puducherry, with the city of Chennai and surroundings particularly hard hit. Urban development that cares little for natural processeshas led to many wetlands being built over. In addition, old, underdeveloped civic infrastructure and drainage systems have led to increased flooding in major cities. Earlier, numerous lakes and tanks were built by the rulers, which ensured that excess water from one lake entered the next lake and so on, thus ensuring a good distribution of the excess water and minimum wastage of precious rainwater. As per a CSE report, there were over 600 lakes in Chennai the 1980s, but but by 2008 only a few were still in good condition. More than 500 people lost their lives and over 1.8 million people were evacuated with the help of NDRF and Indian Armed Forces during the Chennai floods. The total damage was estimated in the range of Rs. 200 billion to over Rs. 1 trillion. The insurance losses due to the floods were the maximum encountered so far in Chennai.

5.     LAPSES
The Comptroller and Auditor General’s report on the audit of disaster management found several shortcomings. As can also be seen from the case studies above, the management of disasters has to be thoroughly strengthened from all angles. The following are the major lapses:

SDMAs not fully functional; state disaster response funds mismanaged in many states; state disaster response forces raised only in seven states.
Interference among agencies leading to duplication of same works.
No actionable plan for flood management in the Ministry of Water Resources.
Emergency action plans for only 25% of dams; inflow data for only 0.006% of barrages and reservoirs as of Sep 2011.
No data till date for many rivers; no information on water bodies; no proper monitoring mechanisms in place.
FMP not properly implemented; more than 50% of flood prone areas not protected. No cyclone-related programs initiated by Ministry of Earth Sciences even though it was identified as the nodal ministry. Management and mitigation plans not prepared for cyclones.

6.     SUGGESTIONS FOR IMPROVEMENT
While it is true that whatever preparation we undertake will not be enough in a catastrophe, we cannot take that as an excuse and not have basic protection measures in place. The majority of India’s natural disasters are annual occurrences – floods, droughts and cyclones – for which, even after so many years after Independence, we do not have enough planning, protection and relief and rehabilitation. In Chennai, for example, there was excess water in 2015, which not only incapacitated the city but also emptied into the sea. Whereas in 2016, even Cyclone Vardah was not enough to make up for the deficit in the northeast monsoon and the city is staring at one of the worst droughts even before summer has started. The agencies that deal with disaster are found wanting in implementing their responsibilities; there is no coordination among various sectors and agencies; there is no proper control structure; there is lack of communication and information at critical moments. All these and more need to be addressed and steps taken so that when any part of the country encounters a disaster, the suffering of the people is minimised through a strong infrastructure and timely relief and rehabilitation. While there are calls for the Railway Minister to step down owning responsibility for a single accident, no one is held responsible in the aftermath of a disaster. What can we do to change this? Technically capable people with a set term should be allowed to head NDMA and implement its policies.
The hazards database of the country should be updated as soon as possible with inputs from district and state levels and from field experts and civil society organisations (CSOs).
A chain of command during disasters should exist with powers of implementation.
The agencies at the district and state levels should be trained for effective response measures. The projects undertaken should be finished within deadlines and with strict quality.
A nationwide and state wide database of CSOs and individuals experienced with handling disasters should be maintained and their help sought during crises.
Private sector should be roped in for implementing pre- and post-disaster measures. Reputed CSOs must be involved from the planning stage itself and provided with necessary wherewithal for their involvement during and after a disaster.
Specific to cyclones and floods: Data on river discharges should be collected for all major rivers and should be freely available.
Similar data should be provided for all hazards so that more research will be conducted across the country.
Where long term data is not available, discharges for all rivers should be empirically estimated and probable flood levels in highly populated areas should be identified.
The existing flood zone maps should be modified to include areas of repeated urban flooding. Urbanisation should be planned so that existing water bodies are not destroyed.
If possible, restoration of damaged wetlands and water bodies should be taken up on a war footing. Desilting of ponds, tanks and other water bodies should be done periodically with the support of CSOs, local people and other stakeholders to maintain their maximum storage capacity.
In urban areas, choked storm water drains should be cleaned before monsoon starts so that inundation can be avoided.
Afforestation in the catchment areas should be promoted to prevent siltation of water bodies due to excessive soil erosion. Drainage in urban areas should be improved drastically without affecting the existing natural drainage system.
Stocks of relief materials should be made available in adequate supply and in working condition; looting should be prevented. Efforts should be undertaken to minimise infrastructure damage due to cyclones and floods.
The effects of climate change on the country’s hydrometeorology and coastal processes need to be researched and measures taken accordingly.

7.     CONCLUSIONS
With the second highest population, increasing urbanisation and added high risk for extreme events, India is in a vulnerable situation of facing disasters year after year. The unplanned and substandard infrastructure combined with poor implementation of planning, relief and rehabilitation measures increases the human, physical and economic losses sustained during and after a disaster. It is high time that we wake up to reality and enforce strict measures to reduce losses on all fronts. Accountability at all levels is the need of the hour. While the economically stronger sections of society will have more resilience in bouncing back to near normalcy from a disaster as a community, it is the economically weaker and vulnerable (elderly people, women, children, and the differently abled) sections that are hit the most during and even many years after a disaster occurs. Care should be taken to see that the weaker sections are also able to recover fast from disasters.


Friday, February 22, 2019

FLOOD PROTECTION

Non structural measures to keep people away from flood waters. It contemplated the use of flood plains judiciously, simultaneously permitting vacating of the same for use by the river whenever the situation demands. This technique allows the use of flood plains by reducing the disaster dimension, while retaining its beneficial effects. Flood hazard and vulnerability to floods tend to increase over many areas. due to adverse changes of climatic, terrestrial, hydrological, and socio-economic systems. Therefore increasing attention is being paid to upgrading flood protection systems. As sufficient flood protection cannot be reached in many vulnerable areas with the help of structural means only, further flood risk reduction via non-structural measures is often indispensable. 

FLOOD PLAIN ZONING


It is natural for a river to overflow its banks in the event of heavy rainfall in its upper catchments and spill into the flood plains, which are it domain,. Extensive and often unplanned use of flood plains by man disregarding the basic fact that it is part of the river leads to damage this is one of the main factors responsible for the flood damage reported from different parts of the country in spite of substantial investment in the flood sector in the past. The basic concept of flood plain zoning is to regulate land use in the flood plains in order to restrict the damage due to floods, while deriving maximum benefits form the same.

FLOOD PROOFING

Flood proofing measures help greatly in the mitigation of distress and provide immediate relief to the population in flood prone areas. It is essentially a combination of structural change and emergency action, not involving any evacuation.   The techniques adopted consists of providing raised platform for flood shelter for men and cattle raising the public utility installation especially the platforms for drinking water hand pumps and bore wells above flood level, promoting construction of double storey building wherein the first floor can be used for taking shelter during floods.

FLOOD WARNING

These are issued for different area mostly by the Central  water Commission/Meteorological  department and by the State Irrigation/Flood Department. However, an effective Warning System is one that can release warning in advance, i.e. 72  hours, 48 hours and 24 hours. It can change the existing scenario substantially and render informed decision making in adopting proper measures towards disaster preparedness, mitigation, control, planning and management. This kind of advance warning can help the authorities for better flood preparedness and also effective flood mitigation. Therefore, initiatives have to be taken to modernize the operation of Flood Forecasting & Warning by adopting the state of art technology and integrating it into the forecast and warning dissemination process.

REMOTE SENSING MONITORING

One of the most effective methods of monitoring flood plains is through remote sensing. Of the various techniques available Indian Remote Sensing Satellite (IRS) is perhaps the most versatile. IRS and Land sat satellites are  used to map, inventory and monitor earth features. The major sensing instrument in IRS is a multi-spectral scanning system that produces images of the earth in blue, green, red, and infrared wavelengths of spectrum. The products are black-and-white images, false color composites and images in digital form that can be processed by computers.


PUBLIC AWARENESS PROGRAMME

To make floodplain occupants and or owner aware of identified flood hazards. To encourage individuals to take actions such as flood proofing and developing escape plans, to mitigate their flood potential. To make individuals aware of the existence and operation of flood warning plains. To encourage individuals to keep drainage ways clean and to report potential maintenance problems.


RESPONSE SYSTEM

Management and control of the adverse consequences of floods will require coordinated and effective response systems at all level national,. state, district, local and community, Many of the components of response initiatives will remain the same for different types of disasters. These systems need to be developed considering the multi-hazard scenario of the region to optimally utilize available resources.


EVACUATION PLAN

Evacuation of human population and livestock is the only prescribed means to save them from the fury of floods. Evacuation of flood affected communities can be one of the most difficult response operations, especially, when it involves large population, Evacuation needs to be carried   out as a precautionary measures based on warning indicators, prior to impact, on order to protect flood threatened persons from the full effects of the disasters. Evacuation may also be  necessary after the area has been flooded in order to move persons from a flood affected area to safer and better surroundings,. For carrying out successful evacuation, the threat perception on the part of DM officials is essential. Continuous dialogue with stakeholders such as, early warning providers, transportation authorities, health care authorities/ personnel, food and essential commodity suppliers, civil societies, NGOs and last but not the least, the carrying out successful evacuation.


EMERGENCY RELIEF


Trained community level teams will assist in planning and setting up emergency shelters, distributing relief among the affected people, identifying missing people, and addressing the needs of education, health care, water supply and sanitation, food etc. of the affected community. Members of these teams will be made aware of the specific requirement of the disaster affected communities. It will be ensured by the concerned authorities that the stockpiling of the essential commodities has been carried out.


RELIEF CAMPS


The setting up of relief camps for the people whose houses have been damaged by floods and the provision of basic amnesties in such camp involves. complex logistics of mobilizing relief supplies, tents, water supply and sanitation systems, transport and communication systems, and medical supplies.  The panchayat  building in the villages in flood prone areas will be made flood proof as by raising their plinth level at least 0.6 m above the drainage/flood submergence line and making them at least double storey or constructing ring  bunds around them.

MEDICAL PREPAREDNESS

Floods as a natural disaster have a high potential of precipitation the incidence of mass casualties. There is the risk of drowning and physical trauma along with the threat of diseases associated with contamination of water and the creation of mosquito breeding sites. Direct health effects of a flood may include drowning injuries like cuts sprains fractures electric shocks diarrhea vector and rodent borne disease like malaria leptospirosis skin and eye infections and psychological stress, The indirect health consequences of floods are usually due to  damage caused to health care infrastructure damage to crops and disruption of food supplies destruction of property causing lack of shelter that may lead to increased exposure disease vectors.


Non-Structural measures are more flexible than the structural measures. Hence, they are  particularly useful in global adaptation strategies. Since uncertainty in assessment of impact of climate change is high, a high degree of flexibility of adaptation strategies is important and advantageous.

Friday, February 15, 2019

TECHNOLOGY IN DISASTER MANAGEMENT

A disaster is an event or series of events that leads to sudden disruption of normal life, causing severe damage to life and property to an extent, that available social and economic protection mechanism are inadequate to cope. Disasters could be, natural (geological, hydro-meteorological and biological) or induced by human processes (environmental degradation an technological hazards).

While we cannot prevent an earthquake or a hurricane from occurring, or volcano from erupting, we  can apply the scientific knowledge and technical know-how to issue early warnings  on volcanoes and organize proper community response to such warnings. Science and technology help us to understand the mechanism of natural hazards of atmospherical, geological, hydrological, and biological origins which are made up of an orderly systems of facts that have been learned from study, experiments, and observations of floods, severe storms, earthquakes, landslides, volcanic eruptions and tsunamis, and their impacts on humankind and his works.

Information Technology in Disaster Management

Information Technology is changing every aspect of human life. it enhances the quality and effectiveness of trade, manufacturing, services, other aspects of human life such a education, research, culture, entertainment, communication, national security, etc. Disaster management needs drastic  improvements n its sources to decrease damage and see the life of people, To achieve this main object, disaster management has to face challenges for data collection, data management, translation integration and communication. IT pays crucial role in this respect. The advanced techniques of information technology such as remote sensing satellite communication, GIS, etc. can help in planning and implementation of disaster management.

The changing trends have opened up a large number of scientific and technological resources and skills to reduce disaster risk. The information and communication Technology tools are discussed below:

1. Internet 
In the present era of electronic communication, the internet provides a useful platform for disaster mitigation communications. The role of Internet is becoming increasingly important because of the following reasons:
  • It facilitates, the opportunities to enhance the capabilities of addressing hazard awareness and risk management practices before, during, and following emergency events.
  • It provides a new and potentially revolutionary option for the rapid, automatic, and global dissemination of disaster information.
  • Network equally provides the means of access to more reference and resource material to more people, in more ways.
2. GIS and Remote Sensing
Geographic information technology tools like Geographic Information Systems (GIS) and Remote sensing (RS) support all aspects of disaster management. GIS and RS are essential as effective preparedness, communication and training tool for disaster management. Most potential disasters can be modeled. Modeling allows disaster managers to view the scope of a disaster , where the damage may be the greatest, what lives and property at highest risk, and what rspose resources are required and where GIS can play a very important role in this exercise. The specific GIS applications in the field of Risk the assessment are:
  • Hazard Mapping
  • Threat Maps
  • Disaster Management
  • Records Management 
Some application of GIS and Remote Sensing in various disasters is as follows:-
a. Drought
GIS and Remote Sensing can be used in drought relief management such as early warnings of drought conditions will help to plan out the strategies to organize relief work. Satellite data may be used for to target potential groundwater sites for taking up well-digging programmes.

b. Earthquake
GIS and Remote Sensing can be used fro preparing seismic hazards maps in order to assess the exact nature of risks.

c. Floods
Satellite data can be effectively used for mapping and monitoring the flood inundated areas, flood damage assessment, flood hazard zoning and post-flood survey of rivers configuration and protection works.

d. Cyclone
A cyclone is a storm accompanied by high speed whistling an howling winds. It brings torrential rains. A cyclone causes heavy floods. It uproots electricity supply and telecommunication lines. Road and rail movements come to halt. There can be outbreak of diseases like Cholera, Jaundice or Viral fever. Advanced techniques like, GIS, remote sensing tools can be used to  identify the vulnerable population with the single hazard component. These tools can be used to calculate state level population affected by different type of storms. But, calculating vulnerability by GIS with multiple hazards and coping capacity is not easy job for decision makers.

3. Warning and Forecasting System
An advance system of forecasting, monitoring and issuing early warning plays the most significant part in determining whether a natural hazard will assume disastrous proportions or not. Our country has the following forecasting systems: 


A. Indian Meteorological Department (IMD)
Indian meteorological Department provides cyclone warnings from the Area Cyclone Warning Centres (ACWCs. It has developed the necessary infrastructure to originate and disseminate the cyclone warning at appropriate levels. It has made operational a satellite based communication system called Cyclone Warning Dissemination System for direct dissemination of cyclone warnings to the cyclone prone coastal areas.

B. National Remote Sensing Agency (NRSA)

Long -term drought proofing programmes on the natural resources of the district have been greatly helped by the use of satellite data obtained b NRSA. Satellite data can be used very effectively for mapping and monitoring the flood-inundated areas, flood damage assessment, flood hazard zoning and past flood survey of river configuration and protection works.


C. Seismological Observations
Seismological observations in the county are made through national network of 36 seismic stations operated by the IMD, which is the nodal  agency. These stations have collected data over long periods of time.

D. Flood Forecasting
The Central Water Commission (CWC), Ministry of Water Resources, issues floods forecasts and warnings. These are used for alerting the public and for taking appropriate measures by concerned administrative and state engineering agencies in the flood hazard mitigation. Information is gathered from the CWCs vast network of Forecasting Stations on various rivers in the country.

E. Cyclone Tracking
Information on cyclone warnings is furnished on a real-time basis to the control room set up in the Ministry of Agriculture, Government of India. High power Cyclone Detection Radars (CDRs) that are installed along the coastal belt of India have proved to be very useful tool to the cyclone locate warning work. These radars can locate and track approaching Tropical Cyclones within a range of 400 km. The existing mode of dissemination of cyclone warnings to various government officials is through high priority telegrams, telephones, telex and fax.


Disaster management activities depend on large volumes of accurate, relevant, on time geo-information that various organizations systematically create and maintain. The advancement in Information and Communication Technology in the form of Internet, GIS, Remote Sensing, Satellite communication, etc. can help a great dealing planning an implementation of hazards reduction schemes. For maximum benefit, new technologies for public communication should be made use and natural disaster mitigation messages should be conveyed through these measures. GIS can improve the quality and power of analysis of natural hazards assessments, guide development activities and assist planners in the selection of mitigation measures and in the implementation of emergency preparedness and response action. Remote Sensing, on the other hand, as a tool can very effectively contribute towards identification of hazardous areas, monitor the planet for its change on a real time basis and give early warning to many impending disasters. Communication satellites have become vital for providing emergency communication and timely relief measures. Integration of space technology inputs into natural disaster monitoring an mitigation mechanisms is critical for hazard reduction. Awareness and training in information technology in a much grater measures is required to develop human resources. 

Sunday, February 10, 2019


DISASTER PREPAREDNESS

DISASTER: - A disaster is a sudden, calamitous event that seriously disrupts the functioning of a community or society and causes human, material, and economic or environmental losses that exceed the community’s or society’s ability to cope using its own resources. Though often caused by nature, disasters can have human origins.

TYPES OF DISASTERS: - Disasters can take many different forms, and the duration can range from an hourly disruption to days or weeks of ongoing destruction. Below is a list of the various types of disasters – both natural and man-made or technological in nature – that can impact a community.

Natural Types of Disasters:-

Man-Made and Technological Types of Disasters:-
DISASTER PREPAREDNESS:- Disaster preparedness refers to measures taken to prepare for and reduce the effects of disasters. That is, to predict and - where possible - prevent disasters, mitigate their impact on vulnerable populations, and respond to and effectively cope with their consequences, at local, national and international levels.

This work, key to development, essentially involves reducing the vulnerability of households and communities in disaster-prone areas and improving their ability to cope with the effects of disasters; strengthening the capacities of National & State level disaster response groups in disaster preparedness and post-disaster response; determining a National & State level disaster response groups role and mandate in national disaster plans; and establishing regional networks of National & State level disaster response groups that will strengthen the Federation’s collective impact in disaster preparedness and response at the international level.

Disaster Preparedness provides an opportunity to design effective, realistic and coordinated planning reduces duplication of efforts and increases the overall effectiveness of disaster preparedness activities by National & State level disaster response groups, households and community members. Disaster Preparedness efforts can help minimize the impact of disasters on communities and also result in saving more lives and safeguarding livelihoods during any disaster situation and enable the affected population to return to a normal lifestyle within a short time period. 

Preparedness for a Disaster:-
  • Find out what could happen. Stay informed.
  • Make a household disaster and emergency plan, considering everyone in your household.
  • Reduce structural, non-structural and environmental risks in and around your home.
  • Learn response skills and practice your plan.
  • Prepared response provisions to survive for about a week. Prepare evacuation bags.
  • Work together with your workplace, schools, neighbours and local community to assess your risks, plan to reduce them, and prepare to respond
Awareness for Disaster Preparedness:- Disaster preparedness is a continuous and integrated process resulting from a wide range of risk reduction activities and resources rather than from a distinct sectoral activity by itself. It requires the contributions of many different areas - ranging from training and logistics, to health care, recovery, livelihood to institutional development.

Increasing the efficiency, effectiveness and impact of disaster response mechanisms at the community, national and international level. This includes:

· Raising awareness of disaster hazards through public education, encouraging vulnerable people to take preventative and mitigating actions where possible before disaster strikes. Ensure that the Knowledge from prediction and early warning systems can be accessed, understood and acted upon by local communities.
·  The development and regular testing of warning systems (linked to forecasting systems) and plans for evacuation or other measures to be taken during a disaster alert period to minimise potential loss of life, livelihoods and physical damage.
·   The education and training of volunteers, staff and the population at risk
·   The training of first-aid and disaster response teams
·   The establishment of disaster response policies, standards, organizational arrangements and operational plans to be followed after a disaster.
·  Strengthening community-based disaster preparedness through National Society programmes for the community or through direct support of the community's own activity. This could include educating, preparing and supporting local populations and communities in their everyday efforts to reduce risks and prepare their own local response mechanisms to address disaster emergency situations.

A comprehensive disaster preparedness strategy would therefore include the following elements:
  1. Hazard, risk and vulnerability assessments
  2. Response mechanisms and strategies
  3. Preparedness plans
  4. Coordination
  5. Information management
  6. Early warning systems
  7. Resource mobilization
  8. Public education, training,& Drills and simulations
  9. Community-Based disaster preparedness

Community-based disaster preparedness incorporates the concept of building on and using local knowledge and resources in order to improve a population’s capacity to withstand the impact of disasters. As first responders to a disaster (i.e., search and rescue teams and the provision of emergency treatment and relief), communities need to be equipped to manage with the consequences of small-, medium- and large-scale natural hazards when they strike.

Community preparedness activities should include an analysis of risks, vulnerability and capacities (VCA). Early warning systems should be accessible and understood by local communities, who can then act on warnings. Public awareness and public education campaigns, organization and training of community disaster response teams, and the development and testing of community response plans through simulations are all actions that empower communities in the face of disasters.