The Hindu Business Line : Disasters could be just a phone call away

When the going gets tough, the tough get going. But what happens when the going is good? Well, that's when smiles turn to grins, optimism is in the air and bad news doesn't simply reach us. Or, even if it did, one tends not to notice.

Economy is racing, taxes are falling, and there is no place for doomsayers. Yet, contingency planning demands that you be prepared for the worst-case scenario all the time. It makes you ready for disaster, so such a plan used to be called `disaster recovery plan' or DRP till somebody thought of something less harsh-sounding and so christened the exercise contingency planning. As euphemistic as collateral damage, perhaps.

But disaster, as a word, has gained a lot of attention after 9/11. The site www.disasterrelief.org defines disaster as an unforeseen and often sudden event that causes great damage, destruction and human suffering. "Though often caused by nature, disasters can have human origins." Examples are wars, civil disturbances, building collapse, blizzard, drought, epidemic, earthquake, explosion, fire, flood, hazardous material or transportation incident (such as a chemical spill), hurricane, nuclear incident, tornado, or volcano eruption - the villains that destroy homes and displace people.

It happens out there, not to us, one might dismiss. But UNDP says: "Around 80 per cent of India's geographical area is vulnerable to cyclones, floods, landslides, drought, earthquakes as well as other localised hazards." Calamity, a synonym of disaster, is in the day's news, for instance, because Chennai city is starved of water and needs Rs 700 crore from the National Calamity Contingency Fund.

A simple search on the Google for disaster relief or management can enlighten one about the level of preparedness in most countries to face unexpected threats. Are we doing something here? Yes, we have the `National Disaster Management Division' in the Ministry of Home Affairs (www.ndmindia.nic.in) .

You would find a `National Disaster Management Framework' on the site, which, in the words of UNDP is a `national roadmap' focussing on "integrating disaster management in the development agenda, establishing enabling institutional arrangements, creating awareness for risk reduction as well as enhancing the capacities of government institutions, communities and civil society."

Anyone who has read through the user-unfriendly document (a big tabular printout that has been scanned as image and put without helpful navigation) can count himself or herself as having surmounted one mini-disaster. Also, what could be amusing is that the `contingency action plan' is all over in about 400 words, something fit as an answer for a secondary school question.

There is the site of `Centre for Disaster Mitigation and Management' in the Anna University (www.annauniv.edu/cdmm) and it flashes `Disaster Free India' on its home page. "When it comes to the question of life and death, don't take even a tiny chance," the welcome message instructs. "Just dial. We are only a telephone call away." The numbers it gives are: "098103 45123 or 91-044-2301772".

Only, don't curse or be disappointed if there is no response at the other end, even if you prefixed a `2' for the second number. These are good times. Right?

EeAndOhEe@hotmail.com

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