The Hindu Business Line : Disaster prevention, mitigation, preparedness and relief

ON Monday, the Rajya Sabha passed the Disaster Management Bill. A day earlier, the Home Minister, Mr Shivraj Patil, was accompanied by the Finance Minister, Mr P. Chidambaram, and the Minister of State for Home Affairs, Mr S. Raghupathy, on an aerial survey of floods in Tamil Nadu. The special Indian Air Force helicopter flew over Madurai, Sivaganga, Pudukottai, Nagapattinam, Thanjavur, Tiruvarur and Tiruchi districts in, and at the end Mr Patil acknowledged that the damage was `enormous', and spoke about the Bill in the pipeline.

To know the extent of damage, you need not go beyond Google Earth (http://earth.google.com). For, its images of Tamil Nadu show `blue' where it should be green, and from the low altitude that you can achieve with effortless scrolling, what are visible are but entire villages under water. The day's bulletin from www.imd.gov.in warns of the cyclonic storm `BAAZ' over south-east Bay of Bengal.

"The system is likely to intensify further and move in a west-northwesterly direction towards north Tamil Nadu-south Andhra coast during next 48 hours," it warns based on data at 0530 IST. But the latest image at 0900 GMT, from www.sat.dundee.ac.uk shows Baaz already hugging the coast. And port signals are fast changing from `distant warning' to `danger'. Just the right time for a zero base on `disaster management'.

"The Government have decided to enact a law on disaster management to provide for requisite institutional mechanisms for drawing up and monitoring the implementation of the disaster management plans, ensuring measures by various wings of Government for prevention and mitigating effects of disasters and for undertaking a holistic, coordinated and prompt response to any disaster situation," wrote Mr Patil, on May 8, 2005, in the `Statement of objects and reasons,' of the Disaster Management Bill. The text is available on http://rajyasabha.nic.in (Bill No. LV of 2005), as a 79-page PDF replete with repetition.

"To provide for the effective management of disasters and for matters connected therewith or incidental thereto," begins the Bill. It defines `disaster' as "a catastrophe, mishap, calamity or grave occurrence affecting any area, arising from natural or man made 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."

The phrase `disaster management' is defined elaborately. It means a continuous and integrated process of planning, organising, coordinating and implementing measures which are necessary or expedient for the following: (i) prevention of danger or threat of any disaster;

(ii) mitigation or reduction of risk of any disaster or its severity or consequences;

(iii) capacity-building;

(iv) preparedness to deal with any disaster;

(v) prompt response to any threatening disaster situation or disaster;

(vi) assessing the severity or magnitude of effects of any disaster;

(vii) evacuation, rescue and relief; and

(viii) rehabilitation and reconstruction.

Interestingly, the legislation defines words that may seem common. Thus, `mitigation' means measures aimed at reducing the risk, impact or effects of a disaster or threatening disaster situation. `Preparedness' refers to the state of readiness to deal with a threatening disaster situation or disaster and the effects thereof. `Reconstruction' means repair or construction of any property after a disaster. And `resources' include manpower, services, materials and provisions. The Bill states that the phrase `capacity-building' includes: (i) identification of existing resources and resources to be acquired or created;

(ii) acquiring or creating resources identified under sub-clause (i); and

(iii) organisation and training of personnel and coordination of such training for effective management of disasters.

"The Bill is detailed in planning and execution. There are certain aspects which have been ignored like public health," comments www.indiadisasters.org. "The Bill has detailed listing of all the government ministries and departments right till the local authorities that will be responsible for executing the provisions. But a basic lesson that all disaster situations have taught us is that without the involvement of the local people and the affected community, the implementation of any plan is not possible," it rues. "The Disaster Management Bill 2005 leaves 70 million disabled people endangered," announces http://v1.dpi.org, citing www.dnis.org.

"The Yokohama message emanating from the international decade for natural disaster reduction in May 1994 underlined the need for an emphatic shift in the strategy for disaster mitigation," is a chronicling of history, on www.ndmindia.nic.in, the site of `National Disaster Management'. Disaster prevention, mitigation, preparedness and relief are four essential elements of disaster management, informs the URL.

"Although our country has been subjected to natural disasters from time to time, these have never been adequately factored into our planning process," laments `India Economic Road Map: The Next Five Years 2002-2007' on http://planningcommission.nic.in. "By and large, we have taken the approach that these events are transient in nature and, therefore, can be addressed as and when they arise. The experience of recent years, however, suggests that even episodic shocks can disrupt the development process quite substantially unless contingency plans are already in place and fiscal and monetary policies can be adjusted with sufficient flexibility."

The Eighth Plan had recognised the importance of disaster management. As a result, there came up the National Centre for Disaster Management at the IIPA, disaster management facilities in 23 States, as well as research, documentation and information exchange, and training. The Tenth Plan included a chapter on disaster management. It conceded the need for additional outlay for projects coming up in disaster-prone areas, "first for building a comprehensive database on risks and actions already taken, and secondly for undertaking a vulnerability analysis and risk assessment for the project in question".

Places that bore the brunt of the December 2004 tsunami, are now reeling under floods, and fearing the next cyclone. The quake that hit Pakistan and India is too recent to forget. "Disasters have forced countries to postpone national development programmes and have contributed to worsening already precarious social, economic and environmental conditions, particularly in human settlements," states www.unchs.org, the site of The United Nations Human Settlements Programme a.k.a. UN-HABITAT. "In the last decade, more than 200 million people were affected annually by natural disasters — seven times more than those affected by conflict," it informs. "Natural hazards become disasters when they impact the people and assets that are susceptible to their destructive effects, and nowhere is this more significant than in the world's cities, towns and villages," explains the site.

"Between 1988 and 1997 disasters killed 5,116 people and affected 24.79 million every year," says www.undpquakerehab.org about Indian statistics, in a document titled, `Natural Disaster Risk Management Programme'. "In 1988, 11.2 per cent of total land area was flood prone, but in 1998 floods inundated 37 per cent geographical area." Indian subcontinent is among the world's most disaster prone areas, states Building Materials and Technology Promotion Council (www.bmtpc.org). The numbers it gives are: 54 per cent of land vulnerable to earthquakes; 8 per cent of land vulnerable to cyclones; and 5 per cent of land vulnerable to floods. "In 21 cyclones in Bay of Bengal 1.25 million lives have been lost in India and Bangladesh," informs a page titled `Disaster Mitigation & Vulnerability Atlas of India'.

There is enough and more of `disaster management' around. A depressing drought scene greets one on http://sandmc.pwv.gov.za, with the message `Welcome to the National Hazard and Vulnerability Atlas of South Africa'. It talks about Wide Area Satellite Monitoring Information System (WAMIS) for supporting sustainable development, and for providing data, products and services to users concerned with disaster management. `Disasters and Emergencies: How prepared is Nigeria?' asks www.vanguardngr.com. The leaders of SAARC nations, who met in the aftermath of two natural disasters that claimed thousands of lives in the region, emphasised the need for better mechanism to deal with natural disasters, says www.sundayobserver.lk.

`The Smart DSMS is the industry's first disaster management system to meet the requirements of Homeland Security Presidential Directives (HSPD) 5 and 8 for management of domestic incidents and national preparedness,' claims SuperCom on http://news.moneycentral.msn.com. The site www.riskinstitute.org offers to act "the clearinghouse to link to hundreds of resources in risk management, disaster management, and environmental liability management." The World Bank and Asian Development Bank (ADB) have asked Pakistan to create a civilian disaster management agency, informs Gulf Times, Qatar in a November 14 report. `Link Disaster Management With National Welfare - Gen. N.C. Vij,' reads a report on http://sev.prnewswire.com. "India is spending huge amounts on disaster relief measures. Why not spend it on disaster management instead?" is a quote of his on the site.

`Link Disaster Management With National Welfare,' reads Bolsamania.com, Spain. GIS (Geographic Information System) is effective in crime fighting and disaster management, according to a Montego Bay datelined story on www.jis.gov.jm. `Former Federal Emergency Management Agency head Michael Brown is now in the disaster-consulting business,' informs www.ajc.com. An international conference on `Disaster Management and Challenges (DiMAC-2005)' kicked off in Kathmandu on November 18, reports http://english.eastday.com. `The World Conference Disaster Reduction' focussing on `Role & Responsibilities of the Corporate Sector' was held in Mumbai, between November 16 and 18; its `Mumbai Declaration' is on www.wcdr.gfdr.org.

Theme of an international conference on `Disaster Management and Trauma Counselling' to be held in Bangalore next month includes "physical effects of the tsunami (human, property and environmental losses), psychological and social effects (grief, shock, depression, displacement, loss of loved ones and so on), psychological and physical rehabilitation and disaster aspects (prediction, administrative and community level)," as http://in.rediff.com reports.

Disaster management may well be the answer when we are `so weary with disasters, tugg'd with fortune,' as in Macbeth. And the exercise ultimately boils down to money; aptly, the Bard writes in Troilus and Cressida, "the promised largeness: Cheques and disasters."

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ZeroBase@TheHindu.co.in

D. Murali

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