Current Public Administration Magazine (February - 2014) - "Disaster Management"

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Sample Material of Current Public Administration Magazine

Disaster Management

Disaster Management Cycle

The United Nations defines a disaster as a serious disruption of the functioning of a community or a society. Disasters involve widespread human, material, economic or environmental impacts, which exceed the ability of the affected community or society to cope using its own resources.

The Red Cross and Red Crescent societies define disaster management as the organisation and management of resources and responsibilities for dealing with all humanitarian aspects of emergencies, in particular preparedness, response and recovery in order to lessen the impact of disasters.

A holistic and integrated approach will be evolved towards disaster management with emphasis on building strategic partnerships at various levels. The themes underpinning the policy are:

Community based DM, including last mile integration of the policy, plans and execution.
Capacity development in all spheres.
Consolidation of past initiatives and best practices.
Cooperation with agencies at national and international levels.
Multi-sectoral synergy.

Disaster - is a serious disruption of the functioning of a community or a society involving widespread human, material, economic or environmental losses and impacts, which exceeds the ability of the affected community or society to cope using its own resources.

Preparedness - involves activities designed to minimise loss of life and damage, to organise the temporary removal for people and property from a threatened location and to facilitate timely and effective rescue, relief and rehabilitation.

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Prevention - encompasses activities designed to provide permanent protection from disasters. It includes engineering and other physical protective measures, as well as legislative measures controlling land use and urban planning.

Recovery - is a focus on how best to restore the capacity of the government and communities to rebuild and recover from crisis and to prevent relapses into conflict. In so doing, recovery seeks not only to catalyse sustainable development activities but also to build upon earlier humanitarian programmes to ensure that their inputs become assets for development.

India is highly vulnerable to natural disasters, losing about two percent of the GDP on an average to disasters. This publication by the Ministry of Home Affairs, and supported by UNDP highlights policies and programmes undertaken by the Government of India to mitigate disaster risk, and areas of action to make the country disaster resilient in the future.

India is vulnerable, in varying degrees, to a large number of disasters. More than 58.6 per cent of the landmass is prone to earthquakes of moderate to very high intensity; over 40 million hectares (12%) of its land is prone to floods and river erosion; close to 5,700 kms, out of the 7,516 kms long coastline is prone to cyclones and tsunamis; 68% of its cultivable area is vulnerable to droughts; and, its hilly areas are at risk from landslides and avalanches. Moreover, India is also vulnerable to Chemical, Biological, Radiological and Nuclear (CBRN) emergencies and other man-made disasters.

Disaster risks in India are further compounded by increasing vulnerabilities related to changing demographics and socio-economic conditions, unplanned urbanization, development within high-risk zones, environmental degradation, climate change, geological hazards, epidemics and pandemics. Clearly, all these contribute to a situation where disasters seriously threaten India’s economy, its population and sustainable development.

India’s geo-climatic conditions as well as its high degree of socio-economic vulnerability, makes it one of the most disaster prone country in the world. A disaster is an extreme disruption of the functioning of a society that causes widespread human, material, or environmental losses that exceed the ability of the affected society to cope with its own resources. Disasters are sometimes classified according to whether they are “natural” disasters, or “human-made” disasters. For example, disasters caused by floods, droughts, tidal waves and earth tremors are generally considered “natural disasters.” Disasters caused by chemical or industrial accidents, environmental pollution, transport accidents and political unrest are classified as “human-made” or “human induced” disasters since they are the direct result of human action.

A more modern and social understanding of disasters, however, views this distinction as artificial since most disasters result from the action or inaction of people and their social and economic structures. This happens by people living in ways that degrade their environment, developing and over populating urban centres, or creating and perpetuating social and economic systems. Communities and population settled in areas susceptible to the impact of a raging river or the violent tremors of the earth are placed in situations of high vulnerability because of their socio-economic conditions. This is compounded by every aspect of nature being subject to seasonal, annual and sudden fluctuations and also due to the unpredictability of the timing, frequency and magnitude of occurrence of the disasters.