Disaster Management: Putting people first

There is plenty of native intelligence among the people that is very useful in averting and responding to disasters. Planning for disaster management must see this as an asset. The top-down planning and implementation currently in vogue is a poor substitute for community participation. Hence the Community Based Disaster Preparedness (CBDP) is highly encouraged and given much importance in the project.

 

Why should people be brought in for a community approach to disaster management? The answer should be easy to appreciate. If tribes in the Andaman could survive the tsunami, it was because their existing warning systems worked well in comparison to our non-existent modern systems. The fact that traditional houses of wood and stone survived the Uttarkashi earthquake not so long ago while modern buildings collapsed offered a similar lesson. In the flood-prone rural North-East, you can find houses on bamboo stilts that allow flood waters to flow under them rather than through or over! One need not multiply examples to just make a small point: Native intelligence is significant and technical expertise needs to treat this as complementary. This intelligence needs to be tapped for devising approaches to management of disasters. Further, policies and laws for disaster management need to provide space for such intelligence to be counted. Timeline of Disasters and Tragedies
 

Terminology

Disaster

Disaster is defined as the occurrence of a sudden or major misfortune, which disrupts the basic fabric and normal functioning of a society (community). It is an event or a series of events which gives rise to casualties and /or damage or loss of property, infrastructure, essential services or means of livelihood on a scale that is beyond the normal capacity of the affected communities to cope with unaided.

  

Hazards

Hazards are defined as “Phenomena that pose a threat to people, structures or economic assets and which may cause a disaster. They could be either manmade or naturally occurring in our environment.”

Classification of Hazards

Vulnerability

It is defined as “the extent to which a community, structure, service and geographic area is likely to be damaged or disrupted by the impact of particular hazard, on account of their nature, construction and proximity to hazardous terrain or a disaster prone area”. The degree of vulnerability depends on the condition of human settlements and their infrastructure, the way in which public policy and administration is engaged in disaster management, the level of information and education available about various hazards and how to deal with them.

Types of Vulnerability

Physical vulnerability: It relates to the physical location of people and elements at risk, buildings, infrastructure etc and their proximity to the hazard.

Socio- economic Vulnerability: This relates to the degree to which a population is affected by the calamity in relation to the prevailing social and economic conditions. The impact of a disaster is determined by, the event, it’s effects on people and their environment, as well as the consequential effect on human activities within a given society.

Risk

Risk is a measure of the expected losses due to a hazard event of a particular magnitude occurring in a given area over a specific time period. Risk is a function of the probability of particular occurrences and the losses each would cause.

Capacity

Capacity is the resources of individuals, households and communities to cope with a threat or resist the impact of a hazard.

Disaster Management

Disaster Management can be defined as the body of policy and administrative decisions and operational activities, which pertain to various stages (pre-disaster, disaster occurrence & post-disaster) of disaster at all levels.

There are three key stages of activity that are taken up with in disaster management.

They are

1.    Before the disaster strikes (pre disaster)

Activities taken up to reduce human and property losses caused by the hazard and to ensure that these losses are also minimized when the disaster strikes. Risk reduction activities are taken up during this stage and they are termed are prevention, mitigation and preparedness activities.

2.    During the disaster (disaster occurrence)

Activities taken to ensure that the needs and provisions of the victims are met and the sufferings are minimized. Activities taken up at this stage include emergency response activities.

3.    After a disaster (post disaster)

Activities taken to achieve early recovery and does not expose the earlier vulnerable conditions. Activities taken up at this stage are called as response and recovery activities.

Disaster Related Activities:

 

Pre Disaster Activities

· Disaster Prevention

· Disaster Mitigation

· Disaster Preparedness

 

Emergency Response

· Warning ( Beginning before the actual event )

· Evacuation, Search & Rescue

· Emergency Assistance ( Relief) - Food, shelter, Medical Aid etc.)

 

Post Disaster Activities

¨ Transitional Period:

· Repair and Reconstruction of Life lines

· Reclaim and Clear Land

· Resume Services

 

¨ Reconstruction Period:

· Replace Buildings

· Restore Service systems

· Revitalize Economy

  Restore Occupations

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Prevention: Measures to eliminate or reduce the incidence or severity of emergencies/disasters

Mitigation: It involves long-term measures to reduce the effects of disaster causing phenomena

Preparedness: Measures to ensure that communities and services are capable of coping with the effect of disasters.

Response: Measures taken in anticipation of, during and immediately after a disaster to ensure that the effects are minimized

Recovery: Measures that support emergency and help the affected communities in the reconstruction of the physical infrastructure and re construction of economic and emotional well-being.