National Cyclone Mitigation Project
A
project for Cyclone Mitigation (estimated cost Rs. 1050 crore) has been drawn up in
consultation with the cyclone prone States. This project envisages construction
of cyclone shelters, coastal shelter belt plantation in areas which are prone
to storm surges, strengthening of warning systems, training and education etc.
This project has also been given in-principle clearance by the Planning
Commission and is being taken up with World Bank assistance.
Landslide Hazard Mitigation
A National Core
Group
has been constituted under the Chairmanship of Secretary, Border Management and
comprising of Secretary, Department of Science and Technology, Secretary, Road
Transport & Highways, and the Heads of Geological Survey of India and
National Remote Sensing Agency for drawing up a strategy and plan of action for
mitigating the impact of landslides, provide advise and guidance to the State
Governments on various aspects of landslide mitigation, monitor the activities
relating to landslide mitigation including landslide hazard zonation and to
evolve early warning systems and protocols for landslides/landslide risk
reduction. The Government have designated Geological Survey of India (GSI) as
the nodal agency responsible for coordinating/ undertaking geological studies,
landslides hazard zonation, monitoring landslides/avalanches, studying the
factors responsible and suggesting precautionary and preventive measure. The
States/UTs have been requested to share the list of habitation close to
landslide prone areas in order to supplement GSI’s on going assessment of such
areas based on the Survey of India’s Toposheet and their existing data base on
landslide for the purpose of landslide hazard zonation being carried out by
them. A national strategy for mitigating landslide hazard in the country is
being drawn up in consultation with all the agencies concerned.
Disaster Risk
Management Programme
A Disaster
Risk Management Programme has been taken up in 169 districts in 17
multi-hazard prone States with the assistance from UNDP, USAID and European
Union. Under this project, the States are being assisted to draw up State,
district and Block level disaster management plans; village disaster management plans are being
developed in conjunction with the Panchayati Raj Institutions and disaster management teams consisting of
village volunteers are being trained in various preparedness and response
functions such as search and rescue, first aid, relief coordination, shelter
management etc. Equipment needs for
district and State Emergency Operation Centres have been identified by the
State nodal agencies and equipment is being provided to equip these EOCs.
Orientation training of masons, engineers and architects in disaster
resistant technologies have been initiated in these districts and construction
of model demonstration buildings will be started soon.
Under this programme Disaster Management Plans have been prepared for 8643
villages, 1046 Gram Panchayat, 188 blocks and 82 districts. More than 29000
elected representatives of Panchayati Raj Institutions have already been
trained, besides imparting training to members of voluntary organizations.
About 18000 Government functionaries have been trained in disaster mitigation
and preparedness at different levels. 865 engineers and 425 architects have
been trained under this programme in vulnerability assessment and retrofitting
of lifeline buildings. 600 master trainers and 1200 teachers have already been
trained in different districts in disaster preparedness and mitigation.
Disaster Management Committees consisting of elected representatives, civil
society members, Civil Defence volunteers and Government functionaries have been
constituted at all levels including village/urban local body/ward levels.
Disaster Management Teams have been constituted in villages and are being
imparted training in basic functions of first aid, rescue, evacuation and
related issues. The thrust of the programme is to build up capabilities of the
community since the community is invariably the first responder. During the
recent past, it has been experienced that the capacity building of the
community has been very helpful even in normal situations when isolated
instances of drowning, burns etc. take place. With the creation of awareness
generation on disaster mitigation, the community will be able to function as a
well-knit unit in case of any emergency. Mock drills are carried out from time
to time under the close supervision of Disaster Management Committees. The
Disaster Management Committees and Disaster Management Teams have been
established by notifications issued by the State Governments which will ensure
that the entire system is institutionalized and does not disintegrate after the
conclusion of the programme. The key points being stressed under this programme
are the need to ensure sustainability of the programme, development of training
modules; manuals and codes, focused attention to awareness generation
campaigns; institutionalization of disaster management committees and disaster
management teams, disaster management plans and mock-drills and establishment
of techno-legal regimes.
Awareness generation
Recognizing that
awareness about vulnerabilities is a sine qua non for inducing a mindset of
disaster prevention, mitigation and preparedness, the Government has initiated
a nation-wide awareness generation campaign as part of its overall disaster
risk management strategy. In order to devise an effective and holistic
campaign, a steering committee for mass media campaign has been constituted at
the national level with due representation of experts from diverse streams of
communication. The Committee has formulated a campaign strategy aimed at changing
peoples’ perception of natural hazards and has consulted the agencies and
experts associated with advertising and media to instill a culture of safety
against natural hazards.
Apart from the use of
print and electronic media, it is proposed to utilize places with high public
visibility viz. hospitals, schools, railway stations and bus terminals,
airports and post offices, commercial complexes and municipality offices etc.
to make people aware of their vulnerabilities and promote creation of a safe living
environment.
A novel method being
tried is the use of government stationery viz. postal letters, bank stationery,
railway tickets, airline boarding cards and tickets etc. for disseminating the
message of disaster risk reduction. Slogans and messages for this purpose have
already been developed and have been communicated to concerned
Ministries/agencies for printing and dissemination. The mass media campaign
will help build the knowledge, attitude and skills of the people in
vulnerability reduction and sustainable disaster risk management measures.
Disaster Awareness in School Curriculum
Disaster management as a
subject in Social Sciences has been introduced in the school curriculum for Class VIII &
IX. The Central
Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) which has
introduced the curriculum runs a very large number of schools throughout the
country and the course curriculum is invariably followed by the State Boards of
Secondary Education. Teachers are being trained to teach disaster management
Syllabus for Class X is being finalized and will be introduced in the course
curriculum soon. The State Governments have been advised to take similar steps
vis-à-vis their school boards. Several
Provincial Governments have already introduced the same curriculum in Class
VII. Ministry is working with the Council
of Board of School Education (COBSE) to facilitate inclusion of disaster management
in public education in all 39 School Boards in the country.
Information, Education and Communication
In order to assist the State Governments in capacity building and
awareness generation activities and to learn from past experiences including
sharing of best practices, the Ministry of Home Affairs has compiled/prepared a
set of resource materials developed by various organisations/institutions to be
replicated and disseminated by State Governments based on their vulnerabilities
after translating it into the local languages. The voluminous material which
runs in about 10000 pages has been divided into 4 broad sections in 7 volumes.
These sections cover planning to cope with disasters; education and training;
construction toolkit; and information, education and communication toolkit
including multi-media resources on disaster mitigation and preparedness. The
Planning section contains material for analyzing a community’s risk,
development of Preparedness. Mitigation and disaster management plans, coordinating
available resources and implementing measures for risk reduction. The model
bye-laws, DM Policy, Act and model health sector plan have also been included.
Education and Training includes material for capacity building and upgradation
of skills of policy makers, administrators, trainers, engineers etc. in
planning for and mitigating against natural disasters. Basic and detailed
training modules in disaster preparedness have been incorporated along with
training methodologies for trainers, for community preparedness and manuals for
training at district, block, panchayat and village levels. For creating a
disaster-resistant building environment, the Construction Toolkit addresses the
issue of seismic resistant construction and retrofitting of existing buildings.
BIS Codes, manuals and guidelines for RCC, Masonry and other construction
methodologies as also for repair and retrofitting of masonry and low-rise
buildings have been included.
IEC material seeks to generate awareness to induce mitigation and preparedness
measures for risk reduction. Material
and strategies used by various States and international organizations,
including tips on different hazards, have been incorporated along with
multi-media CDs on disasters. The material has been disseminated to all the
State Governments/UT Administrations with the request to have the relevant
material, based on the vulnerability of each district, culled out, translated
into local languages and disseminate it widely down to the village level.
Special Focus to Northeastern States
A special focus is being given to North-Eastern States and the Andaman
& Nicobar Islands. The North-Eastern
Council has been made the nodal agency for the NE States. The NEC has been
provided with a resource person/advisor in disaster management. A detailed presentation on the
vulnerabilities of the NE region and the need for comprehensive disaster
management plan has been made in the Governing Body of NE Council. An action
plan has been drawn up by NEC and a declaration namely “Shillong Declaration”
has been adopted by States in the NE region for integrating disaster management
with development planning. 140
officials and non-officials have been
trained in disaster management to act as resource persons for the NE
region. State and district level
sensitization and training programmes are being carried out.
The various prevention and mitigation measures outlined above are aimed
at building up the capabilities of the communities, voluntary organisations and
Government functionaries at all levels. Particular stress is being laid on
ensuring that these measures are institutionalized considering the vast
population and the geographical area of the country. This is a major task being
undertaken by the Government to put in place mitigation measures for
vulnerability reduction. This is just a beginning. The ultimate goal is to make
prevention and mitigation a part of normal day-to-day life. The above mentioned
initiatives will be put in place and information disseminated over a period of five
to eight years. We have a firm conviction that with these measures in place, we
could say with confidence that disasters like Orissa cyclone and Bhuj
earthquake will not be allowed to recur in this country; at least not at the
cost, which the country has paid in these two disasters in terms of human
lives, livestock, loss of property and means of livelihood.
Tips on Earthquake
Resistant Building
. Drought
Short & Long Term Measures:- 
5.1 The Group considered
various measures which were needed at different times for drought mitigation and drought proofing. The salient
measures for meeting drought situation and alleviating the hardships caused by
drought are as follows:-
5.1.1 Short-term
Measures:
(a) Providing drinking water by better
management of water sources in the affected areas by -
i)
i)
collecting available water and supplying it either by pipes or by
tankers including railway tankers/wagons to the affected areas; or
ii)
ii)
by exploiting the possibility of new sources of water such as tube-wells, deepening of existing tube-wells,
etc.
(b) Providing fodder for cattle and other
livestock affected by drought.
(c) Providing employment to the drought
affected people so that they may have some income in lieu of the loss of income
caused by the loss of crops. ( At least one person in a family should benefit
out of the employment oriented schemes during the drought period.)
(d) Ensuring that the required amount of
foodgrains is made available through the Public Distribution System.
(e) By optimising irrigation support to
the crops out of existing facilities.
(f)
(f)
By cultivation of short-duration varieties of crops after the drought
situation is relieved by some rainfall.
(g) Watching the epidemic situation and
ensuring that no epidemics break out.
5.1.2 Medium
and Long term measures:
(a)
(a) Developing
drought resistant varieties of crops and propagating their spread.
(b)
(b) Completing
quick maturing irrigation schemes and ensuring water flow in the medium-term,
say, within 3 years.
(c)
(c) Taking
up watershed development activities and developing a cropping system based on
such watershed development.
(d)
(d) Rain
water conservation including roof-top harvesting.
(e)
(e) Afforestation
of all exposed hill-slopes as per `Ridge to Valley’ Watershed Development
approach and increasing forest canopy cover in order to ensure conservation of
rain water.
(f)
(f) All
works in drought affected areas should ensure sustainability.
(g)
(g) The
State Governments should interact with local/state level NGOs in drought
related activities.
(h)
(h) The
State Governments should try to construct check dams in the drought affected
areas with actual participation of beneficiaries/NGOs so that the stored water
could be used for various purposes during drought.
5.2 Of the above mentioned measures, the
provision of (a) drinking water, (b) fodder for livestock, (c) food and (d)
employment for the people in the affected areas is considered to be of prime
importance
(As
on 6.09.2002)
There
was a media report about the heavy rain & floods in some parts of the
State. The office of the Commissioner
for Relief & Revenue, Government of Maharashtra (Deputy Secretary– Revenue)
was contacted for seeking factual position.
According to the report received from State Governmetnt there was heavy
rainfall from 1-3rd September 2002 causing floods in some parts of
the 7 Districts viz. Nanded, Parbhani, Hingoli, Yavantmal, Akola, Buldhana and
Washim, taking a toll of 35 human lives
and damaging 7000 houses. About 25 persons were surrounded by floodwater in
Nanded were rescued by sending helicopter. State Govt. have paid Ex-gratia
payment to heir of the deceased and Cash dole @ 600/- per person to the
affected families. A survey is being undertaken to asses the damage to houses
and Agriculture crops. State Government will be providing necessary financial
assistance after the completion of survey. Overall situation is now normal.
Introduction
Natural calamities, of one description or the other, affect nations all
over the world. Because of the large geographical size of the country, India
often faces natural calamities like floods, cyclones and drought occurring
fairly frequently in different parts of the country. At times, the same area is
subjected to floods and drought situation in successive seasons or years. While
not all natural calamities can be predicted and prevented, a state of
preparedness and ability to respond quickly to a natural calamity can
considerably mitigate loss of life and property and the human suffering and
restore normalcy at the earliest. It is, therefore, of paramount importance
that a plan of action for dealing with contingencies that arise in the wake of
natural calamities is formulated and periodically updated.
Types of Natural Calamities
2.1 Different natural, calamities can be distinguished from each other in
terms of their nature and extent of their impact. Calamities like earthquakes,
hailstorms, avalanches, landslides, etc. occur quite suddenly but they are
restricted in their impact in terms of time and space. Similarly, though floods
and cyclones occur with some element of .warning yet their occurrence is
confined in duration. Drought, on the other hand, spans over a much longer
time-frame and its adverse impact on the economic activities and life of an
area is of a more lasting nature. The measures required to meet the threats
posed by different calamities, therefore, differ considerably in terms of
disaster preparedness and amelioration of the economic and social life of the
affected people.
Major and minor calamities
Natural calamities may be broadly grouped into major and minor types
depending upon their potential to cause damage to human life and property.
While natural calamities like earth-quakes, droughts, floods and cyclones could
be regarded as major, hailstorms, avalanches, landslides, fire accidents, etc.
whose impact is localised and intensity of the damage is much less can be
categorised as minor calamities.
Minor calamities like hailstorms, avalanches, landslides and fires
also occur without any appreciable degree of forewarning and cause damage to
properties and lives. However, areas prone to such disasters also could be
identified and certain precautionary measures taken in the context of potential
threat requiring general awareness and an ability to relate to a predefined
system of appropriate responses on the part of the local administration.
No comments:
Post a Comment