Академический Документы
Профессиональный Документы
Культура Документы
Introduction:
Various disasters like earthquake, landslides, volcanic eruptions, fires, flood and
cyclones are natural hazards that kill thousands of people and destroy billions of
dollars of habitat and property each year.
With the tropical climate and unstable land forms, coupled with deforestation,
unplanned growth proliferation non-engineered constructions which make the
disaster-prone areas mere vulnerable, tardy communication, poor or no
budgetary allocation for disaster prevention, developing countries suffer more or
less chronically by natural disasters
India has been traditionally vulnerable to natural disasters on account of
its unique geo-climatic conditions. Floods, droughts, cyclones, earthquakes and
landslides have been recurrent phenomena.
About 60% of the landmass is prone to earthquakes of various intensities; over
40 million hectares is prone to floods; about 8% of the total area is prone to
cyclones and 68% of the area is susceptible to drought.
In the decade 1990-2000, an average of about 4344 people lost their lives and
about 30 million people were affected by disasters every year. The loss in terms
of private, community and public assets has been astronomical
India has been very vulnerable to natural hazards and calamities. The Bhuj
earthquake accounted for 13805 deaths, the super cyclone in Orissa accounted
for
9885 deaths.
At the global level, there has been considerable concern over natural
disasters. Even as substantial scientific and material progress is made, the loss
of
lives and property due to disasters has not decreased. In fact, the human toll and
economic losses have mounted.Over the past couple of years, the Government
of India have brought about a paradigm shift in the approach to disaster
management.
The steps being taken by the Government covers institutional mechanisms,
disaster prevention strategy, early warning system, disaster mitigation,
preparedness and response and human resource development. Lets see in detail
about the role of government/non-government agencies in disaster management
in further pages
Main types of Disasters
Drought:
Drought is the single most important weather- related natural disaster often
aggravated by human action. Drought's beginning is subtle, its progress is
insidious and its effects can be devastating. Drought may start any time, last
indefinitely and attain many degrees of severity
drought is a frequent phenomenon over many parts of India. In India, thirty three
percent of the area receives less than 750mm rainfall and is chronically droughtprone, and thirty five percent of the area with 750-1125mm rainfall is also
subject to drought once in four to five years.
Thus, 68 percent of the total sown areas covering about 142 million hectares are
vulnerable to drought conditions. India has faced three major droughts in this
century- 1904-1905,1965-66 and 1986-87. The 1987 drought had a lasting
impact on one-third of the country.
Cyclone
The intense tropical storms are known in different part of the world by different
names. In the Pacific ocean, they are called 'typhoons', in the Indian ocean they
are called 'cyclones' and over North Atlantic, they are called 'hurricane'.
Among various natural calamaties, tropical cyclones are known to claim a higher
share of deaths and distruction world over. Records show that about 80 tropical
cyclones form over the globe every year. India has a vast coast line which is
frequently affected by tropical cyclones causing heavy loss of human lives and
property.
Cyclones occurs usually between April and May (called pre-monsoon cyclonic
storms) and between October and December (called post-monsoon cyclonic
storms). While cyclonic storms can't be prevented, the loss of lives and damage
to the properties can be mitigated if prompt action is taken after receiving timely
warnings.
Flood
India is the worst flood-affected country in the world after Bangladesh and
accounts for one-fifth of the global death count due to floods. About 40 million
hectares or nearly 1/8th of India's geographical area is flood-prone. An estimated
8 million hectares of land are affected annually. The cropped area affected
annually ranges from 3.5 million ha during normal floods to 10 million ha during
worst flood.
Earthquake
Earthquakes are caused by the abrupt release of strain that has built up in the
earth's crust. Most zones of maximum earthquake intensity and frequency occur
at the boundaries between the moving plates that form the crust of the earth.
Volcanic Eruption
Many times precursors of volcanic eruptions have been observed in various areas
of volcanic activity. Ground deformations, changes in the compositions of gases
emitting from volcanic vents, changes in the temperatures of fumaroles, hot
springs and crater lakes as well as earth tremors are preceding volcanic
eruptions. Thermal infrared remote sensing has been applied for volcanic hazard
assessment.
Landslides
Aerial photographs and large-scale satellite images have been used to locate the
areas with the incidence of landslide. Higher spatial resolution and stereo
imaging capability of IRS -IC and -1D enable further refining the location and
monitoring of landslides.
A number of studies have been carried out in India using satellite data and aerial
photographs to develop appropriate methodologies for terrain classification and
preparation of maps showing landslide hazards in the Garhwal Himalayan region,
Nilagiri hills in south India and in Sikkim forest area. Such studies have been
carried out using mostly aerial photographs because of their high resolution
enabling contour mapping with intervals of better than 2m in height.
It would also generate awareness among the people in the village about dos and
donts for specific hazards depending on the vulnerability of the village. A large
number of
village level Disaster Management Committees and Disaster Management Teams
have already been constituted.
Responsibilities of Authority
When a disaster strikes, the Authority will coordinate
disaster management activities. The Authority will be responsible for: Providing necessary support and assistance to State Governments by way of
resource data, macro-management of emergency response, specialized
emergency response teams, sharing of disaster related data base etc.
Coordinating/mandating Governments policies for disaster
reduction/mitigation
Ensuring adequate preparedness at all levels
Coordinating response to a disaster when it strikes
Assisting the Provincial Government in coordinating post disaster relief and
rehabilitation
Coordinating resources of all National Government Department/agencies
involved.
Monitor and introduce a culture of building requisite features of disaster
mitigation in all development plans and programmes.
Any other issues of work, which may be entrusted to it by the Government.
Policy on disaster management
The broad features of the draft national policy on disaster management are
enunciated below:i) A holistic and pro-active approach towards prevention, mitigation and
preparedness will be adopted for disaster management.
ii) Each Ministry/Department of the Central/State Government will set
Principal Secretary of ministry of home affairs explans about the steps being
taken by National Disaster Management Division.
He said that, In order to respond effectively to
floods, Ministry of Home Affairs have initiated National Disaster Risk
Management Programme in all the flood-prone States. Assistance is being
provided to the States to draw up disaster management plans at the State,
District,
Block/Taluka and Village levels. Awareness generation campaigns to sensitize
the all the stakeholders on the need for flood preparedness and mitigation
measures.
A comprehensive programme has been taken up for earthquake risk mitigation.
Although, the BIS (Bureau of Indian Standard) has laid down the standards for
construction in the seismic zones, these were not being followed.
The building construction in urban and suburban areas is regulated by the Town
and Country Planning Acts and Building Regulations. In many cases, the Building
regulations do not incorporate the BIS codes.
Even where they do, the lack of knowledge regarding seismically safe
construction among the architects and engineers as well as lack of awareness
regarding their vulnerability among the population led to most of the
construction in the urban/sub-urban areas being without reference to BIS
standards.
In the rural areas, the bulk of the housing is non-engineered construction. The
mode of construction in the rural areas has also changed from mud and thatch to
brick and concrete construction thereby increasing the vulnerability.
The increasing population has led to settlements in vulnerable areas close to the
river bed areas which are prone to liquefaction. The Government have moved to
address these issues.
The States have been advised to constitute Hazard Safety Cells (HSC) headed by
the Chief Engineer, State PWD with necessary engineering staff so as to establish
mechanism for proper implementation of the building codes in all future Govt.
constructions, and to ensures the safety of buildings and structures from various
hazards.
The HSCs will also be responsible for carrying out appropriate design review of all
Government buildings to be constructed in the State, act as an advisory cell to
the
State Government on the different aspects of building safety against hazards and
act as a consultant to the State Government for retrofitting of the lifeline
buildings.
A National Core Group on Cyclone Monitoring & Mitigation has been constituted.
Experts from Indian Meteorological Department, National Centre for Medium
Range Weather Forecasting, Central Water Commission, National Remote Sensing
Agency and
Indian Space Research Organisation have been made the Members of the Core
Group, besides administrators from the relevant Ministries/Departments and
State
Governments vulnerable to cyclones.
The Group has been assigned the responsibility of looking at warning protocols
for cyclones; coordination mechanism between different Central and State
Ministries/Departments/Organisations; mechanism for dissemination of warning
to
the local people and; cyclone mitigation measures required to be taken for the
coastal States.
The Group will also suggest short-term and long-term measures on
technology up-gradation. The cyclone warning formats have been revised to
ensure that the warning is more meaningful to the community at risk. A project
has been taken up with the United States for upgradation of models for cyclone
track prediction
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.
CBSE have been advised to include basic disaster related material in text
books for classes 8th, 9th and 10th the basic dos and donts / precaution to
be taken etc. State Government may advise their Secondary Boards of
Education to include similar in their text books
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--vis their school boards. Several States Governments have already
introduced
the same curriculum in Class VIII.
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 into 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
people of this country are not prepared to pay the price in terms of massive
casualties and economic losses, the task, though difficult, is achievable and we
shall achieve it.
Indias vision 2020 is to build a safer and secure India through sustained
collective effort, synergy of national capacities and peoples participation. What
looks a dream today will be transformed into reality in the next two decades.
This is our goal and we shall strive to achieve this goal with a missionary zeal.
The path
ahead, which looks difficult today, will become a lot easier as we move along
together.
Role of Space Technology
Space systems from their vantage position have unambiguously demonstrated
their capability in providing vital information and services for disaster
management ( Fig.1).The Earth Observation satellites provide comprehensive,
synoptic and multi temporal coverage of large areas in real time and at frequent
intervals and 'thus' - have become valuable for continuous monitoring of
atmospheric as well as surface parameters related to natural disasters(Table-1).
Geo-stationary satellites provide continuous and synoptic observations over
large areas on weather including cyclone-monitoring. Polar orbiting satellites
have the advantage of providing much higher resolution imageries, even though
at low temporal frequency, which could be used for detailed monitoring, damage
assessment and long-term relief management. The vast capabilities of
communication satellites are available for timely dissemination of early warning
and real-time coordination of relief operations. The advent of Very Small Aperture
Terminals (VSAT) and Ultra Small Aperture Terminals (USAT) and phased - array
antennae have enhanced the capability further by offering low cost, viable
technological solutions towards management and mitigation of disasters.
Satellite communication capabilities-fixed and mobile are vital for effective
communication, especially in data collection, distress alerting, position location
and co-ordinating relief operations in the field. In addition, Search and Rescue
satellites provide capabilities such as position determination facilities onboard
which could be useful in a variety of land, sea and air distress situations.