Spreading awareness

 Introduction

India is prone to a number of disasters. The super cyclone of Odissa(1999),the Gujarat earthquake(2001), the Tsunami(2004) and Kerala floods( 2018,2019) were just a few of the disasters that led to heavy loss of life and left many stranded. We need to be aware of potential hazards, their frequency of occurring, where they might occur and the problems that may result in a disaster.

The National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA), headed by the Prime Minister of India is responsible for the management of disasters in the country. As per the Disaster Management Act, 2005, State and District statutory bodies are created for smooth functioning.

Every state in the country has a State Disaster Management Authority that is responsible for taking steps towards mitigating the damage and destruction after a disaster and to make sure the state is prepared.A well-coordinated and unified response of various departments of the State, its agencies, the Central Government, its departments and agencies appropriate to the demands of the district administration minimizes the loss of time wasted in response and improves the process of recovery.

Disaster management:

Disaster Management can be defined as the preparedness, response and recovery methods in order to lessen the impact of disasters. A disaster disrupts the normal function of the society to the extent that it cannot function without outside help.

Disasters can be classified as natural, technological or complex emergencies. Let's take a look at the natural disasters in Kerala.

In August 2018,Kerala was hit by incessant rains followed by one of the worst floods that the state has witnessed in decades. All the dams of the state were filled to capacity and gates had to be opened to keep the dams safe. Hundreds died and thousands of homes were affected and damaged. More than a million people had to take shelter in relief camps. Normal life came to a standstill. The heavy rain acted as a triggerfor more than 600 landslides in the state.

The entire nation came forward to lend a helping hand to the Kerala flood victims. Central Government, State Governments, Union Territories, Multi National Corporations, Big Business Houses, Celebrities, Sportsmen and women, schools, colleges, and common people have contributed to Kerala’s Chief Minister’s Relief Fund generously. Apart from these generous donations, it was the local community coming together for rescue missions and volunteering in relief camps that had an enormous impact on the return to normalcy.

Awareness and preparedness are the most effective prevention and mitigation measures against all disasters.

Prevention Of Natural disasters

Floods and Landslides being the most common natural disaster in the state, prevention methods of floods and landslides can be categorised into three.

.Vegetative measures: Preserving vegetation, grasses and trees can minimize the amount of water infiltrating into the soil, slow the erosion caused by surface-water flow, and remove water from the soil.

Structural Measures: Retaining and Diverting water using dams,floodplains,levees etc Constructing piles & retention walls Improving surface & subsurface drainage Rock-fall protection

Management measures: Integrated river basin approach Public awareness, participation and insurance Land use zoning & risk assessment Flood forecasting and warning systems

However, it is impossible to be prepared for any kind of disaster since it is impossible to predict or foresee it. The Corona Pandemic took the world by surprise. There may occur many more kinds of disasters that may require the community and state to respond to differently.

The community is the first responder to any disaster. It is important that we prepare ourselves to face and respond to disasters.

Community Contingency Plan

A community contingency plan is a set of activities that a neighbourhood, community or group of people agree to follow inorder to respond well in times of an emergency. Developing a contingency plan involves making decisions in advance about the management of human and financial resources, coordination and communications procedures, and being aware of a range of technical and logistical responses.

The planning process can be answered with three questions.

What is going to happen?

What are we going to do about it?

What can we do ahead of time to get prepared?

Prepare:Planning should be specific to each context and take into consideration a number of factors including: the government’s disaster-response plans and capacity; reception and coordination of national, regional or global inputs; potential sources of donor support; the likelihood of disaster occurrence; and the vulnerability of the population.

Analyse:Determining the risk of disaster to a population and its potential impact starts with an analysis of the likely hazards faced by a country or region. Once this has been done an assessment of vulnerabilities and capacities at local, national or regional levels can be undertaken.

Develop:Based on the analysis, this step understands what the organisation has to do in response to the disaster which includes who needs to do what, when and where and what they will need to enable them to do it.

Implement:Practising the plan, will help organizations and communities understand its main elements, and will help planners see what works and what doesn’t.

Review:Keeping the disaster-response or contingency plan current and relevant is a challenging task, but can be achieved by scheduling regular reviews. The plan should specify the frequency of such reviews and the persons responsible for this.

Disaster management system within state:

Every state in the country has a state disaster management authority (SDMA) that is responsible for activities within the state under the Chairmanship of the Chief Minister of the respective states. All SDMAs have state committees and District DMAs under their leadership. Kerala State Disaster Management Authority(KSDMA) is one of the 29 SDMAs of India.

For instance, lets take a look at how Disaster Management System functions in Kerala

According to the Kerala State Disaster Management Policy (2010) and the Kerala State Disaster Management Plan (2016), nodal departments have been identified for undertaking disaster risk reduction functions related to the respective disasters. The two major departments that have to work together for effective disaster response are the Department of Revenue and the Department of Home.

State Control Rooms

The control rooms of the two above-mentioned departments function under the administrative control of the respective Department Heads, they being Commissioner Land Revenue and the Director-General of Police, respectively.

The Control Rooms of Revenue and Home function 24 hours. The Department of Fisheries operates a 24 x 7 control room in their headquarters and all districts to coordinate during fishing vessel accidents that frequently occur in the sea.

State Emergency Operating Centre

The government of Kerala has established the State Emergency Operating Centre (SEOC) as a state-level dedicated disaster management facility. The SEOC caters to varying levels of disasters with a multidisciplinary team who have hands-on experience in managing major disasters, a well-structured Decision Support System (DSS) and GSM, terrestrial and Satellite-based audio, video and data communication network. The facility is housed in a dedicated disaster resilient building with adequate technical facilities as well as human resources. All districts in the State have fully functional district emergency operations centres(DEOC). The EOCs are part of the national emergency communication plan and are located in the State Head Quarters, Thiruvananthapuram and all District Head Quarters.

District Emergency Operations Centres

The DEOC is under the direct control of District Incident Commander. The first dedicated district emergency operations centre with 24 hours staff from Revenue, Police and Fire & Rescue and a full-time medical doctor on-call started functioning at Alappuzha district of Kerala on 5th September 2014. Presently all DDMAs have operating District Emergency Operations Centres.

Rainfall:Several states in India witness very heavy rainfall during the months from June to September. Most vigil actions are to be taken and sustained till warning is withdrawn, in the districts predicted to be affected by the rainfall.

Warning Systems:Initially, Emergency time functions are activated by SEOC and DEOC. All necessary forces are pre-positioned as per the direction of the state incident commander. The defense wing along with the central force is ready to move into any location in the state.

Standard Operating Procedure:

BSNL and Police are deployed with all the proper equipment to set up emergency communication systems.

All hospitals and health care sectors in the district are predicted to be affected and instructed to function in the full strength of 24 hours as per requirements by making necessary human resource arrangements from the district level. Medical teams should be kept ready for field-level disaster management. Ensure control measures for epidemic prevention. Low lying PHC/CHC/Hospitals should be evacuated within 24 hours of receiving an Extremely Heavy Rainfall Warning.

Tahsildar will be initiating the procedure to set up the relief camps and instruct to Quarry blasting to be banned until at least 24 hours of rain-free situation arises in the quarry locality based on the evaluation by the village officers. Local Self Governments will be coordinating with the relocating the vulnerable population to the relief camps and other safe locations.

The transport department will take control of all cranes and earthmovers in the district for deployment in the event of major calamities.

The electricity boards and public works department will ensure that the emergency repair teams are ready for deployment.

Police will Stop vehicular traffic other than that of emergency services via Ghat roads prone to landslides & flash floods. Tourism & Forest Department issue advises for tourists not to stop on the sides of streams and rivulets that intersect Ghat.

Holidays are declared in the district and all mass gatherings along with the social events are restricted by the district administration. The public is advised to remain indoors and those in landslide/flood-prone areas to move to safer locations.