Disaster management in India:The status today

The NDRF has, in a short time after its inception, a given spectacular account of itself over 190 operations in different parts of the country rescuing close to 280000 victims,apart from assisting the local administration in the humanitarian task of retrieving thousands of dead bodies

Lessons to be learnt

While on the subject one must note the need for those at the helm of affairs to remember that those in-charge of relief operations are also part of the affected community. The temptation to bypass lines of control and channels of communication is natural in an emergency but needs to be resisted at all costs.

A golden mean has to be struck between the natural impulse to comfort and express concern and the imperative not to disturb those charged with search and rescue operations.

During the time of immediate response in the wake of a disaster our system has yet to imbibe the spirit of team work. Recognizing, acknowledging and accepting the role of leadership and the importance of a Standard Operating Procedure (SOP) is a paramount requirement in such situations.

As witness the chaos that prevailed during the relief operations in Bombay that followed the heavy rains that lashed the metropolis in 2005. While each agency, such as the Bombay Municipal Corporation, the local Police, the Navy, the Port Authorities etc. demonstrated noteworthy dedication and competence, the absence of a chain of command and lines of control was sorely noticeable. The untold misery inflicted upon the citizens of Bombay City and the enormous and avoidable, losses following the recent heavy rainshas once again underlined the need for better preparedness.

The unfortunate state of Uttaranchalhas become the victim of extraordinarily heavy floods for three years in succession, resulting in massive damage to infrastructure and leaving thousands of Amarnath pilgrims stranded.

To add to all this, be phenomenon of Climate Change is causing erratic behavior of the monsoons and untimely hydro-meteorological disasters, such as floods and urban flooding.

The Incident Response System (IRS)

It is in recognition of this need that NDMA has been brought out comprehensive guidelines on the establishment of as an Incident Response System (IRS) – an indigenized version of the internationally prevalent Incident Command System (ICS). Much emphasis is laid in these guidelineson the aspect of mock drills and rehearsals conducted.

The Unfolding Scenario

It can only be a matter time before the acts of omission on the part of the governments at various levels, in such an important area of statutoryresponsibility, are called into question and adjudicated upon by courts of law. Judicial activism has repeatedly come to the rescue of the common man – not only in terms of deciding where the governments have gone wrong or the laws are defective. The courts have even told the country what the constitution intended and what was left unsaid in the gaps of silence – such as the restrictionof the powers of Parliament in regard to curtailment of fundamental rights or, for that matter, the rights of trans-gender persons or children born to live-in couples.

The day is not for away when inaction, or even the postponement of the performance of statutory duties cast upon the authorities at various levels in the country,become the subject of scrutiny by the courts.

Also, of given the vastness and complexity of the space occupied by governance in our country we may soon be witnessing the phenomenon of governments being judged not so much by the large number of things that they have accomplished but by the small number of duties left unattended to. The centre and the states, no doubt, have their hands full.But, then, the art of good governance comprises, in essence, the ability to focus on a given set of options, and address them in order of priority.

While the urgent understandably crowds out the important, the strength of will required to ensure that overriding concerns do not get lost sight of is the one quality the people of the country wish their leaders to possess. Some method needs to be devised to ensure that while other activities that clamour for a place in the attention – span of the governance apparatus (from space exploration, and expeditions to Antarctica, through games, sports, mountain-climbing, cultural activities, foreign relation, education, health, irrigation, roads, housing etc., to supply of drinking water, primary health care, the welfare of women children and the aged) are not ignored altogether, primary and overriding functions such as DM receive the attention they deserve.

So for on DM is concerned, all that is needed is a set of simple and relatively inexpensive interventions for which the spade work has already been done – especially the enactment of the DM Act (2005) and the steps taken thereafter.

The National Disaster Response Forces (NDRF)

The one, and probably the only one,significant outcome of the new dispensation post DM Act (2005) has been the raising and equipping of the National Disaster Response Force (NDRF).NDRF has, on several occasions, more than amply demonstrated its ability to contribute to the saving of lives and property - not only in India but also in Japan - where it performed creditably in supporting the operations that followed the Tsunami and the nuclear accident in 2011.

NDRF in Action

Until NDRF came into being participation by the Armed Forces and the para Military Forces of the Government of India was characterized by many drawbacks including

Joining the action long after the event as states had to request for their services

Difficulties in reaching the scenes of disasters

Lack of familiarity with terrain and language

Want of training and equipment specific to the particular disaster. However, now Now, the Force

is positioned in advance whenever possible

is trained and equipped

has participated in mock drills and rehearsals

is familiarity with terrain

Raising the level of DM among the priorities of the National Agenda

The significant compression, by the India Meteorological Department (IMD), of the area over which the Hudhud cyclone, 2014 was expected to occur - as well as the lengthening of the period of early warning, ought to serve as an eye-opener in planning future effort.The fact that IMD was ablenot only to predict the land – fall of that cyclone as accurately as Visakhapatnam Town but also to issue the warning as early as nearly a week in advance, added incalculable value to the level of preparedness, especially in terms of taking important actions such as

large scale evacuation of people to safer for areas,

preemptive stoppage of potentially hazardous bus, rail, road and water transport and –

preventive shutdown of power supply and threatened radar equipment

The lessons learnt in this process will need to feed into the extant DM plans of major cities of our country including Delhi, Mumbai, Kolkata and Chennai - all affected in recent times by floods or cyclones.

NDRF in Japan

The moment of glory in its short but eventful history came for the NDRF when it was invited to assist in the rescue operations following the Tsunami and the consequent nuclear leak in Japan in the year 2011 – following a rare gesture on the part of a country that usually does not accept and even less frequently seeks assistance. The Force gave an excellent account of itself and earned encomiums from the host country.

In a presentation NDRF prepared describing that experience it recounted how the people, the institutions and the government Japan responded to that unprecedented crisis.

The stunning calm, discipline and compassion for the weak and the elderly, that the general public exhibited, the unbelievable restraint the media displayed, the public spiritedness the traders displayed and the remarkable anticipation and coordination on the part of the agencies of the government were all simply amazing. There are many lessons to be learnt from that great nation and its people by countries such as ours.