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Natural disasters which strike without any warning can be quite unsettling as they cause heavy loss of human lives, widespread damage to infrastructure and property. Earthquakes, cyclones, tornados and volcanic eruptions can easily be classified as ones which strike suddenly and can change the geography of the place where they strike, render thousands of people homeless and cause a large number of casualties. Drought and floods often occur with deadly regularity and test the preparedness of the government machinery to provide succour and relief to the people.
A number of natural disasters like drought, floods, earthquakes, cyclones have hit India hard in the recent past and now tsunami-tidal waves have devastated the coastline of Southern states — Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh, Kerala, Pondicherry and far-flung Andaman and Nicobar group of Islands. But successive governments have not come up to the mark in mitigating the impact of disasters and putting in place a proper, effective and tested disaster management apparatus. Take for instance the Orissa super cyclone of 1999 or the Bhuj earthquake in 2001, the state machinery was caught unawares and the government response was slow, tardy and reactive.
After giant tsunami waves, triggered by a massive earthquake off Sumatra in Indonesia, smashed into Indian coastline on the morning of December 26, 2004, unsuspecting people were swept away by waves as high as 15 metres and similar was the fate of buildings, roads, ports, jetties, plantations, crops, beaches and other property. There was very little that could be done to tame the nature’s fury that struck on that fateful day with full raw force. The Centrally-administered Andaman and Nicobar Islands and Cuddalore and Nagapattinam districts of Tamil Nadu were the worst hit areas. The death toll in tsunami tragedy has crossed 10,000 and another 5,000 people are stated to be still missing.
Though the Government launched relief and rescue operations on a scale that was unmatched in the Independent India, it took several days before relief could trickle down to several islands in Andaman and Nicobar. With tsunami tragedy, focus on relief, rehabilitation measures in the wake of a natural disaster on such a scale became sharper and it also underlined the need for an effective, well-toned and well equipped disaster management machinery. The decision was taken in January to set up a National Disaster Management Agency.
After the tsunami disaster which struck with greater ferocity in Sri Lanka and Indonesia, several reports suggested strengthening of India’s disaster management capacities and the need to learn from International experience. There is a tsunami warning system in place in Pacific Rim and is headquatered in Hawaii, United States which sends out warning to 26 member countries but India was never endangered by tsunami and there was no such advance warning mechanism available to the country.
While advanced countries have effective disaster management systems in place, even less developed countries like Bangladesh, Cuba and Mongolia have established successful disaster management institutions. The loss of lives to cyclones in Bangladesh used to be regular feature and as many as 300,000 people were killed in a cyclone in 1970 and in 80s floods hit the low-lying country. Bangladesh now has a Ministry of Disaster Management and Relief and its orgnisational structure reaches down to the districts and local level committees.
In India, the decision to set up a centralised inter-ministerial disaster management agency was taken in principle by the Central government in August 2004. Disaster Management — A Status Report, August 2004 was prepared in the aftermath of the Bhuj earthquake. It suggested setting up of a National Disaster Management Authority under the Union Home Ministry which had set up an emergency control room in the wake of December 26 tsunami tragedy. It also kept in constant touch and coordinated with the Defence Ministry as all the three wings — Army, Navy and Air Force – were participating in relief and rescue measures in a big way, flying sorties and shipping tonnes of relief material to Andaman and Nicobar.
According to the report, a disaster management system must have a “modern, permanent national command centre” with communications and data links to all State capitals. Such a system required unified legislation and linkages down to the State, District and Taluk levels as well as to external disaster management agencies. The Report also refers to the mechanism by which relief and rehabilitation are to be financed.
So far as response to tsunami disaster is concerned, India managed to come up with an immediate response which increased in size and scale as the days passed by as full facts of the destruction kept on unfolding in a most cruel manner all over the World media. The Prime Minister, Manmohan Singh as well as the Union Home Minister, Shivraj Patil, visited affected States as well as Andaman and Nicobar islands to review the relief and rehabilitation measures. The Centre has come out with economic packages to rebuild islands like Car Nicobar, Campbell Bay in the worst-hit Andaman and Nicobar Islands, state governments too are doing their bit to mount their efforts on reconstruction in coastal areas.
The experience has also thrown an opportunity to begin regeneration and look at some of the legal and administrative measures that have become redundant. Both the Prime Minister and the Home Minister indicated at amending the law in respect of missing persons that declares a person dead only after he/she remains missing for seven years. A small step that would go a long way in mitigating the hardships of the people affected by tsunami disaster. Similarly, board exams for schools have also been rescheduled. But these remain basically small steps that touch upon humane aspect.
With its vast size and terrain, India would need to put in place a tested, efficient disaster management machinery that trickled down to the district and taluk level. For instance, quake prone areas in Assam and elsewhere in the North-East need to have apparatus to cope with such calamity if it strikes, including moving people to safer areas, providing them relief and the ability to put a reliable, fast communication system in least possible time. After the disaster has struck and caused destruction in a few minutes, the patience and ability of administration is tested in mounting speedy relief and rehabilitation measures. India can seize the opportunity and rebuild structures that would be better than those which have been destroyed. (PIB Features)
*Special Correspondent, The Hindu
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