Disaster management

Disaster management

“Disaster management” means a continuous and integrated process of planning, organizing, co-ordinating, and implementing measures which are necessary or expedient for: prevention of danger or threat of any disaster mitigation or reduction of risk of any disaster or its severity or consequence s capacity-building; preparedness to deal with any disaster; prompt response to any threatening disaster situation or disaster; assessing the severity or magnitude of effects of any disaster; evacuation, rescue, and relief; rehabilitation and reconstruction.

THE INDIAN SCENARIO

India is a country with diverse hypsographic and climatological conditions. To visualize our national vulnerability, it is pertinent to mention that 70% of the cultivated land is prone to droughts, 60% of the land is prone to earthquakes, 12% to floods, 8% to Cyclones, 85% of the land area is vulnerable to a number of natural hazard and 22 states are categorized as multihazardous states. The decade 1990-1999 was declared as “International decade for National Disaster Reduction” with a main objective to focus on disaster management planning for prevention, reduction, mitigation, preparedness, and response to reduce the loss of life and property due to natural disasters.

All these disaster management phases are inter-linked and are cyclic – i.e., one phase cannot be effective in isolation of the others. In other words, the phases before an event – prevention, preparedness, and mitigation – are as important as response, recovery, and rebuilding. The Global Thrust: to reduce the impact of disasters the Hyogo Framework for action 2005, priority-3 United Nations International Strategy for Disaster Reduction (UNIDSR) ensures the “use knowledge, innovation and education to build a culture of safety and resilience at all levels. The key activities toward this goal are (a) information management and exchange, (b) education and training, (c) research, (d) public awareness.

Education for Disaster Management is a trans- disciplinary exercise aimed at developing knowledge, skill, and values at all levels. The Government of India in its X and XI Five year plan document has emphasized the need to enhance knowledge skills and values to reduce the impact of disasters. In consonance with the National and International objectives of integrating DM in curriculum, the Occupational Safety and Health Environment (OSHE) program was started in 2007 at the Symbiosis International University (SIU), Pune, as a pioneering venture to address this pressing humanitarian need. The ambit of this program was enlarged and it was renamed as Integrated Disaster Management Programme (IDMP) in 2009.

Knowledge management and education can help communities in hazard-prone areas to gain a better grasp of the ways to cope with risks. Knowledge and innovation, education, formal and informal are closely linked to disaster-reduction efforts. Disasters can strike at any time and it is the magnitude of the related impacts that will reflect the level of preparedness and “education” of the exposed country and community. It is now widely agreed that achieving disaster-resilience is essentially a process of using knowledge and of learning at all levels.

Traditionally, India has been reactive in its approach toward disasters with precious resources being spent on relief, rehabilitation, and reconstruction. Of late, there has been a major shift in its approach. The focus has shifted to pre-disaster aspects, prevention, mitigation, and preparedness, as it is felt that appropriate mitigation measures can substantially, if not completely, mitigate the impact of disasters.

In ancient India, disaster management finds a mention in Kautilyas Arthashastra as a primary duty of the state. The Government of India, Ministry of Human Resource Development has emphasized the need for integrating disaster management in the existing education system in India. The Government of Andhra Pradesh issued orders to incorporate “Disaster Management” in the Social Sciences Curriculum of junior college and intermediate courses in the state. This is a step toward the dissemination of knowledge on disasters among the student community, which would reach throughout the state, both in rural and urban areas. The Government of Orissa in its resolution dated 4 March 2005 directed the state Education Authorities to “Make Disaster Management a part of the educational system and curricula.” Education for disaster reduction cannot be a onetime affair but should be reinforced time and again throughout one's life.

Objectives Of Integrated Disaster Management Education Programme:

·        Ensure awareness on the nature and type of disasters

·        Management of the three phases of as disaster

·        Designing a disaster management plan

·        Rescue operations

·        Evacuation drills

·        Accident prevention and safety measures

·        Environmental laws rules and audits

·        Occupational health and occupational diseases

·        Fire Fighting tutorial and demonstration

·        Handling medical emergencies

·        Hands on training cardio-pulmonary-resuscitation

·        Experience in the conduct of Integrated Disaster