The Hindu : National : `Community involvement essential in disaster management'

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Saturday, Feb 05, 2005

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National

`Community involvement essential in disaster management'

By Our Special Correspondent

CHENNAI, FEB. 4. The involvement of the first responders, the local community, must be an essential part of any disaster management programme, the participants of a videoconference on `Surviving a tsunami: Relief and Rehabilitation' said here today.

Organised by the Office of Public Affairs, U.S. Consulate General for South India, the videoconference brought together participants from Chennai, Hawaii and Washington D.C. Sharing experiences in combating disasters, the group at the auditorium of the Consulate acknowledged the significance of involving the community to execute a successful relief and rehabilitation programme, notwithstanding the problems that might occur in doing so.

Raju Rajagopal, co-ordinator, Bhoomika Trust, led the discussion in Chennai, along with Christopher Wurst, Vice-Consul for Public Affairs Officer, U.S. Consulate, Chennai. Ralph La Douce, chair, National Tsunami Hazard Mitigation Steering Committee and Regional Director, National Weather Services, Pacific Region Headquarters, provided expert inputs from Honululu, Hawaii.

Michael Austin, senior policy adviser, Emergency Preparedness and Response Directorate, Department of Homeland Security, spoke of the strategies adopted by the federal government from Washington D.C.

Immediate action

Answering a question from Mr. Rajagopal on a community programme to handle disasters, Mr. Austin said a bottom-up approach would work well, as efforts could be sustained by the community at all levels, especially since its members could get into the act immediately. He added that the Indian Government's commitment to evolving a National Emergency Warning System was reassuring.

Any warning system should have to be built on credible factors and the authorities would have to create a sense of confidence among the people, he said.

"We also have to find a way to exploit false alarms (noticed after the tsunami) and turn it to advantage," he said.

A viable warning system, which could forecast with a degree of certainty, would have to be put in place, Capt. LaDouce said.

Voicing fishermen's concerns whether the tsunami would affect traditional fishing habitats, Mr. Rajagopalan asked if this had been documented in the aftermath of other tsunamis. Capt. LaDouce said minor changes in temperature could change the area where plankton survive, thereby influencing the movement of fish.

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