‘Need to build a culture of preparedness’

Disaster specialist Vikas Gora addressing a meeting in Vijayawada on Tuesday.

With an increase in the number of natural and human-made disasters, there is a need to build a culture of preparedness and every section, community, civil society, government and private sector, has equal responsibility to build resilience,” said disaster management specialist Vikas Gora, on Tuesday.

Addressing a meeting organised by the Atheist Centre, Vijayawada, to mark 10 years of tsunami, Mr. Vikas Gora, who is also Member, Sub-Group of 12 Five Year Plan of the Planning Commission, observed; “We have come a long way in saving lives, but we have a long way to go in rebuilding livelihoods. Tsunami has taught us a lesson the hard way by catching us off guard and claiming hundreds of lives.”

He cited a research by Centre for Research on the Epidemiology of Disasters (CRED) which said that in 2013 alone, 337 natural disasters and 192 mishaps related to technological disasters were reported worldwide. Floods remain most frequent natural disaster while storms are the second most frequent occurrence.

“Today hazards like earthquakes, collective violence, floods, volcanic eruptions and cyclones are generally regarded as triggers which exacerbate the already vulnerable conditions. Poor societies which suffer a fragile physical environment, weak economies and inadequate social and institutional structures are disproportionately likely to make a disaster out of a natural hazard.”

Pointing to the fact that the global warming had begun to show its impact locally, Mr. Vikas Gora said with the rise in sea level, the fragile coastal livelihoods and the coastal economy were under serious threat. “Many of the small island communities in Sundarbans in West Bengal are already witnessing this change. India is a theatre of natural and human-made disasters and Andhra Pradesh is one of the top vulnerable States in India. Since the Bay of Bengal, also known as Bay of Storms, is home to cyclones, people of Andhra Pradesh have to live with this reality by being better prepared,” he emphasised.

He said the Andhra Pradesh government had been doing a commendable job in disaster-management. “AP is one of the few governments in the world that could evacuate more than 2 lakh population as a precaution to the cyclones,” he said, adding: “We are very well equipped in humanitarian logistics, but we need to focus more on preparedness with a human face.”

He also called for Public-Private-NGO partnership in building and rebuilding mitigation programmes.