Even as Cyclone Hudhud battered the coastal areas, experts on disaster management maintained that lacunae should be filled to minimise loss of lives and property.
More than 85 per cent of the country is vulnerable to hazards like earthquake, flood, drought, cyclone and landslide. More than 50 million people are affected by natural disasters annually, according to the National Institute of Disaster Management (NIDM). Yet, India’s preparedness lags far behind considering the magnitude of potential dangers, experts say.
“We may have benefited tremendously in the last few years through careful cyclone warning procedures and precautions to limit the scale of disasters, but there are certain key areas that need focused approach,” says M.N. Prusty, former chairman of Sphere India, a national coalition of humanitarian agencies. The members of the coalition include key nodal agencies from the Government of India, UN agencies, INGOs, NGO networks and national NGOs.
Mr. Prusty, who is also the chief mentor and director of the Centre for Development and Disaster Management Support Services (CDDMASS), a New Delhi-based think tank, says India’s vulnerability arises in part because of a lack of know-how while assessing risks at the very local-level, poor enforcement of standards and regulations and inadequate risk mitigation.
“Early warning process has improved significantly and so has accuracy. But, we lag behind in inundation mapping and weather data management. Our network of weather stations is far from satisfactory. We still have traditional weather stations, many of which do not function,” he laments, recommending decentralisation of weather data management. “There should be one weather station in every panchayat,” he emphasises.
“Our civil defence system is very weak. The National Disaster Response Force (NDRF) personnel cannot be deployed across the country. One should have local defence mechanism, which comes only through adequate preparedness,” he says.
Awareness-level, Mr. Prusty feels, should be enhanced among people. “Warnings should be disseminated in a manner that people understand and internalise them. They should reach the last mile…to people at the grassroots level. Development of community resilience is yet another key area, which needs utmost attention,” he adds.
