Importance Importance of Disaster Management
Introduction Earth prone to disasterDisaster happens every now and thenDisaster leads to colossal loss of life and PropertyPre-empt PropertyPre-empting ing disaster is technically technically very complicated So, the best way to avoid disaster is to engineer a better disaster management plan.
Different kinds of Disaster y
Floods
y
Train Accidents
y
Airplane Crash
y
Tsunami
y
Earthquakes
y
Wild Fires
y
Rock and Snow Avalanches
y
Nuclear
y
Oil spillovers
y
Drought
y
Cyclones, Tornadoes, Typhoons
Accidents
Ravages due to Disaster
Loss to
y
Infrastructure
y
Transport Network
y
Property
y
Economy
y
Agriculture
y
Human and Animal life
y
Education Sector
Disaster Management It is an effort to minimize loss of human and animal life, Infrastructure, Property, Economy, Agriculture and Education Sector. Disaster Management has four phases namely, y
Mitigation
y
Rescue
y
Relief
Transport Network,
y
Rehabilitation
y
Building of Disaster Management Institutions at National and International Level
y
International Cooperation and Framework on Disaster Management
Disaster Management in the wake of 2010 Floods in Pakistan
Disaster Management and Government Preparedness
Disaster Management and Japanese Mega-Earthquake
Conclusion
Essay: Earth is vulnerable to disasters which wreak wide-scale devastation and inflict colossal loss of life. Disasters have been frequent throughout the globe and are unavoidable. Many a geological activities, climatic variations, human negligence, technical flaws, poor planning and geomorphical agents contribute to disaster. Since disaster can occur at any time and early warning systems prove helpful only to a small extent, there has been mounting interest in disaster management. The sheer devastation wrought by disasters has jolted Humanitarian Groups, Aid agencies and Governments and International Organizations to spring into action. Disaster Management is of pivotal importance in many ways. It not only diminishes the impact of disaster but also tries to pre-empt it and arrange for all contingency plans that could reduce loss of precious human and animal life, damage to national economy, agriculture, transport and infrastructure and personal property. Every year disaster occurs in many forms, batters Earth and leads to misery, distress and grave suffering. The unavoidable onslaught of unanticipated disaster has augmented manifold the need of a well conceived and contemplated disaster management plan. A disaster is a calamity of an incredibly large scale that affects large swathes of land, life and infrastructure. It can ravage cities, annihilate thousands of people in no time and contribute immensely to loss of economy and distress. Earthquake, Flood, Tsunami, Wild fire, Nuclear Plant Accident, Rock and snow avalanche, Land slide, Drought, Cyclone, Tornado, Typhoon, Airplane crash, Oil spill, Train Accident are different form of disaster. Earthquake is caused by the movement of tectonic plates at the surface of earths crust and tectonic forces acting on rocks below the earth surface. Intensity of earthquake can be detected by a Richter scale and its impact and origin can be recorded by a seismograph. Geologic information has enabled scientists to investigate the interior of the Earth but pre-empting an earthquake still remains a challenge. So far they have identified areas that are prone to earthquakes due to seismic activity taking place along the plate boundaries. Yet the only viable solution to reducing the impact of an earthquake is to take pre-cautionary measures.
Floods are the show of
strength of mighty rivers when they go berserk. In comparison to
earthquakes, floods can be controlled through early warning systems. Every year floods straddle different parts of earth. In the last year floods in Pakistan swept more than one third of the country and affected 20 million people. In the start of 2011 worst floods in the history of Australia inundated millions of acres of land and destroyed enormous property. Tsunamis occur when earthquakes occur at the bottom of
sea floor due to movement of
tectonic plates. These earthquakes generate huge waves sometimes as high as 30-60 meter. A major tsunami in the Indian Ocean caused widespread loss of life by killing more than 100,000 in the coastal regions surrounding it. Cyclones, tornadoes and typhoons are all atmospheric wind and pressure disturbances in a particular geographical area. They cause widespread devastation. However, it is easier to predict change in wind and atmospheric systems through weather satellites and give early warning. Volcanic eruptions cause huge destruction. They cause wild fires, loss to crops and property. They are
also responsible for population displacements. The pacific ring of fire in the Pacific
Ocean comprises the most active volcanoes in the world.
Adjoining areas to the pacific ring of
fire frequently face the onslaught of lava flows and volcanic ash storms. Early warning systems to detect volcanic eruptions have not been devised because it is difficult to predict when a volcano will erupt. Avalanche, rock falls and landslides are common in mountainous regions. They destroy road networks, bridges, houses and electricity and telephone lines. They become recurrent if the forest cover around mountains is reduced due to lumbering and hewing of trees. Travelling on highways passing through mountains becomes difficult and perilous. Drought is a silent natural disaster. It occurs when rivers change their course, irrigation reduces and precipitation decreases. It turns vast tracts of arable land into barren swathes, deepens the water table and reduces green pasture that could be u sed cattle to graze. It has grave implications on food security, livestock, poultry and economy of a country. Nuclear energy is an efficient form of
energy that can be tapped to produce Electrical energy.
But there are many attending dangers related to nuclear energy. The paradox of disposal of
highly radioactive nuclear waste generated during fission reaction makes nuclear energy dirty and hazardous. The fact of the matter is that in case of any disaster such as a fire on the nuclear plant, earthquake or flood, a nuclear plants reactors may get damaged and lead to leakage of highly hazardous nuclear radiations. These nuclear radiations can cause skin cancers, tremors, permanent cell damage and abnormal tissue growth. Detection of radioactive rays and screening of individuals to ascertain the amount of radiation absorbed is a painstaking process. The ravages of disasters are
manifest from the fact that they contribute to loss of human and
animal life. Many people die instantly and other succumb to fatal injuries or suffer due to lack of medical facilities and timely evacuation from affected area. Health problems mushroom with
the spread of common cold, fever, skin infections, epidemics, and water-borne diseases. Lack of potable water, proper diet and shelter facilities makes life miserable. Disasters spoil standing crops, inundate arable land, increase water-logging and salinity, scorch forests and destroy vegetation. They raze transport network such as roads, railways, bridges, buildings, underpasses and canals. Travelling and transport becomes costly, difficult and existing networks become overstrained. They contribute to power outages, destroy Electricity infrastructure and frustrate resumption of daily life and commercial and financial activities. Economy takes a heavy toll and exports, trading and business receive a ruthless setback. Job losses, poor wages and volatile conditions add to economic instability and insecurity. They also expose the structural flaws and non compliance with the standard practices in the design of buildings, railway tracks, highways, and coordination between different departments. They amply reveal the importance Governments give to disaster management. Disasters remain unpredictable and incalculably destructive. The best way to avoid disasters is to prepare for them in advance and lay down a comprehensive institutional framework for disaster management. Disaster management institutions should be established at the following tiers i.e. national, provincial and local government level. At each tier recruitment should be made on merit and necessary training should be imparted to candidates by trained experts. The composition of disaster management institution at each tier should be such that it employs indigenous workforce and utilizes their potential. Such a practice will launch disaster management as a permanent career. An institutional cover, training, expertise and requisite skills will make disaster management a specialized field. It will also utilize the potential of people living in disaster prone areas and harness their skills. Moreover, disaster management institutions should arrange for voluntary, compulsory and short-service programs. This approach will imbibe people with requisite skills and flair for humanitarian work. It will also add new talent to a pool of resources; prepare volunteers and professionals which could be utilized at a time of emergency. Disaster management should be taught as a multi-disciplinary course at university, college and school level. Seminars, workshops and awareness campaigns should be launched at international and national level. This will go a long way in making people aware of their surroundings, inherent risks of disaster and planning that should be done to escape the destruction. Disaster management at institutional level should work in the following four phases. First, disaster risk reduction will come into effect. Second, rescue efforts will be launched. Third, relief will be provided to victims of disaster. Fourth, repatriation and rehabilitation of people will be initiated. Disaster risk reduction or mitigation steps are preemptory steps taken to lessen the impact of disaster. These steps vary according to the nature of disaster. To reduce the damage due to floods, no construction activity should be allowed in flood plains of the river. An inspection team
should be constituted that looks after the building activity in flood plains, checks the strengths of river embankments and determines the exact course of a river. An early flood warning system should also be placed on major barrages and rivers to allow constant monitoring of river flow and discharge. Tsunamis also called sea-quakes are produced due to earthquakes in the ocean and send shock waves in the form of huge sea waves to the coastal areas. Tsunamis can be predicted to some extent but there is no way to escape them. The best shield against tsunamis is building of concrete structures near the coasts to slo w down the speed of gigantic sea waves and reduce risk to coastal areas. In the same vein it is important that coastal areas should be planted with trees and residential area should be placed at a safe distance. In case of an earthquake, it is contingent upon disaster management authority to work in liaison with Civil and Construction authorities of disaster prone area and to give builders specific standard codes for building by-laws and introduce new earthquake resistant structures. New guidelines should also include information about the nature of earth surface and material available in the market. For the safety of highways in the wake of floods, earthquakes and landslides, trees should be planted along the banks of the highway to reduce the run-off of flood water, to keep soil around the banks intact and hence protect highways and transport network against landslides, and proper filling of highways to act as shock-absorber in case of earthquakes. To avoid huge devastation due to landslides, debris flow and avalanches, residential areas should be planned at a safe distance. Forest cover should be increased and forestation campaigns should be launched. To avoid wild
fires, incendiary substances should not be placed in close proximity to forests.
Every year forest conflagrations destroy timber worth billion of dollars. In 2010 bush fire destroyed huge swathes of forest cover and threatened residential areas in Russia. An accident at a nuclear plant can have devastating consequences at a nuclear power plant. Leakage of nuclear radiations can wreck havoc. In such a case special dress to shield against radiation and irradiating rays used to remove any traces of radiation. Moreover, people are advised to stay away at a distance where radiations cant affect them. The second phase of
disaster management entails rescue efforts. When a disaster has struck
government must utilize its different emergency services such as Fire Brigade, Ambulances, Paramedics and Army, Air- Force and local Police network to rescue and uplift people from marooned areas. A comprehensive plan should be devised to evacuate victims from disasterstruck place in the shortest possible time. A priority should be set to reach-out to people who are in dire need and could be rescued at the earliest possible time. In far flung places where transport network has been destroyed helicopters should be used to uplift people. Rescue efforts depend on the nature of disaster. During
flood and tsunami rescue-workers
should try to get people away from hazardous area that could be hit by flood or tsunami. Motor boats, life-jackets, helicopters should be utilized to evacuate people to safe areas. Army,
Navy
and Air Force contains a huge pool of logistics. Its resources and expertise should be utilized readily to rescue marooned people. In case of wild fires people should be evacuated at earnest as well as radio, mobile and television broadcasts should be used to inform people about the
upcoming calamity. Earthquakes lead to collapse of building and infrastructure. Heavy machinery should be put to use to remove the collapsed building debris and to safely remove people who are trapped. Damaged rail tracks can be restored in a smaller time as compared to roads. Rescue efforts necessitate a well-coordinated participation of national and international
organizations that deal with disaster management. Federal, provincial and local disaster management institutes should collaborate with U N agencies, International Red Cross association and EU disaster management agency to facilitate rescue measures. Third phase of disaster management is the provision
of relief to victims of disaster. Makeshift
arrangements for temporary living such as tents, blankets, supply of potable water, food cans and perishable items should be provided forthwith. Basic health facilities, medicines and 24 hour care should be provided to people. Vaccination against infectious, water-borne and skin disease and epidemics should be carried out immediately to prevent their outbreak. For efficacious provision of relief to victims of
disaster international aid agencies and donors
should step in to address the colossal misery of people. Soft loans should also be delivered to national institutions to help them cater to the demands of the untoward situation. National and international aid should be utilized to employ the services of experts and to make assessment of the overall relief efforts. The last phase
of disaster management is rehabilitation and repatriation of the disaster-stricken
people. Government should mobilize all of its internal as well as external resources and engage in active cooperation with international organizations to gear up the rehabilitation phase. Federal, provincial and local
authorities should engage with departments of education,
construction, planning commission and banks to start the rehabilitation and repatriation phase. In the rehabilitation phase the primary task is to make an accurate assessment of the damage done to buildings, crops, canals, infrastructure and arable land. A comprehensive roadmap should be thoroughly mooted to discuss building of schools, houses, infrastructure and making available materials required for construction at subsidized rates. Government should also announce financial aid and relief packages. The repatriation phase will require of the government to arrange special trains, buses and caravans for facilitating their return. Government should ensure victims of disaster that it will do its utmost to address their predicaments. Disaster management is of pivotal importance because it will reduce loss to property, life, economy and arable land. Since disasters are a permanent feature on the earth, the notion of disaster management has gained more traction. International organizations, NGOs and Governments have sat together and mooted the different aspects of disaster management. Indubitably disaster management is the first step towards effectively diminishing the pernicious effects of disaster.
