Considering
how huge a country India is, with varied geographical features
ranging from miles of coastline to the highest mountains in the
world, natural disasters are understandably frequent at some part
or another. India has had more than a fair share of earthquakes,
cyclones, drought, landslides and floods. Some of the major disasters
in the past few years are the December 2004 tsunami that hit the
Indian Ocean, leaving more than a 300,000 people dead, the 2001
Gujarat earthquake, and the 1999 Orissa cyclone. Each of these
disasters, and the many others that have struck the country, leave
thousands of deaths in its wake, and due to their unexpected nature,
put great pressure on government and civil society relief efforts.
The most recent natural disaster to strike India and other parts
of Asia was the December 26, 2004 tsunami or tidal wave. Government,
international organizations and non government organizations (NGOs)
such as Oxfam and ActionAid, along with
local NGOs, had to be mobilized on short notice to provide relief
and assistance. Apart from the loss of life and property, many
more people lost their means of livelihood and face long-term
starvation.
One of the first steps in relief and recovery following a disaster
is to restore the livelihoods of the affected people. While aid
in the form of food, clothing and shelter is often made readily
available, little is done for disaster victims, especially those
of the economically marginalized groups, who look ahead to a bleak
future because of their sole means of earning being completely
destroyed. In such situations, it is the condition of women that
is especially the most precarious, especially if their husbands
or fathers, who are often the sole earning members of the family,
have been victims. In desperation, survivors often migrate to
cities and other regions, adding to the migrant labour population.
Survivors also run a great health risk in the form of epidemics
after coming in contact with contaminated food, water and air
in the wake of a large-scale disaster that has claimed a lot of
lives.
In many cases of natural disasters, it is only the event that
is natural. The accompanying loss of life and destruction of property
can often be minimized by proper planning and application. More
often than not, it is the poor and the marginalized who suffer
the most in the event of a natural disaster. Taking all this into
account, governments world over, including the Indian government,
have of late incorporated and in fact prioritized multi-disciplinary
disaster mitigation into its development paradigm, because development
cannot be sustainable if it is disaster-prone. It is not post-disaster
relief and recovery measures that is the answer, it is the preventive
measures that stop the disaster from happening in the first place
that saves more life and assets. Expenses on disaster mitigation,
for one, are far more economical that on relief and rehabilitation.
The key to making it work is to involve local communities in the
system, be it in post-disaster relief and recovery, or in mitigation.
The government has penned a National Disaster Framework that seeks
to chalk out possible sources of involvement in disaster mitigation
at national, state and district levels. Foremost among them are
early warning systems, human resources, infrastructure and preparedness.
The main areas that require intervention in disaster mitigation
are earthquakes, floods, cyclones and landslides. For earthquakes,
building laws and by-laws, retrofitting and training in earthquake
engineering and architecture have already been envisaged. Coastal
plantation belts, shelters and preemptive warning systems can
minimize the damage from cyclones to a great extent. Numerous
flood control measures are already in operation to prevent the
kind of floods that wreak havoc in states like West Bengal, Assam
and Bihar. Geological surveys, hazard zonation and monitoring
go a long way towards reducing the risk from landslides. Above
all, what is required is awareness among all citizens of the possible
dangers from various disasters, be they natural or human-made.
With each disaster, along with the death and misery, there is
also something to learn that equips us to deal better with the
next one. Greater research needs to be conducted into the patterns
of disaster occurrence and their outcomes, and also possible further
victimization during relief and rehabilitation. For many survivors,
a disaster is only a long chain of events the outcome of which
is not immediately apparent. It is only through the involvement
with the local community, those who have been hit hardest by the
disaster, that appropriate measures can be taken and networks
set up for the survivors' housing and livelihood needs.
Finally, it is not only natural disasters that can wreak havoc
on people's lives. Human-made disasters, such as war and riots
have the same effects.
