Traditional GK

Introduction

Disaster management is all about directing and organising the assets to coke with a disaster and coordinating with the responsibilities and roles of private sector organisations responders and non-profit organisations. The United Nations has defined disaster as a serious destruction of the operations of a society or community which engages widespread materials, environmental implications, and human and economic impacts that accident the competency of the impacted society or community to Cope by using its own assets. Disaster can be referred to as a destructive event that takes place suddenly and engages loss of properties and lives. Disasters are responsible for hampering the normal routine of the community and usually impact a large number of people. Disaster management usually refers to the policies and measures for the security, protection and safety of life and property from natural and human-made disasters. This refers to the proper preparedness for disasters fighting the disasters efficiently ensuring the safety of life during disasters and facilitating in rebuilding of society after the disaster. Disaster management is also a committee or administration that has the authority to manage the natural resources, deal with the situations of crisis and be prepared to minimise the implications of disasters.

Types of Disaster

According to the “International Federation of Red Cross & Red Crescent Societies” natural disasters can be defined as disasters which occur naturally through physical phenomena and are caused either by slow or rapid occurrences that have immediate implications on the health of human beings and secondary implications causing suffering and death to the humans.

1. There are geophysical disasters which include tsunamis, landslides and earthquakes.
2. There are hydrological disasters which include floods and avalanches.
3. Climatological disasters also take place when there is wildfires and drought.
4. It is important to note that meteorological disasters are cyclones and wave surges.

There are man-made disasters as well which can be referred to as the occurrences which are caused by humans and take place close to the settlements of human beings as a result of technological and environmental emergencies.

Aspects of Disaster Management

It is observed that disaster management is the management and organisation of the resources and responsibilities of all humanitarian attributes of emergencies, specifically response recovery and preparedness for reducing the implications of disasters. “UNISDR preferred disaster prevention as the notion of engaging in practices,” which intend to avoid and prevent potential adverse implications through the actions taken place in advance practices designed for offering protection from the events of disasters. Similarly, “WCPT highlighted that while not all disasters are usually prevented, evacuation plans, good risk management and environmental planning reduce the challenges of loss of lives and mitigation of injuries.” “The HYOGO Framework is a fundamental Global plan for reducing risk and Disaster Management, which was adopted in 2005” as a global plan for 10 years and it was signed by agreement with approximately 168 governments which provided proper priorities and guidelines for actions and practical means to accomplish resilience for vulnerable society affected due to disasters.

Managing Disasters

Specifically, "disaster management" involves managing and organising various assets to mitigate the negative consequences of a disaster while also endeavouring to harmonise the roles and responsibilities of responders, organisations, and individuals, public sector, private organisations and faith-based businesses. The purpose of disaster management authorities is to decrease the effects of the event through various stages such as preparation, response, mitigation, and recovery.

Five Stages of Disaster Management 

Prevention: Prevention has more emphasis on preventing hazards from taking place whether they are technological, human-made or natural. Not all hazards can be prevented, but the challenge of loss of lives and injuries can be reduced with good evaporation plans, design standards and environmental planning. 

Mitigation: Mitigating means removing challenges related to loss of life and property by lessening the effects on people when emergencies occur or times in disasters. This includes actions and measures that help to prevent any emergency from occurring or change the emergency situation for the better, including minimising the harmful effects of unavoidable events. Creating building codes and zoning requirements, as well as creating safe distances between residence halls to prevent wildfires, are components of mitigation schemes.

Preparedness: Preparedness is a consistent cycle of organising, training, planning, evaluating and exercising corrective actions. Training and exercising plans can be referred to as the cornerstone of preparedness which emphasises the readiness to respond to all the disasters, emergencies and accidents. Emergency and training preparedness plans enhance the ability of a community to respond when a disaster takes place. Preparedness measures also include signing of agreements for understanding training for both concerned citizens and response personnel, conducting the exercises of disasters to reinforce training and test competencies and presenting education campaigns to mitigate the challenges of disasters. 

Response: This stage can be referred to as a reaction to the occurrence of a catastrophic emergency or disaster. It comprises actions which have the purpose of saving lives eradicating economic losses and alleviating humans of rings. The response stage also comprises the management and coordination of assets using the incident command system. These actions also include evacuating threatened populations, activating emergency operations and opening shelters so that proper medical services can be provided to people.

Recovery: Rehabilitation encompasses actions aimed at sustaining the restoration of crucial civic duties and commencing stabilization operations following the emergency period. Once the risk of human fatalities has passed, the process of recovery begins. The purpose of the recovery phase is to restore the affected region to its previous state, which involves providing essential services and correcting social, physical, and economic damage.

FAQ

1. Is it mandatory to prepare a Disaster Management Plan?

Yes, as per “Section 37 (1)(a)” of the Disaster Management Act, 2005, it is important that every ministry and department of the Indian Government should have prepared a disaster management plan.

2. How is the plan and its implementation monitored in India?

As the act mandates that each and every ministry and department in the Indian Government and every state need to prepare a disaster management plan in relation to the national disaster management policy. The central ministries and state government are responsible for developing the policy and monetary it at all standards. They also need to adopt a holistic approach and build multi-stakeholder collaborations at all standards for better monitoring of the policy.