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MEVE-015: DISASTER MANAGEMENT (OPTIONAL)

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TUTOR MARKED ASSIGNMENT

Course Code : MEVE-015
Course Title : Disaster Management
Assignment Code : MEVE-015/TMA-01/2021-2022
Coverage : All Blocks
Note: This assignment is based on the entire course.
Maximum Marks 100
Answer any five questions. All question carries equal marks. (5x20=100)
Please write all answers in your own words.

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Q NO 1)Describe the basic concepts in disaster management. Explain the

challenges posed by disasters and the impacts of disasters .

Disaster management refers to the conservation of lives and property

during natural or human-made disasters. Disaster management plans are
multi-layered and are planned to address issues such as floods, hurricanes,
fires, mass failure of utilities, rapid spread of disease and droughts . There are
two types of disasters management 1. Natural disaster 2.man made disaster.

The new approach started from the conviction that development cannot be
sustained unless mitigation is built into the development process. Another
cornerstone of the approach is that mitigation must be multi-disciplinary,
spanning across all sectors of development. The new policy also emanates
from the belief that investments in mitigation are much more cost-effective
than expenditure on relief and rehabilitation. Disaster management occupies
an important place in India's policy framework, as poor people are most
affected by disaster and they are India's predominant population.
The steps being taken by the Government emanate from the approach that
has been outlined above. The approach has been translated into a National
Disaster Framework (a roadmap) covering institutional mechanisms, disaster
prevention, early warning systems, disaster mitigation, preparedness and
response, and human resource development. The expected inputs, areas of
intervention and agencies to be involved at the National, State and district
levels have been identified and listed in the roadmap. This roadmap has been
shared with all the State Governments and Union Territory Administrations.
Ministries and Departments of the Government of India and the State
Governments/Union Territory Administrations have been advised to develop
their respective roadmaps taking the national roadmap as a broad guideline.
There is, therefore, now a common strategy underpinning the action being
taken by all the participating organizations/stakeholders.
Disaster is a sudden, calamitous event, bringing great damage, loss,
destruction and devastation to life and property. The damage caused by
disasters is immeasurable and influences the mental, socioeconomic, political,
and cultural state of the affected area. Disasters are events that inflict great
damage, destruction, and human suffering. Their origin can be natural, such
as earthquakes, floods, and hurricanes, or of human origin: accidents and
terrorist acts.

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India has been vulnerable to natural disasters on account of its unique geo-
climatic conditions. Floods, droughts, cyclones, earthquakes, and landslides
have been recurrent phenomena. About 60% of the landmass is prone to
earthquakes of various intensities, over 40 million hectares is prone to floods,
about 8% of the total area is prone to cyclones, and 68% of the area is
susceptible to drought. The loss in terms of private, community, and public
assets has been astronomical. India has been struck by numerous disasters in
the recent past including, among the major ones, the Bangalore circus tragedy
(1981), Bhopal gas tragedy (1984), Gujarat cyclone (1998), Orissa super
cyclone (1999), Gujarat earthquake (2001), annual flooding in large parts of
the country during the monsoon, and the tsunami in 2004. The response to
disasters has gradually improved over the years, as lessons have been learnt
from each disaster and adapted. Factors that have inhibited the response to
disasters in the past include, lack of a national-level plan policy, absence of an
institutional framework at the center / state / district level, poor intersectoral
coordination, lack of an early warning system, slow response from the relief
agencies, lack of trained / dedicated search and rescue teams, and poor
community empowerment.
The World Health Organization (WHO) has been in the forefront of the
response to emergencies, and mental health care is an important part of this
response.[1] The importance that WHO attributes to dealing with
psychological traumas of war and disasters have been highlighted by the
resolution of the World Health Assembly, in May, 2005, when it passed the
resolution of the WHO Executive Board, in January 2005, and urged support
for the implementation of programs to repair the psychological damage of
war, conflict, and natural disasters.
Human responses to natural hazards are assumed to be rooted primarily in
the way individuals think, behave, and interact in the environment.Disasters
that are unexpected, occur suddenly, causing widespread damage, and are
understood to be traumatic and associated with a high degree of
psychological disturbance.The survivors are most often seen as having
significantly disrupted lives, which require lengthy periods of recovery.
The disaster management approach requires administrative support and
medical intervention, apart from psychosocial intervention. As per Indian law,
the District Collector has the overall authority for all the administrative issues
in the district. The District Collector is the key focal point in the launch and
implementation of any relief efforts in a district. The social context of healing
is equally important and cannot be overemphasized, especially the unique
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aspect of the communities of the SEA (South East Asian Region), which
influences their response to suffering, ability to cope with loss, time of
recovery, and so on. Relief effort and disaster preparedness plans must take
into consideration the ethnic and cultural aspects and needs. The mental
health service needs of large proportions of the affected population can be
served by relief and rescue workers and healthcare providers, as well as by
strengthening and supporting the sociocultural coping mechanisms of the
local communities. Relief and rescue workers are, as a general pattern,
sensitive to the emotional and psychological needs of people in distress.
In the Indian scenario the experiences of disasters, especially natural
disasters, have yielded a wealth of information. The country has integrated
administrative machinery for the management of disasters at the National,
State, District, and Sub-District levels. The basic responsibility of undertaking
rescue, relief, and rehabilitation measures in the event of natural disasters, as
at present, is that of the concerned State Governments. The Central
Government supplements the efforts of the State by providing financial and
logistic support. Besides this, the Indian Armed Forces are called upon to
intervene and take on specific tasks if the situation is beyond the capability of
civil administration. In practice, the Armed Forces are the core of the
government's response capacity and tend to be the first responders of the
Government of India in a major disaster. The Armed Forces have historically
played a major role in emergency support functions such as communications,
search and rescue operations, health and medical facilities, transportation,
power, food and civil supplies, and public works and engineering, especially
in the immediate aftermath of a disaster.

TYPES OF DISASTERS
Broadly, disasters are of two types - ‘Natural’ and ‘Man-made’. Based on the
devastation, these are further classified into major / minor natural disasters
or major / minor man-made disasters. Natural disaster: Natural disasters
such as earthquakes, volcanic eruptions, typhoons, and cyclones affect many
counties in Asia. A review of the natural disasters and mental health in Asia
highlighted the extensive, frequent, and damaging nature of such events. Man-
made disasters: These include transport and industrial accidents, such as, air
and train crashes, chemical spills, and building collapses. Not everybody
responds to a disaster in the same way, as there are differences based on
various experiential factors and circumstances.

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Pre-traumatic factors: The pre-traumatic factors could be the ongoing life

stress, lack of social support, pre-existing psychiatric disorder; other pre-
traumatic factors, including: low socioeconomic status reported abuse in
childhood, play an report of other adverse childhood factors, family history of
psychiatric disorders, or poor training and preparation for the traumatic
event.
Peri-traumatic or trauma-related factors: These may be severe trauma, type
of trauma (interpersonal traumas such as torture, rape or assault, convey a
high risk of post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD)), high perceived threat to
life, age at trauma (school age, youth, 40 – 60 years of age), community
(mass) trauma, or other peri-traumatic factors, including: history of peri-
traumatic dissociation and interpersonal trauma.
Post-traumatic factors: These may be the ongoing life stress, lack of social
support, bereavement, major loss of resources, or other post-traumatic
factors including: children at home and female with distressed spouse.
There are certain possible reactions to a traumatic situation, which are
considered within the ‘norm’ for individuals experiencing traumatic
stress,which are:

Psychological response to disaster

Psychological distress is defined as a serious and problematic emotional,
cognitive, physical or interpersonal reaction to difficulties. Distress is of
sufficient intensity to disrupt a person's normal life patterns. It can be
distinguished from psychological stress, which is considered as a more benign
response to difficulties that an individual is able to relieve through everyday
coping responses. About 25% of people remain effective, with emotional
continence and appropriate behavior. Some 50 – 75% are ‘normal,’ but
bewildered, ‘numb,’ withdrawn, and anxious, and further, almost 15% are
unaffected by the outset, with inappropriate ‘contagious’ behavior.
The systematic study of 929 adult patients, examining the long-term
psychiatric consequences, work loss, and functional impairment associated
with the 9/11-related loss among low-income, minority primary care patients
in New York City, found patients who had not experienced 9/11-related loss
as compared to patients who experienced loss were roughly twice as likely
(OR = 1.97, 95%; CI = 1.40, 2.77) to screen positive for at least one mental
disorder, including major depressive disorder (MDD; 29.2%), generalized
anxiety disorder (GAD; 19.4%), and posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD;

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17.1%). After controlling for pre-9/11 trauma, the 9/11-related loss was
significantly related to extreme pain interference, work loss, and functional
impairment. The results suggest that there is a need to emphasize disaster-
related mental health care in the affected population. Psychological effects of
the disaster are as under:
• Emotional Effects: Shock, terror, irritability, blame, anger, guilt, grief or
sadness, emotional, numbing, helplessness, loss of pleasure derived
from familiar activities, difficulty feeling happy, difficulty feeling loved.
• Cognitive Effects: Impaired concentration, impaired decision-making
ability, memory impairment, disbelief, confusion, nightmares,
decreased self-esteem, decreased self-efficacy, self-blame, intrusive
thoughts, memories, dissociation (e.g., tunnel vision, dreamlike or
‘spacey’ feeling).
• Physical Effects: Fatigue, exhaustion, insomnia, cardiovascular strain,
startle response, hyperarousal, increased physical pain, reduced
immune response, headaches, gastrointestinal upset, decreased
appetite, decreased libido, vulnerability to illness.
• Interpersonal Effects: Increased relational conflict, social withdrawal,
reduced relational intimacy, alienation, impaired work performance,
decreased satisfaction, distrust, externalization of blame,
externalization of vulnerability, feeling abandoned.

PSYCHOSOCIAL RELIEF EFFORTS FOLLOWING A DISASTER

The first attempt is always to restore the health services. Mental health and
psychosocial support is not awarded high priority initially, but governments
of the affected countries soon realized that this too was a crying need of the
people. It was recognized that any neglect of psychosocial support could
impair efforts toward physical rehabilitation. Psychosocial support became
crucial, but to be effective, the support had to be appropriate and culturally
sensitive. One of the important recommendations of the WHO was to have a
strong community mental health system, which would serve the immediate as
well as long-term needs of the community, provided it was sustainable and
could become a part of the routine health care delivery system. Different
countries have developed innovative methods of providing community
mental health services. These efforts should be encouraged. At the same time,
the impact of these services should be objectively assessed and changes made

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as necessary. The interventions immediately following a disaster occur in four

phases:
1. The rescue phase: This is the period immediately after the event and
lasts about two weeks. On an emotional scale, this is also referred to as
the ‘Heroic Phase’. People, victims and others alike, join hands to do
whatever they can to prevent loss of life and property in a spontaneous
display of altruism. There are many accounts of people who have been
in the forefront of relief work, often working 48 to 72 hours at a stretch,
and have sometimes risked personal injury and suffering to help save
lives of others. However, there is a dark side to relief efforts too and
care must be taken to ensure that there is no looting, plundering or
exploitation of the vulnerability of the victims.
2. The relief phase: This is a period lasting approximately two to six
months after the disaster. This is the period when a huge outpouring of
relief supplies and support from the community, voluntary agencies,
and government result in a high level of optimism about problems
being dealt with and the situation improving. There is a wave of
compassion, goodwill, and care.
3. The rehabilitation phase: This period continues up to one to two years
or more after the disaster. Disillusionment about the efficacy of the
relief efforts sets in at some point in time during this phase.
Bureaucratic delays and legal barriers in providing relief and promises
that are not kept or those that fall short of expectations can lead to
frustration. Victims realize that they have to give up the wait for help
and solve their own problems.
4. The rebuilding phase: This may last years and sometimes even
continue for life. Disaster preparedness, especially for high-risk and
vulnerable areas, is also an integral part of this phase. Individuals and
communities work together to restore normalcy. People begin to live
life on their own terms and move on.
The impact of disaster is long lasting, however, psychosocial intervention in
the aftermath of a disaster is associated with a period of recovery .This can
broadly be defined as a time of returning to ‘normalcy,’ and characterized by
such processes as rebuilding, allocating resources, finding housing, and
repairing or re-establishing social and economic networks in the
community.It is noted that people may benefit most from very concrete,
explicit, and directive assistance, which enables them to attain the tangible
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goods and services required to overcome the material losses of a

disaster.Research has shown that the strains associated with restoring
housing and patterns of life can have as much an impact upon the
psychological well-being as acute and potentially traumatizing events

CONCLUSION
Disasters have substantial social and psychological impacts, which reflect not
only the impact characteristics (e.g., magnitude and severity), but the pre-
existing social and economic vulnerabilities, which intensify the loss and
disruption. Effective disaster management, therefore, needs to ensure that the
diverse interests and priorities of communal life are integrated into planning
and response, especially those of vulnerable persons and groups. At the same
time, it is important to take into consideration the psychological effects of
disasters, particularly in relation to response mechanisms and processes. The
level of psychological distress generated by a disaster may be either
diminished or intensified by planning and management decisions, which in
turn can enhance or impede recovery and reconstruction. The development of
mental health care faces special challenges in developing countries. There is a
need for mental health professionals to shift from a clinical to a public health
focus; the development of training materials, case records, information
systems, and the availability of adequate numbers of mental health
professionals to implement the plan. There is a need for training all those
involved in disaster relief work. The importance of trained Community Level
Workers (CLWs) to implement an organized effort aimed at providing
psychosocial relief has been well exemplified. There is a need in the Indian
scenario to have community mental health teams trained for such events

Q5.Discuss the fundamentals of Risk and vulnerability.

RISK
Ans. Elements at risk are the property, resources, people and
infrastructure likely to be affected adversely during disasters, referring to
all animate and inanimate objects likely to suffer harm in the event of a
disaster. Besides these tangible elements, intangible elements also need to
be accounted for, such as the mental health of sufferers, the impact on the
environment, cultural impact of migrations, etc. Though elements at risk to
different types of disasters are the same, certain specific elements may be
at risk from certain types of hazards may be identified. The tangible and
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intangible vulnerable elements in case of different hazards are identified as

Principal Vulnerable Elements by SEEDS INDIA.
The role of science and technology in disaster mitigation is currently being
emphasised in accordance with the All Hazards Approach to disaster
management. This approach implies that a level of technical and
administrative preparedness can develop expertise to tackle all kinds of
natural and man made disasters, including terrorism. Hence all knowledge
should be assimilated in a ‘clearing house agency’ or networked through a
focal point and more funds committed to scientific research to ensure
comprehensive preparedness to handle any kind of emergency that might
present itself. The focus is on science and technology, the intent being to
take full advantage of available scientific knowledge and administrative
expertise, bring it under one umbrella, translate technology to application
whenever /wherever possible and take a long term perspective to disaster
management (SDR, 2003).
The following principles guide this effort as per the Interim Report of the
Subcommittee on Disaster Reduction, National Science and Technology
Council: Committee on the Environment and Natural Resources, United
States:
• Invest in fundamental science in broad areas that show promise for
meeting end user requirements; Understanding Risk: Concepts and
Elements
• Where possible, emphasise the transition of scientific research and
development to technology application and deployment
• Leverage existing knowledge of natural and technological hazards to
advance the achievement of homeland security goals in reducing
disaster risks associated with terrorism;
• Involve partners (from local and international) to ensure that
expertise and practical knowledge from the field informs the
development of the framework
• Ensure that science and technology is deployed in a manner that
allows it to be absorbed and assimilated quickly at the state and local
levels by drawing upon and integrating the expertise of social and
behavioral scientists

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Enhance effectiveness of existing programmes through improved

coordination and interagency collaboration.

From an all hazards perspective, certain major categories of ‘elements at

risk’ from all types of human made and natural disasters can be identified
as follows:
Infrastructure: Infrastructure includes communication infrastructure, viz.
electrical poles, connecting wires, roads, bridges, etc., buildings, including
housing infrastructure, small businesses, industrial houses and critical
facilities like hospitals, and important government offices. The latter are
termed critical facilities because damage to these facilities puts the
situation beyond control and even escalates the disaster, for example, if
electrical wiring is disrupted during a catastrophe, many more people are
likely to die of electrocutions, or if drainage pipes break down or essential
services like hospitals are affected, disaster situation would be harder to
control. Damage to critical facilities also leads to technological disasters
due to failure of the basic infrastructure of the system or the release of
potentially harmful substances like release of oil, radioactive materials or
hazardous chemicals into the air, water and/or land. Such incidents may
happen accidentally or may be intentional acts of sabotage. For effective
disaster recovery, such facilities have to be made as perfectly disaster
resistant as possible and services therein as efficient and accountable as
could be possible. Hence technology has to focus on earthquake proofing
and flood proofing of critical facilities on a priority basis. For example,
America is affected frequently by oil spills, building fires, large wild fires in
states of Colorado, Arizona and Oregon, besides Hurricanes and Tornadoes,
with the fresh threat now of Terrorism. Disasters have disrupted almost
every sector of the American society, including industry, agriculture and
forestry, transportation, schools, hospitals, insurance, recreation, tourism,
telecommunications, water, power and military installations.
Conservative estimates indicate that over $20 million may have been lost
in the year 2002 alone. Budgeting for disasters is also difficult since
disaster costs fluctuate annually and money cannot always be diverted to
disaster management efforts from regular development tasks (Sub-
committee on Disaster Management, Interim report, 2003, America).
People: Growth in cities has been capital- intensive. Population pressure,
commercial considerations, and inadequate legislation to prevent improper
land use in hazard prone areas has led to a compound hazard situation
where many factors have interacted to put populations at risk from natural

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and man made hazards. In such a situation, development itself has become
a cause of vulnerability of people. More buildings are likely to suffer
damage, which would mean more loss of life and property from natural
hazards. Even otherwise, people are vulnerable to climate change induced
health risks consequent on general environmental degradation and global
warming due to unchecked emission of green house gases, deforestation
and loss of flora and fauna. Air pollution has led to increased incidents of
respiratory diseases and typical forms of cancer, particularly, lung and skin
cancer apart from reported incidents of dengue fever, brain fever, cholera,
malaria, diarrhea, malaria and food poisoning. Loss of livelihood and
disruption of normal life are some of the other hazards faced long after
disaster impact has subsided.
In the man- made hazards category, of particular note, are technological
and chemical hazards, which lead to mortality in large magnitudes, as was
evident during the Bhopal Gas Tragedy. In poor countries that are
particularly vulnerable to natural hazards like floods, earthquakes and
cyclones, interest articulation has been found to be ineffective as ‘passive
publics’ have been unable to voice their concerns effectively, which has
meant inadequate interest articulation for policy. Passive attitude is directly
related to lack of awareness of disaster issues among people, presence of
other pressing concerns like poverty and unemployment that call for
attention and lack of institutionalization of the interest articulation in the
form of lobby and pressure groups in traditional societies. Particularly
vulnerable are the poor and marginalised sections of society who are
forced to inhabit hazard prone areas and also lack resilience in the face of
disasters.
Environment: Schools and businesses had to be shut down in Malaysia,
because of severe air pollution and breathing problems caused by forest
fires in the Indonesian Sumatra islands. The fires help clear land for
cultivation in Indonesia. A brown haze has been created over the Indian
Ocean,

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which has enveloped, besides Malaysia, Singapore, Australia and Thailand.
Scientists fear it can travel half way round the globe in a week. The World
Health Organisation says sir pollution in major South East Asian countries
and Chinese cities is among the worst in the world, killing about 500,000
people each year while the global failure is an estimated 800,000 deaths.
There endorses the imminence of international cooperation such as that
envisaged in the Kyoto protocol. On a regional basis, Indonesia needs
legislative protective measures and Malaysia needs to examine if its palm
oil plantations in Indonesia are contributing to the haze factor (TOI, 28th
August 2005).
Air and water pollution have been acute in India due to uncontrolled
industrialisation, inadequate legislation to control industrial activity, and
unwillingness on the part of concerned ‘stakeholders’ (industrialists,
politicians and administrators who are often partners or controllers of such
businesses) to abide by such legislations. The reason is obvious. If policy
makers themselves are the involved interests, public interest often
becomes a camouflage for private interest. In public administration
literature, the difference between public and private interest is particularly
stressed. In such cases, the theoretical distinction diffuses; solution gets
rather difficult, much to the disquiet of public administration specialists.
Nature of Risk: Though the elements at risk are largely the same for all
types of hazards, the nature of damage inflicted is different in case of
different hazards. For example, a hurricane would uproot poles and
electrical wires and disrupt long-range communication in particular.
Volcanic ash ejected

into the atmosphere poses deadly danger to aircrafts, even miles away from
the eruption. Landslides pose serious threat to distribution systems,
transportation, as well as to infrastructure that supports fishermen, timber
harvesting, and mining and energy production. Erosion and sedimentation
events following heavy rainfall or wild fires cause additional billions worth
damage, impair quality of water supply, and decrease soil productivity in
upland areas as per American disaster reports. Similarly, floods and
earthquake prone areas would need to protect buildings primarily,
particularly those housing critical facilities. Ensuring earthquake –resistant
construction and flood proofing of buildings are some recommended
measures that can increase the capacity of these facilities/’elements’ to
withstand extreme impacts. Other mitigation measures include building
regulations, byelaws, legislation to regulate land use, project-citing
decisions etc. to reduce the vulnerability of elements at risk. Considerable
empirical effort is needed is to identify elements at risk in each case, as
aforesaid, and also the type of damage likely in the event of different
 hazards to common elements at risk, especially in multi-hazard prone
areas. In other words, both floods and cyclones would affect electric poles,
but the type of damage inflicted would depend on the nature of the impact,
which would be different in each case. Hence areas susceptible to particular
hazards would need to identify specific elements at risk, assess likely
damage and institute desired partnership between specialist professional
and government agencies to undertake targeted structural mitigation
measures. Partnership of non-governmental and community associations is
desired to meet other social vulnerabilities that increase disaster impact.
Economic vulnerability is tackled by short-term measures such as
insurance and tax incentives, etc., and long term measures such as
generating sustainable livelihood options to augment income and
employment in the economy (non-structural mitigation measures).

B)Define Vulnerability and discuss its

various factors.
Ans. Vulnerability gives the extent to which a community is affected by a
disaster. It involves the measure of ‘resilience’ and ‘coping capacity’ of a
community in the face of disasters. Vulnerability is an ‘inclusive’ concept in
that vulnerability of a particular community to a particular type of disaster
(flood or earthquake) is a resultant of a number of factors; including
physical factors, (geographical perspective) social (sociological
perspective) and economic factors (income and employment, involving
micro and macro economic policy), besides institutional or administrative,
which are essentially governance related issues. The process of
vulnerability has been evidenced as proceeding along phases such as; root
causes, dynamic pressures that translate these into active problems, which
are a result of a priori decision-making in governance related matters over
time, for example, drought in a dry land area, leading to a famine in the
absence of disaster mitigation efforts.
Social scientists and climate scientists often mean different things when
they use the term “vulnerability”. Social scientists tend to view
vulnerability as representing the set of socioeconomic factors that
determine people’s ability to cope with stress or change (Allen, 2003);
climate scientists often view vulnerability in terms of the likelihood of
occurrence and impacts of weather and climate related events. Related
terms are fragility, stability, resilience and sensitivity of a system. These
are the constituents of ‘vulnerability’. Resilience and coping capacity
develop over time as a result of proactive government policies. Stability is
the balance, which is disturbed by events such as disasters; hence restoring
balance means correcting distortions. Stability depends on fragility; or the
weakness of the system owing to physical characteristics of its ecology;
sensitivity refers to the extent of alteration that is brought about due to
exogenous pressures exerted by events such as a disasters. Though disaster
related, these are standard sustainable development terminology
Vulnerability Identification: Vulnerability identification implies
examining the root causes of vulnerability that could lie in technological,
physical, or socio economic conditions and addressing the same through
empirical research and policy. Identification of vulnerability is challenging
in that complex processes interact in resultant vulnerability of a system or
a specific region/ people(s). Tackling vulnerability involves both short-
term and long-term mitigation measures in that the problem of
vulnerability is essentially a problem of development. The solution lies in
developmental planning, which addresses the problems of poverty, class
and gender discrimination, public health,
education and hygiene on a sustained basis. Vulnerability is studied in
detail in subsequent Units in the course.
Vulnerability Factors: As has been rightly pointed out, “The study of the
vulnerability of human and natural systems to climate change and
variability, and of their ability to adapt to changes in climate hazards, is a
relatively new field of research that brings together experts from a wide
range of fields, including climate science, development studies, disaster
management, health, geography, policy development and economics, to
name but a few areas. There is need for an integrating framework to bring
together these diverse traditions in a coherent yet flexible fashion, allowing
researchers to assess vulnerability, and the potential for adaptation in a
wide variety of different contexts”(IPCC, 2001).
Both natural and man-made factors contribute to vulnerability. Some of the
contributing factors are discussed below:
Population Displacement: Population displacement is both a cause and a
consequence of disaster. There is evidence of positive correlation between
poverty and economic inequality and rural to urban migrations, in that
more the level of poverty and income inequality, more is the extent of rural
to urban migrations. The phenomenon is most observed in poor third
world countries where the poor migrate from rural to urban areas in
search of livelihoods. The social order remains basically ‘oligarchic’/
‘oligopolistic’ in that inequality in income and wealth distribution persists
over time.

System change through ‘soft’ democratic options, such as legislation and

rhetoric is not successful as entrenched powers are hard to reconcile to
socialist ideas. Result has been corruption and implementation hurdles,
more specifically at the implementation change. This largely explains why
land reforms and social forestry legislations have not met with expected
success. While the size of agricultural holdings has gradually reduced,
‘exploitation’ of the small and marginal framers at the hands of rich and the
resourceful farmers has persisted. Frequent droughts have compounded
existing problems. The cumulative effect of such conditions has been mass
migration of rural folk to urban metropolitan towns.
In the last decade, issues related to natural disasters and development-led
population displacement and resettlement and rehabilitation have
generated considerable debate. Focus on population displacement, direct
and indirect, resulting from five natural and human processes wherein data
and information is still far from adequate. These processes are natural
disasters, urbanization and industrialization, natural resource
development, agricultural transformation and infrastructure expansion.
There is also a concern that especially vulnerable social groups, including
women, ethnic minorities, and landless people have generally suffered
more than others from displacements.
On the other hand, population displacement is also a consequence of
disasters. In the event of disasters, large-scale displacement of populations
from affected areas takes place, which leads to temporary to permanent
loss of livelihood for people. Small-scale industries and micro enterprises
are particularly hit. Much work has not been done on providing insurance
against disasters to people residing in hazard prone areas. Though some
initiatives have been taken, all disasters have not yet been covered
properly and resource mobilisation also is far from adequate (Dhar, 2002).
Relocation options have also to be carefully weighed so as not to result in
unintended consequences that negate the very purpose of the exercise.
Unintended consequences as different forms of vulnerability that might be
induced because of relocation for example, loss of livelihood for small
businessmen because of increased distance from urban commercial
centers.
Urbanisation: Rural to urban migration has led to unmanageable
urbanisation and urban congestion that has forced human and physical
capital extension in high-risk zones. Consequently, the loss potential of
hazards has gone up. Urbanisation has brought in its wake, growth of
informal settlements, unsafe living conditions, disease, class conflict and
social capital depletion as some segments have been socially and
economically marginalised. Globalisation has also contributed in many
ways to increasing the vulnerability of the urban poor by creating
‘uncertain’ employment though the obvious impact seems to be betterment
of life and better opportunities for all. Though urbanisation is a worldwide
phenomenon, it is more pronounced in the third world, because of the
above recounted factors. As per the 1991 census figures, (provisional) 217
million out of 844 million
persons lived in 4,689 cities and towns in India. In terms of proportion,
slightly more than one- fourth of the country’s population lived in urban
areas. Corresponding figures from the first census of the present century
(that is, the 1901 census) indicate that 25.8 million persons, that is, one-
tenth of the total population lived in 1,917 cities and towns. It thus shows
that while the number and proportion of total population living in cities
and towns has more than doubled, urban population itself has increased by
more than eight times during the last 90 year period (Jain, Ghosh, 2005).
About 25 per cent of the world’s population lives in areas of high risk from
natural disasters. Most of these people are in poor regions, where
vulnerability arises from poverty, discrimination and lack of democratic
functioning hampers the development process. The poorest people often
have little choice but to live in unsafe settings, whether it is urban shanties or
degraded rural environments. In terms of loss of life and relative economic
impact, disasters hit hardest where poverty stricken people are
concentrated. In less developed countries, rural inhabitants outnumber
people in the urban areas. Even then, now there are more urban dwellers in
the third world than in Europe, North America and Japan combined.
Metropolitan cities are growing at a faster rate. It is estimated that in urban
squatter settlements, population densities may reach as high as ten times of
present level. Many buildings are erected on steep slopes or flood prone
land, exposed to strong winds and landslides without suitable material or
construction skills. In highly populated rural areas, population density can
exceed 1000 per km² and life is a recurrent struggle to secure cultivable
land. Many people are landless and disadvantaged by land tenure systems,
which deny them access to the means to support themselves. Migration also
has significant cultural impact, besides the more obvious, physical
dislocation of populations in that mass migrations introduce communities
to alien cultural practices which disturb the cultural homogeneity of the
community. In extreme conditions they cause civil strife. Different building
practices and construction technologies may be introduced, which might be
unsuited to the requirements/ cultural ethos and practices of those
particular area/ inhabitants. Besides, administrative and political problems
are caused due to the influx of refugees, which disturbs the political and
social matrix of the region, like the influx of Bangladeshi refugees in India,
following the 1971 war. Epidemics and congestion are other administrative
problems caused due to mass influx of refugees.
Gender: Vulnerability due to Gender is a result of accretion of unfair social
practices over time, which has caused disempowerment of women in social
economic and political spheres. Gender inequality in social, economic and
political spheres has resulted in vast differences between men and women
in emergency situations, concerning matters such as, household decisions
about use of relief assets, voluntary relief and recovery work, access to
evacuation shelter and relief goods, and employment in disaster planning,
relief and recovery programs among other areas of concern in disaster
relief. Disaster mitigation as also response policy, particularly concerning
control over relief resources have to factor this component in decision-
making with a view to making it more equitable and on the whole, more
effective.
Economic Factors: Positive correlation has been evidenced between
poverty, disasters and environmental degradation. Relative vulnerability of
people is comparatively much higher in third world countries than in the
developed world. As per United Nations estimates, although least
developed countries show less physical exposure to hazards (11%) they
account for far greater number of casualties, (53%). On the other side, the
most developed countries represent more (15%) physical exposure to
hazards and account for significantly less (1.8%) victims. The inference
drawn is that the magnitude of disaster suffered is directly correlated to
the level of development, which explains largely the fact of the Third World
accounting for significantly more losses than the developed countries. This
difference is shown by a list of disaster events and fatalities over 1960-81.
Japan suffered 43 earthquakes and other disasters and lost 2,700 people
that mean 63 deaths per disaster. Peru suffered 31 disasters with 91,000
dead, a vast majority lost in the single event of the 1970 earthquake.
The world economy functions and works against the poor who have little
opportunity to process and market what they produce and are largely
dependent on the imports from the industrialised nations
for manufactured goods which are quite often unstable. The poor regions
have little opportunity to process and market what they produce and are
dependent on the import from the industrialised nations of manufactured
goods, which are often highly priced or tied to aid packages. The progressive
hardship for the small-scale farmer, combined with a foreign debt burden
that may be many times the normal annual export earnings, takes resources
away from long-term development in a process that has been described as a
transfusion of blood from the sick to the healthy. The cycle is reinforced
when natural disaster destroys local products and undermines incentives for
investment. Major disasters, such as the droughts, disrupt and destroy local
economies and bring about shortages in neighbouring regions resulting in
innumerable international refugees and stimulate aid programmes to the
extent that the consequences of environmental hazards are truly global.
Poverty situation increases vulnerability to disasters and contributes in
enabling poverty. In order to facilitate sustainable development, it is
essential to eliminate this vicious circle. Sustainable development, with
emphasis on the long-term and intergenerational aspects enables us to face
challenges. Compatibility between economic growth and sustainable
development demands a method to measure the kind of growth that
encompasses all important aspects pertaining to quality of life, such as
human exposure to risk situations and lifestyles.

Q.NO.6 SHORT NOTES ON THE FOLLOWING.

Technologies used in disaster management.

A)
Ans. As stated in the United Nation’s Disaster Management Training
Programme (1994), disaster preparedness includes all measures that
ensure the readiness/ ability of a society to: (a) forecast and take
precautionary measures in advance of an imminent threat (in case where)
advance warnings are possible); and (b) respond to and cope with the
effects of a disaster by organising and delivering timely and effective
rescue, relief and other appropriate post disaster assistance. The Red Cross
has identified disaster preparedness as an effective link between
emergency response, rehabilitation and development programmes
(Jigyasu, 2002).
As explained in the previous Unit, the All Hazards Perspective is currently
being emphasised in America to combat the threat of terrorism stressing
on interagency collaboration and data analyses of
all preceding natural and accidental mishaps. The SubCommittee on
Disaster Reduction (SDR) of the National Science and Technological Council
(NSTC) in the United States has articulated six important areas that require
continued energy and appropriate resources to meet the challenges of
hazard risk reduction. The same may be pertinent for all countries facing
the threat of terrorism, which is the single most horrifying disaster
possibility in recent times
• Leveraging existing knowledge of natural and technological hazards
to address terrorism events
• Improve hazard information data collection and prediction capability
• Ensure the development and widespread use of improved hazard
and risk assessment models and their incorporation into decision
support tools and systems.
• Speed the transition from hazard research to hazard management
application
• Increase mitigation activities and incentives
• Expand risk communication capabilities, especially public warning
systems and techniques Kenneth Bloem of the John Hopkins University
Center for Biodefense Studies has identified a number of parallel streams
where preparation for terrorist incidents can be enhanced by decades of
research in traditional disaster areas:
• Wildfires and Arson
• Accidental explosions and bombs
• Floods and dam sabotage
• Chemical spills and chemical attacks
• Epidemics and biological terrorism
Mention may be made here of some other significant approaches to
disaster management under discussion (Guzman):
The comprehensive approach to disaster management entails inclusive
strategy for different yet complementing aspects of disaster management,
i.e. prevention and mitigation, preparedness, response and recovery,
correlated for the purpose of sustainable development strategies. The
requirement is public policy based on articulated risk (s). This approach
aims to augment the overall capacity of the system to react to a disaster
event with readiness.
The all-hazards approach as already explained above, targets developing a
common framework based on knowledge from all relevant fields for
handling all types of disasters. The focus is harnessing science and
technology for risk reduction from all man made/ natural disasters,
including terrorism. The belief is that technical know-how for natural
hazard mitigation can be used to tackle technological and other man- made
disasters. Common preparedness helps, in that rehabilitation, medical
assistance infrastructure, manpower needed in case of emergency etc.
are likely to be the same for all hazards.
The integrated approach places reliance on administrative coordination for
joint strategising for risk reduction. It proposes that all organisations,
including government, private and community organisations, are involved
concertedly in risk reduction. This approach stresses on promoting multi-
sectored and inter-sectored coordination to provide a total policy
framework for disaster management. The modalities for such cooperation
may need to be worked out to prevent overlapping, coordination problems
or jurisdictional disputes between departments. Certain administrative
modifications would be required, for instance, hierarchical command
control structure may be unsuited for effective policy implementation.
There is also need to ensure wide forms of public, private and professional
participation in policy formulation and implementation. Disaster risk
reduction is also an educative exercise. There is need for academic
deliberation on a sustained basis wherein information and inspiration is
drawn from many different sources, viz. technical, social sciences,
anthropologists, etc. and correlated under an architectonic rubric of
disaster mitigation policy.
The prepared community concept stresses community empowerment
through state initiative. People are not passive beneficiaries but active
participants in development planning and implementation processes.
Peoples’ capacities are recognised and channelised through the
‘facilitating’ role of the
state. It includes analyses of the social, economic and demographic make-
up of the community and its infrastructure. Through such analyses,
livelihood options are studied, proposed and promulgated among aid
providers and disaster management practitioners. Awareness generation
and training of volunteers is attempted along with strengthening local self-
governing institutions with a view to establishing participatory democracy
at the grass roots.
The developmental relief approach underlines the need of undertaking
disaster relief as part of long term development. The aim is to invest in aid
with a view to building longterm resilience instead of stopping at short-
term measures. Hence, relief has to be sustained over time and be part of a
planned capacity building approach.
Besides disaster management, the other major paradigms are the
vulnerability reduction approach and the risk reduction approach, which is
the latest development. The vulnerability reduction approach is a
comparatively new approach. The vulnerability of a community is
characterised by its susceptibility to risks posed by hazards, and its
resilience in the face of it. Appropriate solutions are devised using a
cocktail of approaches, scientific; social is applied to address all facets of a
problem. Vulnerability reduction epitomises the very concept of risk
reduction in that it seeks to anticipate and prevent damage from hazards
through ‘developmental measures’ taken over time, rather than allow
disasters to happen to inspire policy in this regard. Vulnerability is
physical, social, economic, cultural and attitudinal.
As per Guzman, there is need for an integrating framework encompassing
all the above –stated approaches, in the form of a Total Disaster Risk
Management or the TDRM approach which is based on detailed risk
analysis and ‘factors’ the same in public policy. The question that has
persisted however is how desired integration can be achieved. Following
the inadequacy of any of the above approaches in achieving satisfactory
disaster preparedness, the Risk Reduction Framework has been articulated
by the United Nations.
Risk Reduction provides an identified ‘objective’, which makes targeted
risk preparedness/ planning for mitigation possible. Earlier this concrete
end had been lacking. Hence, all the activities mentioned above as different
approaches can now be geared towards, the end objective of ‘Risk
Reduction.’ Application of Information Technology in Disaster Risk
Reduction: Information technology (IT) has revolutionised
communication, bringing within the ambit of connectivity, remote and far
flung areas and the illiterate marginalised masses, realised true
democracy and enhanced awareness of rights among people and duties
among official agencies and the lay public. Knowledge is power; hence
‘empowerment’ is the chief contribution/result of the information
communication revolution partaking in the developing world currently.
Specific applications and benefits of IT are discussed thus by N. Vinod
Chandra Menon (2003).
(1) Decision Support and Public Awareness: The World Wide Web
and the Internet have opened up possibilities of department specific
web sites, which provide information in specialised branches of
disaster management. Some of these web sites are accessible to
people which disseminate valuable information for interest
articulation and academic deliberation in the area. There are
specialised web sites on natural hazards such as earthquakes and
cyclones that provide comprehensive information regarding
specific natural hazards. Such web sites also form ‘knowledge bases’
in that a web site on earthquakes would present all information on
the hazard and ways to deal with it. These form important decision
support tools (DCS) that facilitate knowledge transfer during critical
times.
(2) Information Sharing: The Information Communication Revolution
has made possible the setting up of local area and wide area
networks known as INTRANETS and EXTRANETS that link up
institutions over distant regions and facilitate information sharing
on a global basis. The integration of information technology (IT)
with telecommunication interfaces has made possible facilities like
video teleconferencing which provide for direct interface between
aid givers and official agencies at the emergency site, rendering
relief and rescue
 process highly efficient, besides providing for ‘knowledge
networking’ across institutions, especially research institutions
during ‘peace times’.
Another significant development has been the Geographical
Information System (GIS), by which detailed spatial analysis of ‘at
risk’ area is accomplished through satellite imagery.
Comprehensive information is collected about the area which is
displayed graphically, on a map, highlighting critical facilities and
communities at risk, available communication infrastructure etc.
which guides immediate disaster response in the short run, and
over the long run, facilitates risk mapping, risk assessment,
dissemination of information, public awareness etc. which aid long
term policy planning for disaster mitigation. The GIS has greatly
facilitated response effort as strategies can be devised on the basis
of scientific simulation studies and scenario analysis using
information made available through remote sensing. The Indian
Meteorological Department (IMD) has commissioned a satellite
based communication system called Cyclone Warning
Dissemination System for dissemination of cyclone warning in
coastal areas.
(3) Policy Planning: Information Technology has greatly aided
planning for disaster response and preparedness. Information
technology has made policy for disaster risk reduction more fact
based and less judgemental /‘a priori’. Even generally, policy
making for traffic, transport, forest conservation, urban congestion
etc is facilitated by spatial imagery through remote sensing.

B) International Cooperation for disaster medical management.

International Cooperation for Disaster Risk Reduction Japan has

accumulated a great deal of experience and knowledge concerning disasters,
along with numerous policies on disaster risk reduction. By sharing these
with other countries, it is driving global discussions in the field of disaster
risk reduction and contributing to initiatives in this field in countries
worldwide. In particular, the international communities expect Japan to play
a leading role in the implementation of the Sendai Framework for Disaster
Risk Reduction 2015-2030 (SFDRR), which was concluded at the Third UN
World Conference on Disaster Risk Reduction, hosted by Japan in Sendai City
in March 2015. Accordingly, the Cabinet Office is proactively promoting
cooperation in disaster risk reduction through the UN and other
international organizations, as well as bilateral disaster risk reduction
cooperation. 4-1 Disaster Risk Reduction Cooperation through the UN and
Other International Organizations (1) Disaster Risk Reduction Cooperation
through the United Nations Office for Disaster Risk Reduction (UNDRR) The
United Nations Office for Disaster Risk Reduction (UNDRR) is undertaking
intensive activities focused on the following three strategic objectives, to
promote the SFDRR. Strategic objective 1: Strengthen global monitoring,
analysis and coordination of Sendai Framework implementation Strategic
objective 2: Support to regional and national Sendai Framework
implementation Strategic objective 3: Catalyze action through Member
States and Partners As well as playing a leading role in the activities of
UNDRR, Japan provides financial support for those activities, contributing a
total of approximately $5.12 million (approximately ¥563.37 million)
through the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Cabinet Office in FY2018. The
establishment of an Open-Ended Intergovernmental Expert Working Group
(OEIWG) to formulate indicators to measure progress toward the global
targets and relevant terminology was approved by the UN General Assembly
in June 2015 and the OEIWG began its deliberations that September. In this
process, Japan made a substantial contribution to the OEIWG’s discussions,
conducting a prior survey to ascertain whether countries held any data
concerning indicators that were tabled for consideration. As a result of these
deliberations, the Recommendations of the Open-ended Intergovernmental
Expert Working Group on Global Indicators for the Global Targets of the
Sendai Framework for Disaster Risk Reduction 2015-2030 and on the
Follow-up to and Operationalization of the Indicators were adopted at the
UN General Assembly in February 2017. Accordingly, various countries have
submitted their indicators to date. The UNISDR plans to conduct follow-ups
on these indicators. Ms. MIZUTORI Mami, Special Representative of the UN
Secretary-General (SRSG) for Disaster Risk Reduction , visited the Cabinet
Office on May 17, 2018 and had a discussion with H.E. Mr. OKONOGI, then
Minister of State for Disaster Management. The SRSG expressed her
gratitude to Japan for its international contribution and leadership in
disaster risk management and established a shared understanding of closer
collaboration between the Government of Japan (Cabinet Office) and UNDRR
in promoting the SFDRR. (2) 8th Asia Ministerial Conference on Disaster
Risk Reduction (AMCDRR) The 8th Asia Ministerial Conference on Disaster
Risk Reduction (AMCDRR) hosted by the Mongolian government and the
UNDRR was held in Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia from July 3 to 5, 2018. Once in
every two years since 2005, Ministers in charge of disaster risk reduction
from Asia gather to report the progress of each 111 country’s initiatives
under the Hyogo and Sendai Frameworks, exchange opinions on measures
to promote such initiatives, share the results and challenges of DRR efforts,
and discuss preparedness measures for disasters that may occur in the
future. The 8th Conference was attended by approximately 3,000 people
from about 50 countries and regions. From Japan, H.E. Mr. AKAMA, State
Minister of Cabinet Office, attended the Conference and delivered a speech in
the Ministerial Session, in which he expressed Japan’s support for the Sendai
Framework and presented Japan’s efforts for implementing initiatives under
the Sendai Framework. He also chaired the Technical Session regarding
“disaster governance” to enhance DRR management measures. H.E. Mr.
AKAMA, State Minister of Cabinet Office, giving a speech in the Ministerial
Session (3) International Recovery Platform (IRP) The Hyogo Framework
for Action was adopted in 2005 at the Second UN World Conference on
Disaster Risk Reduction, which was held in the city of Kobe, Hyogo
Prefecture. In response to this, the IRP was established in the Kobe city the
same year, to enhance networks and frameworks for supporting smoother
post-disaster reconstruction, disseminate lessons concerning reconstruction
and develop common techniques and mechanisms to facilitate
reconstruction and provide advice and support to those formulating
reconstruction plans and visions following a disaster. The IRP’s activities
include holding the International Recovery Forum, preparing guidance notes
on recovery and organizing workshops for human resource development.
The SFDRR advocates that the IRP should be enhanced, as an international
mechanism for promoting the “Build Back Better” approach, which is
positioned in the SFDRR as the fourth priority area for action. The
Government of Japan (Cabinet Office) supports the activities of the IRP, as
well as contributing to enhancing the infrastructure for its development, as
Co-Chair of the IRP Steering Committee. The International Recovery Forum
in FY2018 was held in Kobe on January 18, 2019 focusing on the theme
“Attaining the Build Back Better Dividend.” It was attended by 168 people
from 32 countries, including the Deputy Director General for Disaster
Management of Cabinet Office, Mr. KANAZAWA Kazuo, Vice Governor of
Hyogo Prefecture, and Mr. HAYASHI Haruo, President of the National
Research Institute for Earth Science and Disaster Resilience (NIED). At the
forum, the participants shared case studies of recovery from past disasters
and the lessons learned, and discussed strategies to extend the benefits of
“Build Back Better.” 112 The International Recovery Forum (4) Asia-Pacific
Economic Cooperation (APEC) Senior Disaster Management Officials Forum
The 12th Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) Senior Disaster
Management Officials Forum (SDMOF) was held in Papua New Guinea
(Kokopo) on September 25-26, 2018. The Chairman of the Asian Disaster
Reduction Center (ADRC) attended the forum from Japan and presented
recent Japanese initiatives for the development of an early warning platform
in the session about warning communication, using the quasi-zenith satellite
technology. (5) Disaster Risk Reduction Cooperation through the Activities
of the Asian Disaster Reduction Center (ARRC) The Asian Disaster Reduction
Center (ADRC) was established in Kobe City, Hyogo Prefecture in July 1998
to share the lessons of the Great Hanshin-Awaji Earthquake in January 1995
and other disasters in Japan with the rest of Asia. FY2018 marked its 20th
anniversary. With Turkey joining in October 2018, the number of members
became 31 (Fig. 4-1-1). The ADRC’s activities center on four key areas:
sharing information about disasters, human resource development in
member countries, improving the disaster resilience of communities and
promoting partnerships with member countries, international
organizations, local organizations and NGOs. It also hosts visiting
researchers from member countries each year: as of March 2019, the ADRC
had hosted a total of 111 such researchers, thereby helping to foster
personnel who contribute to policymaking in the field of disaster risk
reduction in member countries. The ADRC also gathers information about
disaster risk management systems and the latest disasters in each country
and publishes this on its website, as well as providing information obtained
from satellite observation of the extent of the damage when a disaster
occurs. Reference: https://www.adrc.asia/ 113 The ADRC convenes the
Asian Conference on Disaster Reduction (ACDR) jointly by the Cabinet Office
every year and invited persons in charge of disaster risk management from
member countries and international organizations to share information on
disaster risk management and mitigation, exchange opinions and strengthen
collaboration in Asia, which is prone to frequent disasters. Celebrating the
20th anniversary of the ADRC, the 14th round of the ACDR was held on
Awaji Island, Hyogo Prefecture from October 30 to November 1, 2018, based
on the themes of “cross-border collaboration to tackle disasters” and
“enhancement of a global disaster database.” More than 110 people attended
the conference from member countries (25 out of 31 countries) and
international organizations such as the ASEAN Coordinating Centre for
Humanitarian Assistance on Disaster Management (AHA Centre) and JICA.
Disaster management representatives shared information on strategies and
systems for reducing the disaster risk in individual countries as well as the
progress of initiatives concerning SFDRR. Asian Conference on Disaster
Reduction 4-2 Bilateral Disaster Risk Reduction Cooperation Alongside the
initiatives through international organization, the Cabinet Office also
strengthened its Fig. 4-1-1 Asian Disaster Reduction Center member
countries and advisory countries Source: Asian Disaster Reduction Center
114 collaboration with disaster management agencies in the governments of
various countries by sharing experiences of disaster management policies
through various opportunities such as visits from ministerial level personnel
overseeing disaster management from abroad. (1) Partnership between the
Cabinet Office and the U.S. Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA)
The Cabinet Office enters into an action plan every year based on the
Memorandum of Cooperation (MOC) concluded with the U.S. Federal
Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) in December 2014 for sharing
information in mutual interaction and international meetings. In FY2018,
the Cabinet Office visited the U.S. to see a drill held in May, conducted an
investigation on areas affected by Hurricane Harvey, and held a Japan-U.S.
Video Conference on Cooperation in Disaster Risk Reduction in December
2018. (2) Partnership between the Cabinet Office and the Ministry of Home
Affairs in India In September 2017, the Cabinet Office concluded an MOC
with the Ministry of Home Affairs in India, aiming to develop and extend
bilateral cooperation and relationships in disaster risk management. Based
on this MOC, the Cabinet Office and the Indian Ministry of Home Affairs
jointly held the 2nd Japan-India Conference on Cooperation for Disaster Risk
Reduction in Tokyo on October 15, 2018. At the Conference which was
attended by about 70 people including H.E. Mr. YAMAMOTO, Minister of
State for Disaster Management, H.E. Mr. P. K. Mishra, Additional Principal
Secretary to the Prime Minister of India, officers from government agencies,
experts and private companies in both countries, effortsfor strengthening
bilateral cooperation were discussed in the sessions concerning disaster
preparedness drills, flood measures, and the early warning system
technology. On March 18, 2019, the 3rd Japan-India Conference on
Cooperation in Disaster Risk Reduction was held in New Delhi, the capital
city of India. Japan led by the Vice-Minister for Policy Coordination and India
led by H.E. Mr. P. K. Mishra, Additional Principal Secretary to the Prime
Minister of India, discussed mutual exchange among research institutions
including the National Research Institute for Earth Science and Disaster
Resilience (NIED) and the International Centre for Water Hazard and Risk
Management under the auspices of UNESCO (ICHARM), cities including
Nagoya and Kumamoto Cities, and twenty private companies including the
members of the Japan Bosai Platform (JBP). 2nd Japan-India Conference on
Cooperation in Disaster Risk Reduction (3) Partnership between the Cabinet
Office and the Disaster and Emergency Management Presidency of Turkey
(AFAD) Through the Japan-Turkey Summit in September 2017 and the visit
to Japan by H.E. Mr. Akdag, Deputy Prime Minister of the Republic of Turkey
in April 2018, the two countries agreed to promote cooperation in disaster
management. In October 2018, Turkey joined the ADRC as its 31st member.
115 H.E. Mr. OKONOGI, Minister of State for Disaster Management, and H.E.
Mr. Akdag, Deputy Prime Minister of the Republic of Turkey (4) DRR
Exchange with Chile and Peru From February 27 to March 1, 2018, the
Japan-Peru Public-Private Disaster Risk Reduction Seminar and the Japan-
Chile Public-Private Disaster Risk Reduction Seminar were held in Peru
(APEC Chair in 2017) and in Chile (APEC Chair in 2019), respectively. From
Japan, the representatives of the Cabinet Office, Senior Research Fellow at
Tohoku University, and Japanese private companies (25 companies in Peru,
and 18 companies in Chile) attended the seminars. The bilateral public-
private exchange was promoted through sessions in which the participants
shared Japan’s DRR policies, BCPs, and DRR technologies and know-how of
Japanese companies. Bilateral meetings were also held with Mr. Carranza,
General Secretary of the National Institute of Civil Defense (INDECI), and Mr.
TORO, National Director of the Oficina Nacional de Emergencia del
Ministerio del Interior (ONEMI), to exchange opinions on bilateral
cooperation in disaster risk management. (5) DRR Exchange with the
Western Balkans In the Western Balkans Cooperation Initiative announced
by Prime Minister ABE in January 2018, DRR is defined as the core of
cooperation between Japan and the Western Balkans. In February 2019, the
JapanWestern Balkans Conference on Cooperation in Disaster Risk
Reduction was held in Sofia, the capital of the Republic of Bulgaria. The
Conference was attended by the Republic of Bulgaria, the Republic of Serbia,
Montenegro, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Republic of Kosovo, Republic of North
Macedonia, and Republic of Albania. The discussion was focused on flood
disasters, which happen especially frequently in the Western Balkans. 4-3
Development of the Overseas Expansion Strategy in Disaster Risk
Management In the 40th Meeting on the Infrastructure Export and Economic
Cooperation Strategy (chaired by H.E. Mr. SUGA, Chief Cabinet Secretary)
held in the Prime Minister’s Official Residence on December 17, 2018, the
members discussed the strategy and direction of overseas expansion in
disaster risk management. The strategy was developed based on the
Infrastructure System Export Strategy (revised in FY2018). The government
ministries will collaborate with each other in promoting initiatives to ensure
that Japan’s technologies and know-how on infrastructure planning,
development, and renovation and mitigation will be well-understood and
utilized across the globe for disaster prevention and mitigation. 116 Column:
USNS Mercy Visits the Port of Tokyo In June 2018, the Cabinet Office invited
hospital ship USNS Mercy, which conducts humanitarian assistance and
disaster relief (HA/DR) operations, to make a call at the Port of Tokyo.
During the port call, various events were held, including a ship tour, bilateral
HA/DR exercises for medical transportation, and a seminar and a
symposium for people involved in disaster medicine and disaster
management, in order to make opportunities for a wide range of people to
learn from the response capability of Mercy against large-scale disasters and
widely disseminate information to Japanese citizens. About 5,000 people
applied for the ship tour on June 16, of which about 400 were able to join the
tour. On the following day, bilateral HA/DR exercises for medical
transportation and a seminar were held on Mercy, which were attended by
about 100 Japanese people working in the fields of disaster medicine and
disaster management. The exercises included the transportation of patients
by the Japan Maritime Self-Defense Force (JMSDF) helicopters and Japanese
medical team to Mercy, as well as demonstrations by medical staff on Mercy.
Then, the Japanese participants and Mercy staff exchanged their opinions.
These events were great opportunities to learn Mercy’s capability to
respond to injured persons in large-scale disasters. On June 19, a
commemorative symposium was held with Japanese and U.S. participants. In
this symposium, the results of the foregoing seminar on the 17th were
presented to the public and discussion was held to gain insights into disaster
medicine for large-scale disasters in Japan. The above seminar and
symposium were a great learning experience for Japanese participants
working in the disaster medicine and disaster management as they could
directly see the scale of Mercy as a hospital, the rich medical human
resources, the patient transportation process, the clearly defined instruction
order structure for ship operation and medical activities, the relief supplies
procurement process, and other various know-how specific to hospital
 ships. USNS Mercy calling at the Port of Tokyo Bilateral disaster medical
transportation exercise On-board surgical operation Commemorat.

Q.3 Write short notes on the following

A) Disaster Preparedness

Disaster preparedness

Preparing for disasters saves countless lives, speeds up people’s recovery and
saves money. The IFRC supports National Societies to continually improve
their local preparedness and response capacity—ultimately preventing and
reducing the impacts of disasters on communities.

The need to prepare for a world of unexpected shocks has become clearer
than ever. Epidemics, floods, storms, droughts and wildfires are all expected
to become more frequent and severe, affecting hundreds of millions of people
every year.

Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies around the world, supported by the
IFRC, are working to improve their preparedness for disasters. This includes:

• Coordinating with national authorities and partners to know what

risks and hazards to prepare for

• Training and equipping millions of volunteers as first responders to

a wide range of hazards

• Researching new technologies to improve their response

• Working with communities to understand the needs of those most at

risk

• Setting up early warning systems so communities can take early

action before a disaster hits

Disaster preparedness isn’t just the right thing to do, it’s the smart thing to do.
We must step up action and investment in preparedness now, rather than
waiting for the next disaster to hit.

Scroll down to learn how we support National Society preparedness.

Preparedness for Effective Response (PER)

Preparedness for Effective Response (PER) is our cyclical approach designed

to help us analyze capacities, strengths and weaknesses within a National
Society’s response system. It is based on decades of collective experience in
preparedness and disaster response across our global network.

Our vision is that all National Societies continually improve their ability to
respond to disasters in a way that is timely, appropriate, well-coordinated,
relevant and effective.

The PER approach is made up of five phases:

1. Orientation: We explain the approach to a National Society and

discuss which internal and external risks and hazards they want to
prioritize.

2. Assessment: We assess a National Society’s current response system

to identify areas for improvement. This can be done through self-
assessment, disaster simulations or reviews during or following an
operation.

3. Prioritization and analysis: The National Society then narrows

down which areas of its work it wants to focus on and conducts in-
depth analysis to identify the barriers they need to overcome.

4. Workplan: Based on this analysis, we help the National Society

develop a road-map to increase its response capacity. This includes
outcomes, outputs, activities, timelines, targets and a clear
accountability framework.

5. Action and accountability: The National Society puts their

workplan into action, continually monitoring and reporting on their
progress in the long-term.

B)
DISASTER MITIGATION.

DISASTER MITIGATION
 Disaster Mitigation is the cornerstone of emergency management. It’s
the ongoing effort to lessen the impact disasters have on people and property.
Mitigation involves keeping homes away from floodplains, engineering
bridges to withstand earthquakes, creating and enforcing effective building
codes to protect property from hurricanes, and more.

Mitigation is defined as “sustained action that reduces or eliminates long-

term risk to people and property from natural hazards and their effects.” It
describes the ongoing effort at the federal, state, local and individual levels to
lessen the impact of disasters upon our families, homes, communities and
economy.

HOW DISASTER MITIGATION CAN HELP YOU

Through the application of mitigation technologies and practices, our society
can ensure that fewer Americans and their communities become victims of
natural disasters. For example, mitigation measures can be applied to
strengthen your home, so that your family and belongings are better
protected from floods, earthquakes, hurricanes, and other natural hazards.
They can be utilized to help business and industry to avoid damage to their
facilities and remain operational in the face of catastrophe. Mitigation
technologies can be used to strengthen hospitals, fire stations, and other
critical service facilities so that they can remain operational or reopen more
quickly after an event. In addition, mitigation measures can help reduce
disaster losses and suffering so that there is less demand for money and
resources in the aftermath.

In practice, mitigation can take many forms. It can involve actions such as:
• Promoting sound land use planning based on known hazards
• Buying flood insurance to protect your belongings
• Relocating or elevating structures out of the floodplains
• Securing shelves and water heaters to nearby walls.
• Having hurricane straps installed to more securely attach a structure’s roof to
its walls and foundation.
• Developing, adopting, and enforcing effective building codes and standards
• Engineering roads and bridges to withstand earthquakes
• Using fire-retardant materials in new construction
• Developing and implementing a plan in your business or community to
reduce your susceptibility to hazards

Q NO 7)Give a detailed account on the types and categories of disasters

Disasters are serious disruptions to the functioning of a community that

 exceed its capacity to cope using its own resources. Disasters can be caused
by natural, man-made and technological hazards, as well as various factors
that influence the exposure and vulnerability of a community.
A disaster is a serious problem occurring over a short or long period of time
that causes widespread human, material, economic or environmental loss
which exceeds the ability of the affected community or society to cope using
its own resources.[1][2] Developing countries suffer the greatest costs when a
disaster hits – more than 95% of all deaths caused by hazards occur in
developing countries, and losses due to natural hazards are 20 times greater
(as a percentage of GDP) in developing countries than in industrialized
countries.[3][4] No matter what society disasters occur in, they tend to induce
change in government and social life. They may even alter the course of
history by broadly affecting entire populations and exposing
mismanagement or corruption regardless of how tightly information is
controlled in a society.
The word disaster is derived from Middle French désastre and that from Old
Italian disastro, which in turn comes from the Ancient Greek pejorative prefix
δυσ-, (dus-) "bad"] and ἀστήρ (aster), "star". The root of the
word disaster ("bad star" in Greek) comes from an astrological sense of a
calamity blamed on the position of planets

Classification

Disasters are routinely divided into natural or human-made,[8] although

complex disasters, where there is no single root cause, are more common
in developing countries. A specific disaster may spawn a secondary disaster
that increases the impact. A classic example is an earthquake that causes
a tsunami, resulting in coastal flooding. Some manufactured disasters have
been ascribed to nature.
Some researchers also differentiate between recurring events such as
seasonal flooding, and those considered unpredictable.
Natural disasters

Haiti earthquake damage

Driving through flash flood
A natural disaster is a natural process or phenomenon that may cause loss of
life, injury or other health impacts, property damage, loss of livelihoods and
services, social and economic disruption, or environmental damage.
Various phenomena like earthquakes, landslides, volcanic
eruptions, floods, hurricanes, tornadoes, blizzards, tsunamis, cyclones, wildfir
es, and pandemics are all natural hazards that kill thousands of people and
destroy billions of dollars of habitat and property each year.[10] However, the
rapid growth of the world's population and its increased concentration often
in hazardous environments has escalated both the frequency and severity of
disasters. With the tropical climate and unstable landforms, coupled with
deforestation, unplanned growth proliferation, non-engineered constructions
make the disaster-prone areas more vulnerable. Developing countries suffer
more or less chronically from natural disasters due to ineffective
communication combined with insufficient budgetary allocation for disaster
prevention and management.
Artificial disasters and hazards
Airplane crashes and terrorist attacks are examples of man-made disasters: they cause
pollution, kill people, and damage property. This example is of the September 11
attacks in 2001 at the World Trade Center in New York City.

Human-instigated disasters are the consequence of technological or human

hazards. Examples include war, social unrest, stampedes, fires, transport
accidents, industrial accidents, conflicts, oil spills, terrorist attacks, nuclear
explosions/nuclear radiation.
Other types of induced disasters include the more cosmic scenarios of
catastrophic climate change, nuclear war, and bioterrorism.
One opinion argues that all disasters can be seen as human-made, due to
human failure to introduce appropriate emergency management measures.
Famines may be caused locally by drought, flood, fire, or pestilence, but in
modern times there is plenty of food globally, and sustained localized
shortages are generally due to government mismanagement, violent conflict,
or an economic system that does not distribute food where needed.
Earthquakes are mainly hazardous because of human-created buildings and
dams; avoiding earthquake-generated tsunamis and landslides is largely a
matter of location.