disaster management
insight
challenges in disaster management
N Vinod Chandra Menon
ccording to the
World Disaster Report
2010 published by
the International
Federation of Red
Cross and Red Crescent Societies
(IFRC), during the period 2000
to 2009, as many as 85 percent of
the people affected by disasters
belonged to the Asia Pacific region.
The Global Assessment Report 2011
published by the United Nations
International Strategy for Disaster
Reduction (UN ISDR) estimates
that more than 90 percent of the
global population exposed to floods
live in South Asian, East Asian and
the Pacific countries. Among the
disaster-prone countries in South
Asia, India and Bangladesh are
highly vulnerable due to the large
population exposed to disasters
in India and the geographical,
riverine and topographical features
of coastal areas of Bangladesh
vulnerable to floods and cyclones.
In India as many as 200 million
A
Good governance
and responsive
administration have
to be seen as nonnegotiable features
of a dynamic
process of effective
interface with the
communities at risk
from the devastating
impact of disasters
people are exposed to recurring
floods every year. The high disaster
risk and exposure of millions of
people in India living in vulnerable
areas prone to geological disasters,
hydro-meteorological disasters
and man-made and technological
disasters makes it imperative that
a national campaign on mission
mode is launched to strengthen
disaster preparedness, prevention
and mitigation efforts in India. The
Vulnerability Atlas prepared by the
Building Materials Technology
Promotion Council (BMTPC)
highlights that 58.6 percent of the
geographical area in India falls
within seismic zones III, IV and
V which could face earthquakes
of moderate to very high intensity.
12 percent of the geographical area,
covering more than 40 million
hectares, faces recurring floods,
changing course of rivers and
river erosion. Along the 7516
km coastline, about 5700 km
are vulnerable to storm surge,
The author is a former Member of the National Disaster Management Authority.
YOJANA March 2012
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