CULTURE OF PREPAREDNESS FOR DISASTER MANAGEMENT IN INDIA --- AN INITIATIVE BY NATIONAL DISASTER MANAGEMENT AUTHORITY

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1 CULTURE OF PREPAREDNESS FOR DISASTER MANAGEMENT IN INDIA --- AN INITIATIVE BY NATIONAL DISASTER MANAGEMENT AUTHORITY By Brig (Dr) BK Khanna, Senior Specialist, National Disaster Management Authority Government of India Introduction Disasters are not new to mankind. However, in recent times, owing to their increased frequency as well as the intensity, disaster management (DM) has attracted immense public interest at the national and international level. More than half the disasters in the world occur in Asia, making this region the world s most vulnerable area. Indian continent account for 24% of all disasters in Asia. 58.6% of India is prone to Earthquakes and 12% to river floods, affecting more than 1 million people every year km out of 7516 km of Indian coastline is prone to cyclones and tsunami and 3% of landmass is vulnerable to landslides. Snow avalanches are frequent and drought occur almost every alternate year. More than 80,000 people get killed in road accidents alone and India stands at number two position, after Iraq, in number of people who died due to terrorist related activities during There is no known disaster, natural or manmade, which is not taking place in India. Some of the reasons for increase in the frequency of natural disasters are population explosion, rapid and uncontrolled urbanization leading to mushrooming of not so well planned growth of cities, unplanned land use and global warming. Rapid industrialization and the menace of terrorism have also added new dimensions to man-made disasters. The poor

2 2 and marginalized sections of the society are the worst hit. Among those affected, pregnant and lactating women, children below 5 years, aged, sick and differently abled groups suffer the most. Global Trends Keeping in view the death and destruction wrought by devastating disasters, the decade of 1990s was observed, by the United Nations, as the International Decade for Natural Disaster Reduction. A number of initiatives were taken globally, prominent among them being the Kyoto Protocol, under which the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change has been ratified by 175 countries. Under this protocol, industrialized countries were to reduce the collective emissions of green-house gases by 52% compared to the base year The new millennium began with the launch of International Strategy for Disaster Reduction to build up disaster resilience in vulnerable areas. The Hyogo Framework for Action ( ) was adopted by 168 Governments at the World Conference on Disaster Reduction at Kobe, Japan in Jan India is one of the signatories to these declarations. Transition in India Government of India, in recognition of the importance of disaster management as a national priority, after the horrific experience of Latur earthquake in 1993 and the Orissa Super Cyclone in October 1999, had set up a High Powered Committee (HPC) in August 1999 and a National Committee on Disaster Management (DM) after the Bhuj Earthquake for making recommendations on the preparation of DM Plans and for expediting laying down the framework for disaster mitigation & management in India

3 3 Even while the recommendations of the HPC report were being analyzed by the Government, as an interim measure, the management of disasters was shifted from the Ministry of Agriculture to the Ministry of Home Affairs, pending finalization of an arrangement at the National level.. Indian Ocean Tsunami acted as the catalyst and the Government of India (GoI) took a defining step in the legislative history of the country by enacting DM Act Disaster Management (DM) Act 2005 The DM Act (2005) formalized the institutional framework for DM in India, at national, state, district and at the local levels. National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA) was constituted as the single window, apex body for DM, at the Centre, under the chairmanship of the Prime Minister. Similar arrangements came up at the State level under the Chief Minister. This enabling system was taken down to grass root level by having District Disaster Management Authority(DDMA) headed by the District Collector. The most notable feature is that the co-chairman of the DDMA is the elected representative of the Zila Parishad. This brings in the much required public interface at the cutting edge level. The fact that these authorities are headed by the Heads of the Government themselves indicate the national resolve to tackle this problem. The Act envisages a paradigm shift, from the erstwhile response-centric syndrome to a pro-active, holistic and integrated management of disasters with emphasis on prevention, preparedness and mitigation. These efforts are aimed at conserving developmental gains and also minimizing losses to lives, livelihood and property. The Act also created 10,000 strong eight battalions of the National Disaster Response Force (NDRF) as a specialized response and the National Institute of

4 4 Disaster Management (NIDM) for institutional capacity development. The NIDM works within the broad guidelines of the NDMA which ensures complete synergy at the national level. The entire DM arrangement is backed by institutional, financial and legal mechanism. These institutions are not parallel structures but complimentary and will work in harmony with existing organizations which ensures complete synergy at the national level. National Vision The national vision is to build a safer and disaster resilient India by developing a holistic, proactive, multi-disaster and technology driven strategy for DM. This will be achieved through a culture of prevention, mitigation and preparedness, to generate a prompt and efficient response at the time of disasters. The entire process will centre-stage the community and will be provided momentum and sustenance through the collective efforts of all government agencies and Non-Governmental Organizations (NGOs). National Disaster Management Strategy While formulating national DM strategy, NDMA took into consideration the contemporary imperatives, the lessons learnt from the past, the commendable work in management of disasters by the Armed Forces, the motivated and selfless role of the NGOs and volunteer organizations, the innate resilience of the communities to live with disasters, the significant role of the corporate sector in providing relief, the capacity of academic & scientific institutions in providing innovative & futuristic inputs and above all to take off from the good work already done in this field. The national strategy for DM is based on six pillars of prevention, mitigation,

5 5 preparedness and capacity development, awareness generation, rapid operationalization of NDRF and further strengthening of the NIDM. It was also decided to centre stage the community which bear the brunt of disasters as immediate responders. Necessity of making them aware of the various types of disasters they are vulnerable to, the elementary preparedness measures & training they must undertake, to provide themselves immediate succor and to save their own and their families lives before specialized response is activated, are the cornerstone of national DM strategy. Culture of Preparedness An Initiative by NDMA NDMA is mandated by DM Act 2005, to lay down national policy and plan on DM and issue guidelines for various types of natural & manmade disasters. One of the tasks also envisages monitoring and coordinating the implementation of the policies & plans. It is in this regard, an initiative has been taken by NDMA to conduct table top and mock exercises on various types of disasters, initially in the most vulnerable areas of the country. The aim of the initiative is to inculcate a culture of preparedness and secure effective participation of the community and other stakeholders. Some of the objectives for conduct of the mock exercises are, to highlight the roles and responsibilities and enhance the coordination among the stake-holders, identify gaps in the resources, communications & systems, identify areas for public-private partnership and empower the community to face disasters squarely. Mock exercises on natural and manmade disasters (except chemical industrial disasters) are conducted at district/s level. The chemical (industrial) disaster mock exercises are organized in most accident hazardous industries.

6 6 Four Step Mock Exercises The mock exercises are conducted in four steps. In Step one, during Orientation-cum-coordination conference, sensitization of the participants takes place. Need for conduct of the mock exercises, the aim, objectives and scope of the particular exercise, the exercise organizing committee, the participants, the nodal officers, detailment of independent observers and media coverage are delineated during this step. In Table Top exercise, initially the key stake-holders, like the Collector, Superintendent of Police, District Medical Officer, District Fire Officer and the Managing Directors of the short listed industries (in case of chemical industrial disasters) are requested to present their emergency response plans. In certain cases, State Disaster Management Secretary, Director General (DG) Fire & Emergency Services, State DG Police and DG Health Services also present their respective State DM plans. The worst case scenarios are thereafter painted in a bottom-up approach, from preparedness to rescue & relief and through injects, the responses of the concerned stake-holders are elicited. The roles and responsibilities of each stake-holder, in mitigating the disasters get clarified. The control & coordination of the disaster is managed through the concept of incident command system. Independent observers are detailed for each stake-holder department/organization, to report on the gaps and deficiencies. Observers are given a detailed format to report on. Safety officer is also nominated for avoiding mishaps/accidents during actual conduct of the mock exercise. In step three, the Observers are briefed on their roles. They are asked not to interfere in the functioning of the organization being observed. Thereafter, the mock exercise is conducted by mobilizing resources, according to developing situations, to derive certain

7 7 lessons. Additional resources from the State/Centre are released as per the demand and availability. During conduct of mock exercises on chemical disasters, both on site and off site plans are activated. Incident Command Post is established at district level for command and management of the disaster. Incident Commander and Emergency Support Functionaries (ESF) work in close coordination and synergy. Immediate response by the community for search and rescue is seen and the response time of the first responders get tested. Specialised response is activated. Medical response includes rescue, triaging, evacuation, hospital preparedness and creating surge capacity. The police response includes, cordoning, law & order, traffic control, directing the first responders to their assigned tasks, conducting the VIP visits and handing over the dead bodies to the relatives, after panchnama. The fire and emergency services activate their resources for fighting fires and for emergency situations. Other ESF play their roles according to the standard operating procedures given in the DM Plan. At the end of the Mock Exercise, detailed debriefing is carried out where the observers and heads of all participating organizations participate and give their observations and share experiences. Step four involves documentation. All the mock exercises are documented by filming them as also recording the lessons learnt for future references and for training purposes. The gaps identified during the mock exercise are evaluated at NDMA and sent to the Chief Minister/Chief Secretary/MDs of the concerned State/industries, for follow up action.

8 8 Participants in Mock Exercises The participants include departments and stake holders dealing with disasters at the State and district/s level, with emphasis on community participation in large numbers. The stake-holdedrs at State level include, Secretary Disaster Management, Secretary Health/DG Health, DG Police/IG (Law & Order), DG Fire & Emergency Services, Bomb Disposal Squad/s, Chief Inspector of Factories & Boilers & Pollution Control Board (for chemical industrial disasters), Armed Forces columns, NDRF teams and Para Military Forces. At district level they comprise of Revenue Deptt led by the Collector, police force headed by SP/SSP, Fire & Emergency Services, led by the District Fire Officer, Medical Services, headed by the District Medical Officer, NGOs, District Supply Officer, Municipal Corporation, District Public Relation Officer, Civil Defence, Home Guards, Red Cross, NCC, NYK,NSS, Resident Welfare Associations and PRIs. In chemical (industrial) disaster, the short-listed industries take part in full strength at operational, supervisory and management levels. In major exercises like in earthquake, cyclones the participation go upto 15,000 to 20,000 and in minor disasters like urban fires and chemical (industrial) disasters the participations ranges between 3,000 to 5,000. Types of Mock Exercises The mock exercises are conducted on natural and manmade disasters. The range includes earthquakes, floods, cyclones, landslides, urban fires, chemical (industrial), mass casuality management, terrorist attacks, bomb blasts, gas leaks etc.

9 9 Lessons Learnt Some of the major lessons learnt from more than 130 table top and mock exercises conducted so far, are given in succeeding paragraphs. Positive a) Overwhelming response from the community and first responders, including the district administration and State Governments. b) At some places where mock exercises were conducted, actual natural/man-made disasters took place coincidently thereafter, the response of the community/industry and first responders was comparatively quicker and professional and saved many a lives. c) The roles & responsibilities of the stake-holders became more clearer. They became more confident in carrying out their tasks. d) Command, control, communication & coordination aspects got streamlined through concept of incident command system (indianized). e) The concept of self reliance at individual, family & community level was inculcated. f) The specialized response of NDRF has been appreciated by the community and the district administration/state Govts. They have also helped in training the community & first responders in DM response during normal times. g) Post Mumbai terrorist attacks 26/11, even private and public organizations have been approaching for conduct of mock exercises. Lessons Learnt

10 10 a) The decision makers, viz politicians and senior bureaucrats have to be more sensitized to give due importance to the disaster risk mitigation & management aspects. b) The Fire & Emergency Services in the country are deficient of manpower upto 70% of their authorized strength & the equipment they are holding is vintage. They have to be provided with stateof-the art fire fighting and emergency response equipment. c) Police force is not fully prepared for DM tasks. There is shortage of manpower; they have vintage weapons and their vehicles do not have stretchers for immediate evacuation of casualties. The police communication network at certain places is also outdated and not reliable. d) Risk & vulnerability assessment of the district/industry against disasters have not been carried out professionally. e) First aid training has not been given to the community. f) Hospital preparedness is mostly inadequate and creation of surge capacity is not known to even medical fraternity. There is also shortage of ambulances. Most ambulances are used as load carriers and are not equipped with life saving emergency equipment. g) NGOs are not skilled in particular DM tasks. They can carry out mostly general tasks, like relief distribution, etc. h) Corporate sector is not as yet geared for corporate social responsibility (CSR)during mitigation phase and have so far been providing relief only after a disaster. They need to be sensitized for CSR during mitigation and preparedness phases of disaster.

11 11 i) While as MAH units carry out on site drills every six months regularly, the off site mock exercises are mostly eye wash as the district administration rarely takes part in such drills. The industrial units also have not got the risk & vulnerability of their establishments done professionally. Many a MAH units do not have wind-socks prominently displayed. The availability of personal protective equipment with the first responders is much below the required minimum. j) The early warning and alarm systems are required to be upgraded for timely responses by the first responders and the community. k) DM plans of the districts and industries need to be reviewed and updated. l) The community is the first responder but it is not interested in training itself. They need to be prepared and trained. m) Traditional practices are not given the due they deserve. Conclusion In conclusion, this initiative of the NDMA has elicited overwhelming and positive response from the States/Districts/MAH industries. The community has also started feeling involved. Post Mumbai attacks 26/11, there has been tremendous demand even from the private entrepreneurs for assisting them in preparedness and mitigation measures. India may, perhaps be the only country in the world, to have taken the initiative, to conduct so many mock exercises at national level, on so varied a disasters from earthquake to terrorist related

12 12 disasters, with utmost commitment, sincerity and social responsibility. Hopefully, in the next two to three years time, we may claim to be among the most prepared countries for managing all types of disasters