Statisticians gave data about India that made India to regularly experience the onslaught of natural disasters:
• Over 59% land area is vulnerable to earthquake
• Over 70% of land under cultivation is prone to drought.
• 5% of land (40 million hectares) prone to floods.
• 8% of land > (8,000 km coastline) prone to cyclones
• A major disaster occurs every 2-3 years
• 2% GDP was lost during 1996-2001 due to natural hazard-induced disasters.
• 1/3rd income of the rural population is lost due to disasters.
All these points indicate India need to well prepare so that Government of India can help to avert the consequences of natural disasters.
Indian Government needs to have careful planning that can avert such a huge death toll. There is need to adopt hi-tech approaches as well as experimental, low-tech methods of reducing risk from disasters, have proved effective the world over such as:
1) Train people to move to safe place at the time of any calamity.
2) Encourage people to build smart houses and buildings to withstand natural disasters.
3) Inform people via social media that they must be ready with the following things:
• Identity proof
• Important papers (Bank document, property papers, and certificates)
• Cash
• Clothes
• First Aid Box
• Radio
• Torch & Cells
• Candles & Matchsticks
• Other important things which they think are important must be packed in one bag that they can easily carry while any disaster.
4) Government must introduce cell phones and SMS-based technologies that can employed at each district level. People can register their number with weather forecasts department where they can have real time information on Tsunami, earthquakes or cyclones.
5) Government of India can take initiative like Bangladesh Government such as placement of volunteers. They are trained to take care of a specified group of people whom they have to rush to the nearest cyclone shelter, as soon as they receive a warning by government authorities.
6) There must be special classes for students to be alert at the early sign of disaster. Like in Vietnam where special swimming sessions are taken by the swimming teacher to prepare students for the training to deal with a hazard that they were all exposed to.
7) Hospital must have enough doctors and infrastructure to deal with victims of natural disasters.
8) There is a need of proper coordination of the various entities like government, NGO’s, voluntary and private organizations at the time of disaster.
None of above points suggests that our government has done nothing to protect its citizens from disasters. It had played a role in rehabilitating victims of disaster prone areas by providing finances and rebuilding their houses and other buildings.
Indian Government played a major role in setting up the regional Tsunami and cyclone early warning system to establishing a National Disaster Management Authority. It had reduced the death toll from 5,00,000 in one cyclone in 1974 before the network was in place, to 193 deaths in 1997 when a storm of the same magnitude hit the same region. In recent HudHud cyclone also Nearly 4 lacks people have been evacuated from the coastal districts in the two states.
Prime Minister, Narendra Modi declared that meteorological department had correctly forecast from October 6 itself the different aspects of the cyclone like its velocity, direction, and time, leveraging the power of technology.
In nutshell, much has been done by Indian Government but still much has been still left to be done by them. Our Government has to take major steps to keep pace with the latest is being done in the world following the disaster cycle given below: i.e. from preparedness, mitigation, preparedness for disaster, immediate relief plans to reconstruction and rehabilitation after disaster had taken place.
• Over 59% land area is vulnerable to earthquake
• Over 70% of land under cultivation is prone to drought.
• 5% of land (40 million hectares) prone to floods.
• 8% of land > (8,000 km coastline) prone to cyclones
• A major disaster occurs every 2-3 years
• 2% GDP was lost during 1996-2001 due to natural hazard-induced disasters.
• 1/3rd income of the rural population is lost due to disasters.
All these points indicate India need to well prepare so that Government of India can help to avert the consequences of natural disasters.
Indian Government needs to have careful planning that can avert such a huge death toll. There is need to adopt hi-tech approaches as well as experimental, low-tech methods of reducing risk from disasters, have proved effective the world over such as:
1) Train people to move to safe place at the time of any calamity.
2) Encourage people to build smart houses and buildings to withstand natural disasters.
3) Inform people via social media that they must be ready with the following things:
• Identity proof
• Important papers (Bank document, property papers, and certificates)
• Cash
• Clothes
• First Aid Box
• Radio
• Torch & Cells
• Candles & Matchsticks
• Other important things which they think are important must be packed in one bag that they can easily carry while any disaster.
4) Government must introduce cell phones and SMS-based technologies that can employed at each district level. People can register their number with weather forecasts department where they can have real time information on Tsunami, earthquakes or cyclones.
5) Government of India can take initiative like Bangladesh Government such as placement of volunteers. They are trained to take care of a specified group of people whom they have to rush to the nearest cyclone shelter, as soon as they receive a warning by government authorities.
6) There must be special classes for students to be alert at the early sign of disaster. Like in Vietnam where special swimming sessions are taken by the swimming teacher to prepare students for the training to deal with a hazard that they were all exposed to.
7) Hospital must have enough doctors and infrastructure to deal with victims of natural disasters.
8) There is a need of proper coordination of the various entities like government, NGO’s, voluntary and private organizations at the time of disaster.
None of above points suggests that our government has done nothing to protect its citizens from disasters. It had played a role in rehabilitating victims of disaster prone areas by providing finances and rebuilding their houses and other buildings.
Indian Government played a major role in setting up the regional Tsunami and cyclone early warning system to establishing a National Disaster Management Authority. It had reduced the death toll from 5,00,000 in one cyclone in 1974 before the network was in place, to 193 deaths in 1997 when a storm of the same magnitude hit the same region. In recent HudHud cyclone also Nearly 4 lacks people have been evacuated from the coastal districts in the two states.
Prime Minister, Narendra Modi declared that meteorological department had correctly forecast from October 6 itself the different aspects of the cyclone like its velocity, direction, and time, leveraging the power of technology.
In nutshell, much has been done by Indian Government but still much has been still left to be done by them. Our Government has to take major steps to keep pace with the latest is being done in the world following the disaster cycle given below: i.e. from preparedness, mitigation, preparedness for disaster, immediate relief plans to reconstruction and rehabilitation after disaster had taken place.
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