9.

Disaster Management

Disaster: A disaster is a sudden, calamitous event that seriously disrupts the functioning of a
community or society and causes human, material, and economic or environmental losses that
exceed the community’s or society’s ability to cope using its own resources. Though often
caused by nature, disasters can have human origins.
Disaster Management: It can be defined as the organization and management of resources and
responsibilities for dealing with all humanitarian aspects of emergencies, in particular
preparedness, response and recovery in order to lessen the impact of disasters. Disaster
management Is a systematic process of planning, organizing, and leading in order to effectively
manage the after-effects of a disaster. It aims to reduce the negative impact or consequences of
adverse events
Types of disasters:
Disasters can be classified as natural, human-made and human-induced.
i. Natural disasters: Earthquakes, Volcanoes, Floods, Cyclones.
ii. Human-made disasters: Nuclear leaks (Fukushima nuclear reactor leak), Chemical leaks /
spills, Terrorist activities, Structural collapse
iii. Human-induced disasters: Global Warming, Large scale deforestation, Large scale biological
warfare
Disaster management cycle: Disaster management is an enormous task. Disasters are not
confined to any particular location; neither do they disappear as quickly as they appear.
Therefore, it is essential that there is proper management to optimize efficiency of planning and
response. Due to limited resources, collaborative efforts at the governmental, private and
community levels are necessary.
A. Natural disasters:
1. Floods: Floods refer to huge amount of water reaching land in a short span of time, causing
land surface to be submerged under water – at places, where, land surface is usually not
covered with water. Floods could be caused due to natural causes, or, human activities, or, a
combination of both. Floods are caused by discharge of huge volume of water in a short span
of time, at a rate, such that the water cannot be carried away from the scene of discharge.
Some of the possible reasons for such huge discharge of water could be:
i. Very heavy rainfall (say: due to cyclones, typhoons etc.) in a short span of time. It should
be noted that the amount of rainfall itself is not a sufficient cause; the duration within
which the rainfall is receive is equally important contributor.
ii. Breach in levy, dams etc
iii. Very high tidal waves (sometimes in the aftermath of a seismic activity, e.g. earthquakes)
etc. – also called tsunamis.
Usually, flooding impacts a large area, wherein entire district or states might be flooded.
However, sometimes, flooding is very local, i.e. limited to just one city, or, parts of it. Most
often, the localized flooding is caused due to human activities, rather than natural phenomenon.
A natural phenomenon might seem like the immediate trigger, but, in reality, this is caused by
human activity.
Flood Prone Areas: The areas, which are prone to flood-risks, are:
i. Places, which have a history of flooding (most important).
ii. Area receiving heavy rainfall, with not much naturally sloping landscape.
 iii. Areas at the lower levels of naturally sloping landscape – where, the higher areas are
receiving heavy rainfall.
iv. Areas around sea-coasts, or, river banks.
v. Areas downstream of dams etc. As water level upstream of dams might rise, the dam
authorities might be forced to release water (to safeguard the dam) – which might
cause flooding of downstream areas.
vi. Areas on the other side of levies (in case, the levy gets breached)
vii. Low-lying areas (say: foot of an over bridge etc.)
Impacts of Floods: The most common kinds of loss that are caused during flooding include:
i. Lack of water: It’s an irony, those disasters which mean water everywhere, results in
lack of water to drink and sanitation. Lack of proper drinking water and sanitation
causes widespread outbreak of diseases.
ii. Lack of food: Most of the food items get damaged, causing a severe shortage of
food. This shortage could be for the food to be consumed in the near future, or, even
standing crops could be damaged, causing long-term food shortage.
iii. Lack of utilities: Utility services might have to be turned off, for the fear of
electrocution, as, there is water everywhere.
iv. Loss of lives and property: The flood destroys human settlements causing
innumerous loss of lives.
v. Drowning: People, livestock, goods etc. might get drowned.
vi. Snakes and other creatures: Some of the dangerous creatures which usually stay
underground would be forced to come up, as their natural habitat becomes unlivable.
These could prove dangerous to human beings and cattle.
vii. Submerging of vehicles and other equipments: Vehicles and other equipments
might get permanently damaged – as they remain submerged under water – for
prolonged duration.

Prevention of Flood: Sometimes, it might not be possible to prevent a flood, even if we know
that it’s about to get flooded. However, there are certain actions that can be taken to reduce the
impact significantly, or, to reduce the possibility of flooding:
i. Clean drainage system: This allows water to be carried down very fast. Choked
drains cause a significant reduction in the ability and speed of the water to be drained
away. In most situations of urban flooding – this is a major cause.
ii. Clean streets: As rain-water falls down the street, it rushes into the storm drains. if
the streets are not clean, the rain water trying to go into the drain – carries solid
wastes into the drain with itself, which then obstructs the flow of water by the
drainage system.
iii. Rain water harvesting system: If there are several rain-water harvesting systems,
the rainfall falling in that much area would try to go to the sub-soil of the region
locally, rather trying to go through the drainage system.
iv. Desilting: The drains should be desilted before the onset of the rainy season. This
prevents the drains from getting choked. And, it also inceases the holding capacity of
the drain, as, accumulated silt prevents that much more water from being accumulated
in the drains.
v. Inspection and repair of dams, levees, embankments etc: Before the onset of
seasons causing accumulation and/or carrying of heavy volume of water (such as
 rainy season), these structures should be thoroughly inspected for possible weak-
spots, and, these should be repaired.
vi. Afforestation: Forestation helps in binding the loose soil so, trees will prevent soil to
flow with the water, as, the roots of the trees will act as binding force. Another major
impact that afforestation provides is by reducing the impact of flowing water. As
water charges forward, its speed is reduced to some extent due to resistance offered
by trees.
vii. Storm drains: Local lowlands (say: foot of an overbridge) should have storm drains,
so that water does not get accumulated there. These drains should have some kind of
mesh covering, so that only water can flow in. Leaves and other solid debris should
not go in these drains.
viii. Local embankments around low-lying houses etc: Let’s say, for some reason, your
house is at a level lower than its vicinity (e.g. road-level). In such cases, you should
create a “local” embankment between the street/road and your property, so that water
cannot flow “down” from the street/road inside your house. This embankment might
be permanent – in the form of concrete structure.

2. Earthquake: Earthquakes refer to shaking of earth. There is continuous activity going on

below the surface of the earth. There are several large plates (size of continents) below the
surface of the earth, which move (at a very slow speed). As a part of this movement,
sometimes, they collide against each other. And, after the collision, they might still continue
to push each other. As they continually keep pushing each other, there is a pressure building
up – across these plates below the surface. And, then, at a certain time, one of the plates
might slide over another. This causes an earthquake.
Some earthquakes might be caused by activity above the surface. For example in a
mountainous region, there might be a heavy landslide. Due to a huge mass of land falling, at
the point of the fall, there could be a minor shaking of earth, due the impact of fall. However,
usually, such earthquakes are not very major.
Classifying an Earthquake:
The impact of an earthquake (at any location) is characterized by two primary characteristics:
i. Intensity: This measures the magnitude of the event. Higher is the value, the bigger is the
magnitude. The most common scale used for measuring an earthquake is Richter scale. It
should be understood that Richter scale is a logarithmic scale. What this means is an
earthquake measuring 6.0 is 10 times more powerful than an earthquake measuring 5.0
ii. Epicenter: This denotes the exact location, where the earthquake originated. The deeper it
is inside the earth, the lower will be the impact on the surface – where human beings
reside.
There are 100s of earthquakes taking place on a daily basis all around the world. However,
most of these earthquakes are really low-intensity, too-low to be noticed. However,
sometimes there are some earthquakes which are significantly intense.
Nature of Losses and Damages: Earthquakes typically impact a huge area, spanning whole
city, and many times, several cities. The impact due to this is that besides the instantaneous
damage to life and property at the time of the event, there is a long-drawn suffering. The
most common kinds of loss that are caused by an earthquake (depending on the severity) are:
i. Damage to structures: Causing partial or total collapse, damage to road and rail
network, damage to utility carriers etc.
 ii. Sea activity: Water level in the sea could rise suddenly, causing very high waves,
several meters in height, which could then flood the coastal areas. These could give
rise to tsunamis, causing damage to coastal areas.
iii. Landslide: As earth shakes, in mountainous regions, huge chunks of land could
fall/slide onto lower regions of the mountains. The landslide could also trigger
another set of minor earthquakes.
iv. Aftershocks: Earthquakes are also characterized by aftershocks. After any major
seismic activity below the earth, the new order might take a while to finally settle
down. These activities result in several more earthquakes. These are called,
“aftershocks”. Typically, “aftershocks” are much smaller in magnitude, however,
some times; one of the “aftershocks” could be more severe than the main earthquake.
Also, “aftershocks” could strike up to several days after the main event.
3. Cyclone and land-slides: These are winds of high-speed, many times accompanied by heavy
rainfall. These cause structural damage, snapped overhead wires, and, possibility of floods.
Because of damage to structure and overhead wires, utility services could be disrupted.
Heavy rainfall could cause flooding also. Many times, these could last for a few days. In such
cases, any restoration and relief activities cannot even start till these few days when the
activities start subsiding.
The only thing good about these kinds of natural disasters is that they can be predicted to a
reasonable degree - thanks to the advancement of metrological sciences. And, in most cases,
it’s possible to get a warning of up to several days. Usually, it is possible to take at least
some preventive measures - during these few days of warning.
The preventive measure would include:
i. Moving into places which are safer, e.g. buildings which are structurally sound, and,
are not prone to flooding.
ii. Not venturing out to sea etc for sports, fishing etc.
iii. However, in spite of these warnings, damage to property cannot be mitigated much,
as, immovable structures cannot be relocated. Another important thing about these
kinds of strong winds and rainfall is that they don’t appear totally at will. There are
well-defined geographical areas, which tend to see incidents of typhoons and
cyclones. This means that, people inhabiting these areas could take some fundamental
care, while, building homes etc. These are:
a. Sturdy home, with very strong foundation and structure.
b. Typically, most people build basements. These basements provide good shelter,
and, storage space for food and water to last for a few days for the entire
household.
iv. The people who suffer the most are poor people, because:
a. They don’t have the means to build very strong houses, and hence, these houses
get blown off/damaged.
 b. They don’t have the means to buy and store food and provisions for several days,
causing them to take risks of venturing out during heavy winds/rainfalls to make
some money.
v. In coastal areas of poor country, fishermen have been known to venture out to sea,
even during cyclones etc.
B. Human made disasters:
1. Nuclear accidents and holocaust: These days, nuclear technology is used in several
applications. Some of these include: medicinal, power and of-course military. Out of
these, nuclear energy based power is getting popular. In any case, because of growth in
applications, based on nuclear technology, there are several nuclear installations being
found at industrial scale. In general, nuclear installations are highly sophisticated, and,
have lots of control measures in place to prevent any major hazard. Still, it’s a fact, that
inspite of all these sophistications etc. accidents could still occur. The problem with
nuclear accidents is – though, less frequent (due to high degree of sophistication and
control measures), but, once an accident occurs, the impact is severe.
Besides, once in a while, smaller incidents of minor amounts of leaks get reported from
around the world.
You should be prepared for nuclear accidents/disasters, if you stay in an area, which has
some nuclear reactor/setup around it.The problem with accidents/leaks with nuclear
installation is that radioactive material might get discharged into the environment. This
radioactive material could then enter human bodies.
The primary ways for these radioactive materials to enter human-bodies is:
i. Through breathing of contaminated air.
ii. Through eating of contaminated food (including livestock animals – which might have
inhaled/eaten contaminated air/food) – including milk from a cow which has grazed on
contaminated grass.
iii. Through drinking of contaminated water.
iv. Through pores of skin etc – which might be in contact with contaminated air or water?
This is very small – small enough to be considered as negligible.

The nature of disaster might only change the sequence of events – that’s all. Hence, it is
important to have the following precautions/preparations done – if your neighborhood is
prone to any of the disasters. While preparing, remember, after a major disaster it might be at
least 3 to 5 days, before the first signs of relief is visible. All your preparations should be
done with this in mind. It’s not just important to survive the immediate disaster, but, you
need to be able to sustain yourself for next several days – all on your own – maybe, without
any utilities etc. First and foremost, remember, after a disaster, you might not have stores
open. Everything might be closed down. Hence, it’s important that you have all the life-
saving material with you – well in advance.
Disaster Management in India:
India’s Disaster Profile:
The Indian subcontinent is among the world’s most disaster prone areas. Almost 85% of
India’s area is vulnerable to one or multiple hazard. Of the 28 states and 7 union territories,
22 are disaster-prone. It is vulnerable to wind storms spawned in the Bay of Bengal and the
Arabian Sea, earthquakes caused by active crustal movement in the Himalayan mountains,
floods brought by monsoons, and droughts in the country’s arid and semi-arid areas.Almost
57% of the land is vulnerable to earthquake (high seismic zones lll-V), 68% to drought, 8%
to cyclones and 12% to floods. India has also become much more vulnerable to tsunamis
since the 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami.
Earthquakes:
Of the earthquake-prone areas, 12% is prone to very severe earthquakes, 18% to severe
earthquakes and 25% to damageable earthquakes. The biggest quakes occur in the Andaman
and Nicobar Islands, Kutch, Himachal and the North-East. The Himalayan regions are
particularly prone to earthquakes. The last two major earthquakes shook Gujarat in January
2001 and Jammu and Kashmir in October 2005. Many smaller-scale quakes occurred in other
parts of India in 2006. All 7 North East states of India – Assam, Arunachal Pradesh,
Nagaland, Manipur, Mizoram, Tripura and Meghalaya; Andaman & Nicobar Islands; and
parts of 6 other states in the North/North-West (Jammu and Kashmir, Uttaranchal, and Bihar)
and West (Gujarat), are in Seismic Zone V.
Floods:
About 30 million people are affected annually. Floods in the Indo-Gangetic-Brahmaputra
plains are an annual feature. On an average, a few hundred lives are lost, millions are
rendered homeless and several hectares of crops are damaged every year. Nearly 75% of the
total rainfall occurs over a short monsoon season (June – September). 40 million hectares, or
12% of Indian land, is considered prone to floods. Floods are a perennial phenomenon in at
least 5 states – Assam, Bihar, Orissa, Uttar Pradesh and West Bengal. On account of climate
change, floods have also occurred in recent years in areas that are normally not flood prone.
In 2006, drought prone parts of Rajasthan experienced floods.
Droughts:
About 50 million people are affected annually by drought. Of approximately 90 million
hectares of rain-fed areas, about 40 million hectares are prone to scanty or no rain. Rainfall is
poor in nine meteorological subdivisions out of 36 subdivision (each meteorological sub
division covers a geographic area of more than ten revenue districts in India).In India
annually 33% area receive rainfall less than 750 mm (low rainfall area) and 35 % area
receive between 750 to 1125 mm rainfall Medium rainfall) and only 32 percent falls in the
high rainfall (>1126 mm) zone.
Cyclones:
About 8% of the land is vulnerable to cyclones of which coastal areas experience two or
three tropical cyclones of varying intensity each year. Cyclonic activities on the east coast are
more severe than on the west coast.The Indian continent is considered to be the worst
cyclone-affected part of the world, as a result of low-depth ocean bed topography and coastal
configuration. The principal threats from a cyclone are in the form of gales and strong winds;
torrential rain and high tidal waves/storm surges.Most casualties are caused due to coastal
inundation by tidal waves and storm surges. Cyclones typically strike the East Coast of India,
along the Bay of Bengal, i.e. the states of West Bengal, Orissa, Andhra Pradesh and Tamil
Nadu, but also parts of Maharashtra and Gujarat at the Arabian Sea West Coast.
Landslides:
Landslides occur in the hilly regions such as the Himalayas, North-East India, the Nilgiris,
and Eastern and Western Ghats. Landslides in India are another recurrent phenomenon.
Landslide-prone areas largely correspond to earthquake-prone areas, i.e. North-west and
North-East, where the incidence of landslides