While India’s Disaster Response Mechanism (DRM) has evolved greatly over the years from a response-centric to a prevention-centric one, it still remains hugely passive in its execution. DRM continues to be viewed in India, largely as a state responsibility with a top-down approach. Greater collaboration amongst the govt and private sectors and involvement of the affected communities is a must if the extant DRM is to evolve into an effective and state of the world one. This article shares a few ideas on the theme of improving the DRM in India through a more collaborative and community-based model.
Evolution of Disaster Management in India
‘Disaster,’ has evolved from, ‘ill-starred, meaning a situation that was not within the scope of human intervention, to a full-fledged proactive and retroactive management system now, with effective scope for preparation, response, recovery, and mitigation. Across the globe, dedicated disaster management agencies, personnel, and funds have been created at international, national, state, district, and ground zero levels.
Disaster Management (DM) in a vast country like India with multi-disaster vulnerability would obviously be handicapped without specialized agencies and capacity building. To deal with situations that demand specialized response, the National Disaster Response Force (NDRF) was created by statutory provisions within the DM Act 2005. In 2008, the NDRF became a dedicated force for Disaster Response related duties, under the unified command of DG NDRF; with 12 NDRF battalions culled from the paramilitary forces as detailed in their website under the, “About us” section (http://www.ndrf.gov.in/). An unfortunate fallout of this was the building of a public perception amongst the average Indian that now all that needs to be done in response to a disaster situation would only be done by the NDRF and no one else needs to do anything more about it.
The institution of the NDMA via the Disaster Management Act 2005 resulted in the establishment of a multi-institutional mechanism towards a holistic and coordinated approach for DM in India. DRM moved from relief-centric mode to proactive prevention; they became mitigation and preparedness driven; aimed to conserve developmental gains and to reduce to a minimum, the loss of life, livelihood, and property (National Disaster Management Policy, 2009, p 1).
A Performance Audit of India’s Extant Disaster Response Mechanism
Between 1990-2000, various hazards were declared as a ‘disaster’, impacted 30 million people annually, and claimed the lives of 4344; the concomitant loss of private, community, and public assets has been monumental. (Disaster Management in India – A Status Report, 2004, p 3).
In examining India’s Disaster Response Mechanism (DRM), definite lessons emerge between the occurrence of disasters, their analysis, and the subsequent recommendations for the future. It’s a mixed bag of success and failure. While the Latur-Killari- Latur earthquake of 1993 was devastating, it later proved to be a watershed in seismological monitoring, leading to reinforcement of disaster mitigation and preparedness in earthquake-prone zones, (Narasimhan 2003, pp.4370-732). The 10,000 lives lost in the 1999 cyclone in Odisha led to systemic improvements which in turn, stimulated the massive evacuation efforts prior to cyclone Fani in 2019, including rigorous forecasts and massive disaster risk reduction campaigns, all of which significantly minimized the death toll as per the World Meteorological Website (https://public.wmo.int ). In contrast, very little seems to have changed on the ground post the 2013 Uttarakhand flash floods, (Agarwal, 2018, https://scroll.in/article/885292). Consequently, the 2021 floods in the same Eco-sensitive zones again caused loss of life and devastation, (Mashal and Kumar, 2021, https://www.nytimes.com).
While India’s DRM has evolved greatly over the years from a response-centric to a prevention-centric one, it still remains hugely passive in its execution. DRM continues to be viewed, largely as a state responsibility, best executed through a top-down approach. Greater collaboration amongst the govt and private sectors and involvement of the affected communities is a must if the extant DRM is to evolve into an effective and state of the world one.
Recommended Restructuring / Improvements of DRM in India
Having analyzed the efficacy of India’s DRM in the previous paragraphs, it’s now time to look ahead and suggest remedial measures towards its improvement. These measures may be in the form of either structural reorganization or process improvements or a combination of the two.
Accept the Possibilities of Disaster Occurrence
Between 2000 & 2019, the Emergency Events Database (EMDAT) maintained by the Centre for Research on the Epidemiology of Disasters (CRED) recorded 7,348 disasters globally which claimed approximately 1.2 million lives (79,732 were from India) and impacted over 4.03 billion people. Yet, globally and in India, governments and the general population still remain in deep denial about the possibility of hazards befalling them. The inherent lack of serious cognizance precludes earnest resolve to counter disasters through meticulous and comprehensive preparations (except in the aftermath). Planning ahead for disasters often encounters resistance, as Indians in general, are against prioritizing resources for DM. Yet, preplanning can dramatically change the death toll in natural disasters from 10,000 lives (Odisha cyclone, 1999) to 100 (Cyclone Fani,2019), as detailed in the previous section. Thus, to build an effective DRM, the reality that disasters can and will affect us has to be accepted by everyone. It is noteworthy, that during the present COVID-19 Pandemic, it was the severity of the second wave which convinced most Indians about the requirement of getting vaccinated and not the lessons that should have been learned from the first wave of outbreaks in other countries.
Pre-Planned & Modular Response Mechanism
The best DRM practices have a smaller reactive component and a larger proactive planning component (with inbuilt flexibility to cater to the inherent unpredictability of DM situations). Since disaster response situations simultaneously show wide divergence and convergence, the drills & methods of DRM may be divided into pre-planned models to fit varied locations & situations. The DRM resources may be clubbed into modular caches of DRM Bricks -each with its own essential materials/ equipment for utilization through a plug & play method tailored for individual situations. These DRM Bricks will be stocked at multiple locations all across India based upon the disaster profile of the locations. Certain basic essentials such as water and emergency medicines may be pre-stocked at multiple locations for faster access later. Formalized but flexible Response plans combined with advanced stocking of essential supplies and equipment have the potential to save lives, protect property, and reduce costs associated with disaster response. This fact was unfortunately brought home in the present pandemic, wrt the lack of oxygen, vaccinations, and ambulances as quantified by various authors (Haider & Krishnan 2021, Singh Paras, 2021) and by the BBC (Sputnik Light: 2021https://www.bbc.com).
Mutual Assistance Agreements amongst Indian States
When a hazard strikes a particular Indian state, its govt machinery, aid organizations, as well as emergency response resources, are also adversely impacted, thus reducing its response capabilities. In addition to federal resources via the NDMA, Mutual Aid and Assistance agreements between Indian states could greatly boost the immediate deployment of Disaster Response resources in the affected states. The states, categorized by their predominant hazards (floods/ earthquakes/ cyclones/ droughts) would be able to offer aid to each other by virtue of the commonality in the response resources required (and possibly pre-stocked) for similar hazards. Since, earthquakes in the seismic zone states, or floods in the riverine states are generally not simultaneous, such states potentially hold out scope for mutual assistance. In addition, cyclone-prone states can help out flood-prone states and vice-versa as the rescue equipment & expertise are generally compatible. Coordinating with other states will encourage state-level DRM professionals to share best practices with each other and give them more opportunities to rehearse their drills. Interoperability of the DRM has to be ensured through prior planning & coordination.
Industry Group Solutions
Most hazards also impact our Industries and Corporate Business Houses. Collaborative solutions offer a far superior DRM for the common problems affecting them, besides allowing sharing of resources and best practices. For example, a fire in a particular factory can be better managed if the fire-fighting resources of neighboring factories are also pooled-in. Moreover, professionals from the domain of FSE, DM, Risk Management, Business Continuity & Supply Chain Management deal with a plethora of common issues which can be resolved easily through mutual cooperation & coordination. Periodically, such initiatives are being taken by the National Institute of Disaster Management (NIDM) & the Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce & Industry (FICCI). However, a lot more needs to be done in this direction.
Community-Based DRM
In India, though organizations like the NDRF and SDRF are proudly touted as the ‘First Responders’ in DM, due to the vast land area, the actual first responders are inevitably members of the affected community itself. To take advantage of the ‘Golden Hour’, the response must be initiated by the local population in the immediate vicinity of the disaster, including the potential victims themselves. The response must therefore be an adequately democratized process, enabling and empowering the affected population to become first responders, instead of merely being passive spectators awaiting the arrival of their rescuers. Although community participation is now widely acknowledged as critical to disaster response, very little effort has been made to clearly delineate what community participation means, or to define and articulate the approach to community participation.
Advantages of Community DRM
Engaging the community in the preparations for Disaster Response offers everyone an opportunity to understand vulnerabilities and risks as well as the benefits of planning ahead for them. DM behavior (discussions and responses) in community-wide disasters are household-based, at the fundamental level within a community. The behaviors reflect the inherent social factors that dovetail with pre-disaster decision-making patterns. Therefore, the response decisions will not only accede to the official line, but also weigh them against community priorities, non-official information, and past experiences.
Know Disasters for No Disasters
The success of community response relies on the local population being familiar with response drills. Unfortunately, response drills for the community are not the norm in India, thereby losing both the First Responder potential and the Golden Hour advantage. Even in situations where rescue efforts are undertaken by professional rescuers, trained victims can better contribute to their own successful rescue. Community sensitization through schools is deemed the optimal sensitization route because the imprint of school training lasts for a lifelong, and gets disseminated via immediate and wider family circles.
Training for Community DRM The Community Emergency Response Team (CERT) model popular in the USA, is a viable community training program that can be replicated in India. It educates volunteers in endemic hazards and the relevant basic disaster response skills. The acute necessity for training the general population which was realized during the 1985 Californian Earthquake, was first developed and initiated by the Los Angeles City Fire Department and presently exists in all 50 US states. It is pertinent that each individual CERT must remain specific at the community level while concomitantly fostering a ‘Preparedness Culture’ at the national level. CERTs can offer consistent and organized assistance during hazards, allowing the professional responders to focus on more complex tasks.
Public-Private Partnership (PPP)
Many successful initiatives have been undertaken in India in diverse fields through the PPP route (govt plus private including NGOs). For this model to be successful, the roles, responsibilities, and powers of the individual agencies must be delineated with maximum clarity and detail; requiring each to submit a time-bound plan of action, outlining their approach unambiguously. The mandates among the three key stakeholders (community, government, and private entity) to optimize their functions must be clarified through government-sanctioned policies and guidelines. The response force & equipment can be contributed by the private entity. Attempts have been made in this direction by a few Indian states in the past too but a much wider acceptance is required. Traditionally, services like Security & DM have been associated with the Govt sector. However, in the realm of security, we now see a large number of functions being performed by Pvt Security Enterprises, thereby freeing the Police force for more important policing jobs. Similar steps can and must be undertaken in the realm of DM too. Greater involvement of the Pvt sector will greatly benefit India’s DRM.
Embrace Technological Innovations
Developments in disruptive technologies such as Internet of Things (IoT), Artificial Intelligence (AI), Drone Technology, Predictive Analytics, Risk Modelling, Remote Sensing, etc must be used in the field of DR. Their application has improved with the advancement in digital infrastructure (wireless broadband networks, cloud computing, smartphones, and mesh networks), enabling greater accuracy and timeliness of response strategies. Drones can support relief measures by showcasing live pictures/footage from sites affected by disasters. AI-driven computational models and cloud-based data integration results are vital for predicting and detecting hazards and establishing early warnings for DRM. IoT for DRM is driven by monitoring sensors that are embedded to provide real-time information during rescue operations. An extreme example of technological innovation in the Disaster Management field occurred in 2019 when OXFAM provided Crypto Currencies for distributing aid to 200 people and 30 vendors in the islands of Vanuatu that were prone to natural disasters. Block chain Distributed Ledger System is being piloted by the United States of America Centre for Disease Control and Prevention to enable reliable and rapid data collection during a disease outbreak. This enables the timely sharing of trusted information and data to enable collaborative efforts by different agencies. The Human-Robot Informatics Laboratory of Tohoku University in Japan is designing different types of robots embedded with cameras, wireless communication, infrared sensors, and GPS that can help detect humans during rescue operations. Technology can also be used to document best practices that were observed during each disaster and ensure that these are captured in the form of a knowledge management platform, coupled with modern e-learning tools, so our states can learn from each other as well as from other nations.
Disaster Management Education
There are multiple Educational Institutes in India that specialize in DM studies. To name a few – TISS, IGNOU, NIDM, JNU are the leading lights in this field where very extensive research and field practicums are being carried out. There is a requirement for a closer association between the academics and the field workers to achieve greater utility of the vast knowledge bank that’s already available at these institutes. Specialization & super specialization must go hand in hand with community education & training. There is a need to prevent DM knowledge events in our country from becoming mere intellectual exercises for ‘experts’. The inculcation of practical issues of DRM as experienced by those working on the ground is essential if we are to educate the masses about the practical aspects of DRM.
Conclusion
Disaster response is a very vast topic with multiple intricacies. It’s not feasible to do justice to the vast scope of this subject within this article. However, as pointed out earlier, DM as well as the intrinsic DRM in India has come a long way in the last two decades. At the same time, like most other fields, there still exists a vast scope for improvement. Taking a cue from the crisis caused by the Covid-19 pandemic, all concerned need to exchange notes, cooperate and coordinate to build a better DRM for India. The academics, the scientists, the rescue & aid workers, and above all, the affected communities need to come together and pursue improvements in the existing DRM. Our previous experiences in DM have taught us important lessons – both positive & negative. The same now needs to be inculcated in our actions. As Dr. Sun Yat-Sen had once remarked, “To understand is hard. Once one understands, action is easy.”