Disaster Management

Introduction

Disaster is a very common phenomenon experienced by people since time immemorial in the human society. It is a severe interference of the functioning of a society, where a huge amount of human and material loss will be involved. Disaster has been a great challenge for the society even though it exists in different forms. The occurrence and the amount of occurrence of disasters are increasing regularly as per the World Disaster Reports. India is one of the largest countries in the world which is being affected by disasters such as  droughts, famines, cyclones, earthquakes, chemical disasters, rail accidents and road accidents. Some of the developing countries situated in and around the coastal areas are more likely affected by frequent disasters like floods, cyclones, storm surges, etc.

 Types of Disasters

Natural Disasters

1. Earthquake

The sudden shaking of the earth at a place for a short spell of time is called an earthquake. The duration of the earthquake may be a few seconds to some minutes. The point where an earthquake originates is called its ‘focus’. The vertical point at the surface from the focus is called ‘epicentre’.

2. Volcanoes

Volcanoes are openings or vents where lava, small rocks and steam erupt onto the earth’s surface.

3. Tsunami

Tsunami is the series of ocean waves triggered by means of earthquake, volcanic eruptions and underwater landslides.

4. Cyclones

A low pressure area which is encircled by high-pressure wind is called a cyclone

5. Floods

An overflow of a large amount of water, beyond its normal limits, especially on the rainfed areas is called a flood.

6. Landslide

The movement of mass of rocks, debris, soil etc., downslope is called a landslide

7. Avalanche

A natural disaster that occurs when huge amount of snow, ice and rocks fall quickly down the side of a mountain

8. Thunder and lightning

Thunder is the ultimate sound that is produced as a result of lightning. The range at which thunder strikes varies from pointed, noisy crack to a lengthy, low crash (brontide) depending on the space from and nature of the lightning. Lightning could be seen just before the sound of the thunder is heard as the transmission of light is faster than the sound.
Man-made disasters

1. Fire

Massive forest fires may start in hot and dry weather as a result of lightning and human carelessness or from other casual factors.

2. Destruction of buildings

Demolition of buildings by humans

3. Accidents in industries

Chemical, biological accidents that occur due to human error (e.g.) Bhopal gas tragedy

4. Accidents in Transport

Violation of road rules, carelessness cause road accidents

5. Terrorism

The social unrest or differences in principles lead to terrorism

6. Stampede

The time period stampede is an unexpected rush of a crowd of people, normally ensuing in injuries and demise from suffocation and trampling.

Tsunami and Floods

A killer Tsunami striked the Asian countries at the South East side on the 26^th of December, 2004. A substantial earthquake with an enormity of 9.1-9.3 in the Richter scale epicenter in the Indonesian island of Sumatra that triggered one of the best Tsunamis the world had ever witnesses. The massive waves measuring up to 30 metres that killed more than 2, 00,000 people of Asia. In India, over 10,000 people were killed by this disaster. TamilNadu alone accounted for 1,705 deaths.

All the coastal districts were affected, Nagapattinam was the worst hit in the state of Tamilnadu. Fishermen, tourists, morning walkers, children playing in beach and people living on the coast were unprepared for the waves. As a result they lost their lives, and the damage to human lives and properties had happened around 500 metres of the shore. After that, the Indian government set up a Tsunami Early Warning System at Indian National Centre for Ocean Information Services (INCOIS), Hyderabad in 2007.

Floods

Floods are the most frequent type of natural disaster that causes the dry land to be submerged in water, when an overflow of water occurs.

Types of floods

i) Flash floods: Flash floods are the floods that occur due to heavy rainfall from thunderstorms within six hours.

ii) River floods: River floods are the floods caused when the river or stream overflows the banks or its surroundings of river.

iii) Coastal floods: Floods caused in relation to high tides of cyclone and tsunami

Some of the effects of flood are destruction of drainage system, water pollution, soil erosion, stagnation of water, loss of agricultural land and cattle, loss of life and spread of contagious diseases.

Precautionary measures that should be taken during floods:

i) Cut off gas connection and electricity

ii) Keep sand bags on drainage holes and bathroom holes

iii) Leave immediately through the known passage or prescribed passage

iv) Drink hot water

v) Use bleaching powder to keep your environment hygienic

vi) Before using match sticks and candles, ensure that there is no gas leakage

vii) Don’t eat more food when you are affected by diarrhea

viii) Don’t try to take anything that floats in a flood

 Disaster Risk Reduction

Disaster risk reduction is an approach used to identify, assess and reduce the risks of disaster by applying certain risk reduction policies and strategies. Four key approaches used to create general awareness among the public for reducing the risks associated with disaster are as follows:

(i) Campaigns

(ii) Participatory learning,

(iii) Informal education, and

(iv) Formal school based interventions.

 Forecasting and Early Warning

Weather forecasting, Tsunami early warning system, cyclonic forecasting and warning provide necessary information which helps in reducing risks during disasters. School disaster management committee, Village Disaster management committee, State and Central government institutions take mitigation measures together during disaster.

Newspaper, Radio, Television and social media bring updated information and give alerts on the vulnerable area, risk, preparatory measures and relief measures including medicine.