Disaster Mitigation and Management

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DISASTER MITIGATION AND MANAGEMENT M. Mayur, Siddharth Institute of Engineering and Technology, Puttur. Abstract: India is one of the most disaster prone countries of the world. It has had some of the world’s most severe droughts, famines, cyclones, earthquakes, chemical disasters, mid-air head-on air collisions, rail accidents, and road accidents. Disaster is a sudden, calamitous event bringing great damage, loss, and destruction and devastation to life and property. In simple terms we can define disaster as a hazard causing heavy loss to life, property and livelihood. This paper deals with types of disasters and mitigation and management methods at and after the time of disasters. Vulnerability, Hazards and Risk reduction are the main key points involved in Disasters. This paper deals with main aspects involved in each and every type of disaster for managing and mitigating their effects. GIS also plays an important role in management of Disasters. The paper deals with role of GIS in it and awareness programmes required for public to save themselves from disasters and importance of GIS in Disaster Management.

Introduction: The earth has been an unstable proposition throughout its existence. Man who entered the scene has been exploring during his short existence to unravel the various mysteries which are mysteries till date. These mysteries have been understood by and confined to the intellectual community.

But, when the victims of the mysteries are the people then they need to know what the mysteries are and the impact the mysteries can have on them. This paper discusses how disaster can be managed through awareness and suggests a methodology to design an awareness program with the help of the spatial component. But before discussing this let us discuss what a disaster is? What disaster management is? How disasters can be managed by spreading awareness about disasters? And what is the role of GIS in disaster management?

What is a Disaster? According to each, disaster is defined as many ways, so, there is no particular definition for a Disaster. Overall, disaster is defined as:  Disaster is a sudden, calamitous event bringing great damage, loss, and destruction and devastation to life and property.  WHO defines Disaster as "any occurrence that causes damage, ecological disruption, loss of human life, deterioration of health and health services, on a scale sufficient to warrant an extraordinary response from outside the affected community or area”.

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But as a Civil Students, we can say as: It is a natural accident, which causes great damage to life, property and Structures which cannot be reused. It may also be termed as “a serious disruption of the functioning of society, causing widespread human, material or environmental losses which exceed the ability of the affected society to cope using its own resources.”

This influences the mental, socio-economic, political and cultural state of the affected area. A disaster may have the following main features:     

Unpredictability, Unfamiliarity, Speed, Urgency, Uncertainty and Threat

Vulnerability, Hazards and Risk are the main key points when ever disaster mitigation and management is considered.

Types of Disasters: Disasters are simply defined as any over helming ecological disruption which disturbs environmental and economical positions. Disasters are mainly divided as two types:

Damages by Disasters: Damages done by disasters are inevitable and they cannot be reduced and predicted and only method is to manage them and mitigate them. The damage caused by disasters is immeasurable. The damage caused by disasters depends on:    

Geographical location of place, Climate of the place, Type of Surface of Earth and Degree of Vulnerability.

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Natural Disasters and

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Artificial Disasters.

Artificial Disasters are also called as Man Made Disasters. Natural Disasters: Disasters that are caused by Natural causes are called as Natural Disasters.  Earthquakes,  Landslides,  Floods,  River erosion,  Cyclones,

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 Tsunami,  Forest Fires etc…

opens. If we can’t predict earthquakes, then let’s learn to live safely with them.” The main safeties behind Earthquakes are:

Artificial Disasters:

 We should know safe spot in each and every room of our house,

These are the disasters that are occurred due to man made changes over the surface of the Earth.

 Decide where your family will reunite if separated,

 Nuclear Disasters,  Chemical Disasters,  Mine Disasters,

 Maintain emergency food, water, medicine, first aid kit, tools, and clothing. During an Earthquake:  Take cover. Go under a table or other sturdy furniture; kneel, sit, or stay close to the floor. Hold on to furniture legs for balance. Be prepared to move if your cover moves.  If no sturdy cover is nearby, kneel or sit close to the floor next to a structurally sound interior wall. Place your hands on the floor for balance.

 Biological Disasters. These are an example of manmade disasters. Natural Disasters: Earthquakes: Earthquakes are nothing but any sudden movement over the surface of the Earth which shakes Earth vigorously that destroys the structures resting on the Earth.

Cyclone: Cyclone is defined as: Rapid inward circulation of air masses about a low pressure centre; circling counter clockwise in the northern hemisphere and clockwise in the southern. 

“We are not about to predict earthquakes. As one door closes, another

Keep watch on weather and listen to radio or TV. Keep alert about the community warning systems – loudspeakers, bells, conches, drums or any traditional warning system.

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Get to know the nearest cyclone shelter / safe houses and the safest route to reach these shelters, Prepare a first aid kit, emergency tools for saving ourselves, dry food.

During a Landslide: 

During a Cyclone:  

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Disconnect all electrical appliances and turn off gas. If the building starts crumbling, protect yourself with mattresses, rugs or blankets under a strong table or bench or hold on to a solid fixture (e.g. a water pipe) Listen to your transistor radio for updates and advice.

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Floods: 

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All your family members should know the safe route to nearest shelter/ raised pucca house. If your area is flood-prone, consider alternative building materials. Mud walls are more likely to be damaged during floods. You may consider making houses where the walls are made of local bricks up to the highest known flood level with cement pointing.

During Floods:   

Drink boiled water. Keep your food covered, don’t take heavy meals. Use raw tea, rice-water, tender coconut-water, etc…

Stay alert and awake. Many debrisflow fatalities occur when people are sleeping. Listen to a Weather Radio or portable, battery-powered radio or television for warnings of intense rainfall. Be aware that intense, short bursts of rain may be particularly dangerous, especially after longer periods of heavy rainfall and damp weather. If you are in areas susceptible to landslides and debris flows, consider leaving if it is safe to do so. Remember that driving during an intense storm can be hazardous. If you remain at home, move to a second story if possible. Staying out of the path of a landslide or debris flow saves lives.

After the Landslide: Stay away from the slide area. There may be danger of additional slides.  Check for injured and trapped persons near the slide, without entering the direct slide area. Direct rescuers to their locations.  Help a neighbor who may require special assistance - infants, elderly people, and people with disabilities. Elderly people and people with disabilities may require additional assistance. People who care for them or who have large families may need additional assistance in emergency situations. 

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Disaster management means: Emergency management is the discipline of dealing with and avoiding risks. It is a discipline that involves preparing for disaster before it occurs, disaster response (e.g., emergency evacuation, quarantine, mass decontamination, etc.), and supporting, and rebuilding society after natural or human-made disasters have occurred. In general, any Emergency Management is the continuous process by which all individuals, groups, and communities manage hazards in an effort to avoid or ameliorate the impact of disasters resulting from the hazards. Effective Emergency Management relies on thorough integration of emergency plans at all levels of government and nongovernment involvement. Disaster management involves a cycle namely Emergency Cycle. Experts, such as Cuny, have long noted that the cycle of Emergency Management must include long-term work on infrastructure, public awareness, and even human justice issues.

The process of Emergency Management involves four phases: 1. 2. 3. 4.

Mitigation Preparedness Response Recovery.

This is named as Emergency Management Cycle since it works in a cyclic process.

Mitigation: Mitigation efforts attempt to prevent hazards from developing into disasters altogether, or to reduce the effects of disasters when they occur. The mitigation phase differs from the other phases because it focuses on long-term measures for reducing or eliminating risk. Mitigative measures can be structural or non-structural. Structural measures use technological solutions, like flood levees. Non-structural measures include legislation, land-use planning and insurance. Mitigation is the most cost-efficient method for reducing the impact of hazards; however it is not always suitable. Mitigation does include providing regulations regarding evacuation, sanctions against those who refuse to obey the regulations (such as mandatory evacuations), and communication of potential risks to the public. Some structural mitigation measures may have adverse effects on the ecosystem. A precursor activity to the mitigation is the identification of risks. Physical risk assessment refers to the process of

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identifying and evaluating hazards. The hazard-specific risk (Rh) combines both the probability and the level of impact of a specific hazard. The equation below states that the hazard multiplied by the populations’ vulnerability to that hazard produces a risk Catastrophe modeling. The higher the risk, the more urgent that the hazard specific vulnerabilities are targeted by mitigation and preparedness efforts. However, if there is no vulnerability there will be no risk, e.g. an earthquake occurring in a desert where nobody lives.

Preparedness: Preparedness is a continuous cycle of planning, organizing, training, equipping, exercising, evaluation and improvement activities to ensure effective coordination and the enhancement of capabilities to prevent, protect against, respond to, recover from, and mitigate the effects of natural disasters, acts of terrorism, and other manmade disasters. In the preparedness phase, emergency managers develop plans of action to manage and counter their risks and take action to build the necessary capabilities needed to implement such plans. Common preparedness measures include: 

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Communication plans with easily understandable terminology and methods. Proper maintenance and training of emergency services, including mass human resources such as community emergency response teams. Development and exercise of emergency population warning methods combined with emergency shelters and evacuation plans.

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stockpiling, inventory, and maintain disaster supplies and equipment [8] Develop organizations of trained volunteers among civilian populations. Professional emergency workers are rapidly overwhelmed in mass emergencies so trained; organized, responsible volunteers are extremely valuable.

Eg: Community Emergency Response Teams, Red Cross, Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA). Another aspect of preparedness is casualty prediction, the study of how many deaths or injuries to expect for a given kind of event. This gives planners an idea of what resources need to be in place to respond to a particular kind of event.

Response: The response phase includes the mobilization of the necessary emergency services and first responders in the disaster area. This is likely to introduce: 1. 2. 3. 4.

firefighters police ambulance disaster relief operation(military) 5. Non combatant evacuation operation 6. Special rescue teams at the site of the disaster prone areas. A well rehearsed emergency plan developed as part of the preparedness phase enables efficient coordination of rescue. There is a need for both

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discipline (structure, doctrine, process) and agility (creativity, improvisation, adaptability) in responding to a disaster.

Recovery: The aim of the recovery phase is to restore the affected area to its previous state. It differs from the response phase in its focus; recovery efforts are concerned with issues and decisions that must be made after immediate needs are addressed. Recovery efforts are primarily concerned with actions that involve rebuilding destroyed property, re-employment, and the repair of other essential infrastructure. Efforts should be made to "build back better", aiming to reduce the pre-disaster risks inherent in the community and infrastructure. An important aspect of effective recovery efforts is taking advantage of a ‘window of opportunity’ for the implementation of mitigative measures that might otherwise be unpopular. In the United States, the National Response Plan dictates how the resources provided by the Homeland Security Act of 2002 will be used in recovery efforts. It is the Federal government that often provides the most technical and financial assistance for recovery efforts in the United States.

In India, the role of emergency management falls to National Disaster Management Authority of India, a government agency subordinate to the Ministry of Home Affairs. In recent years there has been a shift in emphasis, from response and recovery to strategic risk management and reduction, and from a government-centered approach to decentralized community participation. An agency within the Ministry of Science and Technology is also playing a role in this field, through bringing the academic knowledge and research expertise of earth scientists to the emergency management process. Recently the Government has formed the . This group represents a public/private partnership, funded primarily by a large India-based computer company , and aimed at improving the general response of communities to emergencies, in addition to those incidents which might be described as disasters. Some of the groups' early efforts involve the provision of emergency management training for first responders (a first in India), the creation of a single emergency telephone number, and the establishment of standards for EMS staff, equipment and training.

4Rs is a term used to describe the emergency management cycle locally. In New Zealand the four phases are known as:

  

India 

Reduction = Mitigation Readiness = Preparedness Response Recovery

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Risk Assessment

contingency plans are reviewed and amended, training and community preparedness programs conducted and community lifelines.

The evaluation of risk for a tropical cyclone is a relatively straightforward process. A hazard map should be prepared for any given year. The following information could be used to estimate the probability of storms of cyclones of various intersections that may strike different parts of the county.

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Analyses of climatologically records to determine how often tropical cyclones have strucktheir intensities and locations.

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History of wind strengths, frequencies, height and location of storm surges frequencies of flooding.

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Information about tropical cyclone occurrences in the past 50-100 years over the ocean adjoining the part of the country in question.

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b) Public Warning System The three main objectives in a tropical cyclone warning are:

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To alert the people to the danger by announcing the existence of a threat due to a cyclone.

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To identify the areas where people will be actively threatened by cyclone and where communities should monitor further warning announcements, and

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To call the people to action by recommending specific preparedness activities, which may be part of, and integrated warning/response plan to protect vulnerable resources.

a) An Integrated Warning/Response System Specific preparedness measures to counter the impact of tropical cyclones may be classified into two categories:

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Those of long term or seasonal nature, which need to be planned, implemented and operationally tested and co-coordinated by means of simulation exercise well before a seasonal threat commences. Among these are pre-season co-ordination meetings at headquarters, district and local levels, at which operational

Those of a short-term nature, which relate to a state of readiness to cut in once a contemporary cyclone threat is announced. Among these are domestic, vocational and animal husbandry arrangements to safeguard the survival, property assets and livelihoods of individual families and communities.

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Disaster management Team Cycle:

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Conclusion: We cannot predict any of the disasters, but we can prevent them by mitigation and management techniques. So, to keep INDIA safe from all the disasters, we should have minimum knowledge about disasters and their mitigation and management techniques. Save greenery and Mother India from all the disasters.