Basic course on Disaster Risk

Management
Unit 2: Disaster Risk Management
Transcript
 Now that we have understood what Disaster Risk is let us try to manage it.
 Managing something is always easy, when there is a laid down process to it, right?
 We manage disaster risks on the basis of a cycle, which is commonly known as the
disaster management cycle, disaster cycle and we refer to it as the disaster risk
management cycle.
 The cycle looks something like this:

 We can start to look at it from any point, but for the sake of simplicity, let us start
exploring it from the point which says ‘prevention’.
 Prevention: Measures taken to avoid the occurrence of a disaster, i.e., preventing
the escalation of disaster risk into a disaster. Some of the very common measures
taken to prevent the escalation of disaster risk are:
o Proper urban planning; urban growth led encroachment of watersheds is
very common and that usually leads to urban floods in some cases and water
scarcity in some other.
 o River embankment to prevent over-flow of the banks during peak season.
o Immunisation to prevent the spread of diseases.
o Enforcement of codes, regulations to ensure fire safety of different
establishments.
 Mitigation: When it is evident that a disaster risk can’t be prevented from
escalating, we take measures to minimise the impact of it. This is mitigation.
o For example, we can’t prevent earthquake risk. If an earthquake is to occur,
it will occur and there is no way to stop it. In such cases, what we do is that
we construct our houses and buildings accordingly, so that they do not
crumble down.
o Another very common example is of installation of early warning system; an
early warning of an impending cyclone or flood, gives substantial amount of
time to residents to vacate their homes and find a safe higher ground in case
of floods or an identified shelter in case of cyclones.
 Would you be able to identify the steps taken as ‘prevention’ or ‘mitigation’
measures against COVID-19?

 Moving ahead, let us now understand what preparedness is!

 Preparedness is the state of readiness which enables stakeholders to mobilize,
organize and provide relief to deal with an impending or actual disaster or the effect
of a disaster
o Examples of preparedness are:
 Preparation/ Updation of DRM Plans
 Mock Exercise
 Establishment of inter-agency arrangements
 Development of systems for public warning and distribution of
information
 Emergency Communication
 Emergency Response Personnel Training
 Securing Adequate Resources
 And many more…
 Response is the collection of measures taken immediately after an extreme event
occurs to alleviate any suffering, pain, injury or distress or hardship caused
o Response encompasses the following:
 Public Warning & Evacuation during an impending cyclone
 Search & Rescue
 First Aid
 Arrangements for Shelter
 Sanitation
 Law & Order
 Resumption of Critical Infrastructure
 Media Management
 And many more…
 Recovery encompasses the actions taken by the community and all the government
and the non-government agencies to build back a community / district / state after
a disaster in a better way, ensuring that the vulnerabilities are reduced. Which
means after a disaster we are preventing and mitigating the effect of future hazards
and so we called this “cycle”. Reconstruction and rehabilitation can be said to be a
part of this entire process of recovery.
 Examples of activities are:
o Establishment of Primary Requirements (Water, Food, Shelters)
o Waste disposal
o Debris clearance
o Decontamination (very relevant in case of COVID-19)
o Damage assessment which eventually helps to understand the recovery
needs
o Relocate community, if need be
o Treatment for post-traumatic stress disorder
o Reconstruction (Houses, Roads and Bridges, Industrial, Commercial and
Residential buildings, drainage system etc.)
o Restore Resources (Electricity, water, gas), communication & essential
services permanently
o Restarting the Education centres( Schools, colleges)
 o Provisioning for employment
o Political stability
o Cultural recovery
 We hope this has given a clear idea of what all goes into the management of disaster
risk, right from understanding what disaster risk is, then taking steps to either
prevent or mitigate it, ensuring preparedness, just in case, and then responding to
the event and finally recovering from it!
 There are some key concepts that we would like to touch upon before concluding
this session!
 The first point is that the responsibility of all the phases of the disaster management
cycle, starting from prevention and mitigation and finally to recovery, is collectively
upon all-of-the-society and all of its institutions. It is not just the responsibility of
the government or not of some NGO or not only of the general populace. Everyone
is expected to come together and contribute in all the phases.
o Every individual/ community / society should strive to understand their
own disaster risk and formulate a strategy to manage their disaster risk.
Depending on higher authorities, may push the operationalisation of the
cycle from the response phase leading to higher losses and damages.
o Certain measures of prevention and mitigation are enforced by the
government through legislation and the same should also be re-enforced by
the society. For example, one should be vigilant to ensure that basic fire
safety norms are adhered to in public places, educational institutions etc.
o Response to an event which is steered by the affected society or community
is much more efficient than a response which is forced by the authorities.
o Similarly, recovery planning is successful only when the society, the
government and other supporting organisations come together and plan.
o Interestingly, when we use the term ‘stakeholders’ in disaster risk
management, we do not mean a selected group of people or section of
society, we mean everyone, right from the authorities (disaster management
authority, municipal corporation), police force, fire officers, volunteers from
civil defence, NSS, NCC, NYKS, medical personnel, residents, particularly the
 most vulnerable and left out residents like those who are differently-abled
or are very poor and whose voices are never heard.
 The second point that we would like to emphasise on is that every action in any of
the phase of the cycle must be inclusive in nature and done in a sustainable manner,
i.e., developing strategies or plans for any of the phase must have involvement of all
the sections of the society, especially those sections which are usually left out!
 The third and the last point that we would like to touch upon is the concept of ‘build
back better’. The idea of recovery rests on the concept of building back better. The
community or the society, post disaster, is to be built back without the
vulnerabilities that existed in the first place. The simple reason behind this is that
if we build back the affected community, exactly in the same way it was before, the
outcome of another hazard would be similar because we have not reduced the
vulnerabilities or increased the capacities! Thus, we should always operate with the
idea of building back better and also building back smarter!
 With this we come to an end of the 2nd unit and we hope, by now, you have a fair
idea of what disaster risk is and how to manage disaster risks!