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DISASTER RESEARCH AND MANAGEMENT SERIES
ON THE GLOBAL SOUTH
SERIES EDITOR: AMITA SINGH
Disaster
Management
for 2030 Agenda
of the SDG
Edited by
V. K. Malhotra
R. Lalitha S. Fernando
Nivedita P. Haran
Disaster Research and Management Series
on the Global South
Series Editor
Amita Singh
Centre for the Study of Law and Governance
Jawaharlal Nehru University
Delhi, India
Disaster Research and Management Series on the Global South is a series
coming out of Special Centre for Disaster Research (SCDR) at Jawaharlal
Nehru University (JNU), Delhi, India. SCDR is the first in Asia Pacific
to start a course on disaster research within a social science perspective.
The series follows and publishes pedagogical and methodological change
within the subject. The new direction of teaching, research and training
turns from ‘hazard based’ to ‘resilience building’. The series taps such
research for the benefit of institutes and higher education bodies of the
global south. It also suggests that much of the western literature based
upon rescue, relief and rehabilitation which is also being taught in the
Asian institutes is not directly relevant to managing disasters in the region.
It provides reading and study material for the developing field of disaster
research and management.
1. Generates a non-west transdisciplinary literature on disaster research

and studies
2. Strengthens disaster governance and improves its legal framework
3. Sensitizes disaster management authorities towards key priorities and
attention areas
4. Focus on preparedness is strongly proposed and revisited
5. Highlights changes in pedagogy and methodology of disaster
research and teaching
6. Mainstream vulnerable communities of differently abled, elderly,
women, children
7. Indicate strategies needed to protect city animals, birds and wildlife
during disasters
More information about this series at

http://www.palgrave.com/gp/series/16402
V. K. Malhotra · R. Lalitha S. Fernando ·
Nivedita P. Haran
Editors
Disaster Management
for 2030 Agenda
of the SDG
Editors
V. K. Malhotra R. Lalitha S. Fernando
Indian Council of Social Science Department of Public Administration
Research (ICSSR) University of Sri Jayewardenepura
New Delhi, Delhi, India Nugegoda, Sri Lanka
Nivedita P. Haran
Government of Kerala
Disaster Research Programme, JNU
New Delhi, NCT, India
ISSN 2662-4176 ISSN 2662-4184 (electronic)

Disaster Research and Management Series on the Global South
ISBN 978-981-15-4323-4 ISBN 978-981-15-4324-1 (eBook)
https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-15-4324-1
© The Editor(s) (if applicable) and The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer
Nature Singapore Pte Ltd. 2020
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of translation, reprinting, reuse of illustrations, recitation, broadcasting, reproduction on
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The use of general descriptive names, registered names, trademarks, service marks, etc.
in this publication does not imply, even in the absence of a specific statement, that such
names are exempt from the relevant protective laws and regulations and therefore free for
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the publisher nor the authors or the editors give a warranty, expressed or implied, with
respect to the material contained herein or for any errors or omissions that may have been
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This Palgrave Macmillan imprint is published by the registered company Springer Nature
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Series Editor’s Preface
One single disaster brings a complete halt to any developmental

programme. The current Coronavirus Covid-19 pandemic is a chilling
reality to the new world that mankind has made for itself. A world of
disruptive overuse of terrestrial and aquatic resources which has gener-
ated not just hazardous chemicals around us but also spread lethal biolog-
ical viruses to increase the frequency, duration and impact of destruc-
tion on Planet Earth. The current pandemic stares blank at the glitterati
metropolis, the swanky skyscrapers and technologically advanced super-
sonic jets in the air. Everything is grounded and locked down. It is estab-
lished more than ever before that the nature of development which was
being pursued so far was not sustainable. To achieve sustainability decision
makers have to make some hard choices and some withdrawal of economic
ambitions. The world economy has to be better distributed rather than
more accumulative, ostentatious and competitive.
Professor Stephen Hawking had already warned in 2016 that the
capacity to sustain life on earth is limited to less than 100 years in contrast
to the previous estimate of 1000 years. The crude realities of human
progress and the ability of the human species to consume and survive
gives clear indication that life may leave planet earth within this period.
(Tencent Web Summit in Beijing 2017, interview to the British newspaper
The Sun).
So what should be done? Should we start packing up or strive with
complete commitment to achieve SDGs? It’s the second option alone that
v
vi SERIES EDITOR’S PREFACE
we are left with as the first one is an acceptance of death and destruction.
Professor Nick Brown of the Oxford University’s Department of Plant
Sciences highlights that there are not enough studies in establishing links
between ecosystems, resilience and DRR due to the diversity of ecosys-
tems, geophysical conditions and hazards. Politics of each country looks
for short term gains and are so locked up in current growth patterns
that ecosystem based DRR approaches which have long gestation periods
are generally ignored. Similarly, Professor Wadid Erian, a lead author for
the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), warns that ‘the
most effective adaptation and disaster risk reduction programmes are those
that offer development benefits in the short term and reduce vulnerability
in the long term’. As UNISDR suggests, ‘A single “blueprint” approach
for National Platforms is neither possible nor desirable since disaster risk
reduction is a country-specific long-term process’.
This book which links SDGs with Disaster management got delayed
due to the challenges thrown by the Covid-19 pandemic. Four new papers
on handling the pandemic have now been added. The book becomes
comprehensive as it establishes that a disaster is a disaster whether
its natural, manmade or biological. It impacts life, environment and
economy. Governments can mitigate their impact through good science,
institutional coordination, training programmes with citizen bodies and
an alert group of media reporters. As decision makers become increasingly
cognizant of risk, of enforcement and about the impact of their decisions
upon people, only then can disaster mitigation accelerate a meaningful
progress towards SDGs.
Amita Singh
Professor of Administrative Reforms and Emergency Governance
Founder Chairperson of the transdisciplinary ‘Special Centre
for Disaster Research’, JNU
Member Secretary Ethics Review Board, JNU
Amita Singh Professor at the Special Centre for Law and Governance and
Founding Chairperson, Special Centre for Disaster Research, Jawaharlal Nehru
University (JNU), India. Professor Singh teaches Law and Governance at the
Centre for the Study of Law and Governance at JNU. She has been the longest
serving Secretary General of NAPSIPAG (Network of Asia Pacific Schools and
SERIES EDITOR’S PREFACE vii
Institutes of Public Administration and Governance) initiated by ADB 2004 at

INTAN Malaysia. She is Member Secretary of the Institutional Ethics Review
Board and Council Member of the Indian Council of Social Sciences Research,
Delhi. She has a wide research experience of policy evaluation of best governance
practices and working with the government (DARPG, India) and the Global
Innovators Network, at the John F. Kennedy School of Government, Harvard
University. She was awarded the Australia-India Council Fellowship (2006–2007)
for academic research in nine Australian Universities and was again awarded the
DFAT Australian Monash Fellowship in 2017, Visiting Professor at the Amer-
ican University Washington DC and many universities in the Asia-Pacific coun-
tries. She has been closely associated with the International Womens’ Associa-
tion at Hunter College SUNY USA in 1990 to prepare for the Beijing Decla-
ration in 1995. She has received the Bangladesh National Award of ‘Nawab
Bhadur Syed Nawab Ali Chowdhury National Award’ 2014 for women empow-
erment. Currently Professor Singh is associated with the Netexplo-UNAB group
of Paris for socially relevant and globally empowering research. She is an
ardent campaigner of the ‘Rights of Nonhuman Species’.
Contents
Introduction: Disaster Management for the 2030—Agenda

for SDG Disasters and Challenge of Achieving SDGs 1
V. K. Malhotra
Concerns Around Law and Governance
Disaster Management and Sustainable Development

in the Asia and Pacific Region: Engendering the Strategies
of the SDGs 11
Usha Tandon and Amrendra Kumar
State Machinery, SDGs and Flood Control: A Case Study

of Srinagar Floods (2014) 33
Bupinder Zutshi
Sustainable Development Goals and National Disaster

Mitigation Fund 49
Ajinder Walia
Sustainable Development Goals and Disaster Risk

Reduction, Targets and Challenges for India 59
Himanshu Shekhar Mishra
ix
x CONTENTS
Land and Disaster Management for SDGs? 77

Gaurika Chugh
Livelihood as Sine qua non for Community Resilience

in J&K 93
Chetana Kumari
Strategic City Landscapes: Protecting These Economic

Hubs of Business from Disasters 101
Natasha Goyal
Concerns Around Sectoral Policies
Human Trafficking and Disaster Risk Reduction: A Cross

Cutting Link in SDGs 121
Mondira Dutta
IPR and Women Farmers: Legal Threats to Sustainable

Development 135
Manika Kamthan
Disasters, Grassroot Women and Local Governance 147

Rahila Sikandar
Revisiting Agriculture Land Use for Disaster Resilient

Sustainable Development 159
Madhushree Sekher and Mansi Awasthi
Farmers, Climate Change and People Centric Disaster

Management in India 181
Swarnamayee Tripathy
The Other Humans (or Non-humans) in Disaster

Management in India 197
Langthianmung Vualzong
CONTENTS xi
Managing Organic Agriculture: Case of Badulla

and Ratnapura Districts in Sri Lanka 215
S. H. Pushpa Malkanthi
Healthcare Utilization Pattern in Sri Lanka; Evidence

from Household Survey 235
G. L. D. C. Perera
Environmental Governance for Resilience & SDGs 253

Anil K. Gupta, Shalini Dhyani, Sreeja S. Nair, and Swati Singh
SDG and the Covid-19 Challenge
Covid-19 Pandemic and the Future of SDGs 279

Amita Singh
The Pandemic—Migrant Workers a Major Casualty 319

Nivedita P. Haran
Covid-19 Disaster: Interdependence of Crisis

Communication and Socio-Economic Resilience 333
Jaishri Jethwaney
COVID-19: Reverse Migration of Labour and the Longer

Road to SDGs, Documenting Coronavirus Pandemic
as a News Correspondent 359
Himanshu Shekhar Mishra
Epilogue and the Way Ahead 381

Amita Singh
Editors and Contributors
About the Editors
V. K. Malhotra is presently Member Secretary, Indian Council of Social

Science Research, New Delhi. His research interests include Governance
and Economic Development, Corporate Governance and Performance
of various industries, Intellectual Property Rights and India’s concerns,
Foreign Trade and Investments. etc. He is on the Board of Indian Council
of World Affairs, and a Visitor’s nominee to the Court of Jawahar Lal
Nehru University, Delhi. He is also a Member of the Board of many
renowned Social Science Research Institutes of the country and is also part
of the Executive of many International Research Bodies/Associations.
R. Lalitha S. Fernando serves as a Senior Professor in Public Adminis-

tration, Faculty of Management Studies and Commerce of the Univer-
sity of Sri Jayewardenepura in Sri Lanka. She was awarded the prestigious
Commonwealth Academic (internal) Scholarship to pursue Postgraduate
Diploma in Development Studies leading to Masters in Development
Administration and Management at the University of Manchester, UK for
the period of 1990–1992. She has published a number of papers related
to public management and governance in both national and international
journals.
xiii
xiv EDITORS AND CONTRIBUTORS
Nivedita P. Haran Indian Administrative Service (Rtd.), Former Addi-

tional Chief Secretary, Government of Kerala who spearheaded the first
Kerala State Disaster Management Authority. She has more than three
decades of rich professional experience with the IAS in India and in the
state of Kerala where she served in several senior positions of leader-
ship and decision making. She held crucially important positions as a
District Planning Officer, as a Head of Revenue Administration, Land
Administration, Land Records Management, Renewable Energy in Public
Offices, coping Climate Change Strategies and post-Tsunami Rehabili-
tation project. She also held the position of Deputy Secretary in the
Department of Administrative Reforms & Public Grievances, Ministry
of Personnel, Government of India, New Delhi. As the Home Secre-
tary, she brought some meaningful innovations such as the digitization
of police records, simplification of procedures, bringing transparency and
accountability through the use of new cost-effective technological inno-
vations such as Video Conferencing and other ICT applications. She
has also been the Director of The Centre for Innovations in Public
Systems at Hyderabad. Her most passionate project with the NAPSIPAG
(Network of Asia Pacific Schools and Institutes of Public Administration
and Governance, JNU) was the creation of NYSAF (Network of Young
Scholars and Administrators Forum) by bringing academic research closer
to administrators and enable them to work together for the country’s
development.
Contributors
Mansi Awasthi Tata Institute of Social Sciences, Mumbai, India

Gaurika Chugh Special Center for Disaster Research, Jawaharlal Nehru
University, New Delhi, India
Shalini Dhyani National Environmental Engineering Research Institute,
Nagpur, India
Mondira Dutta Special Centre for Disaster Research, Jawaharlal Nehru
Natasha Goyal Centre for Study of Law and Governance, Jawaharlal
Nehru University, New Delhi, India
EDITORS AND CONTRIBUTORS xv
Anil K. Gupta Division of Environment, Climate Change & Disaster

Risk Management, National Institute of Disaster Management, New
Delhi, India
Nivedita P. Haran Government of Kerala, Disaster Research
Programme, JNU, New Delhi, NCT, India
Jaishri Jethwaney Institute for Studies in Industrial Development, New
Delhi, India
Manika Kamthan Symbiosis Law School, Pune, Maharashtra, India
Amrendra Kumar Law Centre-II, Faculty of Law, University of Delhi,
New Delhi, India
Chetana Kumari Centre for Law and Governance & Disaster Research
Programme, Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi, India
V. K. Malhotra Indian Council of Social Science Research (ICSSR),
New Delhi, Delhi, India
Himanshu Shekhar Mishra New Delhi Television Limited (NDTV),
New Delhi, India
Sreeja S. Nair Kerala Flood Recovery Project, UNDP, kottayam, India
G. L. D. C. Perera University of Sri Jayewardenepura, Nugegoda, Sri
Lanka
S. H. Pushpa Malkanthi Department of Agribusiness Management,
Faculty of Agricultural Sciences, Sabaragamuwa University of Sri Lanka,
Balangoda, Sri Lanka
Madhushree Sekher Tata Institute of Social Sciences, Mumbai, India
Rahila Sikandar Disaster Research Programme, Jawaharlal Nehru
University, New Delhi, India;
High Court of Judicature, Allahabad, India
Amita Singh Centre for the Study of Law and Governance, Jawaharlal
Nehru University, New Delhi, India
Swati Singh Society for Sustainability and Resilience Alliance, New
Delhi, India
xvi EDITORS AND CONTRIBUTORS
Usha Tandon Campus Law Centre, Faculty of Law, University of Delhi,

New Delhi, India
Swarnamayee Tripathy Public Administration in the School of Social
Sciences, Utkal University, Bhubaneswar, India
Langthianmung Vualzong Centre for the Study of Law and Gover-
nance and The Special Centre for Disaster Research, Jawaharlal Nehru
Ajinder Walia National Institute of Disaster Management, New Delhi,
India;
Ministry of Home Affairs, Government of India, New Delhi, India
Bupinder Zutshi Special Centre for Disaster Research, Jawaharlal Nehru
List of Figures

of Srinagar Floods (2014)
Fig. 1 Inundation of Srinagar city—aerial view, 10 September 2014
(Source National Remote Sensing, Department of Ecology,
Environment and Remote Sensing, Government of Jammu
& Kashmir) 38
Map 1 Kashmir Valley Jhelum Basin drainage network (Source Atlas

of Jammu & Kashmir, Census of India—1981) 35
Disasters, Grassroot Women and Local Governance

Fig. 1 Women Empowerment and Disaster Management are
complementary activities (Source Author) 152

Sustainable Development
Fig. 1 Average area operated by per household across last five
landholding surveys (Source NSS 70th Round: Household
Ownership and Operational Holdings in India, 2013) 163
Fig. 2 State-wise percentage of landless households (Source NSS
70th Round: Household Ownership and Operational
Holdings in India, 2013) 163
xvii
xviii LIST OF FIGURES
Fig. 3 Percentage distribution of area of land by type of crop

production/livestock farming in India (Source NSS 70th
Round: Household Ownership and Operational Holdings in
India, 2013) 169
Fig. 4 Percentage distribution of area of land used for different
type animal farming in India (Source NSS 70th Round:
Household Ownership and Operational Holdings in India,
2013) 169
Fig. 5 Impact of natural disasters on agriculture and wider
consequences 172

Management in India
Fig. 1 The figure is developed by the Food and Agriculture
Organization to demonstrate that animal welfare can
contribute to the SDGs (Source Food and Agricultural
Organisation of the United Nations [2015]. FAO
Synthesis —Livestock and the Sustainable Development Goals
Global Agenda for Sustainable Livestock. Draft prepared
by FAO-AGAL Livestock Information, Sector Analysis and
Policy Branch. Available online at: http://www.livestockdia
logue.org/fileadmin/templates/res_livestock/docs/2016/
Panama/FAO-AGAL_synthesis_Panama_Livestock_and_
SDGs.pdf) 202
Managing Organic Agriculture: Case of Badulla and

Ratnapura Districts in Sri Lanka
Fig. 1 Map of Sri Lanka showing study areas, Badulla and
Ratnapura districts 222
Environmental Governance for Resilience & SDGs

Fig. 1 Environmental hazards and interface of natural events
system with human use system (Burton et al. 1993) 254
Fig. 2 Environmental policy evolution in developing world:
(A) During 1970’s, (B) Expands during 1980’s and (C)
Intersects across most sectors by 2006 (after King and Mori
2007) 258
Fig. 3 Model of integrated policy regime for sustainability, society
and growth (after King et al. 2000) 259
Fig. 4 EIA applications in DRR (Gupta and Nair 2012) 268
LIST OF FIGURES xix
Fig. 5 Sample framework on SEA of a Common Agriculture Policy

(after EEAC 2008) 269
Fig. 6 Inputs of EIA and SEA to DRR (C-EIA—Cumulative EIA).
Gupta and Nair (2012) 269
Covid-19 Pandemic and the Future of SDGs

Fig. 1 Percentage of Covid-19 cases (N = 500,318) and deaths
(N = 39,258) by age group (Source Author; Data Source
WHO Covid-19 Weekly Surveillance Report, available at
https://www.euro.who.int/__data/assets/pdf_file/0010/
440776/week16-covid19-surveillance-report-eng.pdf?ua=1) 291
Fig. 2 Death rate proportional to 60+ population in countries
(Source: Author; Data Source WHO and Statista, as on 12
June 2020, available at https://www.statista.com/statistics/
1104709/coronavirus-deaths-worldwide-per-million-inhabi
tants/ and WHO websites https://data.worldbank.org/ind
icator/SP.POP.65UP.TO.ZS) 292
List of Tables

of Srinagar Floods (2014)
Table 1 Major recorded historical flood events in Kashmir Valley 36
Table 2 Flood events, fatalities, injuries and causalities—1978–2006 36
Table 3 Flood death rates per million population at decennial
intervals 37
Table 4 Rainfall reported (mm) over stations located in Kashmir
Valley during 3–6 September 2014 37
Table 5 Encroachment—trees and unauthorized construction
removed from river courses 42
Table 6 Identified emergency operation centers for relief and
evacuation in Kashmir division 44
Table 7 Surveyed respondents in Srinagar city: perception of
preparedness of disaster risk reduction management (%) 46
Land and Disaster Management for SDGs?

Table 1 Land use statistics in India—1951–2011 82
Table 2 Diversion of forest land for non-forest use (1980–2016) 86
Livelihood as Sine qua non for Community Resilience in

J&K
Table 1 Number of Micro, Small and Medium Scale (MSMEs)
Industries and their share in employment generation 97
xxi
xxii LIST OF TABLES

Sustainable Development
Table 1 Distribution of land owned per household by social group 160
Table 2 Distribution of households by category of ownership
holdings 162
Table 3 Distribution of households by size category of landholdings
for social groups 162
Table 4 State-wise percentage distribution of area of land possessed
by households affected by flood/not flooded, 2012–2013 164
Table 5 Percentage distribution of land possessed by type of land use 168
Table 6 Elements of Cost of Farm Production 176
Farmers, Climate Change and People Centric Disaster

Management in India
Table 1 Farmers in India, 2016 186

Management in India
Table 1 The top 3 states in India with maximum loss due to
disasters are listed year-wise 206
Table 2 Tables showing impact of drought and floods on animals 207
Table 3 Area, human and livestock population in drought prone
states of India 208
Table 4 Area, human and livestock population in flood prone states
of India 209
Managing Organic Agriculture: Case of Badulla and

Ratnapura Districts in Sri Lanka
Table 1 Socio-economic characteristics of farmers (n = 300) 224
Table 2 Levels of knowledge of respondents on organic agriculture
(n = 300) 225
Table 3 Farmers’ attitude towards organic agriculture (n = 300) 226
Table 4 Different potential for organic agriculture in the two
districts (n = 300) 229
Table 5 Different constraints for organic agriculture (n = 300) 230
LIST OF TABLES xxiii
Healthcare Utilization Pattern in Sri Lanka; Evidence from

Household Survey
Table 1 Distribution of the sample by treatment sector 239
Table 2 Population, population density and service factors by
province 242
Table 3 Descriptive statistics of the sample 244
Table 4 Output of the Multinomial Logit model 245
Environmental Governance for Resilience & SDGs

Table 1 Modern environmental-policy instruments and their role in
DRR 261
Table 2 National Disaster Management Guidelines (India) and
environmental concerns 271
Covid-19 Pandemic and the Future of SDGs

Table 1 A comparative progression of Covid-19 and performance
towards containment 287
Table 2 Ageing population and Covid-19 deaths 293
Table 3 Tests per thousand in the Covid-19 affected developed and
developing South Asian countries on four dates of India’s
lockdown 306
Introduction: Disaster Management
for the 2030—Agenda for SDG Disasters
and Challenge of Achieving SDGs
V. K. Malhotra
Disasters Threaten Sustainability

The Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) aspire to make develop-
ment accessible to the largest number of people for the longest period of
time. This projects and reinvents the @@Bruntland Commission vision of
uniting countries to pursue sustainable development into a set of achiev-
able goals. The vision was produced as a famous report of the World
Commission on Environment and Development called ‘Our Common
Future’ or the ‘Brundtland Report’ of 1987. A threefold objective which
underlie the vision can be identified as a reconciliation of economic
growth with environmental protection and issues of intra-generational
equity and justice. Poverty reduction continues to remain at the top of
the agenda even in the SDGs priority. The 17 goals were declared by
the United Nations General assembly in 2015 and are envisioned to
be achieved by the year 2030 which is why they are called as Agenda
2030. These goals are intertwined and integrated to achieve a holistic
V. K. Malhotra (B)
Indian Council of Social Science Research (ICSSR), New Delhi, Delhi, India
© The Author(s) 2020 1

V. K. Malhotra et al. (eds.), Disaster Management for 2030
Agenda of the SDG, Disaster Research and Management
Series on the Global South,
https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-15-4324-1_1
2 V. K. MALHOTRA
progress and continue to stay as a fabric of human development which

governments ought to work towards.1
Each goal has some targets which have measurable indicators. The
groundwork was already set with the Millennium Development Goals
(2000–2015) taking the world to a halfway mark by lifting out more
than one billion people from extreme poverty and hunger. SDGs are
expected to complete the job. The SDG goals have been picked up from
the United Nations Conference on Sustainable Development (UNCSD),
which is also known as Rio+20 Conference, held in Rio (Brazil) in 2012.
The idea was proposed by Colombia. It was accepted as a “blueprint to
achieve a better and more sustainable future for all”. However, unlike
the UNCSD or the MDGs, SDGs have travelled further to alert develop-
mental experts that lack of preparedness during disasters and catastrophes
can obstruct, delay and even destroy the hard earned development.
International development agenda has been very actively led by the
United Nations since its inception in 1945. Till the last decade of the
twentieth century, the approach towards various developmental goals
has been disjointed and duplicative as the major UN agencies were
addressing their own specialized areas pertaining to different dimen-
sions of development such as health, children, culture, environment, etc.
within the ambit of socio, economic, political and environmental devel-
opment. The Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) for the first time
set an agenda for convergence of these developmental goals from 2000
to 2015. The MDGs had set eight goals which included eradication of
extreme poverty and hunger, promoting gender equality, achievement of
universal primary education, reduction in child mortality, improvement in
maternal health, fighting HIV/AIDS, malaria and other deadly diseases,
ensuring environmental sustainability and developing global partnership
for development.
The SDGs have followed a very extensive and rigorous process of
consultation in identification of 17 goals, 169 targets and a larger number
of indicators while MDGs had 8 goals, 21 targets and 63 indicators.
MDGs had their focus on developing countries while the grant was
supported by developed countries but in SDGs, all countries are under-
stood to work together. A number of new goals and interrelated targets
have been added some of which include clean water and sanitation,
affordable and clean energy, decent work, industry, innovation and infras-
tructure, sustainable cities and communities, responsible consumption
and production, life below water, life on land, peace, justice and strong
INTRODUCTION: DISASTER MANAGEMENT FOR THE 2030 … 3
institutions, and partnerships for the goals. MDGs had a time span of
25 years while 2012 was adopted as the year for data baseline. Later
revisions in these baselines caused ‘shifting of the goal post’. SDGs have
accepted Civil Society Organisations as key actors in achieving these goals.
These also talk of building vivid partnerships with private sector. In this
way continuing the legacy of the MDGs, the SDGs intend to put the
world facing the imperative environmental, political and economic chal-
lenges onto a more sustainable path. It is a kind of universal call to end
poverty, protect the planet and ensure that all people enjoy peace and
prosperity by 2030. All SDGs are integrated in a manner that positive
and good outcomes in one area would influence encouraging outcomes
in other developmental extents. The pledge ‘To Leave No One Behind’
has potentials to trigger fast track progress.
Disasters and SDGs

There is no denying the fact that disasters cause immense suffering,
destitution and economic losses. Disasters are the most unwanted, uncon-
trollable and unplanned public calamity which easily hold back economy
and prosperity. The world has already lost USD 3 Trillion between 1998
and 2017 (World Disasters Report 2015) and climate change-related
disasters have risen by a phenomenal 151%. The International Feder-
ation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC) has defined
disaster as ‘a sudden, calamitous event that seriously disrupts the func-
tioning of a community or society and causes human, material, and
economic or environmental losses that exceed the community’s or soci-
ety’s ability to cope using its own resources. Though often caused by
nature, disasters can have human origins’.2 Disasters can be natural or
human made or there can be complex disasters having various root
causes. Earthquakes, landslides, avalanches, floods, hurricanes, tsunamis,
cyclones, tornados, volcanic eruptions, lighting strikes, etc. fall under
natural disasters. Some of the human made disasters include fires, big
accidents, industrial accidents, hazardous material spills, terrorist attacks,
nuclear explosion or radiation, stampedes, etc. some experts differen-
tiate between predictable and unpredictable natural happenings. Warfare,
famine, severe food shortage and civil disturbances are some examples of
complex disasters.
Since disasters cause greater destruction to more vulnerable commu-
nities, which is why relatively less developed countries suffer much more
4 V. K. MALHOTRA
due to disasters than the developed ones because the extent of suffering
depends on the preparedness and capacity of the system in a country.
According to World Bank Disaster Risk Management, developing coun-
tries suffer more due to disasters as their losses due to natural hazards are
20 times more than developed countries. More than 95% of deaths caused
by natural hazards occur in developing countries (Luis Flores Balles-
teros, ‘Who is getting the worst of disasters?’ 2008). Disasters have their
very long-lasting effects on lives, livelihoods, economic and infrastruc-
tural loss and environmental loss. All these losses result in causing serious
damages to socio-economic stratum and social institutions. They also
interrupt electricity supply, water supply, garbage removal, and transport
and communication facilities.
Vulnerability depends on conditions and system of a community
such as design and construction of buildings, safeguarding of assets,
public awareness and information system, infrastructure and equipment
for prediction of natural disasters, preparedness and sincere concern for
environment during the development process.
The losses caused by disasters include both quantifiable losses and
unquantifiable losses. These may be direct quantifiable losses such as
number of people killed, and damage to infrastructure, buildings, roads
and natural resources. Indirect quantifiable losses include fall in output,
revenues, slowdown of developmental activities, disruptions in movement
of goods & services. Economic losses from natural disasters are estimated
at US $250–300 billion each year and these losses are further expected
to escalate and accordingly, countries have been advised to set aside this
much to meet disaster economic losses (UNISDR 2015).
The unquantifiable losses are also called ‘intangible losses’. There are
many losses that are difficult to quantify such as destruction of histor-
ical and cultural sites by disaster as even replacement or renovation cost
may not be able to bring the site back to its glory or historical & cultural
value. Psychological loss may be reflected by post-disaster traumatic stress,
anxiety and mental disorder. Environmental impact could be in the form
of uprooting of trees, deterioration in quality of soil, contamination of
water, salt water intrusion, etc. most of the times, esp. in case of devel-
oping countries, unquantifiable losses surpass quantifiable or direct losses
(GFDRR 2014). The death toll of several deadliest disasters has been in
millions, Chinese flood of 1931, Chinese famine from 1958 to 1961,
Chinese famine 1907–1911, Chinese famine of 1942–1943, and Bengal
famine of 1943 are a few examples from twentieth century.
There are some losses that are understood very quickly and in those
cases the remedial action starts speedily but many losses are appreciated
much after the disaster when mitigation work has largely been under-
taken. Such cases need sustainability in disaster management which relates
to organization and management of means and accountability for dealing
with disaster-related emergencies which include preparedness, response
and recovery to mitigate the losses caused by disasters (The Red Cross and
Red Crescent societies, IFRC). As per Disaster Management Act, 2005,
this management entails continuous and integrated practice of planning,
organizing and implementing measures for prevention of disaster, mitiga-
tion of risk, capacity building, preparedness to deal with such situations,
assessment of magnitude of loss, evacuation, rescue and relief work, and
rehabilitation and reconstruction. It also requires to build a good network
with local, regional, national and international organizations.
Disaster risk management cuts across different sectors of develop-
ment and of the 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), 10 are
related to disaster risk management (reduction). These include Goal 1
(End poverty), Goal 2 (End hunger), Goal 3 (Ensure healthy life), Goal
4 (Ensure inclusive and equitable quality education), Goal 6 (Ensure
availability of water and sanitation), Goal 9 (Build resilient infrastruc-
ture), Goal 11 (Make cities and human settlements inclusive, safe and
sustainable), 13 (take urgent action to combat climate change), Goal
14 (Conserve oceans, seas and marine resources for sustainable devel-
opment) and Goal 15 (Protect and promote terrestrial ecosystems and
environment).
In this way, these SDGHs intend to build resilience of the poor and
vulnerable sections in extreme situations caused by disasters.
According to the United Nations’ Report (October 2015), the Asia-
Pacific region is the most disaster prone part of the world. From 2005
to 2015, this region has been struck by 1625 disasters which is 40% of
the global figure and more than 1.4 billion people have been affected by
these disasters. 90% of the world’s seismic activity originates in the ‘ring
of fire’ situated in the basin of the Pacific Ocean (the United Nations
Asia-Pacific Disaster Report 2015).
The disaster outline of South Asia ranks very high due to rising sea
levels, increasing incidences of floods, droughts, cyclones, storms, earth-
quakes and tsunamis. Globally the areas of disaster concentration include
Central America, Japan, Pacific, South Asia and South Africa. Within
6 V. K. MALHOTRA
South Asia, Bangladesh and Nepal constitute the most exposed coun-
tries. South Asian countries remain the worst affected as they suffer from
high degree of geo-physical and socio-economic vulnerability and poor
preparedness and risk management. Poverty, population, high density of
population, inferior infrastructure, low capacity to respond to the extreme
situations, haphazard urbanization and development, social instability,
corruption, deficient planning, etc. together make this region very soft
target for severe destruction and damages of disasters.
Indian Context
Around 60% of the total landmass in India is prone to earthquakes of
moderate to high intensity, about 12% to floods, more than 60% of total
area to droughts, and approximately two-thirds of India’s total coastline
to tsunamis. Besides that India is also prone to human caused chemical,
biological, radiological and nuclear disasters which may get aggravated
due to uncontrolled population, high density of population, unplanned
cities, haphazard urbanization, etc. Due to India’s susceptibility to natural
hazards and human caused hazards makes it vulnerable to various kinds
of disaster destruction and losses. Since vulnerability is determined by
the magnitude and intensity of exposure and preparedness to respond
to such situations, the above mentioned reasons of geological volatility,
large population, lack of adequate infrastructure and low coping capacity
make India exposed to more disaster threats and losses.
There cannot be two opinions that disaster management is intricately
linked to sustainable development. Since the 12th Five Year Plan (2012–
2017), inclusive and sustainable development have been in focus of the
development strategy. India’s efforts to manage disasters have included
Disaster Management Act 2005, establishment of National Disaster
Management Authority (NDMA) in December 2005. It coordinates with
State Disaster Management Authority (SDMA) and Disaster Manage-
ment Authority at district level to ensure suitable response to natural and
human-caused disasters, building of capacity for disaster resilience and
creation of the National Disaster Response Force for specialist response to
an intimidating disaster. In this way, four vital concerns, namely, growth
and development, high degree of disaster vulnerability, a matching degree
of capacity for disaster management and achievement of sustainable devel-
opment, have to be considered together. In this way, the relationship
between sustainable development goals and disaster management is that
of mutual benefit and reinforcement.
Conclusion
SDGs and Disaster risk, resilience and management issues have drawn
the attention of academicians, policy makers and administrators. There
are number of aspects that need to be studied from different angles.
Even academicians and scholars need to probe into possible vital dimen-
sions of the disasters. It is an area where unidisciplinary researches may
fall substantially short of serving the purpose as they may not address
all possible dimensions of the problem. So, interdisciplinary and trans-
disciplinary researches could provide better insights into the problem
of disaster. Interdisciplinary and trans-disciplinary researches propose a
deal of scope for collaboration at national and international levels which
has potential to make research in the area much more productive and
impactful as they broaden our outlook about the whole problem.
It is in this context, this work, which consists of 16 papers, exposes
us to different important dimensions of disasters and their management
while aspiring to achieve the agenda of sustainable development goals
by 2030. SDGs have given a new hope to the world as countries start
working towards retaining their much achieved goals. However, chal-
lenges continue to weaken SDGs and global economy. It is this argument
on SDGs which has been carried through the book and chapters continue
to insist upon preparedness against disasters.
Notes
1. The Sustainable Development Goals Report 2019, United Nations, New
York available at https://unstats.un.org/sdgs/report/2019/The-Sustai
nable-Development-Goals-Report-2019.pdf.
2. World Disasters Report 2015 available at https://www.ifrc.org/en/what-
we-do/disaster-management/about-disasters/what-is-a-disaster/.
Concerns Around Law and Governance
Disaster Management and Sustainable
Development in the Asia and Pacific Region:
Engendering the Strategies of the SDGs
Usha Tandon and Amrendra Kumar
Introduction
Sustainable development and human welfare are intimately related with
the natural environment. Normally, environment supports the life and
livelihood of the human being in line with sustainable development for
human welfare. But, at times it turns into disasters or hazards harming
plant, people and property. Natural disasters occur rapidly, instantaneously
and indiscriminately and wipe out the years of development in a few
minutes. Specially, climate change has been considered one of the sustain-
able development challenges because of its ill-effects not only on the
environment, but also on economic and social development across the
Invited Paper for International Conference on Governance for Sustainable

Development, organized by University of Sri Jayewardenepura, Sri Lanka, 6–7
October, 2018 at Colombo.
U. Tandon (B)
Campus Law Centre, Faculty of Law, University of Delhi, New Delhi, India
A. Kumar
Law Centre-II, Faculty of Law, University of Delhi, New Delhi, India
© The Author(s) 2020 11

V. K. Malhotra et al. (eds.), Disaster Management for 2030
Agenda of the SDG, Disaster Research and Management
Series on the Global South,
https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-15-4324-1_2
12 U. TANDON AND A. KUMAR
regions and generations.1 The ill-effect of climate change subsequently

turns into natural disasters such as flood, earthquakes, cyclone, tsunamis
and landslides which leave behind major and reoccurring impacts on
human life.2 This has been witnessed among varied generations, occu-
pations, nations and regions including the most disaster prone areas such
as the Asia and Pacific region of the world. The disaster adversely and
indiscriminately affects the lives of both men and women across the gener-
ations, but ‘women are specially found more victims during and after
the disasters due to existing inequalities and disparities in the society’.3
Natural disasters have been witnessed and considered ‘more fatal to the
women than men impinging upon the sensitive issues such as sexuality,
equality, occupations, migration, rehabilitation and recovery’.4
Against this background, this research paper aims to examine the
norms and practices in disaster management and sustainable development
implying the feminist perspective. It highlights the vulnerability of women
in disaster management in sustainable development especially in the Asia
and Pacific regions. Accordingly, the paper has been divided into five
parts including introduction and conclusion. The paper first of all begins
with an introduction explaining the disaster and natural hazards impacting
human life, highlighting the status of women during and after the disaster
in the Asia and Pacific region. The next part deals with international
instruments, documents and resolutions relating to the concept of disaster
management in the context of sustainable development. The third part
contains the trends and occurrence of disasters that have taken place in the
Asia and Pacific region in the last two decades. The fourth part highlights
the women’s vulnerability in disasters and during disaster management
and explains the need for the feminist dimensions of disaster manage-
ment. Finally, the paper concludes by putting suggestions for the proper
implementation of gender parity and equality in disaster management and
sustainable development taking into account the SDGs.
International Legal Regime

Sustainable development primarily confronts the problems of widespread
environmental degradation and disaster occurrence posing a profound
threat to human beings of both present and future generations.5 Disaster
has been considered as ‘those extreme events either natural or anthro-
pogenic which exceed the tolerable magnitude or beyond certain time
limits, make adjustments difficult, result in catastrophic loss of property,
DISASTER MANAGEMENT AND SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT … 13
income, likelihood and life of people’.6 It has been noted that ‘disas-
ters happen due to a set of physical, political, social and economic factors
that determines the amount of damage done by the hazards and also the
capacity to anticipate, cope, resist and recover from the damages’.7 There-
fore, disaster management and sustainable development is the demand for
human welfare and environment sustainability.
Disaster management has assumed great significance due to frequent
occurrence of natural as well as anthropocentric disasters across the
regions in the world. In this context, ‘disaster management has been
considered a set of disciplines and directions to avoid and reduce the
risk of the disaster and subsequently manage the impact and recovery
after the disaster’.8 It includes the efforts of preparedness, response
and recovery in order to mitigate and manage the impact of disasters.
It is generally divided into two phases: pre-disaster preparedness; and
post-disaster relief, rehabilitation and recovery. ‘The approach to sustain-
able recovery and sustainable development is embedded with the idea
of disaster management, where the redevelopment and reconstruction
process is adequately designed to reduce the impact of disasters’.9 It has
been observed that ‘any development can only be made sustainable if the
component of disaster risk reduction is taken care in the plan and process
of development’.10
In view of this, disaster management and sustainable development have
gained importance in various national and international negotiations in
recent times.
1985: Declaration of International Decade for Natural Disaster

Reduction
The international community has also placed disaster risk reduction and
management at the heart of sustainable development. The initial afford
to build international consensus for disaster risk reduction began in the
year 1985 with the UN Declaration of ‘International Decade for Natural
Disaster Reduction, 1990-99’.11 UN General Assembly through its Reso-
lution set its aim to ‘reduce through concerted integrated action especially
in developing countries, the loss of life, property damage and social and
economic disruption caused by natural disasters such as earthquakes,
winds, tsunamis, floods, landslides, volcano eruptions, wild fires, local
infestation, drought and desertification and other causalities of natural
origin’.12
1994: World Conference on Natural Disaster Reduction

In the year 1994, the first ‘UN World Conference on Natural Disaster
Reduction’ was held in Yokohama, Japan, which specifically promoted
the disaster risk reduction and the social aspects of vulnerability towards
disasters.13 The ‘Yokohama Strategy and Action Plan for Safer World’
was adopted stating that ‘disaster prevention and preparedness should be
considered integral aspects of developmental policy and planning’.14
1999: International Strategy for Disaster Reduction

Subsequently, the ‘International Strategy for Disaster Reduction (ISDR)’
in the year 1999 was launched by the Economic and Social Council for
the coordination in disaster reduction and to ensure synergies among the
disaster reduction activities of the UN system.15 Besides, the ‘Johannes-
burg Plan of Action on Sustainable Development, 2002’ was also adopted
with an objective for integrating and mainstreaming risk reduction into
development policies and processes.16
2002: World Summit on Sustainable Development

Then, World Summit on Sustainable Development (WSSD) noted that
‘An integrated and inclusive approach to address vulnerability, risk
assessment and disaster management including prevention, mitigation,
preparedness, response and recovery, is the essential element of a safer
world in the twenty first century’.17 This Summit provided the oppor-
tunity to integrate disaster reduction in the agenda of sustainable
development, and promoted the multi-hazard approach to reduce risk
and vulnerability within the context of sustainable development. It was
concluded with two major actions: first, ‘the political statement adopted
identifying ‘natural disaster’ as a sever threat to sustainable develop-
ment and requiring priority attention’18 ; secondly, ‘the comprehensive
implementation plan that includes commitment related to disaster and
vulnerability reduction and improved preparedness capacity’.19 After that,
disaster reduction and management has emerged as a core element of
sustainable development.
2005: World Conference on Disaster Reduction

The most important international effort was made through the ‘World
Conference on Disaster Reduction’ held in the year 2005 at Kobe,
Hyogo, Japan, which adopted ‘Hyogo Framework for Action, 2005-
2015: Building the Resilience of Nations and Communities in Disas-
ters’.20 The expected outcome for ten years was set as ‘the substantial
reduction of disaster losses in lives and in the social, economic and envi-
ronmental assets of communities and countries’.21 This outcome had
to be achieved with full commitment and involvement of all actions
concerned including national governments, regional and international
organizations. The strategic goals were adopted to attain those outcomes
as such: ‘a) Affective integration of disaster risk consideration into sustain-
able development policies, planning and programming at all levels, with
special emphasis on disaster prevention, mitigation, preparedness, and
vulnerability reduction; b) Development and strengthening of institu-
tions, mechanisms and capacities at all levels in particular community
levels; c) Systematic incorporation of risk reduction approaches in policies
and implementation of emergency preparedness, response and recovery
program in the reconstruction of affected communities’.22 Along with
these, there have been adopted five priorities for action: ‘i) Ensure that
disaster risk reduction is a natural and a local priority with a strong
institutional basis for implementation; ii) Identify, assess and monitor
disaster risk and enhance early warming; iii) Use knowledge, immolation
and education to build a culture of safely and resilience at all levels; iv)
Reduce the underlying risk factors; v) Strengthen disaster preparedness
for affective response at all levels’.23
2000: Millennium Development Goals (MDGs)

Another development in this sphere was the UN Millennium Declaration
in the year 2000 accompanying eight Millennium Development Goals
(MDGs) and eighteen targets measured by forty-eight specific indicators
to improve the health and education along with eradication of poverty
for the overall development.24 Each of these goal had specific targets as
well as the date to achieve by the member countries as such: ‘i) to erad-
icate poverty everywhere, ii) to achieve universal primary education; iii
to promote gender equality; iv) to reduce child mortality; v) to improve
mental health; vi) to combat HIV/AIDS and other disease, vii) to ensure
environmental sustainability; viii) to develop a global partnership for
dependent’.25
2015: Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)

After several reviews of the progresses made on MDGs, it was further
replaced with Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) in the year 2015.
The SDGs were adopted by UN General Assembly under ‘2030 Devel-
opment Agenda’ titled as ‘Transforming Our World: The 2030 Agenda
for Sustainable Development’ which consists of 17 goals and associ-
ated 169 targets.26 All those targets have one to three indications to
be used as measure for the progress made to reach the targets. Among
those, the most relevant targets in the context of disaster risk reduc-
tion and recovery are: poverty, hunger, health, education, gender equality,
clear water and sanitation, sustainable cities and communities and climate
actions. All such goals and targets have to be achieved at national, regional
and international levels involving all the stakeholder and partnerships till
the end of the year 2030. It also recognizes and reaffirms ‘the urgent
need to reduce the risk of disasters by making note to the third World
Conference on Risk Reduction and Sundial Framework’.27 This reference
represents a significant step forward in the global development frame-
work which was overlooked in the formulation of MDGs. During the
period of the Millennium Development Goals, the primary approach was
to protect development gains from disasters; on the other hand, Sustain-
able Development Goals incorporate the disaster risk reduction in the
policy agenda such as poverty eradication, food security, infrastructure
and urban development including action for climate change. However,
disaster risk reduction and management has not been included as a specific
goal, but it is embedded in the existing SDGs mentioned above. The
SDGs have also been supported through ‘Addis Ababa Action Agenda’
adopted in the third ‘International Conference on Financing for Devel-
opment’, held in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia in the year 2015, for mobilizing
financial and technical support to implement 2030 Agenda on sustainable
Development including SDGs for the period 2016–2030.28 The resilience
has been considered in the context of economic resilience of countries for
absorbing the shock of disasters and financial resilience for mobilizing
resources for sustainable development goals.
2015: World Conference on Disaster Risk Reduction

The first specific agreement on disaster risk reduction is ‘Sendai Frame-
work for Disaster Risk Reduction 2015-2030’ endorsed by the UN
General Assembly after the adoption in the third ‘UN World Conference
on Disaster Risk Reduction’ held at Sendai City, Japan in 2015.29 This
Sendai Framework is a non-binding agreement consisting of seven targets
and four priorities for action. The member state has the primary role
to reduce disaster risk in consonance with the outcome: ‘The substan-
tial reduction of disaster risk and losses in lives, livelihoods and health
and in the economic, physical, social, cultural and environmental assets of
persons, businesses, communities and countries’.30 In pursuance of this
expected outcome, the member states are required to ‘prevent new and
reduce existing disaster risk through the implementation of integrated and
inclusive economic, structural, legal, social, health, cultural, educational,
environmental, technological, political and institutional measures that
prevent and reduce hazard expansion and vulnerability to disaster, increase
preparedness for response and recovery and thus strengthen resilience’.31
To achieve the outcome and goals of the present framework, the seven
global targets have been adopted: ‘to reduce: i) disaster mortality: ii) the
number of affected people globally; iii) direct disaster economic loss; iv)
disaster damage to critical infrastructure and disruption of basic services;
and to increase: v) number of countries with DRR strategies; vi) inter-
national cooperation to developing countries; and vii) the availability of
and access to multi-hazard early warning system and risk information’.32
The member states also felt the need for focused actions within and
across the nations in four priority areas: ‘i) understanding disaster risk;
ii) strengthening disaster risk governance; iii) Investing in disaster risk
reduction for resilience; and iv) enhancing disaster preparedness for affec-
tive response’.33 Further, the United Nations Office for Disaster Risk
Reduction has been assigned to support the implementation, follow-up
and review of the Sendai Framework.
2015: The Paris Agreement

Besides, the global climate change regime through Paris Agreement, 2015
also stressed ‘the importance of building resilience by enabling commu-
nities to adapt and build back better from devastating impacts of disasters
and climate change’.34 It has been proposed to promote more inte-
grated approach to adaptation, environmental management, sustainable
development and disaster risk reduction. It stresses ‘the enhancement of
international cooperation to increase the understanding of comprehensive
risk management, and to strengthen the national disaster loss database
and risk analysis’.35 This could help in building adaptation capacity and
reducing vulnerability to the adverse effects of climate-related disasters.
2016: Quito Declaration on Sustainable Cities and Human

Settlements for All
Further, ‘Quito Deceleration on Sustainable Cities and Human Settle-
ments for All’ was adopted by UN General Assembly on 23 December
2016, which also noted the concerns of disaster risk reduction and
management taking full account of Sendai Framework for Disaster risk
reduction 2015–2030.36 It includes in its vision that ‘we envisage cities
and human settlement that adopt and implement disaster risk reduction
and management, reduce vulnerability, build resilience and responsiveness
to natural and human made hazards and foster mitigation and adap-
tation to climate change’.37 Besides, member states resolved to adopt
‘New Urban Agenda’ that will readdress the planning and management
of cities and human settlement as essential element to the achievement of
sustainable development and prosperity for all.38
2016: Agenda for Humanity

In the same year, ‘Agenda for Humanity’ was adopted in World Human-
itarian Summit held in Istanbul, Turkey in May 2016.39 This consists of
five core responsibilities and twenty tour transformations to address and
reduce humanitarian need, risk and vulnerability during disasters. Among
the five core responsibilities, some are quite relevant to the disaster
risk reduction and management such as: ‘i) Leave no one behind; ii)
Work differently to end need; iii) Invest in humanity’.40 All these core
responsibilities are underpinned by a number of strategic and normative
transformations which outline the actions necessary in order to fulfil it.
The above international instruments, documents and resolutions
relating to disaster risk reduction and sustainable development promote
and support the efforts to reduce vulnerability, build resilience and
responsiveness for both natural and human-made disasters.
Disaster Management and Sustainable

Development in the Asia and Pacific Region
Extent and Trends of Disasters in the Asia and Pacific Region
The Asia and Pacific region encompasses a vast geographical area touching
different continents and climate zones. It ranges from Russia in the north,
Australia and New Zealand in the south, Turkey in the west, to Japan
and the Pacific nations in the east. Among the countries of the Asia
and Pacific region, some have a high level of exposure to the impact
of one or more natural disasters, but low level of coping capacities to
manage it. It has been reported that ‘Asia and Pacific nations have 60
percent of the world’s population and 40 percent of the land mass as
well as 36 percent of the global GDP’.41 The people living in the Asia
and Pacific region are much more likely to be affected by natural disas-
ters. It has also been noted that ‘Since year 1970, natural disasters in
Asia and pacific have killed two million people contributing 57 percent
of global deaths and affected five times more than a person living outside
the region. Disasters also caused large scale damage to the property and
infrastructure worth up to $ 1.3 trillion’.42 In recent years also, there
has been a huge loss of life in this region through flood which caused
heavy deaths in Bangladesh, China, India, Nepal, Pakistan and Sri Lanka.
The drought has also affected millions of persons primarily in China and
Cambodia including Indonesia, Vietnam and Pacific Island nations. The
cyclones and tsunamis have immensely and severely caused loss to life
and property mostly in Asian and Pacific nations. The most popular and
fatal disasters in this regions were: Pakistan Floods, 2011; Philippines’
Typhoons ‘Hiyan’, 2013; Nepal Earthquakes, 2015; Vanuatu Cyclone
‘Pane’, 2015; Fiji Cyclone ‘Winster’, 2016.
By the subregion wise recent trends from the year 2000, it has been
found that ‘East and North East Asia sub-region has been affected by
the natural disasters affecting 1.67 billion persons and half of them were
due to flood and tsunamis’.43 In the year 2016 itself, ‘this sub-region has
reported 1,900 fatalities, 14 million person were affected and worth $
65 million damages to the property’.44 The South East Asia subregion
has had 362 billion deaths and 259 million affected largely from earth-
quakes, storms and floods since the year 2000. In the year 2016, ‘this
sub-region lost more than 700 lives from natural disasters, and nearly 12
million persons were affected, with damage of the property worth $ 2.1
billion’.45 In South and South West Asia, there have been reported ‘more
than 2 million disaster deaths mostly by the earthquakes and around 1.19
billion persons were affected from the natural disasters and estimated
damage caused was $ 4 billion during the period 2000-2016’.46 In the
year 2016 alone, ‘this sub-region has lost 2,300 lives from 42 natural
disasters with $ 4.85 billion in damage to the property’.47 In North
and Central Asia during the period 2000-2016, ‘disasters caused close
to 60,000 death and more than 13 million persons were affected with
$ 9.8 billion estimated damage by floods, drought and earthquakes’.48

The Pacific region alone reported that ‘over 2,300 fatalities from various
hazards mostly from tropical cyclones, floods and earthquakes during the
period 2000-2016. The year 2016 proved to be most fatal for this region
where around 490,000 persons suffered from tropical cyclones, drought
and earthquakes with estimated damage of $ 5.2 billion’.49
This trends and events have harmed the region’s economic growth,
human capital and environmental services on a large scale. The estimated
damage fluctuates from year to year according to the nature and extent
of natural disasters, but the trends clearly show that disaster causes more
damage in the Asia and Pacific region compared to the rest of the world.50
Therefore, disaster management and resilience has been considered an
urgent need for this region which would depend on the international
and regional efforts and cooperation. Most of the international disaster
and development framework have called for international cooperation for
disaster management and sustainable development because of the trans-
boundary effects and implications. The Sendai Framework on Disaster
Risk Reduction, 2015 clearly says that ‘Each state has the primary respon-
sibility to prevent and reduce disaster risk through international regional,
subregional, trans-boundary and bilateral cooperation’.51
Regional Implementation of Global Commitments

Initiatives have been taken in the Asia and Pacific region to translate the
global commitments into regional implementation plans:
i) ASEAN Declaration on Enhancing Cooperation in Disaster

Management, 2013 52 : The member countries have adopted a decla-
ration on institutionalizing the resilience among communities and
people from disaster and climate changes. The declaration under-
lines the importance of coherence, consistency and alignment across
all relevant sectors by integrating disasters risk management and
climate change adaptation in sectoral policies, strategies, plans,
programmes and projects.
ii) Regional Action Plan on Disaster Risk Reduction, 2015 53 : During
the Asian Ministerial Conference on Disaster Risk Reduction, the
regional action plan for the implementation of Sendai Framework
has been adopted. This regional plan provides broad policy guide-
lines, fifteen-year road map and two-year action plan for disaster
risk reduction in the Asian region. The Pacific nations similarly have
adopted ‘the Pacific Framework for Resilience Development’ which
called for an integrated approach to address climate change and
disaster risk management for the Pacific Island nations.54
iii) Regional Road Map for Implementing the 2030 Agenda for Sustain-
able Development in Asia and Pacific, 2017 55 : The member states
adopted a regional roadmap for the purpose of strengthening
regional cooperation, efficient and coordinated support to member
states and sharing knowledge and good practices more effectively.
The disaster risk reduction and resilience was identified as one of
the priority areas for regional cooperation through the Asia-Pacific
Forum on Sustainable Development.
Gender and Disaster Management

Understanding Feminist Perspective in Disaster
Disaster affects suddenly, severely and indiscriminately to human beings
across the generations and nations. Among the human beings, ‘women
are mostly at greater risk of suffering from disasters due to gender
incapability, inequality and inequity deep rooted in the community and
society’.56 It has been found that ‘gender relations among men and
women in community and society touch all sphere of life which is not
equal, equitable and favourable towards girls and women’.57 It has also
been considered that ‘gender relations depends upon gender identities, i.e.
a contribution of physical and behavioural characteristics which set apart
men and women; gender perceptions, i.e. view as to how they are differen-
tiated in their role as men and women; gender attitudes, i.e. action guided
by the perceptions; and gender status, i.e. the place occupied by men
and women in family, community and society’.58 Such gender relations
have evolved in such a way resulting in women occupying a subordinate
status within family, community and society having less power, role and
responsibility to effect the change and contribute to plan, process and
management in comparison to men. Hence, it is necessary to understand
the feminist perspective in disaster impact assessment, risk reduction,
immediate response and recovery, etc.
It has, further, been widely reported that ‘women belonging to
different social classes, races, ethnic and age groups are more vulnerable
than their male counterparts before, during and after the disasters’.59 Not
only this, gender inequalities and disparities are reported with respect to
the enjoyment of human rights, social and economic benefits, and expo-
sure to sexual and other forms of violence during the crisis, i.e. disasters.
During the chaos of the disaster situations, ‘when the family, commu-
nity and institutional security breaks down, generally prevailing gender
based disparities and inequalities surface to a greater degree putting them
more vulnerable at higher risks’.60 Certain gender-based factors have been
recognized which put girls and women at higher risk in disaster situ-
ations: ‘i) Limitation in mobility and social restrictions; ii) Less access
to warning information and capacity to respond; iii) Greater risk of
sexual violence and abuses; iv) Childbirth and pregnancy related factors;
v) Socially assigned role of caring the young, elderly and sick member
within the family’.61 The feminist perspective aims to highlight substan-
tial differences and experiences among men and women in their roles,
responsibilities and realities to deal with disaster before, during and its
aftermath.
Feminist Engagements with International Framework on Disaster

Management and Sustainable Development
The following pages identify the integration of feminist perspective with
the pre- and post-disaster management strategies. The Millennium Devel-
opment Goals (MDGs), 2000, inter alia provided for ‘the promotion
of gender equality and women empowerment’62 because social upheaval
associated with disaster can make women and girls more vulnerable to
injury and death due to hazard. Further, the Hyogo Framework for
Action 2005–15, in one of its priority for action reaffirms that ‘A gender
perspective should be integrated into all disaster risk management poli-
cies, plans and decision making processes, including those related to
risk assessment, early warning, information management and education
and training’.63 The Sendai Framework for Disaster Risk Reduction
(2015–2030) outlines the principle that ‘A gender, age, disability and
cultural perspective should be integrated in all policies and practices, and
women and youth leadership should be promoted’.64 Besides, it adds that
‘Empowering women to publicly lead and promote gender equality in
response, recovery, rehabilitation and reconstruction is necessary’.65 One
of its principles for the stakeholders has been directed to the member state
to take action for ‘women participation to effectively manage disaster risk
and designing, resourcing and implementing gender-sensitive disaster risk
reduction policies, plans and programs and adequate capacity building

measures need to be taken to empower women for preparedness and to
secure livelihood in post-disaster situation’.66
Mainstreaming of a feminist perspective in the implementation of the
2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development has been considered crucial
in promotion of sustainable developments. The SDGs in its fifth goal
intended to achieve gender equality and empowerment of all women and
girls.67 These SDGs tend to achieve the end of all forms of discrimination
and violence against all women everywhere even in disaster situations. It
also advocates ensuring women’s full and effective participation and equal
opportunities for leadership at all levels of decision-making in political,
economic and public life.68 The state should adopt and strengthen sound
policies and enforceable legislation for the promotions of gender equality
and the empowerment of all women and girls at all levels. Through
SDGs obligates to provide ‘universal access to safe, inclusive and acces-
sible free and public spaces in particular for women’.69 SDGs provide
for ‘the promotion of mechanism for raising capacity for effective climate
change related planning and management in least developed and Island
developing states including women etc’.70
Before this, in 1972, the United Nations Conference on the Human
Environment, in its Stockholm Declaration initially declared that ‘Indi-
viduals including women in all walks of life as well as organization in
many fields, by their values and the sum of their actions will shape the
world environment of the future’.71 Subsequently, the United Nations
Conference on Environment and Development, 1992 in its Rio Declara-
tion provided the principle that ‘Women have vital role in environmental
management and development. Their full participation is therefore essen-
tial to achieve sustainable development’.72 In its Agenda 21, there has
been a call for ‘global action for women towards sustainable and equi-
table development and asked for elimination of obstacle to women’s full
participation in sustainable development’.73
In this way, above-mentioned global development frameworks and
commitments call for the integration of gender perspective in the national
planning, strategies and process for disaster management and sustainable
development.
Grim Ground Reality

However, despite several international legal instruments demanding the
mainstreaming of feminist perspective in the law and policy, the result has
been found far from becoming a practice in disaster reduction, response
and management. The trends and events of disasters suggest the lack of
real commitment to adopt a feminist perspective, which has not changed
much in the intervening years. According to the Mid-term Review of
Hyogo Framework 2011, ‘six out of 62 countries have integrated the
women and children into disaster processes and only 20 percent of coun-
tries reported significant achievements integrating gender into disaster
risk management’.74 It further says that ‘only few countries have the
law for the participation of women in disaster planning and decision-
making. Most of the countries have yet to incorporate the role of women
in disaster management into national laws and policies. Moreover, where
countries have adopted disaster management laws, frameworks or policies
that are inclusive and gender sensitive, their implementation is lacking’.75
Not only this, ‘several countries have failed to establish mechanisms
to enable agencies, communities and local organizations to systemati-
cally incorporate successful gender sensitive approaches and practices into
realistic policy formulation’.76 The UNISAR Global Assessment Report,
2011 clearly noted that ‘gender is still not been adequately addressed in
disaster risk reductions’.77
During disaster-led emergency situations, ‘gender inequalities and
gender based violence have been witnessed in different times and occa-
sions’.78 There has been found enough evidence of both physical and
mental abuses to the women displaced, sheltered and rehabilitated during
and after the disasters around the world. ‘The lack of measures to give
adequate, appropriate or equitable access to resources and assistance to
women especially widows and elder women had been reported during
Indian Ocean Tsunami, 2004’.79 Further, ‘women’s specific needs such
as food, cloths, sanitary napkins, temporary housing, sleeping arrange-
ments, bathrooms, kitchens, lighting as well as security had been not
adequately managed in post-disasters recovery and reconstruction during
Bangladesh Flood, 2007’.80 Even, the compensations were given to the
men only considering them as the head of the household. For instance,
‘the women were not either compensated, or inadequately compensated
during rehabilitation in Pakistan Earthquake, 2005’.81
In the disaster-related camps and reception centres, ‘women frequently

became the victims of family violence due to frustration, fragmentation
and desperation held after the loss and damage to life and property’.82
Women were left in the disaster affected areas as widows by the family,
abandoned by the men for alternative life and separated forcefully by
the spouse to escape the responsibility. Besides, ‘women and girls are
forced to early/child marriage, domestic violence, transactional sex, traf-
ficking and sexual abuses in disaster situations’.83 For instances, ‘forced
marriage to tsunami widow took place in Sri Lanka after Tsunami in 2004;
child/early marriage in Bangladesh during Flood, 2007; survival sex with
older men after the earthquake in Malawi, 2011; women trafficking in
Nepal and Myanmar in post earthquake, 2014’.84 Not only this, ‘the
humanitarian and military personnel have also been found to have sexual
services from women, sometimes by force and coercion or by abusing
the power and position in exchange for essential food and goods during
disaster situations’.85
Conclusion
The above discussion reveals that disasters adversely and indiscriminately
affect the lives of both men and women across the generations, but
women are specially found more vulnerable during and after the disasters.
Thus, every disaster creates additional vulnerabilities for girls and women.
For instance, they become easy targets for abduction, human trafficking,
sexual abuse and violence, rape, unwanted pregnancies, sexual diseases,
psychological trauma, etc. In many situations, women are forced to stay in
very threatening situations and are continuously sexually harassed. Most
of the global and regional disaster and development frameworks such as
MDGs, SDGs, Hyogo Framework for Action and Sendai Framework for
Disaster Risk Management have considered the feminist perspective essen-
tial to achieve the ambitious sustainable development goals and targets
especially in the most disaster prone area in the Asia and Pacific region.
It is interesting to note that, although women are often more vulner-
able to disaster than men owing to existing patriarchal gender relations,
but they carry valuable knowledge and experiences in managing and
coping with disasters. Their strengths and capabilities have been found
exceptionally remarkable in the mitigation, adaptation and recovery in
the disasters situations.86 This has been reflected again and again in
rescue, recovery and reconstruction such as: ‘i) Women’s knowledge
about the arrangement of food, water and other basic needs in disaster
situations; ii) women’s skill and labour necessary to respond in demanding
disaster situations’.87 Hence, the equal and full participation of women
is needed to mitigate the hazards, reduce social vulnerabilities, rescue
and recover the economic loss and damages, and rebuilt sustainable, just
and disaster resilient society. The intergovernmental organizations and
national governmental bodies have recognized that ‘any positive achieve-
ment at local and global level cannot be attained without essential role
of the women in disaster management and sustainable development’.
International and national frameworks on disaster management have been
explained through the feminist perspective due to immense contribution
and responsibilities on the shoulder of the women.88 Along with other
international legal instruments, the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Devel-
opment and its Sustainable Development Goals have given imputes for
‘the enhancement of gender equality, women empowerment and women
participation in the disaster management and promotion of sustainable
development’.89
However, the global norms, goals and targets relating to the gender
sensitivity, equality and women participation have not been reflected in
the realties in the implementation at local, regional and international level
during disasters. Hence, vulnerability of women in disaster situations has
still been found greater than men. Since no positive achievement at local
and global level can be attained without gender sensitivity and essential
role of the women in disaster management in achieving SDGs, this paper
calls for the proper implementation of gender-sensitive commitments at
the international and regional level.
Notes
1. Usha Tandon (ed.), Climate Change: Law, Policy and Governance, 78
(Eastern Book Company, Lucknow, 2015); Pradip Kumar Parida, “Sus-
tainable Development and Climate Change: Options for India”, World
Focus (Climate Change), 116, Feb., 2014.
2. ErachBharucha, Textbook of Environmental Studies, 164 (UGC Univer-
sity Press, Hyderabad, 2013); Pranaya Kumar, “The Impact of Climate
Change on Livelihood and Food Security”, World Focus (Climate
Change), 82, Feb., 2014.
3. Elaine Euarson and P. Dhar Chakrabarti, Women, Gender and Disaster:
Global Issues and Initiatives, 18 (Sage, India, 2009); Anna Nath, “South
Another random document with
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No hint of this adventure reached Dr. Mitford, lest the shock should
make him worse, although, naturally enough, Miss Mitford would
gladly have told him, so shaken and unnerved was she. Weak and
ill, the brave and unselfish woman watched by her parent, tending
and nursing him, allowing no one to take the principal duties from
her; rarely sleeping, and then only when forced to do so from sheer
exhaustion, until at last, early on the morning of December 11, the
death of her father released her from the long vigil.
“All friends are kind and very soothing,” wrote the stricken woman
to Miss Barrett, “but not half so soothing as your sweet kindness, my
dearest. Oh! let me think of you as a most dear friend—almost a
daughter, for such you have been to me.... Everybody is so kind! The
principal farmers are striving who shall carry the coffin. Surely this is
not common—to an impoverished man—one long impoverished—
one whose successor is utterly powerless! This is disinterested, if
anything were so, and therefore very touching, very dear. Perhaps I
have shed more tears for the gratitude caused by this kindness and
other kindnesses than for the great, great grief! That seems to lock
up the fountain; this to unseal it. Bless you, my beloved, for all your
inimitable kindness! Oh! how he loved to bless you! He seldom
spoke the dear name without the benediction—‘Miss Barrett! dear
Miss Barrett! Heaven bless her!’ How often has he said that! I seem
to love the name the better for that recollection.... I am resigned—
indeed I am. I know that it is right, and that it is His will.”
The funeral was an imposing affair; “the chief gentry of the country
sent to request to follow his remains to the grave; the six principal
farmers of the parish begged to officiate as his bearers; they came in
new suits of mourning, and were so deeply affected that they could
hardly lift the coffin. Every house in our village street was shut up;
the highway was lined with farmers and tradesmen, in deep
mourning, on horseback and in phaetons, who followed the
procession; they again were followed by poor people on foot. The
church and churchyard were crowded, and the building resounded
with tears and sobs when the coffin was lowered into the vault. The
same scene recurred on the ensuing Sunday, when every creature in
the crowded congregation appeared in black to hear the sermon—
even the very poorest wearing some sign of the mourning that was
so truly felt.” This was, as may be easily inferred, Miss Mitford’s own
account of the proceedings, but, as Mr. H. F. Chorley pointed out in
his published volume of her letters, although one cannot doubt the
sincerity of the report, it was one “utterly baseless on anything like
fact, or the feelings of those who knew the whole story. Dr. Mitford
was tolerated because she was beloved. The respect paid to his
remains was not so much to them as to her.”
When all was over, there came the inevitable day of reckoning,
and Miss Mitford had to face an appalling list of debts accumulated
by her father’s extravagance, liabilities amounting to close upon
£1,000. The sum seems incredible in view of Miss Mitford’s earnings
and of the help which had been periodically obtained from William
Harness in addition to the State pension. How can such a condition
of affairs be accounted for? A clue is, we think, to be found in a letter
which Miss Mitford wrote to a friend some six months before her
father died. “At eighty, my father is privileged to dislike being put out
of his way in the smallest degree, as company always does, so that I
make it as unfrequent as possible, and the things that weigh upon
me are not an occasional bottle or two of port or claret or
champagne, but the keeping two horses instead of one, the turning
half a dozen people for months into the garden, which ought to be
cultivated by one person, and even the building—as I see he is now
meditating—a new carriage, when we have already two, but too
expensive. These are trials, when upon my sinking health and
overburdened strength lies the task of providing for them;—when, in
short, I have to provide for expenses over which I have no more
control than my own dog, Flush.... It is too late now for the slightest
hope of change; and his affection for me is so great, that to hint at
the subject would not only shock him, but perhaps endanger his
health.”
Thus, with a heritage of liabilities, Miss Mitford came back from her
father’s funeral to think out some scheme of personal effort which
would not only give her something upon which to exist but remove
the stigma attaching to her father’s name. When the true state of
affairs became public property her friends decided to raise a
subscription in the hope of clearing the whole amount. Nothing short
of complete satisfaction to all creditors would content Miss Mitford,
who determined that “everybody shall be paid, if I have to sell the
gown off my back, or pledge my little pension.”
The subscription project was taken up very heartily, appeals,
signed by many influential people, being printed in the Times and
Morning Chronicle, and by the following March nearly a thousand
pounds had been received, with a promise of further donations
amounting to some hundreds, the final idea of the promoters being
that not only should the debts be paid but that a goodly amount
should be handed over to Miss Mitford wherewith to make a fresh
start and to provide an annuity. Writing on the subject to Miss
Jephson, Miss Mitford intimated that the Queen was among the
subscribers, but desired that her name be not mentioned, “as she
gives from her private income, and fears being subjected to
solicitation (this adds to the compliment, as it proves it is not a matter
of form).” In addition to this there were contributions from many of
the nobility and notables in the literary and artistic world, thus
testifying to the great esteem in which Miss Mitford was held. It must
have been very gratifying to her to be thus remembered in this her
bitterest hour of need. Nor was this the only evidence of goodwill, for
many of the neighbouring gentry vied with each other in paying little
attentions to the lone woman, in offers of hospitality and in a hundred
small and unostentatious ways, which touched her deeply. “I never
before had an idea of my own popularity, and I have on two or three
occasions shed tears of pure thankfulness at reading the letters
which have been written to, or about, me.... I only pray God that I
may deserve half that has been said of me. So far as the truest and
humblest thankfulness may merit such kindness, I am, perhaps, not
wholly undeserving, for praise always makes me humble. I always
feel that I am over-valued; and such is, I suppose, its effect on every
mind not exceedingly vainglorious.”
Perhaps the most touching of the many kindnesses now showered
upon her was that of Mr. George Lovejoy, the famous bookseller of
Reading, who made her free of his large and very complete
circulating library and afforded her a most lavish supply of books.
The Library was founded in the year 1832 by Mr. Lovejoy and came
to be regarded as the finest of its kind in the Provinces. He was,
himself, a man of considerable learning and possessed amiable
characteristics which endeared him to all and sundry, especially to
the children, who were in the habit of appealing to him to solve any
problems which might be bothering their small heads, whilst he was
frequently besieged by them for pieces of string in the peg-top
season. And not only did the children consult him, for he gathered
about him quite a number of literary people to whom he was indeed
a counsellor and friend. His shop was the rendezvous for the County,
among the most frequent visitors being Charles Kingsley—Eversley
being but fourteen miles distant—and Miss Mitford, with any literary
friends who happened to be calling on her at the time. “In general we
can get any books we wish at the excellent Reading library
(Lovejoy’s); he, or I, have all you mention,” wrote Miss Mitford to a
friend who had suggested certain books for perusal.
Mr. George Lovejoy, Bookseller, of Reading.
“I have been too much spoiled,” she wrote later; “at this moment I
have eight sets of books belonging to Mr. Lovejoy. I have every
periodical within a week, and generally cut open every interesting
new publication—getting them literally the day before publication.”
The Lovejoy Library was noted from its earliest days for the very fine
collection of Foreign works which it contained, and this alone would
have made it invaluable to Miss Mitford, whose love for French and
Italian literature was remarkable.
Then, too, Mr. Lovejoy undertook little commissions for his friend
when she required anything obtained specially in London, getting his
London agents to enclose the goods in his book parcel and, when
received, despatching it by special messenger to the cottage at
Three Mile Cross. Throughout the letters he is frequently referred to
as “Dear Mr. Lovejoy,” or “My dear friend, Mr. Lovejoy. Nobody
certainly ever had such a friend as he is to me, and all his servants
and people are as kind as he is himself.”
So, with kind friends about her, Miss Mitford strove to forget her
sorrow and to devote herself once more to literary work.
Unfortunately, however, the cottage was once again showing itself
the worse for wear, and it was a question as to whether it should not
be given up in favour of some other habitation near at hand. It was at
length decided, at the suggestion of Mr. Blandy, of Reading—who
was at that time managing Miss Mitford’s affairs under instructions
from William Harness—that, if the rent could be adjusted to suit Miss
Mitford’s purse, the cottage should be renovated and she stay on.
This was all agreed to, and while the painters and decorators were in
possession, Miss Mitford departed to Bath for a fortnight’s holiday.
Returning somewhat unexpectedly, she found the workmen
dawdling and the maid, who had been left in charge, absent at the
theatre, a state of things which stirred her to great activity and
indignation, “and the scolding which I found it my duty to administer,
quite took the edge off my sadness.”
FOOTNOTES:
[29] Kerenhappuck, her companion.
CHAPTER XXVII
LOVE FOR CHILDREN AND LAST DAYS AT

THREE MILE CROSS
Love of little children was one of the noticeable characteristics of Dr.

Mitford’s life, and it was one in which his daughter shared. That she
entered most fully into the games and pursuits of the village
youngsters is evidenced in Our Village, where we obtain delightful
little portraits of Joe Kirby, Jack Rapley, Jem and Lizzie, which
sufficiently indicate the author’s knowledge of the child-mind, to say
nothing of those breezy, hilarious descriptions of the slide and the
cricket-match.
Shortly after Dr. Mitford’s death there came into her life a little boy
named Henry Taylor—frequently alluded to as “K——’s little boy” in
her letters, and as “little Henry” in the Recollections, but not to be
confounded with the “little Henry” of Our Village, who was a lad
sometimes hired by the Doctor for the performance of odd jobs.
Henry Taylor was born in Reading—the child of K——, Miss
Mitford’s companion and hemmer of flounces—and at the mistress’s
own request the boy was brought to live at her cottage when he was
just upon two years old. He came as a new and welcome interest
into her life and, while she petted and spoiled him, gave him wise
and tender counsel. “A little boy, called Henry,” she wrote of him in
her Recollections, “the child of the house (son, by the way, to the
hemmer of flounces), has watched my ways, and ministered
unbidden to my wants and fancies. Long before he could open the
outer door, before, indeed, he was half the height of the wand in
question” [her favourite walking-stick], “there he would stand, the
stick in one hand, and if it were summer time, a flower in the other,
waiting for my going out, the pretty Saxon boy, with his upright figure,
his golden hair, his eyes like two stars, and his bright, intelligent
smile! We were so used to see him there, silent and graceful as a
Queen’s page, that when he returned to school after the holidays,
and somebody else presented the stick and the rose, I hardly cared
to take them. It seemed as if something was wrong, I missed him so!
Most punctual of petted children!”
Whilst the child was at boarding-school in Reading, a rather
serious outbreak of smallpox in the town, and particularly in a house
adjoining the School, necessitated his being sent home to the
cottage without delay, though not, unfortunately, in time to prevent
his being infected. He was extremely ill and his life, at times,
despaired of, the mother and Miss Mitford taking it by turns to watch
over and nurse him. In the Recollections there is a most touching
reference to this incident, which proves how strong was Miss
Mitford’s affection for the child, how much a mother’s heart was hers.
Quoting from Leigh Hunt’s poetry, she says:—“There is yet another
poem for which I must make room. Every mother knows these
pathetic stanzas. I shall never forget attempting to read them to my
faithful maid, whose fair-haired boy, her pet and mine, was then
recovering from a dangerous illness. I attempted to read these
verses, and did read as many as I could for the rising in the throat—
the hysterica passio of poor Lear—and as many as my auditor could
hear for her own sobs.” And then she quotes those beautiful verses:
—“To T. L. H., six years old, during a sickness.”
“Sleep breathes at last from out thee,

My little patient boy;
And balmy rest about thee—
Smooths off the day’s annoy.
I sit me down and think
Of all thy winning ways;
Yet almost wish with sudden shrink
That I had less to praise.
To say he has departed,
His voice, his face is gone!
To feel impatient-hearted
Yet feel we must bear on!
Ah, I could not endure
To whisper of such woe,
Unless I felt this sleep ensure
That it will not be so.”
“Little Henry” is one of the few survivors of those who knew Miss
Mitford intimately, and he has many tender memories of the kindly
woman who, as time went on, made him her constant companion
when she walked in the lanes and meadows in and about the
neighbourhood. Woodcock Lane, of which we have already made
mention, was among her favourite haunts, and thither she would
take her way, with little Henry and the dogs, and while she sat with
her writing-pad on her knee, would watch the eager child gathering
his posies of wild flowers. “Do not gather them all, Henry,” was one
of her regular injunctions on these occasions, “because some one
who has not so many pretty flowers at home as we have may come
this way and would like to gather some”; and sometimes she would
add, “remember not to take all the flowers from one root, for the plant
loves its flowers, and delights to feed and nourish them”—a pretty
fancy which the child-mind could understand and appreciate. “Never
repeat anything you hear which may cause pain or unhappiness to
others” was a precept which often fell from her lips when speaking to
the child and it was a lesson which he says he has never forgotten
and has always striven to live up to in a long and somewhat arduous
life spent here and abroad. Miss Mitford had a great and deep-
seated objection to Mrs. Beecher Stowe. It arose principally from
disapproval of certain derogatory statements about Lord Byron and
his matrimonial relations which Mrs. Stowe had expressed to friends
of Miss Mitford’s and which, after Miss Mitford’s death, were
published in the work entitled Lady Byron Vindicated. The reason for
this attitude of mind on Miss Mitford’s part is not difficult to
understand when we remember that her great friend, William
Harness, was among the earliest and dearest of Lord Byron’s
friends. Thus, when Uncle Tom’s Cabin was published in this
country, Miss Mitford refused to give any credence to the revelations
it contained, and in this connection it is interesting to record that it
was among the few books which she counselled the boy not to read.
The “House of Seven Gables,” a view on the road to Swallowfield.
For the children in the village she had ever a kind word and smile,
inquiring why they did this or that when playing their games, and
nothing delighted her more than to come upon a game of cricket
being played by the youngsters, for then she would watch the game
through, applauding vigorously and calling out encouraging remarks
to the players, all of whom referred to her as the “kind lady.”
During the year 1844 Queen Victoria paid an unofficial visit to the
Duke of Wellington at Strathfieldsaye, and Miss Mitford conceived
the idea that it would please the Queen to be greeted on the
roadside by the village children. With the co-operation of the farmers,
who lent their wagons, some two hundred and ninety children were
carried to a point near Swallowfield—some few miles from Three
Mile Cross along the Basingstoke Road—each carrying a flag
provided at Miss Mitford’s expense and by the industry of her maid,
Jane, who was very skilful at such work. The wagons were decked
out with laurels and bunting and made a very brave show when the
Queen, escorted by the Duke, passed by them. “We all returned—
carriages, wagons, bodyguard and all—to my house, where the
gentlefolk had sandwiches and cake and wine, and where the
children had each a bun as large as a soup-plate, made doubly nice
as well as doubly large, a glass of wine, and a mug of ale”—rather
advanced drinks for children, but probably thin enough to do no
harm. “Never was such harmless jollity! Not an accident! not a
squabble! not a misword! It did one’s very heart good.... To be sure it
was a good deal of trouble, and Jane is done up. Indeed, the night
before last we none of us went to bed. But it was quite worth it.”
All this sounds very delightful and light-hearted and truly the years
seemed now to be passing very gently and kindly with the
warmhearted woman who had, hitherto, suffered so much.
There were, of course, the usual ailments due to advancing age,
which had to be endured, but, with short trips to town and a long
holiday at Taplow, these ailments had no serious, immediate effect
on Miss Mitford’s general health.
In 1846 the dear friend, Miss Barrett, was married to Robert
Browning, an incident which proved—so Miss Mitford recorded—that
“Love really is the wizard the poets have called him”. There is no
mention of a wedding-present being despatched from Three Mile
Cross—it will be remembered that the marriage was a somewhat
hurried and secret affair, due to Mr. Barrett’s opposition to the whole
idea—but we do know that when the happy couple left for Italy via
Paris they took with them Flush, the dog, which Miss Mitford had
sent as a gift to her friend some years before. Flush was a character,
and figures very much in the Barrett-Browning correspondence from
1842 to 1848; he died much loved and lamented, and now lies
buried in the Casa Guidi vaults.
All the world knows what a wonderful marriage that was—two
hearts beating as one—and how remarkable and romantic was the
courtship, the story of which, from Mrs. Browning’s own pen, is so
exquisitely told in Sonnets from the Portuguese—the “finest sonnets
written in any language since Shakespeare’s,” was Robert
Browning’s delighted comment—“the very notes and chronicle of her
betrothal,” as Mr. Edmund Gosse writes of them, when he relates
how prettily and playfully they were first shown to the husband for
whom they had been expressly written. But—and this is why we
make mention of them here—before ever they were shown to the
husband they had been despatched to Miss Mitford for her approval
and criticism, and she urged that they be published in one of the
Annuals of the day. To this suggestion Mrs. Browning would not
accede, but consented at last to allow them to be privately printed,
for which purpose they were again sent to Miss Mitford, who
arranged for their printing in Reading—probably through her friend,
Mr. Lovejoy—under the simple title of Sonnets: by E. B. B., and on
the title-page were the additional words:—“Reading: Not for
Publication: 1847.”
Miss Mitford often made complaint of the number of visitors who
thronged her cottage, but now that she had none but herself to
consider she seems to have found her chief delight in receiving and
entertaining, in quiet fashion, the many literary folk who made
pilgrimages to her, visits which were always followed by a
correspondence which must have fully occupied her time. This year,
1847, brought Ruskin to the cottage through the introduction of Mrs.
Cockburn (the Mary Duff of Lord Byron). “John Ruskin, the Oxford
Undergraduate, is a very elegant and distinguished-looking young
man, tall, fair, and slender—too slender, for there is a consumptive
look, and I fear a consumptive tendency.... He must be, I suppose,
twenty-six or twenty-seven, but he looks much younger, and has a
gentle playfulness—a sort of pretty waywardness, that is quite
charming. And now we write to each other, and I hope love each
other as you and I do”—Miss Mitford’s note on the visit, written to
another friend, Mr. Charles Boner, in America.
Miss Milford’s Cottage at Swallowfield.
(From a contemporary engraving.)
Hearing that William Chambers, the Edinburgh publisher, was that
year in London, an invitation was sent to him to call at the cottage,
and while there he, his hostess and Mr. Lovejoy discussed a project
which had long been occupying the minds of Miss Mitford and her
bookseller-friend, on the subject of “Rural Libraries.”
Mr. Chambers refers to the visit in his Autobiography. “The
pleasantest thing about the visit was my walk with the aged lady
among the green lanes in the neighbourhood—she trotting along
with a tall cane, and speaking of rural scenes and circumstances.... I
see she refers to this visit, stating that she was at the time engaged
along with Mr. Lovejoy in a plan for establishing lending libraries for
the poor, in which, she says, I assisted her with information and
advice. What I really advised was that, following out a scheme
adopted in East Lothian, parishes should join in establishing
itinerating libraries, each composed of different books, so that, being
shifted from place to place, a degree of novelty might be maintained
for mutual advantage.”
In any case, this Mitford-Lovejoy project was well considered and,
after many delays, the two friends issued a little four-page pamphlet
(now very rare) with the front page headed “Rural Libraries,” followed
by a circular letter in which was set forth the origin of the scheme—
due to a request from the young wife of a young clergyman in a
country parish who wanted to stimulate the parishioners to the
reading of sound literature—and an invitation to interested persons
to correspond with “M. R. M., care of Mr. Lovejoy, Reading.” The rest
of the pamphlet was occupied with a list of some two hundred titles
of books recommended, among them being Our Village, the
inclusion of which caused Miss Mitford to tell a friend that she
“noticed Mr. Lovejoy had smuggled it in.” Whether anything definite
resulted from the distribution of this pamphlet is not certain, but the
labour it entailed is a proof of the interest which both Miss Mitford
and her coadjutor had in matters affecting the education of the
people.
By the year 1850 the cottage again became so bad as to be
almost uninhabitable—“the walls seem to be mouldering from the
bottom, crumbling, as it were, like an old cheese; and whether
anything can be done to it is doubtful,” and, acting under Dr. May’s
advice, it was decided to leave the old place for good. The
neighbourhood was scoured in the endeavour to find something
suitable, and at last the very thing was found at Swallowfield, three
miles further along the Basingstoke Road. “It is about six miles from
Reading along this same road, leading up from which is a short
ascending lane, terminated by the small dwelling, with a court in
front, and a garden and paddock behind. Trees overarch it like the
frame of a picture, and the cottage itself, though not pretty, yet too
unpretending to be vulgar, and abundantly snug and comfortable,
leading by different paths to all my favourite walks, and still within
distance of my most valuable neighbours.”
The removal, “a terrible job,” involving, among other items, the
cartage and re-arranging of four tons of books, took place during the
third week of September, 1851, just in time to enable the household
to get nicely settled in before the winter.
“And yet it was grief to go,” she wrote. “There I had toiled and
striven, and tasted as deeply of bitter anxiety, of fear, and of hope, as
often falls to the lot of woman. There, in the fulness of age, I had lost
those whose love had made my home sweet and precious. Alas!
there is no hearth so humble but it has known such tales of joy and
of sorrow! Friends, many and kind, had come to that bright garden,
and that garden room. The list would fill more pages than I have to
give. There Mr. Justice Talfourd had brought the delightful gaiety of
his brilliant youth, and poor Haydon had talked more vivid pictures
than he ever painted. The illustrious of the last century—Mrs. Opie,
Jane Porter, Mr. Cary—had mingled there with poets, still in their
earliest dawn. It was a heart-tug to leave that garden.... I walked
from the one cottage to the other on an autumn evening, when the
vagrant birds, whose habit of assembling here for their annual
departure gives, I suppose, its name of Swallowfield to the village,
were circling and twittering over my head; and repeated to myself the
pathetic lines of Hayley as he saw these same birds gathering upon
his roof during his last illness:—
‘Ye gentle birds, that perch aloof,

And smooth your pinions on my roof,
Preparing for departure hence
Ere winter’s angry threats commence;
Like you, my soul would smooth her plume
For longer flights beyond the tomb.
May God, by Whom is seen and heard
Departing man and wandering bird,
In mercy mark us for His own
And guide us to the land unknown!’
Thoughts soothing and tender came with those touching lines, and
gayer images followed. Here I am in this prettiest village, in the
cosiest and snuggest of all cabins; a trim cottage garden, divided by
a hawthorn hedge from a little field guarded by grand old trees; a
cheerful glimpse of the high road in front, just to hint that there is
such a thing as the peopled world; and on either side the deep,
silent, woody lanes that form the distinctive character of English
scenery.”
CHAPTER XXVIII
SWALLOWFIELD AND THE END
It will be remembered that some time after the correspondence with

Sir William Elford had been well established, he suggested to Miss
Mitford that much of the literary criticism contained in the letters was
valuable and might be edited with a view to publication. To this Miss
Mitford would not consent at the time, for, although the idea
appealed to her, she feared that her rather outspoken comments on
contemporary authors might, if published during their lifetime, lead to
unpleasantness which it were wiser to avoid. Many years had now
elapsed since the suggestion was made, and many changes had, in
consequence, taken place. The death of a large number of the
authors mentioned had removed Miss Mitford’s principal objection.
She herself was now a comparatively old woman, with a maturer
judgment, whose criticism was therefore more likely to command
respect, and as the death of her father had increased her leisure for
the performance of literary work—and she was still unwilling to tackle
the long-projected novel—she arranged with Miss Elford (Sir William
being dead) to gather the letters together and forward them to Three
Mile Cross. The task thus undertaken was both congenial and easy,
and by the time of her removal to Swallowfield she had made such
progress that it was decided to publish without delay. Mr. Bentley,
who was approached on the subject, suggested that the work be
amplified and issued in three volumes under the title of Recollections
of Books. Acting on this advice, Miss Mitford completed the work,
after she had settled herself in her new home, and by 1852 the book
was published under the more imposing title of Recollections of a
Literary Life, and Selections from my Favourite Poets and Prose
Writers. It was dedicated to Henry F. Chorley, one of a number of
young men whose dramatic and literary talent had brought him under
the author’s notice some years before and which, as usual, resulted
in the establishment of a warm friendship between the two. The book
was much sought after and, on the whole, was well received,
although certain of the critics thought the title too ambiguous—a
criticism which Miss Mitford disarmed, somewhat, by admitting, in
the Preface, that it gave a very imperfect idea of the contents. News
of her removal took many old friends to Swallowfield, anxious to see
whether the change was for the better. Ruskin was delighted with it;
so too, in a modified sense, was young James Payn, “that splendidly
handsome lad of twenty-three—full of beauty, mental and physical,
and with a sensibility and grace of mind such as I have rarely
known.”
Miss Mitford’s Cottage at Swallowfield, in 1913.
Mr. Payn’s Literary Recollections, published in 1884, contain some

delightful pen-portraiture of his old friend, whom he calls “the dear
little old lady, looking like a venerable fairy, with bright sparkling
eyes, a clear, incisive voice, and a laugh that carried you away with
it.” Here, too, came Charles Boner from America, and Mr. Fields, the
publisher, the latter bringing with him Nathaniel Hawthorne—“whom
he found starving and has made almost affluent by his
encouragement and liberality”—with each of whom a constant
correspondence was afterwards maintained. Many of the letters to
Mr. Boner are to be found in his Memoirs, published in 1871, while
Mr. Fields gives a charming reminiscent sketch of Miss Mitford in his
Yesterdays with Authors, published in 1872. Like all the visitors to
Swallowfield, Mr. Fields took a great fancy to “little Henry,” and at
Miss Mitford’s own request he agreed that when the boy should be
fourteen years of age he should be sent to America to be
apprenticed to the publisher’s business of which Mr. Fields was the
head. The arrangement was one which gave the keenest delight to
Miss Mitford, who was most anxious that her little companion should
be properly and adequately provided for. Unfortunately (or
fortunately—for little Henry eventually became a Missionary), the
arrangement fell through, but Miss Mitford did her best to provide for
the boy’s welfare by making him her sole legatee.
Among the letters of 1851, written just prior to her removal, Miss
Mitford frequently mentioned Charles Kingsley, who had by this time
made himself felt as a strong man in the neighbouring village of
Eversley, in addition to the fame which his literary work had brought
him. “I hope to know him when I move,” wrote Miss Mitford, “for he
visits many of my friends.” In another letter she remarked:—“ Alton
Locke is well worth reading. There are in it worldwide truths nicely
put, but then it is painful and inconclusive. Did I tell (perhaps I did)
that the author begged Mr. Chapman to keep the secret?” [of the
authorship], “and Chapman was prepared to be as mysterious as
Churchill on the ‘Vestiges’ question, when he found Mr. Kingsley had
told everybody, and that all his fibs were falsehoods thrown away!”
It was not long, however, before Mr. Kingsley called at the cottage
and commenced a friendship which lasted until Miss Mitford’s death.
She found him “charming—that beau-ideal of a young poet, whom I
never thought to see—frank, ardent, spirited, soft, gentle, high-bred
above all.” It was a friendship which ripened rapidly, for Kingsley
loved to discuss deep social questions with this learned little woman
who, although at first she did not like his opinions, came to see that

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Disaster Management for 2030 Agenda

of the SDG 1st ed. Edition V. K.

1. Generates a non-west transdisciplinary literature on disaster research

More information about this series at

ISSN 2662-4176 ISSN 2662-4184 (electronic)

One single disaster brings a complete halt to any developmental

Institutes of Public Administration and Governance) initiated by ADB 2004 at

Introduction: Disaster Management for the 2030—Agenda

Concerns Around Law and Governance

Disaster Management and Sustainable Development

State Machinery, SDGs and Flood Control: A Case Study

Sustainable Development Goals and National Disaster

Sustainable Development Goals and Disaster Risk

Land and Disaster Management for SDGs? 77

Livelihood as Sine qua non for Community Resilience

Strategic City Landscapes: Protecting These Economic

Concerns Around Sectoral Policies

Human Trafficking and Disaster Risk Reduction: A Cross

IPR and Women Farmers: Legal Threats to Sustainable

Disasters, Grassroot Women and Local Governance 147

Revisiting Agriculture Land Use for Disaster Resilient

Farmers, Climate Change and People Centric Disaster

The Other Humans (or Non-humans) in Disaster

Managing Organic Agriculture: Case of Badulla

Healthcare Utilization Pattern in Sri Lanka; Evidence

Environmental Governance for Resilience & SDGs 253

SDG and the Covid-19 Challenge

Covid-19 Pandemic and the Future of SDGs 279

The Pandemic—Migrant Workers a Major Casualty 319

Covid-19 Disaster: Interdependence of Crisis

COVID-19: Reverse Migration of Labour and the Longer

Epilogue and the Way Ahead 381

About the Editors

V. K. Malhotra is presently Member Secretary, Indian Council of Social

R. Lalitha S. Fernando serves as a Senior Professor in Public Adminis-

Nivedita P. Haran Indian Administrative Service (Rtd.), Former Addi-

Mansi Awasthi Tata Institute of Social Sciences, Mumbai, India

Anil K. Gupta Division of Environment, Climate Change & Disaster

Usha Tandon Campus Law Centre, Faculty of Law, University of Delhi,

State Machinery, SDGs and Flood Control: A Case Study

Map 1 Kashmir Valley Jhelum Basin drainage network (Source Atlas

Disasters, Grassroot Women and Local Governance

Revisiting Agriculture Land Use for Disaster Resilient

Fig. 3 Percentage distribution of area of land by type of crop

The Other Humans (or Non-humans) in Disaster

Managing Organic Agriculture: Case of Badulla and

Environmental Governance for Resilience & SDGs

Fig. 5 Sample framework on SEA of a Common Agriculture Policy

Covid-19 Pandemic and the Future of SDGs

State Machinery, SDGs and Flood Control: A Case Study

Land and Disaster Management for SDGs?

Livelihood as Sine qua non for Community Resilience in

Revisiting Agriculture Land Use for Disaster Resilient

Farmers, Climate Change and People Centric Disaster

The Other Humans (or Non-humans) in Disaster

Managing Organic Agriculture: Case of Badulla and

Healthcare Utilization Pattern in Sri Lanka; Evidence from

Environmental Governance for Resilience & SDGs

Covid-19 Pandemic and the Future of SDGs

Disasters Threaten Sustainability

© The Author(s) 2020 1

progress and continue to stay as a fabric of human development which

Disasters and SDGs