Assignment by Nishith Srivastava
1. Background Information
The World’s largest democracy, second most populous country, a unique amalgamation of various diverse cultures. These are some of the numerous adjectives that can be used to describe India- the country that was cradle of one of the oldest civilizations in the world dating back to at least 5,000 years. India with a population of over one billion and area of 3,287,590 sq.km, is the 7th largest country in term of geographical area. From the highest point of the Kanchenjunga peak at 8598 meters to the lowest point at 0 meters at the Indian Ocean, India is the land that spells variety.
One of man’s oldest civilizations was the settlement at the Indus Valley. The degree of sophistication that archaeologists found in their settlements almost belies the fact that these people lived almost 4000 years ago. The civilization had meticulously planned cities; streets met at right angles, the sewage system puts present day India to shame, and the tools and large granaries show that they knew more than a thing or two about agriculture. Seals of the Indus Valley have on them the only ancient script that is yet to be deciphered. The most important Indus Valley cities of Harappa and Mohenjodaro are in present day Pakistan. This aspect of the Indian history is can be viewed in context with the disaster event described in the subsequent paragraphs.
A brief description of India is presented in the following table:
India[1]Population / 1,080,264,388 (July 2005 est.)
Area / 3,287,590 sq. km
Literacy / 59.5%
Male Literacy / 70.2%
Female Literacy / 48.3%
GDP purchasing power parity / $3.319 trillion (2004 est.)
GDP Growth Rate / 6.2% (2004 est)
Share of Agriculture in GDP / 23.6%
Share of Industry in GDP / 28.4%
Share of Services in GDP / 48%
Labour Force / 482.2 Million
Labour Force in Agri / 60%
Labour force in industry / 17%
Labour Force in Services / 23%
The World Development Report 2001 says that the natural disasters are similar to economic crisis, “because they can cause sharp increase in poverty and slow the pace of human development, and like economic crisis, they hurt the poor in the short run and diminish their chances of escaping poverty in the longer run”[2]. The table above shows that India is agriculture based economy with 60% of workforce involved in agriculture and allied sectors. The current trend in economy suggests a growth in tertiary sector and decline in the agriculture sector. The above table shows that the share of GDP is highest for tertiary sector. India today is perceived as one of the fastest growing economy in the world. The case study of Bangladesh shows that how a stronger economy is more resilient towards the impacts of natural disasters. [3]
Economic Survey for the last year had indicated that there was a significant decline between 1977-78 and 1999- 2000 in the proportion of people living below the poverty line (BPL) from 51.3 percent to 26.1 percent, and in the absolute number of poor from 328.9 million to 260.3 million. In spite of the impressive decline in poverty in the country as a whole, there are wide variations in the incidence of poverty across States and the rural-urban divide. Though the share of poor has decreased, the number of poor remains high. As agreed upon by all the participants during the course module, the poor are more vulnerable to the natural disasters. India has seen rapid urbanization over the past decade. 30% of India today lives in cities. It is expected to grow at phenomenal rate in future which implies growth of population in these cities making the cities especially the poor more vulnerable.
Vulnerability to Natural Disasters
India has been traditionally vulnerable to natural disasters on account of its unique geo-climatic conditions. Of the 29 states and 7 Union territories, at least 22 are vulnerable to natural disasters. India’s mega cities are among 40 most vulnerable cities world over. Floods, droughts, cyclones, earthquakes and landslides have been recurrent phenomena. The most predominant disasters in India are floods and windstorms[4]. About 60% of the landmass is prone to earthquakes of various intensities; over 40 million hectares is prone to floods; about 8% of the total area is prone to cyclones and 68% of the area is susceptible to drought. In the decade 1990-2000, an average of about 4344 people lost their lives and about 30 million people were affected by disasters every year. The loss in terms of private, community and public assets has been astronomical.[5]
In 1994, 2000 and 2004, significant parts of the city of Ahmedabad were submerged in floods as the city’s storm drainage system was unable to cope with extremely intense downpour.
The coastal states in India particularly the east coast and Gujarat are vulnerable to cyclones. Four crore hectare of land mass is vulnerable to floods, 68% of the sown are is vulnerable to droughts. 55% of the total area is in seismic zones III to V and vulnerable to earthquakes. Sub- Himalayan Westrern Ghats are vulnerable to land slides.
Major Natural Disasters in India
Date / Location / MagnitudeAugust 21, 1988 / Bihar- Nepal Border / 6.4
October 20, 1991 / Uttarkashi, Uttar Pradesh / 6.6
September 30, 1993 / Latur, Maharashtra / 6.3
May 22, 1997 / Jabalpur Madhya Pradesh / 6.0
1999 / Orissa Super Cyclone / -
March 29, 1999 / Chamoli, Uttar Pradesh / 6.9
January 26, 2001 / Bhuj, Gujarat / 7.7
December 26, 2004 / Tsunami / -
2. Brief Description of Disaster Event
On July 24,2005, India’s financial capital experienced intermittent rainfall that continued to over two weeks and led to what can be termed as ‘Collapse of a Megalopolis’. Described as the most severe downpour experienced in the country, it left the entire urban infrastructure of Mumbai into shambles.
Heavy Rains were experienced in most of Maharashtra and parts of Gujarat. In Maharashtra a record 944mm of rain was recorded in the 24 hours. The state Relief and Rehabilitation Department sources said that 33 of the total 35 districts were hit by heavy rains and floods. The worst affected was the Raigad district south of Mumbai. Raigad experienced 217 mm of rainfall, Thane 75 mm, Mumbai 30 mm, Koyna 558 mm, Ratnagiri 217 mm, Sindhudurg 110.6 mm, Parbhani 90 mm, Hingoli 99 mm.
The extent of damage caused by this unprecedented rain was phenomenal. In Maharashtra, it is estimated that over 1000 people died, half of which in Mumbai alone. Mumbai accounted for the maximum number of deaths, followed by Thane with 173 and Raigad with 165, About 152 people were injured and more than 50 were still missing. A large number of cattle also died as there was no way to escape for them. It is estimated that 25000 buffaloes died in these two weeks in Maharashtra. There was further the risk of outbreak of epidemic which could lead to loss of many more lives.
The state's infrastructure also suffered a big blow with 33,417 kms of roads destroyed, requiring over Rs 1000 crore towards repairs and reconstruction, according to the state Public Works department 332 Km of road was completely uprooted and another 353 Km of road Network was cracked open. For the city's slum-dwellers who make up 60 percent of the population, the devastation was the worst. The water swept away many shanty dwellings and in areas of heavy landslides there was only rubble to return to. This only reconfirms the fact that the poor less privileged are more vulnerable to effects of natural disasters.
Over two lakh people were evacuated due to floods in many parts of the state while relief and rescue operations one third of which estimated to be in Mumbai city alone.
All the infrastructure facilities in Mumbai were completely paralyzed. The city left in complete chaos with roads not only flooded with water but also jammed with traffic. Rail service was affected with most of the trains leading to Maharashtra cancelled. The suburban rail network which is considered as the lifeline of Mumbai was also stopped. In effect the city came to a grinding halt. The flights were cancelled; telephones jammed, power supply in the city suburbs was snapped as a safety precaution. In Mumbai property of worth 9000 Crore was damaged. The government pledged seven billion rupees ($162 million) of aid, committed 10,000 tonnes of food supplies and one lakh (100,000) Indian rupees to each bereaved family
3. Overview of the National Disaster Management System
The present disaster management policy of India recognizes the linkages between disaster and development. The policy emphasizes the disaster management to be seen as continuous and integrated process. The policy emphasizes on forecasting and early warning through use of technology.[6]
The National Crisis Management Committee under the chairmanship of the Cabinet Secretary looks after the response following a disaster. The National Crisis Management Group under the chairmanship of Central Relief Commissioner reviews the contingency plans and measures required for dealing with natural disasters.
The institutional mechanism aims to achieve the formation of State Disaster Management Authorities (Gujarart and Orissa have already formed a disaster management authority). The legal Policy Framework seeks to institutionalize the Disaster Management in through acts and codes.
The national disaster management mechanism which was earlier under the ministry of Agriculture is now transferred to Ministry of Home Affairs after the Bhuj earthquake in 2001. The realization that disaster management is a cross cutting theme and not the sole responsibility is very important.
The ministry has prepared a National Disaster Management Framework, which lays emphasis on the pre disaster mitigation aspects. It gives following salient recommendations.
1. Setting up of a nodal agency at the central level, the National Emergency Management Authority, involving all the concerned ministries.
2. Creation of state departments of disaster management. The department of relief and rehabilitation to be redesigned as the department of State Disaster Management Authority with enhanced powers.
3. Setting up of the State Disaster Management authority headed by the Chief Minister.
4. It recommends the disaster mitigation/prevention to be mainstreamed with the development and planning process.
5. Setting up of National Emergency Response force
4. Strengths and Weaknesses of the System
If it is to point out the one most important factor responsible for the disaster, there can be no second opinion that it was the poor planning coupled with uncontrolled growth of the cities. It will be no exaggeration to state that the urban infrastructure in none of the cities in India is capable to handle such kind of catastrophic events. If the financial capital and the largest metropolis of the country face such a crisis, one can imagine what can be the state of other cities.
The need to integrate the disaster management concepts with the planning process can not be ignored. Apart from the planning for the urban areas, there is need to focus on the regional planning efforts, which can provide solution to decongest our cities and prevent the uncontrolled and unmanageable growth. “Planned development of the metropolis stopped nearly two decades ago when land became the currency of politicians and builders," said India's weekly news magazine Outlook.
The National Disaster Management Framework although in place, lacks support from the state level since the philosophy and the seriousness has not trickled down. Though the framework indicates a paradigm shift in the policy of Government of India from the culture of mitigation to the culture of prevention, the disaster event described here only suggests that it has not yet come to practice. The need is to integrate the culture of prevention into the function of all the relevant departments.
The national disaster management framework further suggests the use of science and technology fro effective early warning. The recent disaster event as in the case of earlier events suggested, such a system is still not in place or at least not effective. The state failed to communicate the severity of the floods to the public. There was no warning issued of such an unprecedented rains by Metrological Department at any point of time.
The lack of coordination among the government departments is another feature highlighted in the recent disaster. Mumbai's municipal corporation failed to relay the gravity of the situation and provide advice to the public and state government departments, practices which should have been carried out as part of the state's disaster management policy.
5. Recommendations for Improvement
Early Warning System and use of Technology
It is important to have an efficient early warning system working round the clock. Such a system should be set up at the national level and should include the use of best of the most advanced technology available. The technological revolution in the recent past including those in the areas of telecommunication and information technology should be utilized to their full potential. Another area in the high technology that needs special emphasis is the remote sensing technology. This technology can be used not only for preparedness but also for relief and rescue works. The relief and rescue operations are to be set up at the state level so there is need for a proper mechanism quick transfer of information (provided by the early warning system) to the lower levels. In case of Mumbai rains there was no warning issued at any point of time before the occurance of disaster. The satellite images of Orissa super cyclone and the recent Tsunami Disaster, which were released after the occurrence of the disaster further support this view point support this viewpoint.