Journal of Global Resources
Volume 5
July 2017
ISSN: 2395-3160 (Print), 2455-2445 (Online)

Page 01-07

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DISASTER MANAGEMENT: CAUSES AND CONSEQUENCES
M. M. Sheikh
Associate Professor (Geography)
Govt. Lohia P.G. College, Churu, Rajasthan, India
Email: mmskh@rediffmail.com
Abstract: The human race has faced natural disasters since it has evolved. Natural
disasters continue to strike unabated and without notice and are perceived to be on theincrease in their magnitude, complexity, frequency and economic impact globally. These
disasters pose a threat to human life, structures, and economic assets and assume
disastrous proportions when they occur in areas of dense human habitations. For last sevendecades, natural disasters have resulted in the loss of more than three million lives andaffected many more. The economic costs are on the rise in alarming proportions, which has
increased by a factor of 8 presently as compared to the 1960s. Globally, 90 percent of thenatural disasters and 95 percent of the total disaster related deaths occur only in developing
countries. The Indian subcontinent is highly vulnerable to cyclones, droughts, earthquakes
and floods. Avalanches, forest fire and landslides occur frequently in the Himalayan region ofnorthern India. Among the 35 total states/union territories in the country, 25 are disasterprone. On an average, about 50 million people in the country are affected by one or theother disaster every year, besides loss of property worth several millions.
Key words: Natural and Manmade, Mitigation, Recovery, Emergency, Management
Introduction
India has been vulnerable to natural disasters because of its geo-climatic conditions. Floods,
droughts, cyclones, earthquakes and landslides have been recurrent phenomena. India isvulnerable in varying degrees to a large number of natural as well as man-made disasters.
About 58.6 percent of the landmass is prone to earthquakes of moderate to very highintensity; over 40 million hectares (12 percent of land) is prone to floods and river erosion; ofthe 7,516 km long coastline, close to 5,700 km is prone to cyclones and tsunamis; 68
percent of the cultivable area is vulnerable to drought and hilly areas are at risk fromlandslides and avalanches. The Andaman & Nicobar Islands, the East and West coast arevulnerable to Tsunami. The deciduous/ dry-deciduous forests in different parts of the country
experience forest fires. The Himalayan region and the Western Ghats are prone tolandslides. Further, the vulnerability to Nuclear, Biological and Chemical disasters andterrorism has also increased manifold.
Disaster risks in India are further compounded by increasing vulnerabilities. These
include the ever-growing population, the vast disparities in income, rapid urbanization,
increasing industrialization, development within high-risk zones, environmental degradation,
climate change, etc. All these point to a future where disasters seriously threaten India’s
population, national security, economy and its sustainable development. Therefore, theurgent need for the preparation of the State Plan for Disaster Management (DM) and District
Disaster Management Plan (DDMP) as mandated by the Disaster Management Act, 2005

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(DM ACT, 2005). The DM plans will build hazard specific management tools in the context ofregional and multi-hazard vulnerabilities.
A Disaster is an event that occurs in most cases suddenly and unexpectedly, causing
severe disturbances to people, objects and environment, resulting in loss of life, property
and human health. Such a situation causes disruption in normal pattern of life, generating
misfortune, helplessness and suffering affecting the socio-economic structure of a region tosuch an extent that there is a need for immediate outside intervention. Disaster means acatastrophe, mishap, calamity or grave occurrence affecting any area from natural andmanmade causes, or by accident or negligence, which results in substantial loss of life or
human suffering or damage to, and destruction of property, or damage to, or degradation ofenvironment and is of such a nature and magnitude as to be beyond the capacity of thecommunity of the affected areas. (As per DM Act, 2005)
The disaster in Uttarakhand state in 2013 is a natural warning for politicians,
environmentalists, development planners etc. There is an urgent need to look at ecologicalsensitivity of the place before starting any new development project. Before starting theseprojects “pre ecological audit” should be done. There is a very significant role of foresters
and ecologist in planning development in eco-sensitive regions. The natural disasters
directly impact economy, agriculture, food security, water, sanitation, the environment andhealth each year. Disaster management can be defined as the organization andmanagement of resources and responsibilities for dealing with all humanitarian aspects ofemergencies, in particular preparedness, response and recovery in order to lessen theimpact of disasters. The complete cycle of disaster management can be depicted byfollowing figure 1.

DISASTERS
Earthquakes
India has had a number of earthquakes. Some of these have been the world's greatest
earthquakes in the last century. In fact, more than 50 percent area in the country is
considered prone to destructive earthquakes. The north eastern region of the country as wellas the entire Himalayan belt is susceptible to great earthquakes of magnitude more than 8.0.

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The main cause of earthquakes in these regions is the movement of the Indian plate towards
the Eurasian plate at the rate. Besides the Himalayan region and the Indo-Gangetic plains,even the peninsular India is prone to detrimental earthquakes as clearly illustrated by the
Koyna (1967), Latur (1993), and the Jabalpur (1997) earthquakes. Indian earthquakes haveshown some remarkable features which have implications on strategies for reducing
earthquake disasters in the country.
Flood
Floods cause extremely large numbers of fatalities in every country. Due to India's highpopulation density and often under-enforced development standards, a large amount ofdamages and many deaths are caused. In the past, India has witnessed some of the largest
and most catastrophic floods, causing irreparable damage to people's livelihood, property,
and crucial infrastructure. Floods occur in almost all rivers basins in India. Twenty-three ofthe 35 states and union territories in the country are subject to floods and 40 million hectaresof land, roughly one-eighth of the country’s geographical area, is prone to floods. In the past
years, the response around the world to such catastrophies was predictable, more dams,
higher level and sturdier embankments to contain rising waters. The building of cities is theworld’s worst flood-prone plains. Major cities were situated near rivers for navigation
advantage, but had high banks to withstand floods. Where mistakes were made, the cities,
especially along the turbulent northern tributaries of the Ganges, got washed away. In the
Uttarakhand floods, the destruction of bridges and roads left about 100,000 pilgrims andtourists trapped. More than 5,000 people were presumed dead. There was unimaginable
loss of life and property.
CycloneCyclone is another major natural disaster that affects the coastal regions of India’s cyclone.
India has a coastline of about 7516 km. and it is exposed to nearly 10 percent of the world’s
tropical cyclones. About 71 percent of this area falls in ten states (Gujarat, Maharashtra,
Goa, Karnataka, Kerala, Tamil Nadu, Puducherry, Andhra Pradesh, Orissa and West
Bengal). The islands of Andaman, Nicobar and Lakshadweep are also prone to cyclones. On
an average, about five or six tropical cyclones form in the Bay of Bengal and Arabian sea
and hit the coast every year. When a cyclone approaches the coast, a risk of serious loss ordamage arises from severe winds, heavy rainfall, storm surges and river floods. There is adevastation of resources.
Drought
In India, around 68 percent of the country is prone to drought in varying degrees. 35 percent
which receives rainfall between 750 mm and 1125 mm is considered drought prone while 33
percent receiving less than 750 mm is chronically drought prone. Drought is a complex,
slow-onset phenomenon of ecological challenge that affects people more than any othernatural hazards by causing serious economic, social and environmental losses. With morethan 70 percent of India’s population relying directly or indirectly on agriculture, the impact ofagricultural drought on human life and other living beings is critical. Drought affects all partsof environment as well as human life and livestock. About 16 percent of India’s geographic
area, mostly arid, semi-arid and sub-humid is drought-prone (GoI 2013a). Due to hightemporal and spatial variability in rainfall and wide variations in physiographic and climaticconditions in the country, droughts are experienced in varying intensities (moderate orsevere) almost every year irrespective of a good monsoon. Although the country has

3experienced three major droughts between 2002 and 2012, the capacity to cope with theadverse impacts is steadily increasing due to improved technology and irrigation and partly
due to diversification of rural economic activities away from pure farm activity (GoI 2013a).
Several policy measures undertaken by the Government of India (GoI) help in building
capacity for drought prevention, preparedness, mitigation and management. This has also
led to a shifting perception of droughts from a ‘crisis of an urgent nature’ to a management
issue.
Forest FireAs per the latest state of forests report of the Forest Survey of India (FSI) the actual forest
cover of India is 19.27 percent of the geographic area, corresponding to 63.3 million
hectares. Only 38 million hectares of forests are well stocked (crown density above 40
percent). This resource has to meet the demand of a population of 950 million people andaround 450 million cattle. As such, country has to meet the needs of 16 percent of theworld's population from 1 percent of the world forest resources. The same forest has also tocater for the 19 percent of the world cattle population. Nearly 55 percent of the total forest
cover in India is prone to fires every year. An estimated annual economic loss of Rs.440
crores is reported on account of forest fires over the country. Forest fires in India haveenvironmental significance in terms of tropical biomass burning, which produces large
amounts of trace gases, aerosol particles, and play a pivotal role in tropospheric chemistry
and climate. The forests of the country are therefore, under tremendous pressure. Forest
fires are a major cause of degradation of India's forests. While statistical data on fire loss are
weak, it is estimated that the proportion of forest areas prone to forest fires annually ranges
from 33 percent in some states to over 90 percent in other. About 90 percent of the forest
fires in India are created by humans. The normal fire season in India is from the month ofFebruary to mid-June. India witnessed the most severe forest fires in the recent time during
the summer of 1995 in the hills of Uttar Pradesh & Himachal Pradesh. The fires were very
severe and an area of 677,700 hectares was affected by fires.
The Forest Survey of India, data on forest fire attribute around 50 percent of theforest areas as fire prone. This does not mean that country's 50 percent area is affected byfires annually. Very heavy, heavy and frequent forest fire damages are noticed only over 0.8
percent, 0.14 percent and 5.16 percent of the forest areas respectively. Thus, only 6.17
percent of the forests are prone to severe fire damage. In the absolute term, out of the 63
million hectare of forests an area of around 3.73 million hectares can be presumed to beaffected by fires annually. These figures are alarming.
Landslide
Landslides are simply defined as the mass movement of rock, debris or earth down a slope
and have come to include a broad range of motions whereby falling, sliding and flowing
under the influence of gravity dislodges earth material. They often take place in conjunction
with earthquakes, floods and volcanoes. The formation of river blocks can cause havoc to
the settlements downstream on its bursting. In the hilly terrain of India including theHimalayas, landslides have been a major and widely spread natural disaster the often strikelife and property and occupy a position of major concern. The two regions most vulnerable tolandslides are the Himalayas and the Western Ghats. The Himalayas mountain belt
comprise of technically unstable younger geological formations subjected to severe seismic
activity. The Western Ghats and Nilgiris are geologically stable but have uplifted plateau

4margins influenced by neo-tectonic activity. Compared to Western Ghats region, the slides inthe Himalayas region are huge and massive and in most cases the overburden along withthe underlying lithology is displaced during sliding particularly due to the seismic factor. In
June 2013, a multi-day cloudburst centered on the North Indian state of Uttarakhand causeddevastating floods and landslides in the country's worst natural disaster, which saw morethan 5,700 casualties and other major losses.
Loss in India
The following table shows the overall loss due to major disasters in India from 2001-02 to
2013-14. India due to its geo-climatic and socio-economic condition is prone to various
disasters. During the last thirty years’ time span the country has been hit by 431 majordisasters resulting into enormous loss to life and property.
Table 01 Major Losses in India due to Disasters, 2001-2013
Year
Lives Lost
Cattle Lost Houses damaged Cropped area affected(in lakh)(in lakh hectare)
2001-02834
21,2693.47
18.72
2002-03
898
3,729
4.63
21.00
2003-04
1,992
25,393
6.82
31.98
2004-05
1,995
12,38916.03
32.53
2005-06
2,698
1,10,997
21.20
35.52
2006-07
2,402
4,55,619
19.35
70.87
2007-08
3,764
1,19,218
35.27
85.13
2008-09
3,405
53,833
16.47
35.56
2009-10
1,677
1,28,452
13.60
47.13
2010-112,310
48,778
13.39
46.25
2011-12
1,600
9,126
8.76
18.87
2012-13984
24,3606.72
15.34
2013-14
5,677
1,02,998
12.10
63.74
Source: Disaster Management Annual Report
Preparedness
The concept of disaster preparedness encompasses measures aimed at enhancing life
safety when a disaster occurs, such as protective actions during an earthquake, hazardous
materials spill, or terrorist attack. It also includes actions designed to enhance the ability toundertake emergency actions in order to protect property and contain disaster damage anddisruption, as well as the ability to engage in post-disaster restoration and early recovery
activities. Preparedness intersects with both of these two areas, serving as a temporalconnector between the pre-impact and post-impact phases of a disaster event.
Preparedness is typically understood as consisting of measures that enable different units ofanalysis—individuals, households, organizations, communities, and societies—to respondeffectively and recover more quickly when disasters strike. Preparedness efforts also aim at
ensuring that the resources necessary for responding effectively in the event of a disasterare in place, and that those faced with having to respond know how to use those resources.
The activities that are commonly associated with disaster preparedness include developing
planning processes to ensure readiness; formulating disaster plans; stockpiling resources
necessary for effective response; and developing skills and competencies to ensure effective
performance of disaster-related tasks. Preparedness helps us reduce the total amount oflosses.

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Hazard Identification and Risk, Impact, and Vulnerability Analysis
All preparedness activities must be based on knowledge about hazards, the likelihood ofdifferent types of disaster events, and likely impacts on the natural and built environment,households, organizations, community institutions and communities. Types of informationthat provide a focus for preparedness activities include the potential for detrimental impactsof the hazards on health and safety, continuity of operations and government, criticalfacilities and infrastructure, delivery of services, the environment, economic and financial
conditions, and regulatory and contractual obligations. Community-based disaster scenarios
also provide a solid basis for preparedness efforts. Community outreach and thedevelopment of plans for crisis communications and public information are vital for thecontinuity of operations in businesses and to ensure public trust within a community.
Partnerships between public and private entities that have been established and maintained
prior to a disaster event will influence the sharing of resources through mutual aid andenable a capability to deliver emergency public information through previously identified
channels. Activities include the identification of public and groups of people that will be inneed of information and developing communications plans and identifying private resourcesthat can be used in service to the community for response and recovery. They can be kept
connected and informed.
Management, Direction, and Coordination (MDC)
This dimension of preparedness centers on strategies that make it possible for households,
organizations, and other units of analysis to manage both preparatory activity and response
processes. The MDC dimension includes identifying lines of authority and responsibility andspecifying how resources will be managed, information analyzed, and decisions made. For
example, guidance documents advise businesses to prepare for disaster by organizing an
emergency management group that includes representation from the affected area, security,
safety and health, environment, maintenance, human resources, planning and logistics, andpublic relations. Local emergency management agencies and crisis-relevant organizations
must now adopt the National Incident Management System (NIMS) which requires theidentification of organizational roles, titles, and responsibilities for each incident management
function specified in the emergency operations and response plan. The MDC dimension also
includes activities that are designed to ensure that emergency operations will be carried out
effectively when disaster strikes. These activities include training, drills and exercises, andeducational activities for members of the public, households, and businesses. MDC also
includes developing policy, vision, and mission statements; developing and using enablingauthorities; setting performance objectives; and assigning responsibilities in areas such as
oversight and coordination. Synchronization will be a great help in this direction.
Conclusion
Natural disasters are very common all over the world; there is no escaping from them. Yet,
something must be done to deal with such stressful situations. Being seventh largest country
in the world, India is very prone to natural and human-caused disasters. The geographicaland geological setup of the country makes it extremely susceptible to disasters. Disastermanagement specialist holds a very responsible position as it requires them to make
immediate decisions when it comes to saving lives of people in emergency situations. Apartfrom loss of human lives, natural disasters inflict severe damage to ecology and economy ofa region. With installation of new technologies India has developed an operational6mechanism for disaster warning especially cyclone and drought, and their monitoring andmitigation. However, prediction of some events likes earthquake and volcanoes are still at
experimental level. India has relatively high frequency of great earthquakes and relatively
low frequency of moderate earthquakes. Moderate earthquakes create awareness and leadto improvements in constructions at relatively low human costs, which could be very effectivein the long run. With adequate alertness, many losses can be prevented.
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