The JC Pant Committee is preparing the blueprint of a National Disaster Management Plan. This plan, due to be submitted on March 31, shall also have a model state plan and district plan. In addition, a Draft National Calamity Management Act has been prepared to empower the district magistrate to cope with disaster. It's intended to give him access to all resources, including private ones. The initial response is invariably good, but once its off the front page, it's a challenge to enable people pick up the threads.
Public memory is short.
In Orissa, the level of preparedness on a formal basis is still not there. Thompson of Oxfam cautions against helping too much. The result was a whole village of concrete boxes. It was a very questionable way forward. Outsiders shouldn't rush re-building.