disaster management essay in tamil

disaster management essay in tamil

Disaster Management: A Critical Analysis and Strategies for Effective Response (Tamil Language)

1. Introduction to Disaster Management

A disaster may be defined as the occurrence of a sudden or major misfortune which disrupts the basic fabric and normal functioning of a society or a community. Such misfortunes occur either through natural or man-made causes. A natural disaster may include an earthquake, overwhelming floods, cyclone, avalanche, extreme temperature, etc. A man-made disaster consists of such events like industrial accidents, mining disasters, air or rail accidents, rioting, communal violence, wars, etc. It is of utmost importance that if a disaster occurs, the impact is to be countered effectively with the least possible adverse effects to life, property, and the community’s peace of mind. The more advanced a community, the more sophisticated its entire machinery to deal with a disaster, the less severe are the adverse effects left in the community. It has been experienced that in most cases, it is not the disaster, but rather the lack of proper attention that goes in the management of the disaster which results in imposing severe adversity in terms of lives and personal trauma.

Disaster Management: A Critical Analysis and Strategies for Effective Response (Tamil Language)

2. Types and Impacts of Disasters

The ecological system gets affected by both natural and techno-natural disasters such as earthquakes, tsunamis, hurricanes, etc. This, in turn, leads to human health problems, property loss, socio-economic problems, chaos in society, and other impacts. To some extent, air pollution due to disasters such as toxic gas leakage occurs in quick succession and immense disasters, etc., soil pollution, surface water contamination, land degradation, decrease of water bodies, structural alteration, and production reduction, change in the landscape, and biological security will not be considered as direct impacts. When we seriously think and analyze about disasters, we understand that they create only a small permanent impact. However, due to a lack of knowledge about the strength and the ability to recover quickly in the evolution period, it is understood that society is not ready to respond to the possible disasters that could occur in the future and unable to recover from the disaster occurred with a high speed of probability.

2.2 Types and Impacts of Disasters

Disasters are classified under various categories. They can be classified into three categories, namely natural, man-made, and natural technology-made disasters based on the causes. If human error is the cause, what we say is that it is a technology-made disaster or man-made hazard. When human error is not the cause, it is called a natural disaster. For example, an earthquake which is not caused by human activities or disasters caused by a product manufacture are under the categories of natural disasters. As human error is a mandatory reason for the accidents occurring in the nuclear power generation fields, these can be classified under a techno-natural disaster or technological disaster. As such, disasters are classified in numerous ways, such as atmospheric, geographical, hydrological, meteorological, and climatological. Also, their causes are briefly explained as follows.

2.1 Classification

3. Key Principles and Strategies for Disaster Response

In any disaster response, the lead role should be taken by the affected citizens and community itself. In an effort to ascertain the real needs of affected people and communities, several different strategies are often employed. Usually, a combination of these methods is used. Surveys are vital in order to get the affected people’s views and opinions. This is true at all levels: whether it is a village-based project or a macro program with people from a number of different geographical areas. The rehabilitation process should anticipate the participation of refugees or victims of natural and man-made disasters in all decisions that affect them. At the same time, local organizations should take on more and more complex responsibilities, enlarging capacity and competence both in terms of organization and administration and technical and professional skills. The role of international cooperation is that of backing up, not substituting for, personal and collective initiative.

Disaster response is based on certain fundamental principles: all agencies and especially the government of the affected country should play a leading role in providing relief to disaster victims. Relief must be carried out in accordance with needs and must be suitable to the condition of those receiving it. During relief, fundamental human rights must not be violated. Prevention of disasters is an integral part of the disaster response system, and the participation and consultation of disaster victims is necessary in planning and directing their rehabilitation.

4. Role of Government and Non-Governmental Organizations in Disaster Management

The division also functions as the secretariat of the National Disaster Management Committee. The Relief Commissioners in the affected states are the state nodal officers for early warning and preparedness for effective disaster response. In normal times, the state process is driven by the state DM Committees backed by standing and operation plans. Often, NDMP makes contributions to states under the consideration of the request. Defense forces also undertake needed rescue and relief operations following local administrations of the respective states.

Let us see what type of Indian government services are designated for the management of disasters. As far as the Indian constitution is concerned, law and order, though a state subject under the state list, national or state security, has been mentioned for enlistment in the national or the union list. In other words, the management of law and order rests with the state governments and national security rests with the center. The government of India has established a natural disaster management division in the Ministry of Agriculture, to address recurring natural calamities like drought, cyclones, earthquakes, and forest fires. The division supports early warning and preparedness for policy planning and for effective warning to affected states.

5. Community Participation and Resilience Building

When common sense and lessons drawn are applied to the modern context, it comes out with the fact that efforts in disaster management are being made by the wrong people. We need to look to the community to make us understand how the problem is currently being handled and what has been done in the past. For example, a careful study of the Mumbai flood of July 2005, with whatever activities were possible, has come as a surprise to many in terms of the extent and tangible cooperation of the people. First, the treatment of patients continued without sufficient power supply, i.e., generators and uninterrupted supply of diesel. Second, due to the unity of the resident volunteers, there was no loot or any evident malfeasance. Third, in a few waterlogged colonies, the residents cooked and consumed their food for several days just with the help of a few cooking gas cylinders. During this period, the community volunteer services, resident associations, and other service organizations held the reins.

Community participation is essential to manage and mobilize local resources and know-how. In the absence of community participation, response outside the government structure could not be effective and it may even hinder the response itself to the detriment of the affected community. The participation of the community becomes essential to prepare and effectively manage any disaster. There can be no successful disaster preparedness without the involvement of the community. In traditional societies, community participation in disaster management had been extensive. Literature abounds on the extent of community participation in disaster management during the early part of the 20th century, in addition to a number of individual stories where the community has come forward and ably handled the calamities faced by different regions without external intervention.