Disaster management: Govt on shaky ground
SMA Kazmi
Tribune News Service

Identification and mapping of disaster-prone areas Involvement of government departments and research institutes for technological inputs Specialised training for officials, employees, youth, women and the general public Inclusion of voluntary and government agencies, village-level organisations in rescue work

Dehradun, August 8
The cloudburst in Nachni area of Musiyari tehsil of Pitthoragarh district that led to the death of 43 persons on Friday night has once again highlighted the vulnerability of the people living in the Himalayas to natural disasters.

It has also brought to the fore the lack of preparedness of the state government and research institute in minimising the damage to life and property.

After the Chamoli earthquake in 1999, a move was afoot to start an advance scientific institute to be set up by the Union Science and Technology Ministry somewhere in the Himalayas. But after several brain-storming sessions and meetings, nothing has come out so far.

“It is unfortunate that nothing came out of the sessions as people in the Himalayas move from one disaster to another. The move to set up an advanced institute turned out to be a non-starter,” commented Dr Anil P Joshi, a Padma Shri recipient of Himalayan Environmental Studies and Conservation Organisation (HESCO), a voluntary group. He was a member of the study group for such an institute from the voluntary sector.

Mountain regions in India, particularly the Himalayas which are the youngest, tallest and the most fragile mountain ranges in the world, are disaster prone. Mountains by virtue of their topography are vulnerable to changes rapidly taking place all over the region. Every activity disapproved by the mountains triggers disasters.

Disturbance in the delicate balancing factors of ecology and environment following rapid urbanisation and developmental activities, changing weather patterns and tectonic movements had caused a series of disasters in the past century in the Himalayan region causing widespread loss of life and property.

Disaster can strike any place at any time in the mountains in the shape of floods, landslides, earthquakes, forest fires, cloudbursts or snow avalanches.

In the present circumstances, disasters are bound to occur and they cannot be stopped or averted.

Past experiences had shown that any disaster in the mountains is more problematic to deal with because of the topography and inaccessibility of affected areas.

The two earthquakes in the Uttaranchal region - Uttarkashi in 1991 and Chamoli in 1999 - had amply shown the inadequacy of the state government machinery to deal with such natural calamities.

On both occasions, rescue, relief and rehabilitation work was done in an unscientific and ad-hoc manner putting immense strain on the already meagre resources. In the end, the result was unsatisfactory relief and rehabilitation.

A large number of victims of the Chamoli earthquake are yet to get their full and final payment of cash relief for their damaged houses from the government. Successive governments had failed to learn any lessons from past experiences.

Although, the Ministry of Disaster Management was formed with the formation of the state but the question remains whether hill states are ready to manage a disaster of bigger magnitude.

In most hill states, there is no disaster management plan keeping in view the peculiar geographic and topographical conditions prevailing.

This is despite the fact that most Himalayan states Jammu and Kashmir, Himachal Pradesh, Uttarakhand and the North-Eastern states fall in the high-seismic zone and many earthquakes of big and medium magnitude have already hit these areas in the past century.

In wake of any disaster in Uttarakhand, the entire civil official machinery crumbles leaving the victims at the mercy of the elements in the crucial first 24 hours after the event.

Although the cloudburst took place in Nachni area on the night of August 7, the district administration could only send its team by next morning.

There is a greater need for formulating a disaster management strategy for hilly areas with active participation of local communities taking into consideration the unique geographic conditions.

Firstly, the nature of the disasters striking any particular region should be identified and disaster-prone areas like landslide prone, seismically active, cloud burst or snow avalanche-prone areas should be mapped and identified.

Specialised scientific institutes like the Survey of India, Geological Survey of India, Wadia Institute of Himalayan Geology, specific departments of various universities particularly located in hill states should work to identify disaster-prone areas.

These institutes should come up with maps identifying the various disaster prone areas so that planners, officials and even the general public should be aware of the dangers in such areas.

The Mountain Hazards Institute, Chengdu, China, which was established in 1965 has been doing yeoman’s service in identifying hazardous zones on the Chinese side of the Himalayas.

Various government departments and research institutes like the forest department, PWD, Central Building Research Institute, Roorkee could be involved in providing technological inputs for the strategy which could reduce the magnitude of the effects of the disaster.

These technical institutes can also act as resource centres for human resources development and providing various kinds of specialised training to the officials, employees, youth, women and the general public - the persons who could be very useful during disasters.

The training and skill development will prepare the people to better manage the rescue, relief and rehabilitation efforts, reducing the pain and suffering of the victims after the disasters.

The rural areas of the mountains require a different kind of approach since most of the villages are inaccessible. Villagers find it extremely difficult to carry numerous injured persons to the road heads to be transported to hospitals.

Similarly, a separate strategy should be adopted for the urban areas of hill states that are densely populated.

Human resource development for disaster management requires specialised training for members of the resource organisation identified for rescue and relief efforts.

These should include voluntary agencies, government agencies, village-level organisations like panchayats, schools teachers and students, NCC and NSS volunteers and home guards.

These agencies and groups should not only be made aware of the types of disasters that are likely to strike and the areas likely to be affected but also provided training and orientation courses from time to time to deal with any calamity.

Employees, who provide the backbone of government rescue and relief efforts, should be properly trained in these acts through orientation and sensitisation through regular training capsules. They should be properly geared for effective disaster management operations when needed.

Disaster strikes without warning. This fact calls for preparedness to be maintained at every level of government administration and voluntary sector.

But past experience has shown that whenever disaster had struck, both government as well as voluntary groups were found wanting in their efforts. Voluntary groups and local groups have the manpower but no direction to deal with the crisis.

However, the Uttarakhand Disaster Management and Mitigation Centre claims that search and rescue equipment costing around Rs 1.1 crore had been sent to all 13 districts.

These equipments come as part of the UNDP Project and prominently include high-cost cutters and spreaders.

According to Piyush Rautela, Executive Director, DMMC, an ambitious plan to establish a Centre of Excellence to deal with natural disasters has failed to take off due to manpower shortage.

DMMC has already trained as many as 800 personnel, particularly police and revenue officials, and holds a regular 20-day training programme at the National Institute of Mountaineering, SSB Gwaldam, and Himalayan Adventure Institute, Kempty.

Disasters cannot be stopped but certain steps could be taken to reduce the devastating effects of these calamities. Disasters are synonymous with damage to life and property. The reduction of losses of any type should be the focal point of the strategy for disaster management.

Horse Chestnut - Pride of the hills
Sanjay Tamta

Mussoorie, August 8
Very much like the Oak and the Deodar, one elegant tree that is integral to the life of people in the mountains is the Horse Chestnut, commonly known as “paangar”.

The Horse Chestnut (Aesculus hippocastanum) is called so because of the pattern on the branches that appear like a horseshoe with nail holes left by the fallen dried leaves. Its fruit, called the conker, is not edible but resembles the edible Chestnut; hence the name.

The “paangar” grows in abundance in the mountain and reaches a height of 40 to 60 metres.

The tree trunk, with decoratively layered bark patterns, grows straight and the graciously spreading branches are adorned with sets of six to seven large gorgeous leaves.

In April and May the beauty of the “paangar” is incomparable, with bunches of tender white flowers that attract thousands of honeybees.

The flowers gradually give way to the small white conkers covered with brown shell, which bears the flourescent green flesh within. Conkers are among the favourite cuisines of langurs, flying foxes and giant mountain squirrels.

The soft green flesh of the conker bears a parrot beak-like shoot, which children in the mountains love to play with. The conkers turn black and hard when ripe during September-October and assumes great medicinal value.

The dried conker when boiled with water is taken as syrup to ease out contracted blood vessels.

The soap-like soothing liquid also aids in digestion. Elders have been using the paste of the Conker as an ointment to heal wounds and injuries and even piles. Sadly though, methods of extracting these goodies from the Horsechestnut are vanishing fast.

However, the “paangar” is still flourishing as it regrows speedily wherever the conkers fall.

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