Amit Shah,Union Home Minister
Out of 36 states and union territories of the country, 27 are severe disaster prone states and 58 percent of the land area is prone to moderate to very high intensity of earthquakes, 12 percent is flood prone area where river flows through erosion.
About 7,516 kms of coastline is marked by cyclone vulnerabilities, 68 percent of the arable area is prone to drought every third year and around 15 percent of the land in mountains is prone to landslides.
About 5,161 urban units, be it municipal or municipal corporation, are prone to floods and at such times disaster management in our country is a huge responsibility.
In a country of 130 crore people, where every state has different weather, many rivers, mountains, long coastlines, in this situation if we are not able to see the sensitivity of the public and society, the introduction of scientific systems to avoid disasters and If we are not able to prepare the mindset to percolate these arrangements down, then we have to be prepared for huge loss of life and infrastructure. But a lot has changed in this field in last 17 years.
In many places there have been storms, floods have also occurred, even the record number of landslides have been reported. More so, landslides were reported for the first time in a state like Maharashtra. We have fought all these threats very well in last 2 years and for this NDRF deserve rich compliments.
Now, the government has also prepared a plan to integrate all the agencies and departments, even the smallest of the units. Whether it is a small village or a big metro city or a remote district, or a coastal city, every place has a plan ready to respond to the disaster.
National Disaster Management Authority(NDMA) and the National Disaster Response Force (NDRF) and State Disaster Response Force (SDRF) as its implementing agencies have, in the last 17 years, changed the history of disaster management in the country.
The central government has implemented two new initiatives. Through NDMA it launched – Aapda Mitra and Common Alert Protocol –.Aapda Mitra has been implemented on an experimental basis in 30 flood-prone districts of 25 states. Work has been done to prepare 5,500 Aapda Mitras and Aapda Sakhis for flood protection. Those who can swim were selected for this and wherever there was a flood, they did a great job.
If in a few moments, immediate action is to be taken at the time of disaster, then only trained disaster friends in the country, society and village-village can do it and this is a very good concept.
this experiment has just been done on a very small scale and in a country with a population of 130 crore, 5,500 Aapda Mitras and Aapda Sakhis are a very small in number. The whole country cannot be covered by this, that’s why we are going to implement Aapda Mitra scheme in 350 disaster affected districts
Many protocols and standard operating procejures(SOPs) have been made in the last 17 years and this system will be implemented in 350 districts to take them to the ground level and take immediate action during a disaster.
Tto instill a sense of confidence amongst volunteers and their families, the Government of India has also taken an important decision to insure them.
28 States and Union Territories have signed MoUs with NDMA for this scheme.
The Government has also started the Subhash Chandra Bose Aapda Prabandhan Puraskar for all the NGOs, social workers and government employees engaged in disaster management, so that they can be encouraged and it is a kind of public acknowledgement for their work.
NDMA should study the research or good practices to reduce the risk of disaster across the world and take them to the people by adapting them according to the circumstances and challenges of the country and adapting them into a methodology.
Despite several efforts and best facilities provided by the government, it is difficult to take immediate action by agencies like NDMA, NDRF and SDRF as soon as a disaster strikes. No matter how many arrangements have been made, it is natural to take some time to reach from one place to another in such a large country.
Common Alert Protocol should be well publicized. NDMA has taken many very good initiatives under which the governmemt can give alert about the location of lightning 6 minutes in advance and a few hours in advance of a large area.
We have prepared an action plan for cold wave and severe heat, but these are not implemented. Many lives can be saved if early warning agencies and such warnings are implemented.
The goal should be to create such a disaster management system that no matter how severe the disaster may be, not even one person should die.
The change in approach has yielded very good results, the 1999 cyclone alone killed 10,000 people and this year there have been three cyclones but the death toll is not more than 50.
Now, we issue early warnings in advance, from there the work of rescuing people is done, arrangements are made to settle the people living in non-permanent houses to safer places.
The states have also put in place a very good mechanism for this and the Centre and the states together have been successful in reducing the death toll to a great extent.
Now the whole outlook has changed. Earlier the approach of governments towards disasters was relief-centric. Everyone should be helped after the disaster, they should be given money, arrangements should be made for settlement, food, and medicines should be arranged in case of spread of disease.
But now, the focus is on early warning, proactive prevention, early preparedness and minimizing loss of life. We should continue this approach and strive for reaching zero loss of life.
Prime Minister Modi launched the National Disaster Management Plan, NDMP, and laid the blueprint for the first national plan prepared in the country. The plan is subsequently designed under the SENDAI Disaster Risk Reduction Framework and covers all aspects of minimizing risk and loss of life and property.
There are many big industries, Public Sector Undertakings (PSUs) across the country and many large companies have resources to fight the natural disasters, but they were never linked with the government earlier. Today, every collector has a list of available resources, whether with the government, public sector undertakings or private companies, to fight a disaster in his district.
There is also a system to use them and as soon as the warning arrives, these resources can be mobilized immediately. Earlier, when disasters happened, all these resources were not in use, but due to this type of planning, all these are being utilized and the loss of life is being minimized and this is a huge thing.
Since 2016 till now, solution for only nine disasters were presented by NDMA and now solution for eight more disasters have been presented. Thus,we can respond to a total 17 types of disasters,
NDMA has put the action plan in front of the people. PM Modi presented a 10-point program for disaster risk reduction in front of the world, and under this, it is the full responsibility of India to implement it well.We have achieved the desired results, but we have to move towards the goal of zero loss of life.
The government has not neglected relief work along with fighting the natural calamities. Earlier the Inter-Ministerial Central Team (IMCT) used to visit the state after the disaster was over and verify the damage assessment and then the amount was released to the state, which used to waste a lot of time. But, now the Ministry of Home Affairs, Government of India, has decided that no such report is required, and the ministry sends an advance IMCT team, which as per the preliminary estimates, gives immediate relief to the state, thereby providing the relief to the states during the disaster and prevent further damages.
Even the relief work has not been ignored and due to this a lot of changes are seen today. In 2019-20, 19 IMCT teams went to 17 states while in 2020-21, 22 teams visited 14 states, which is a big achievement.
Under NDRF and SDRF, about Rs 53,000 crore and Rs 60,000 crore has been given by the Narendra Modi government for this work.
An action plan has also been prepared to fight against the scorching heat. Apada Mitra should also be created against the scorching heat and they should also be prepared for the heat wave. Nothing happens just by preparing an action plan, until it is brought down to the ground level. Aapda Mitras and local bodies of the state can be the agencies to bring it down to the ground level.
Our job will be to take this plan to the Gram Panchayat, Tehsil or District Panchayat and Municipal Corporation.
India has introduced disaster management education at middle and high schools as training in disaster management will help but will not be enough. But if the culture of disaster training and disaster management are inculcated in children, then there will be less need for training.
In such a large country, when children in middle and high school learn about disaster management and imbibe this culture and when they become adult citizens, then wherever there is a disaster in the country, that culture will immediately come to the surface and they will stand up to help people.
North East
The Union Home Minister said that we have started a big new experiment in the North East. A Society has been formed to harness space science in the Northeast through NESAC. How can we develop by using satellite technology. We have started using it in disaster management by doing advance planning from last year.
In the Northeast, the Brahmaputra river is sure to be flooded, but the topography there is such that we can easily transfer the water of the Brahmaputra to a lake of thousands of hectares before it floods. If we make a lake, the chances of flooding the Brahmaputra are reduced by 40 percent. NESAC is working to find such type of location and it has also been successful.
So far 19 locations have been found, where big lakes will be built and energy will not be used to send water there as water will reach through topography. This is a new beginning and we have taken it one step further.
The winds of development have come to the North-East and many roads are being built, because without connectivity the development of North-East is not possible. But these roads and rails also stop the natural flow of water and with the help of satellites, we have accurately marked the natural flow of water where the roads and railways are being built, so that the system of water going from under the road is made in advance.
This has not been taken care since 15 years in the construction of highways across the country, so when we go to inspect the flood affected area, it is found that there is no water on one side of the road but on the other side the whole area is submerged, because it’s natural flow has been stopped.
Satellites have also been used for flood mapping in road and railway construction.