disaster management: After saving lives, now to fortify them

Thunderstorms and tornadoes left a trail of destruction and killed at least 23 people over the weekend – across Arkansas, Texas, Oklahoma, Kentucky and Alabama in the US. The considerably much more populated and infrastructurally vulnerable areas pummelled by Cyclone Remal over the weekend across Indian states of West Bengal, Assam and Mizoram, as well as Bangladesh, resulted in the deaths of less than 20 so far. This is not to lay out the results of some perverse ‘disaster management‘ contest. But it does show how this part of the world, including India, has significantly improved its evacuation capabilities, at least when it comes to minimising loss of life during extreme weather events since the 1999 Paradip super cyclone and 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami.

And it’s not just cyclones that are occurring with increasing frequency and intensity due to human intervention (read: reckless interference) in weather and geographical systems that includes climate change. India’s disaster management and relief mechanisms have been up to the challenge of dealing with other natural disasters as well. National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA) and National Disaster Response Force (NDRF), together with the sharp, reliable forecasting and early warning systems of Indian Meteorological Department (IMD), have ensured that India’s coastal states can weather cyclonic storms with minimal loss of life.

Now comes the next part of the challenge. More than 85% of India’s geographical area is prone to multiple hazards. While saving lives must always be priority, the focus must now expand to minimise loss of infrastructure and property, and improve people’s resilience to withstand the intensity of the rising number of extreme weather events.