DISASTER MANAGEMENT

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 Disaster is an sudden occurring calamity that causes distress. Disasters themselves are not limited to specific parts of world, though; certain areas might be more prone to certain specific type of disaster. Disaster cannot be stopped but can be predicted. There are certain types of disasters, where, the loss during the actual event is not necessarily as high, but, the losses become very high due to inability to manage the situation in a timely manner. More often than not, it happens due to confusion and chaos in the context of too much loss, and, inefficient utilization of resources - which are already strained. Disaster management works for the same sense. Disaster management works under a cycle of prevention, mitigation, preparedness & recovery. These activities include prediction of disaster, rate of disaster strike per year, rate of losses due to disaster, etc. The management gives safety criteria such as building and by laws for earthquake, maintaining ground water table to sustain droughts, conducting programmers on awareness among peoples, proving shelter, food and other needs after disaster strike, etc. Management also has organizations of ready trained volunteers to help the peoples those who faced the disaster. GIS is an excellent tool for disaster management such as detecting the correct location of disaster, analysis of losses occurred, area affected and displays the updated data through internet for general awareness. As having wide range of future scope it enables us to be prepared for any uncertain calamity & a right path to follow.

INTRODUCTION

India has been traditionally vulnerable to natural disaster due to its unique geo climatic conditions. Floods, droughts, cyclones, earthquakes & landslides have been recurrent phenomena. About 60% of the landmass is prone to the earthquakes of various intensities, 40 million hectors is prone to floods, about 8% of the total area is prone to cyclones, 68% of the area is susceptible to drought besides natural disaster, calamities like wars, accidents, terrorism, fire hazards also disturbs nations economic & civic life.  Over past years; the government of India had brought about a paradigm shift in approach to disaster management. The new approach proceeds from the conviction that development cannot be sustainable unless disaster mitigation is built into the development process. Another corner stone of the approach is that mitigation has to multidisciplinary spanning across all sectors of development. The new policy also imamates from the belief that investment in mitigation are much more cost effective than expenditure on relief and rehabilitation.

At global level there has been considerable concern over natural disaster. Even as substantial scientific and material progress is made, the loss of lives has not decreased. Disaster management occupies an important place in this country’s policy frame work as it is the poor and the under privileged who are worst affected on account of calamities or disasters.

This paper discuss about the work cycle that is to be carried out by the management, remedies, policies and other applications.

WHAT IS DISASTER?

Disaster is a sudden, calamitous event bringing great damage, loss, and destruction and devastation to life and property. The damage caused by disasters is immeasurable and varies with the geographical location, climate and the type of the earth surface/degree of vulnerability. This influences the mental, socio-economic, political and cultural state of the affected area.

What is disaster management?

It is a cyclic process of prevention, mitigation, preparedness and recovery.

Disaster prevention begins at the top of an organization. The attitude of senior management toward security and prevention should permeate the entire organization. Once the potential areas of high exposure to the organization are identified, additional preventative measures can be considered for implementation. Mitigation is the most cost-efficient method for reducing the impact of hazards; however it is not always suitable. In the preparedness phase, emergency managers develop plans of action for when the disaster strikes. The aim of the recovery phase is to restore the affected area to its previous state.