Disaster Management Paper III Prince Mishra

Category
GS-I
Test Date
13-10-2021 11:00 AM

To participate in answer writing program, Register yourself for the test. Copies will be evaluated only for the registered students. Registration will be closed before the scheduled date.

6 Days Answer Improvement Cycle

Day 1: Questions will be uploaded on the portal on the scheduled date at 11:00 AM.
Day 2 and 3: You have to write your answers on an A4 size sheet leaving margins on both sides based on UPSC pattern. After writing the answer, Click a picture of the answer sheet (Use CamScanner and ensure good quality images) and upload (in JPEG format) in the comment section of the same question.
Day 4 and 5: After evaluation, copies will be re-uploaded on the same thread on 5th day. Based on these answers and feedback, aspirants can ask their doubts in the comment box and our experts will guide. The model hint will be uploaded on the site on Day 4.
Day 6: Discussion of the question and one to one answer improvement session of evaluated copies will be conducted through Google Meet with concerned faculty.

Instruction:

Attempt One question out of the given two.
The test carries 15 marks.
Write Your answer in 150 words.
Any page left blank in the answer-book must be crossed out clearly.
After Writing the Answer upload your copy in JPEG format in the comment box.
Evaluated Copy will be re-uploaded on the same thread after 2 days of uploading the copy.
Discussion of the question and one to one answer improvement session of evaluated copies will be conducted through Google Meet with concerned faculty. You will be informed via mail or SMS for the discussion.

Question #1. Discuss comprehensively Disaster Management Cycle. What strategies are adopted in Disaster Management? What reforms, according to you, can make them better?

Question #2. Highlight the vulnerability of India to Cloud burst. What measures have been adopted to deal with these phenomena?

(Examiner will pay special attention to the candidate's grasp of his/her material, its relevance to the subject chosen, and to his/ her ability to think constructively and to present his/her ideas concisely, logically and effectively).

Model Answer

Question #1. Discuss comprehensively Disaster Management Cycle. What strategies are adopted in Disaster Management? What reforms, according to you, can make them better?

Disaster management aims to reduce, or avoid the potential losses from hazards, assure prompt and appropriate assistance to victims of disaster, and achieve rapid and effective recovery.

The Disaster management cycle illustrates the ongoing process by which governments, businesses, and civil society plan for and reduce the impact of disasters, react during and immediately following a disaster, and take steps to recover after a disaster has occurred.

Appropriate actions at all points in the cycle lead to greater preparedness, better warnings, reduced vulnerability or the prevention of disasters during the next iteration of the cycle. The complete disaster management cycle includes the shaping of public policies and plans that either modify the causes of disasters or mitigate their effects on people, property, and infrastructure.

Components of Disaster Management Cycle:

Mitigation - Minimizing the effects of disaster. Examples: building codes and zoning; vulnerability analyses; public education.
Preparedness - Planning how to respond. Examples: preparedness plans; emergency exercises/ training; warning systems.
Response - Efforts to minimize the hazards created by a disaster. Examples: search and rescue; emergency relief.
Recovery - Returning the community to normal. Examples: temporary housing; grants; medical care.

Strategy adopted in Disaster Management

Risk assessment: The intent of assessing risks to records is to attempt to prevent the occurrence of a disaster situation in the first instance.
Planning for disaster prevention and recovery: It includes Procedures for the identification and reporting of a disaster situation, Chain of command of salvage and recovery teams, List of vital records and their locations, List of equipment and materials available for use in disaster salvage and recovery, Provisions for training and awareness of staff members.
Review of disaster situations: It ponders over how the disaster occurred, how the recovery operated preceded, the appropriateness and success of the recovery operation, Consequences of the disaster situation and recovery operation.

Challenges faced in Disaster Management Cycle

Dis-proportionate disaster management planning between top-down and bottom-up approaches.
Lack of coordination in the entire disaster management cycle and greater focus on the disaster emergency response stage.
Lack of planning of a long-term recovery (post-disaster) process, which results in low level community and stakeholder resilience.

Ways to improve Disaster Management Cycle

Countries should choose the form of disaster management cycle which is most appropriate to their needs.
In Indian Context, A new entry, “Management of Disasters and Emergencies, natural or manmade”, may be included in List III (Concurrent List) of the Seventh Schedule of the Constitution (also recommended by ARC II).
Disasters should be categorized at local, district, state or national level. This categorization along with intensity of each type of disaster will help in determining the level of authority primarily responsible for dealing with the disaster as well as the scale of response.
Develop expertise and knowledge in the field of crisis/disaster management and disseminate to the field.
Coordinate the early warning system and deploy specialized manpower and machinery in support of local/state governments.
The task of implementation of mitigation/prevention and response measures may be left to the State Governments and the district and local authorities with the line ministries departments of Government of India, playing a supportive role.

Question #2. Highlight the vulnerability of India to Cloud burst. What measures have been adopted to deal with these phenomena?

Cloudbursts in and around the southern rim of the Indian Himalayas are elusive in terms of their position and time of occurrences. Most of the reported cloudbursts are in the interior of the Himalayas and hence their observation itself is limited. Most of these events are reported once their affect in terms of loss to life and property is experienced in the downstream habitats. In addition, they are mostly associated with flash floods as an impact of the torrential precipitation.

Extent of India’s vulnerability

The Himalayan region especially the western Himalayas is known to be the most vulnerable to cloudbursts as it provide suitable conditions for the formation of cloudbursts.
The Himalayan orography with its steep and unstable inclines forms a perfect platform for such a cloudburst event to lead to flash floods or landslides.
Most of the damages to properties, communication system and human casualties are as a result of flash floods. The phenomenon occurs due to sudden upward drift of moisture-laden clouds as a tall vertical column termed “Cumulonimbus Clouds” usually associated with cloudbursts.

The hilly terrain and heavy moisture contents facilitate rapid condensation and the cloud formation sheds its water load with ferocity over localized area with rainfall intensity as high as 100mm per hour. The flash floods are a growing concern in hills due to removal of trees and vegetation cover. The barren steep rocky slopes that absorb little water facilitate quick runoff.

The factors affecting the runoff from a catchment area are:

Intensity, distribution and duration of rainfall
Area and shape of catchment both as to external boundary and internal drainage system.
Slope of the catchment.
Nature and permeability of the hill slope.

Measures to deal with Cloud burst

Creation of a land use pattern based on Vulnerability profile, hence haphazard construction of buildings at unsafe slope in the mountains have been avoided.
Catchment areas and the wetlands which also act as sponge system have been restored and attempts have been made to free them of all encroachments.
Afforestation programmes have been launched to cover all forms of denuded topography to prevent flash floods which occur post cloudbursts.
Sensors have been installed to collect and process data related to pattern of precipitation. These data are analyzed and a fair share of warning is issued in case events of cloudbursts are predicted.
Work on Early Warning System has been expedited. By Dec 2020, Pockets prone to Cloudburst will have sensor based prediction mechanism. This will give some crucial window of opportunity for relief and rescue operation.

Procedure of Answer Writing:

To participate in the answer writing program, Register yourself for the test. Copies will be evaluated only for the registered students. Registration will be closed after the scheduled date.

Answer Writing, Copy Evaluation, and Marks Improvement Cycle:

Step 1 (Theme, Details & Its Topics):

Every round of Answer writing initiative will be around a theme related to the Subject/Topic.
Please read the theme and its description, and try to cover the topics given within the theme before writing the answer along with the sources.

Step 2 (Answer Writing):

Questions will be uploaded on the portal on the scheduled date at 7:00 AM.
You have to write your answers on an A4 size sheet leaving margins on both sides based on the UPSC pattern.
Mention your name, email id, location, and phone number on the 1st page in the top right corner and the page number on each page.
After writing the answers, Click pictures of each page of your answer sheet, merge them all in a single PDF and upload them in the upload section of the same question.
Kindly submit your written answers before 7:00 PM. Only the first 100 copies will be considered for evaluation. No request for late submission or evaluation will be entertained once the 100 mark is reached.

Note: Answer sheets without the proper guidelines given above will not be accepted for evaluation.

Step 3 (Copy Evaluation): Copies will be evaluated in the next 72 hours of the test date. After evaluation, copies will be uploaded into your account. During the copy evaluation period, doubt clearing and discussion about the theme or topic of the test with respective mentors of the test will be done in the telegram group.

Step 4 (Mentorship): Evaluated copies will be sent to you via mail and also uploaded into your account on the website. After that a mentorship session for the marks improvement with respective faculty will be conducted on the Google Meet, so that students can get a wider perspective of the topics. Here you can discuss your evaluated copies also with the faculty. Top 5 copies of every test will be shared in the telegram group for reference.

Note: Aspirants who have not written the test can also participate in the mentorship session.

For Updates and Mentorship of the session, you will be notified through SMS or Telegram Group.

For Notification And Update About the Program Join Telegram Group at: https://t.me/gsscoreopendailyanswerwriting

Note: You have to write your answers on an A4 size sheet leaving margins on both sides based on UPSC pattern. Mention Your Name on 1st page and Page Number on each page. After writing the answer, Click pictures of each page of your answer sheet, merge them all in a single PDF and upload in the Your Answer Copy section of the same question.