Disaster Management (India's Vulnerability of Different Disasters) by Rajvardhan

Model Answer

Question #1. Discuss about the vulnerability of India to Tsunami related hazards. Highlight the measures taken for prevention and mitigation of Tsunami in the Indian Ocean region.

Approach:

• Briefly introduce with the tsunami
• Explain the vulnerability of India to this disaster
• Then write about the measures taken in Indian ocean for prevention and mitigation of tsunami
• Conclude with the gist of your answer

Hints:

A tsunami is a large ocean wave that is caused by sudden motion on the ocean floor. This sudden motion could be an earthquake, a powerful volcanic eruption, or an underwater landslide. The impact of a large meteorite could also cause a tsunami. Tsunamis travel across the open ocean at great speeds and build into large deadly waves in the shallow water of a shoreline. For example, the tsunami from the Sumatra coastal earthquake travelled to the Tamil Nadu coast in about two hours.

India's exposure to Tsunami risk

• The Indian Ocean Tsunami on 26th December, 2004 which devastated the coastal communities in 14 countries, caused enormous loss of life and damage to property, assets and infrastructure in the coastal villages of Kerala, Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh, Puducherry and the Andaman & Nicobar Islands.
• The characteristics of tsunami such as fast-onset and unpredictability regarding when and where the next tsunami will hit, make it unique from other natural hazards. However, when it does happen, it impacts in severe way with little notice and therefore little time to respond. This puts a tremendous responsibility on countries like India where 26% of population live within 100 km from the shoreline.
• A long coastline of about 7,516 km of flat coastal terrain, shallow continental shelf, high population density, geographical location and physiological features of its coastal areas makes India vulnerable to Tsunami risk.
• The east and west coasts of India and the island regions are likely to be affected by Tsunamis generated mainly by subduction zone related earthquakes from the two potential source regions, viz. the Andaman-Nicobar-Sumatra Island Arc and the Makran subduction zone north of Arabian Sea.
• The tsunami risk and vulnerability which the coastal communities in India are exposed to, even by a distant high intensity earthquake in Indonesia, came as a shock and surprise to the unsuspecting public.

Prevention, mitigation of Tsunami related disaster in Indian Ocean region

• A National Tsunami Early Warning Centre, which has the capability to detect earthquakes of more than 6 magnitude in the Indian Ocean, was inaugurated in 2007 in India. Set-up by the Ministry of Earth Sciences in the Indian National Centre for Ocean Information Services (INCOIS), Hyderabad, the tsunami warning system would take 10-30 minutes to analyze the seismic data following an earthquake.
• Seismic and sea-level data are continuously monitored in the Early Warning Centre using custom-built software application that generates alarms/alerts in the warning centre whenever a pre-set threshold is crossed. 
• Tsunami warnings/watches are then generated based on pre-set decision support rules and disseminated to the concerned authorities for action, as per pre-decided standard operating procedure. The efficiency of this end-to-end system was proved during the large under-sea earthquake of 8.4 M that occurred on September 12, 2007 in the Indian Ocean.
• The Deep Ocean Assessment and Reporting System (DOARS) was set up in the Indian Ocean post 2014.
• Indian Ocean Wave Exercise 2018 (IOWave18) held in September 2018 in the Indian Ocean in which India along with 23 other nations participated in this major Indian ocean-wide tsunami mock drill which involves evacuation of thousands of people from coastal areas in over half a dozen coastal states.
• The Intergovernmental Coordination Group for the Indian Ocean Tsunami Warning and Mitigation System (ICG/IOTWMS) was formed in response to the tragic tsunami on December 26th 2004, in which over 230,000 lives were lost around the Indian Ocean region. 
• The Indian Ocean Tsunami Warning System was set up to provide warning to inhabitants of nations bordering the Indian Ocean of approaching tsunamis. The tsunami warning system has been in use since the mid-2000s.

Conclusion:

Currently, there are 1800 coastal forecast points covering coastal areas of the entire Indian Ocean region. The necessary actions must be initiated to upgrade the same for covering other the coastal regions.

Question #2. India is highly vulnerable to flood as it is the most frequently occurring natural hazard. Critically examine the efficacy of institutional arrangements dealing with flood management in the country.

Approach:

• The question demands the analysis of the flood management intuitional mechanism in India 
• Contextually introduce by providing some data on floods in India
• Then discuss Institutional arrangements dealing with flood management in India 
• Analyze their efficacy and ways to improve the arrangements 
• Conclude with the way forward 

Hints:

India is highly vulnerable to floods. Out of the total geographical area of 329 million hectares (mha), more than 40 mha is flood prone. Floods are a recurrent phenomenon, which cause huge loss of lives and damage to livelihood systems, property, infrastructure and public utilities. 

Eighty per cent of the precipitation takes place in the monsoon months from June to September. The rivers a bring heavy sediment load from catchments. These, coupled with inadequate carrying capacity of rivers are responsible for causing floods, drainage congestion and erosion of river-banks. Cyclones, cyclonic circulations and cloud bursts cause flash floods and lead to huge losses. It is a fact that some of the rivers causing damage in India originate in neighboring countries; adding another complex dimension to the problem.

On average every year, 75 lakh hectares of land is affected, 1600 lives are lost and the damage caused to crops, houses and public utilities is Rs.1805 crores due to floods. The maximum number of lives (11,316) was lost in the year 1977. The frequency of major floods is more than once in five years. 

Institutional arrangements dealing with flood management (FM)

• As per the constitutional provisions, FM is a state subject and as such the primary responsibility for flood management lies with the states. The central government has taken various initiatives and set up a number of organizations dealing with the floods. The most notable one is the enactment of the National Disaster Management Act, December 2005 and setting up of the NDMA, which has been assigned to deal with all types of disasters including the floods which include:

• Inspections of dams, embankments and other structural measures by the state governments – twice every year, once before monsoon (April-May) and second time after monsoon (November-December).
• Restoration/strengthening works by the state governments–every year.
• Monitoring of structural measures–by the state governments–throughout the year with special attention during monsoon. 
• Expansion and modernization of flood forecasting and warning network.

Efficacy of Institutional arrangements dealing with flood management

• While the institutional mechanisms have been in operation for a long time, the intensity and frequency of floods have only increased. There is a shortage of manpower, funds and missing of clear work hierarchy in the institutions that deal with flood management.
• Moreover, Climate change and rising population is impacting the natural drainage system and the water cycle. Wetlands are being converted into habitable zones, thus reducing recharge potential of the ground water. The flow of surface water is blocked due to encroachments in river beds.
• Hence, while all the activities under the Guidelines are important for minimizing flood risk and loss of lives and properties, the issues which need special attention are the following:
• Indiscriminate encroachment of the flood plains of the rivers and waterways of natural and man-made drainage channels and reclamation of ponds, chaurs, lakes and depressions have led to increased flood risk to lives and properties. The regulation of developmental activities in these areas must be rational.
• The change in priority in use of storage space of the multi-purpose reservoirs for irrigation, hydropower, drinking and industrial water supply by ignoring flood moderation has led to large scale flooding. The operation manuals and rule curves of all the reservoirs will be reviewed and modified to give priority to flood moderation.

Conclusion:

Flood forecasting and warning is a non-structural measure, which aims at minimizing losses and enabling the agencies concerned to plan rescue and relief measures. The efforts of the CWC, IMD, NRSA and the state governments should be integrated and a mechanism developed wherein during the monsoon, the representatives of all these organizations and the basin states work together in formulation and dissemination of reliable forecasts and warning