Disaster Management in context of right to livelihood

By BUTOOL ZEHRA

DISASTER MANAGEMENT IN CONTEXT OF RIGHT TO LIVELIHOOD

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 Disaster Management in context of right to livelihood
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BUTOOL ZEHRA {Roll No. 09 B.A LL.B (H) 10th Semester}

TABLE OF CONTENTS

S.no. Description Page No.

1. Acknowledgment 3
2. Research Methodology 4
3. List of References. 5
4. What is a Disaster ? Introduction 6-8
5. Disaster Management 9
6. Do human rights exist during Disasters 10-11
7. IASC Operational guidelines 12-15
8. ICESCR 16
9. Impact of disaster on livelihood 17-19
10. Conclusion 20

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ACKNOWLEDGMENT

It is indeed my proud privilege to express my deep sense of gratitude and

indebtness to our respected Professor Dr. Subhradipta Sarkar sir, for his
inspirational guidance at every stage of my study, and further for her scholarly
inspiration and affectionate encouragement throughout the period of my
research.

I, express my immense gratitude to the learned authors whose works I have

consulted and referred on many occasions.

Delhi BUTOOL ZEHRA

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Research Methodology

Research Methodology is a systematized investigation to gain new knowledge

about the phenomena or problems. Legal phenomena require their own
research methodology. The research methodology applied here is Doctrinal
method of research.

BUTOOL ZEHRA

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LIST OF REFERENCES

Primary sources:

S.no Description
1. Disaster Management Law – The Indian Law Institute
2. Encyclopaedia of Disaster Management By Goel, S. L..
3.
Disaster Management – G.K.Ghosh
4.
Constitutional Law of India – H.M.Seervai

Secondary sources:
Websites:

 https://aligarh.nic.in/disaster-management/

 https://interagencystandingcommittee.org/system/files/legacy_files/protecting_persons_a
ffected_by_natural_disasters_iasc_operational_guidelines_on_human_rights_and_natural_dis
asters.pdf
 https://economictimes.indiatimes.com/markets/stocks/news/the-real-war-for-india-will-
begin-after-the-corona-crisis-gets-over/articleshow/75247603.cms

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INTRODUCTION

O
ur Mother nature is prone to disasters. Occurrence of disasters in one form or the
another, can be traced to the very beginning of the Universe. History unfolds myriad
instances of disasters that caused extensive loss of life and property, extreme human
suffering, irreparable devastation, permanent changes in the environment and long term
displacement of lakhs of individuals. Its effects are not only immediate, affecting the present
generation but also ongoing, mutilating the future generations.

What is a disaster?

“Disaster" means a catastrophe, mishap, calamity or grave occurrence in any area, arising
from natural or man made causes, or by accident or negligence which results in substantial loss
of life or human suffering or damage to, and destruction of, property, or damage to, or
degradation of, environment, and is of such a nature or magnitude as to be beyond the coping
capacity of the community of the affected area.1

A disaster  is a natural or  man-made  hazard  that has come to fruition, resulting in an event of
substantial extent causing significant physical damage or destruction, loss of life, or drastic
change to the environment. A disaster can be ostensively defined as any tragic event with great
loss stemming from events such as  earthquakes, floods, catastrophicaccidents, fires,
or explosions.

In contemporary academia, disasters are seen as the consequence of inappropriately managed

risk. These risks are the product of hazards and vulnerability. Hazards that strike in areas with
low vulnerability are not considered a disaster, as is the case in uninhabited regions.2

1
Disaster Management Act, 2005
2
https://aligarh.nic.in/disaster-management/

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Developing countries suffer the greatest costs when a disaster hits – more than 95 percent of all
deaths caused by disasters occur in developing countries, and losses due to natural disasters are
20 times greater (as a percentage of GDP) in developing countries than in industrialized
countries.

The word derives from Middle  French  désastre and that from Old Italian disastro, which in
turn comes from the Greek pejorative  (dus-) "bad" and  (aster), "star". The root of the
word disaster ("bad star" in Greek) comes from an astrological  theme in which the ancients
used to refer to the destruction or deconstruction of a star as a disaster.

Disasters are routinely divided into natural or human-made, although complex disasters, where
there is no single root cause, are more common in developing countries. A specific disaster may
spawn a secondary disaster that increases the impact. A classic example is an earthquake that
causes a  tsunami, resulting in coastal  flooding.

 NATURAL DISASTER

A ‘natural disaster’ is a natural event with castrophic consequences for living things in the
vicinity. It is defined as a violent, sudden and destructive change in the environment, not caused
by a human activity, but due to natural phenomena such as floods, earthquakes, fire, hurricanes
etc. A natural disaster is a consequence when a natural hazard (e.g., volcanic
eruption or earthquake) affects humans and/or the built environment. Human vulnerability, and
often a lack of appropriate emergency management, leads to financial, environmental, or human
impact. The resulting loss depends on the capacity of the population to support or resist the
disaster: their resilience. This understanding is concentrated in the formulation: "disasters
occur when hazards meet vulnerability". A natural hazard will hence never result in a natural
disaster in areas without vulnerability, e.g., strong earthquakes in uninhabited areas.

Natural disasters can be divided into three specific groups:

a) Hydro-meteorological disasters

b) Geographical disasters and

c) Biological disasters.

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The risk of natural disasters is ever increasing as a result of alteration of the natural
environment, population growth and urbanization. With further population growth, expanding
infrastructure and industrialization, the risk of heavy disasters are expected to occur in the
future. The death toll from disasters is predominantly terrible and tragic in the third world
countries due to inadequate infrastructure maintenance and uncontrolled and urbanization.

 MAN-MADE DISASTER

Though often caused by nature, disasters can also have human causative factors. Disasters
having an element of human intent, negligence, error or involving some failure of a system are
man made. It refers to all disasters resulting from man made hazards. It is also defined as
actions committed by a government against its own people; actions committed by an outside
force; or civil unrest or terrorism. Nuclear or radiological accidents, building fires, hazardous
materials accidents, terrorism, aviation accidents, maritime accidents, rail or road accidents,
riots, civil unrest, bridge collapses, dam breaks etc. are the instances of man made disasters.

Man made disasters can be divided into three categories:

1) Armed conflict

2) Technological disasters and

3) Disasters that are not caused by hazards but occur in human settlements.

Various disasters like earthquake, landslides, volcanic eruptions, flood and cyclones are natural
hazards that kill thousands of people and destroy billions of dollars of habitat and property each
year. The rapid growth of the world's population and its increased concentration often in
hazardous environment has escalated both the frequency and severity of natural disasters. With
the tropical climate and unstable land forms, coupled with deforestation, unplanned growth
proliferation non-engineered constructions which make the disaster-prone areas mere
vulnerable, tardy communication, poor or no budgetary allocation for disaster prevention,

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developing countries suffer more or less chronically by natural disasters. Asia tops the list of
casualties due to natural disaster.

However, it is possible to reduce the impact of disasters by adopting suitable disaster mitigation
strategies. Disaster mitigation mainly addresses the following:

 minimize the potential risks by developing disaster early warning strategies

 prepare and implement developmental plans to provide resilience to such disasters,

 mobilize resources including communication and tele-medicinal services

 to help in rehabilitation and post-disaster reduction.

DISASTER MANAGMENT

“Disaster Management" means a continuous and integrated process of planning, organising,

coordinating and implementing measures which are necessary or expedient for:

 Prevention of danger or threat of any disaster

 Mitigation or reduction of risk of any disaster or its severity or consequences
 Capacity-building;
 Preparedness to deal with any disaster
 Prompt response to any threatening disaster situation or disaster
 Assessing the severity or magnitude of effects of any disaster
 Evacuation, rescue and relief
 Rehabilitation and reconstruction
 pre-disaster planning, preparedness, monitoring including relief management
capability
 prediction and early warning
 damage assessment and relief management.

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Disaster reduction is a systematic work which involves with different regions, different
professions and different scientific fields, and has become an important measure for human,
society and nature sustainable development.

DO HUMAN RIGHTS EXIST DURING TIMES OF DISASTER?

Human Rights are commonly understood as inalienable, 3fundamental rights "to which a person

is inherently entitled simply because she or he is a human being" 4 and which are "inherent in all
human beings",5regardless of their age, ethnic origin, location, language, religion, ethnicity, or
any other status.6

The Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR) is a milestone document in the history of
human rights. Drafted by representatives with different legal and cultural backgrounds from all
regions of the world, the Declaration was proclaimed by the United Nations General Assembly
in Paris on 10 December 1948 (General Assembly resolution 217 A) as a common standard of
achievements for all peoples and all nations. It sets out, for the first time, fundamental human
rights to be universally protected7

RESPONSE TO THE TERRORS OF WORLD WAR II

The 1948 Universal Declaration of Human Rights is probably the most famous human rights
document and at the same time is the cornerstone of international human rights protection. Up

3
The United Nations, Office of the High Commissioner of Human Rights, What are human rights?. Retrieved 14
August 2014
4
Sepúlveda et al. 2004, p. 3"Archived copy". Archived from the original on March 28, 2012. Retrieved November
8, 2011.
5
Burns H. Weston, 20 March 2014, Encyclopædia Britannica, human rights. Retrieved 14 August 2014
6
Gary J. Bass (book reviewer), Samuel Moyn (author of book being reviewed), 20 October 2010, The New 
7
https://www.un.org/en/universal-declaration-human-rights/

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until World War II human rights and its protection were almost exclusively a matter for
national constitutions and only very few questions were ruled on at an international level. The
effects of the war and fear of communism however led to a turnaround. During the war the
Allies explained that they were willing to create conditions for all humans to live in freedom
and free from any fear and shortage. Therefore the UN Charter of 1945 contains the clear
order to the community of states to encourage the respect and realisation of human and basic
rights.8

The general explanation of human rights states that civil, political and social rights belong to
human beings in order to preserve one’s dignity. The thirty articles of the Universal
Declaration of Human Rights guarantees protection of the person, of procedural law (claim
of effective legal remedy), classical freedom rights such as freedom of expression, as well as
economical, social and cultural rights. These rights should apply to all people irrespectively of
their race, gender and nationality, as all people are born free and equal. 

Human rights protection is therefore the responsibility of the State even during
the times of disaster

 Human rights have to be the legal underpinning of all humanitarian work in natural
disasters

 Human rights violations can be deliberate but also occur as a result of neglect and
inadequate policies

 Disasters usually exacerbate pre-existing inequalities and problems

Why Human Rights exist during disaster:

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https://www.humanrights.ch/en/standards/udhr/

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● Because natural hazards affect individuals and communities thus creating disasters for human
beings.

● Because people affected by natural disasters remain residents and citizens of their countries
with the same rights as others who have not been affected, but with particular needs that are
different.

● Because humanitarian and recovery activities do not take place in a legal void.

● Because human rights may be endangered and violated in situations of disasters

The IASC Operational Guidelines and other tools and learnings that can assist Ombudsmen
to respond constructively to a natural disaster

“Human rights don’t disappear the moment an earthquake, a hurricane or a tsunami strikes. We
witnessed after the Indian Ocean tsunami, the earthquake in Haiti and many other disaster
situations that during relief and recovery efforts the protection of human rights gains in
importance as it can safeguard the dignity of those affected. People are at their most vulnerable
in times of crisis so preventing discrimination and abuse is vital.” - Foreword to the IASC
Operational Guidelines, January 2011.9

International experience in post-natural disaster recovery and response suggests that the longer
the effect of any disruption lasts, the greater the risk of human rights violations. It is further
important to recognise that even in developed countries, disasters are not uncommon, and that
“Even in developed countries, disasters have a knack of finding the poor and vulnerable.”6 The
prevalence of human rights violations following natural disasters is well understood.

https://interagencystandingcommittee.org/system/files/legacy_files/protecting_persons_affected_by_natura
l_disasters_iasc_operational_guidelines_on_human_rights_and_natural_disasters.pdf

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Despite this, the conceptual human rights framework which exists to guide responses to those
violations is not as well understood. Possibly this is because the tools contributing to the
conceptual frameworks that focus specifically on guiding post-disaster response have only been
developed in the last few years. These include the IASC Operational Guidelines on the
Protection of Persons in Situations of Natural Disasters (the IASC Operational Guidelines) 7
(formally adopted by the Inter-Agency Standing Committee in June 2006 and revised and
republished in January 2011), and the World Bank’s publication Safer Homes Stronger
Communities: A Handbook for Reconstructing after Disasters (developed in 2010).10

The IASC Operational Guidelines primarily aim to help international and non-governmental
humanitarian organizations. They are also very useful guides for Government agencies and in-
country civil society organizations, particularly because they are based on significant
international experience in dealing with what are relatively common “natural disaster” events
no matter how “unprecedented” the event might be to people and a Government affected by a
particular disaster. Furthermore, the IASC Operational Guidelines are relevant to businesses.

IASC Operational Guidelines state:

“Often, negative impacts on the human rights concerns after a natural disaster do not arise from
purposeful policies but are the result of inadequate planning and disaster preparedness,
inappropriate policies and measures to respond to the disasters, or simple neglect.”

These challenges could be mitigated or avoided altogether if the relevant human rights
guarantees were taken into account by national and international actors, in all phases of the
disaster response: preparedness, relief and recovery.

Human Rights are divided into four relevant categories in the IASC Operational Guidelines:

10
Abhas K. Jha et al, World Bank, Safer Homes Stronger Communities: A Handbook for Reconstructing After
Disasters, World Bank, 2010

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Group A: Protection of life; security and physical integrity of the person; and family ties.

 A.1 Life saving measures in particular evacuations

 A.2 Protection against separation of families

 A.3 Protection against secondary impacts of natural disasters

 A.4 Protection against violence, including gender-based violence

 A.5 Security in host families and communities, or in collective shelters

 A.6 Dealing with mortal remains.

Group B: Protection of rights related to the provision of food; health; shelter; and education

 B.1 Access to and provision of humanitarian goods and services – general

principles
 B.2 Provision of specific goods, such as adequate food, water and sanitation,
shelter, clothing; essential health service, and education ; o Provision of these
rights related to basic needs should be Available, Accessible, Acceptable and
Adaptable

Group C: Protection of rights related to housing; land and property; livelihoods and
secondary and higher education

 C.1 Housing, land and property, and possessions

 C.2 Transitional shelter, housing and evictions

 C.3 Livelihood and work Projects to restore economic activities, opportunities

and livelihoods that are disrupted by the natural disaster should start as soon and
as completely as possible. To the maximum extent possible, such measures should
already be taken during the emergency phase.

 C.4 Secondary and higher education Where individuals are unable to return to
previous sources of livelihood due to the natural disaster, appropriate measures

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—including provision of re-training opportunities or micro-credits—should be

taken. Opportunities created by such measures should be available without any
discrimination of any kind as to race, colour, sex, language, religion, political or
other opinion, national or social origin, property, birth, age, disability or other
status. C.4.3 Access to livelihoods and employment opportunities should be
ensured when planning temporary camps and relocation sites, as well as
permanent re-housing for individuals displaced by the natural disaster.

Group D: Protection of rights related to documentation; movement; re-establishment of family

ties; expression and opinion; and elections

 D.1 Documentation
 D.2 Freedom of movement, particularly in the context of durable solutions

 D.3 Re-establishing family ties

 D.4 Expression, assembly and association, and religion

 D.5 Electoral rights Each group of rights identified in the

International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (ICESCR)

The rights in the ICESCR must also be provided equally and on a non-
discriminatory basis. They are, however, subject to the concept of progressive
realization and resource limitations. Given the potential cost, compliance with
the substantive rights is expected to happen incrementally or, to use the language
of the Covenant, “progressively”, depending on the resources available and the
competing claims and priorities on those resources.24 To avoid this being used
as reason for non-compliance, States must demonstrate they have made every
effort to use the resources at their disposal to satisfy at least the minimum or core
obligations in the treaty as a matter of priority. It follows that there is a strong
presumption against any deliberately retrogressive measures. While it is

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inevitable that in any disaster, the immediate priority will be the protection of life
and personal security, this is closely followed by the realisation and protection of
certain social and economic rights including provision of the basic necessities of
life such as access to goods and services and humanitarian assistance; adequate
food, sanitation, shelter, clothing and essential health services; and access to
education, housing and work.

Article 11 of ICESCR recognizes the right to an adequate standard of living,

including adequate housing. While housing has emerged as one of – if not, the -
most pressing concerns in the wake of natural disasters, it is closely linked to the
right to health (Art.12) and the right to work (Articles 6-8). The quality of
housing directly affects people’s health, particularly that of children and older
people. Security and adequacy of housing have far reaching effects on children’s
health, achievements in education and their general development. The right to
health includes the right to physical and psychosocial or mental health. The right
to work which includes the opportunity to work, free choice of employment, just
and favourable conditions of work and non-discrimination, is also important.

Conclusion: What will happen if we do not learn from the international

experience? If we do not learn from international experience in the context of
natural-disaster recovery and response, the most vulnerable people affected by
disasters will likely suffer many human rights violations. These violations may
include unequal access to assistance.

IMPACT ON LIVELIHOOD BY DIFFERENT DISASTERS:

 FLOODS:

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Despite being given relatively less attention as compared to drought, flooding has long
been recognized as one of the major environmental hazards that often develop into a
disaster affecting the lives and livelihoods of people for many years.11 Severe flooding in
2006, has affected 107,286 people, displacing 37,982, damaging crops

RESILIENCE:

The concept of resilience has recently been widely promoted in many fields such as
engineering, psychology, and ecology, very recently resilience has become widely used
by humanitarian and development actors working across diverse thematic areas
including, disaster risk reduction, climate change, ecosystem management, and food and
nutrition security

Linking livelihood approaches to resilience thinking is imperative to enhance the

understanding of livelihood dynamics and to explore how households maintain and
improve their livelihoods in the face of natural disasters 

Status: Policy should focus more on addressing the factors that expose people to flood
disasters and shape their resilience, rather than focusing on short-term emergency
responses which seems to be the norm in much of the flood affected areas in the country.

 DROUGHTS:

As a consequence of drought, access to domestic water supply was cumbersome and time
spent on water collection activities almost doubled compared with the time required in
years with normal rainfall. On average, a respondent household in a flood stricken area
suffered a loss of about 86% in production of major crops. High reductions in on-farm
unskilled employment opportunities and an increase in unskilled labor in off-farm rural
employment activities were reported. It was found that about 69% of respondents were
availing loans and 79% of them delayed repayment of loans due to the consequences of
drought. 

11
https://link.springer.com/article/10.1186/s40677-017-0074-0

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 CORONA CRISIS IN INDIA AND SIMILAR COUNTRIES

‘Hunger is the most effective disease,’ said Pol Pot, Cambodian dictator. The potent vaccine
for hunger is not free supply of grains and pulses, but sustainable employment.
Crores of people around the world live on subsistence income, i.e. a few steps away from
hunger. People are often internal migrants, who live in inhospitable conditions in cities,
having escaped the creepy disease called ‘hunger’ in their villages. The corona lockdown
has already pushed them to edge. The real war for India like nations is not corona, but the
aftermath.12

The greatest risk in war for ‘livelihood’ is the socialistic mindset of our policy makers.
World leaders have advised employers not to retrench any employee. It is a fair ask and
advice for large companies with strong financials. Such companies do not employ even 10
per cent of workforce. When you are exhorted not to fire, the natural instinct would be not to
hire more.

Further, many employers, even with ‘willingness’, may not have the ‘ability’ to hire.
Businesses that suffer slowdown after lockdown will be forced to trim down. Imagine a
business running with 500 people, impacted by slowdown, faces a shrink or sink dilemma –
whether to survive by sacking 100 people, or go down with all 500 people? Or take the case
of a business that needs more funds to pay salaries because the working capital cycle has
elongated.

.The government can give them free foodgrains from its warehouses, but cannot create
enough jobs for them. For private enterprises to create jobs, they should feel good too. They
take risk for the ‘lure of profit’. If the government fails to create a conducive supportive
environment with profit opportunities for them, we can be rest assured of large-scale job
losses.
12
https://economictimes.indiatimes.com/markets/stocks/news/the-real-war-for-india-will-begin-after-the-
corona-crisis-gets-over/articleshow/75247603.cms?from=mdr

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Take for instance the real estate developers, who are not loved by anyone. Now, they are not
getting funded by anyone. Paradoxically again, they create a large number of jobs for the
poorest laborers and demand for several sectors like cement, steel, building material and
finance. The housing sector is in dire need of capital, and banks have little risk appetite. This
sector is the backbone of the economy and financial system as well. The government can look
at innovative ways to attract household savings into this sector.

Former US President Barack Obama had put it aptly ‘…Instead of just managing poverty,
we must offer... people a pathway out of poverty.’ For 70 years after Independence, all
Indian governments have tried to manage poverty and not succeeded much in offering people
a pathway out of poverty.

CONCLUSION
Despite these researches and acknowledgements of rights the governments across globe have
failed multifolds in tackling the impacts of disasters and safeguarding the right of people.

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Right to livelihood is a basic human right and leaders haven’t made enough policies to fight the
sudden tragic situations and thereby this basic human rights suffers in hands of ignorance and
neglect.

Poor people need work as pathway out of poverty and not alms to manage their poverty. India’s
rich should be called upon to invest and create jobs, and not just pay higher taxes to fund the
alms.

Policies should focus more on addressing the factors that expose people to flood disasters and
shape their resilience, rather than focusing on short-term emergency responses which seems to be
the norm in much of the flood affected areas in the country.

The governments must therefore work in a more coordinated and focused way to frame policies
and adopt poor centric approach and bring into account the poor and daily wage earners, farmers
and create job opportunities so that right to life is enjoyed with dignity by everyone and there is
never any need to depend on alms.

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