Mx3084 DRRM Unit-II

Disaster Management Disaster Risk Reduction (DRR)
UNIT - II
2 DisasterRisk
Reduction (DRR)
2.1 Concept of Risk
When a hazard event (such as a drought, flood, cyclone, earthquake or tsunami -
among others) occurs, triggering a loss of life and damage to infrastructure, it highlights
the reality that society and its assets are vulnerable to such events. When discussing
disaster risk management, a disaster can highlight the following in a community :
 The geographical area where the community is settled is exposed to such a
hazard;
 The society (including individuals) and its infrastructure, assets and other
processes - as well as services which may have experienced damage or destruction
- are vulnerable.
2.1.1 Disaster Risk
 This is defined as “the potential loss of life, injury, or destroyed or damaged assets
which could occur to a system, society or a community in a specific period of time,
determined probabilistically as a function of hazard, exposure, and capacity”.
 In the technical sense, it is defined through the combination of three terms:
hazard, exposure and vulnerability.
 For example, when a settlement is established on the shores of a river,
hydrologists can identify and characterize flood hazard by carrying out a
hydraulic analysis.
 A hazard is characterized by its "location, intensity or magnitude, frequency and
probability”. In some countries, such hazard areas outline the geographic extent
of floods that have a 100 year period of possible return.
 Any people, assets, infrastructure, and ecosystems located inside the area are all
exposed to potential damage from floods.
 The degree of potential damage is then characterized by the area's vulnerability.
[Prepared By: Mr.G.PURUSHOTHAMAN., M.E., (PhD)] Page 2

 For example, this can be defined by the physical structure of a building, as well as
by the social and economic characteristics of a system.
 Additionally, hazard vulnerability can be characterized by the capacities of a
society to cope with a hazard.
2.1.2 Disaster Risk Reduction

 This is aimed at preventing new and reducing existing disaster risk and managing
residual risk, all of which contribute to strengthening resilience and therefore to
the achievement of “sustainable development".

 The definition further annotates that “disaster risk reduction is the policy
objective of disaster risk management, and its goals and objectives are defined in
disaster risk reduction strategies and plans".
 Disaster risk reduction strategies and policies define goals and objectives across
different timescales, with concrete targets, indicators and time frames.
Disaster Risk Reduction Strategies in India

 India has become UN's greatest match-winner here at the 2017 Global Platform for
Disaster Risk Reduction being the first country to have come up with a national
plan and a local strategy for Disaster Risk Reduction (DRR) and having made
significant progress in its commitment to bring down disaster losses and on the
climate change.
 India is leading a global intervention on bringing down disaster losses which is
pushing more than 26 million people into abject poverty every year hit by natural
calamities.
 At the global platform, countries need to show their progress made on the Sendai
declaration which binds all signatory UN nations to bring down disaster related
deaths and implement the roadmap agreed upon by 2030.
 India is the only country which has drawn a comprehensive national plan on its
roadmap to fully achieve the Sendai framework by 2030 and a short term goal by
2020.
 India is the largest democracy which has braced the Sendai framework for
disaster risk reduction and the first country to have drawn a national and local
strategy with a short term goal achievement target set for 2020.
 While 87 countries have responded to their commitment for implementing the
Sendai framework, India is the only one to have come up with a national plan.
 The global platform for DRR has taken place five times since the Indian Ocean
tsunami which left more than 250,000 dead.
Sendai Framework for Disaster Risk Reduction

 The NDMP is consistent with the approaches promoted globally by the United
Nations, in particular the Sendai Framework for Disaster Risk Reduction 2015-
2030 (hereafter “Sendai Framework”) adopted at the Third UN World Conference

in Sendai, Japan, on March 18, 2015 (UNISDR 2015a) as the successor instrument
to the Hyogo Framework for Action 2005-2015.

 It is a non-binding agreement, which the signatory nations, including India,

will attempt to comply with on a voluntary basis.
 However, India will make all efforts to contribute to the realization of the
global targets by improving the entire disaster management cycle in India by
following the recommendations in the Sendai Framework and by adopting
globally accepted best practices.
 The Sendai Framework was the first international agreement adopted within
the context of the post- 2015 development agenda.
 Two other major international agreements followed it in the same year: the
Sustainable Development Goals 2015 - 2030 in September, and the UNCOP21
Climate Change agreement to combat human-induced climate change in
December. DRR is a common theme in these three global agreements.
 The Paris Agreement on global climate change points to the importance of
averting, minimizing, and addressing loss and damage associated with the
adverse effects of climate change, including extreme weather events and
slow onset events, and the role of sustainable development in reducing the
risk of loss and damage.
 These three agreements recognize the desired outcomes in DRR as a product
of complex and interconnected social and economic processes, which overlap
across the agendas of the three agreements.
 Intrinsic to sustainable national disaster management plan development is
DRR and the building of resilience to disasters.
 Further, effective disaster risk management contributes to sustainable
development.
2.1.3 Disaster Risk Management

 This is the application of disaster risk reduction policies and strategies, to prevent
new disaster risks, reduce existing disaster risks, and manage residual risks,
contributing to the strengthening of resilience and reduction of losses.
 Disaster risk management actions can be categorized into; prospective disaster
risk management, corrective disaster risk management and compensatory disaster
risk management (also referred to as residual risk management).

2.1.4 Information Management in Disaster Risk Reduction

 In recent years, researchers and experts have been developing methods to conduct
the assessment of hazards, vulnerability, and coping capacities; as well as
techniques to combine such assessments in order to present them in risk map
format.
 Such maps are essential in developing strategies to reduce the level of existing
risks, and as a way to avoid a generation of new risks due to underlying social
and economic risk drivers.
 As stated in the Hyogo Framework for Action, "the starting point for reducing
disaster risk and for promoting a culture of disaster resilience lies in the
knowledge of the hazards and the physical, social, economic and environmental
vulnerabilities to disasters that most societies face, and of the ways in which
hazards and vulnerabilities are changing in the short and long term, followed by
action taken on the basis of that knowledge."
2.1.5 Levels of Disasters

 Every so often, I like to review a system that has been proposed to classify
disasters and potential responses.
 While nearly everyone involved in Disaster Recovery (DR) planning has some
idea of the types of disasters that could strike, few have concrete ideas on how to
apply those concepts to DR planning itself.
 Later columns will deal with these levels and how to address them in more detail.
For now, this is my proposal for a more formal classification plan for disasters,
based loosely on a British military classification system for threat levels in battle
situations.
Level 1 - Threat of disaster without evidence

 Essentially, this level encompasses everything that doesn't do damage to your
data-systems, and also doesn't offer any proof of attack, but could be a publicity
or regulatory nightmare.
 Common examples are posted boasts about incursions into your network on blogs
and Web forums, or claims that proprietary data was compromised even though
no evidence is offered.
 The major issue with these kinds of disasters is that you can't prove or disprove
them in many cases.

 Even if you have advanced security measures in place, employee collusion can
easily overcome those measures without showing any weakness in the digital
security itself.
 Since this level of threat doesn't have any evidence associated with it, dealing with
the bad publicity can be just as devastating to your organization as data loss.
Level 2 - Actual attack without data loss

 Once an attacker has breached your security digitally, and has evidence of his or
her attack, your IT staff will need to be able to show what happened and how.
 In these cases, there is clear proof of the attack, but not of the extent of the attack.
 How far did they get into your network, what did they see, what did they take?
Just because they didn't destroy anything, doesn't mean you can call this anything
but a disaster.
Level 3 - Minor data/system loss

 Entering the level that most people consider disasters, this is where data systems
and data itself are lost to natural causes, attacks, or system failures. Level 3 deals
mostly with smaller-scale issues : The loss of non-critical systems, or a single
critical system that can be restored quickly. The key difference between this level
and those that follow is that here we see disasters that have a high priority, but
not a high urgency. Your recovery time objective is probably at least one business
day, giving you time to react and correct.
Level 4 - Major data/system loss

 At this level, larger-scale disasters strike. Here is where multiple critical systems
fail at the same time, possibly due to power loss or fire/flood in the data center.
While you can correct for these issues, it will require an immediate response from
your staff, moving quickly to get business-critical systems back up and running.
Systems that have a recovery time objective of less than one business day fall into
this category when they fail.
Level 5 - Total loss

 The highest level in the system, this classification is only invoked in cases where
there is a massive disruption in services due to disaster. Hurricanes, large-scale
floods and fires, and building loss are usually found here, with a twin disaster of
loss of data systems and the physical plant to recover to. Due to considerations
such as loss of space, loss of life, and psychological impact, recovery is an

exceptionally difficult-though necessary - task.

2.1.6 Concept of Operations

 The concept of operations provides response agencies with a guide to the way a
hazard incident may be approached.
 In this regard, a three-levelled system of response is used depending on the
severity of the emergency. These three levels are :
 A Level 1 emergency is a localized incident. Such incidents are within the capacity
of the local government authorities and other first responder agencies within a
Municipality, or the Tobago Emergency Management Agency in the case of
Tobago.
 The first responder agencies may include the Trinidad and Tobago Police Service
(TTPS), the Trinidad and Tobago Fire Service (TTFS) and the Health Services, as
necessary. At Level 1, the Emergency Operations Centre of the Municipal
Corporation or Tobago will be activated as needed to coordinate the Regional,
Borough or City response.
 At Level 2, the emergency or disaster event usually affects two or more municipal
regions/Tobago, or while confined to one municipality, may be of a very serious
nature (that is, have the potential for significant loss of life or damage to property,
environment or economy). In such instances, the response can be dealt with using
municipal and national resources.
 If it is perceived that a Level 1 incident has the potential to escalate to a Level 2
event, the ODPM’s National Emergency Operations Centre (NEOC) would be
notified and become partially activated.
 This activation would facilitate the closer monitoring of events and initiate
preparation for response should the Level 1 response become overwhelmed. (The
NEOC is explained in the next section.) At Level 2, greater resources would be
required for damage assessment, search and rescue, security/ crowd control, relief
supply distribution, etc., depending on the type of incident.
 The Trinidad and Tobago Defence Force (TTDF) usually becomes involved at this
level.
 At Level 3, should the national resources become overwhelmed, the President will
declare a national emergency.
 In such a scenario, the ODPM, through the Ministries of National Security,
Foreign Affairs and Finance, will coordinate the acquisition of regional and
international aid assistance.

Fig. 2.1.1 Levels of disasters
2.1.7 Disaster Phenomenon and Events

 A disaster is a serious disruption occurring over a short or long period of time that
causes widespread human, material, economic or environmental loss which
exceeds the ability of the affected community or society to cope using its own
resources.
 Developing countries suffer the greatest costs when a disaster hits - more than 95
percent of all deaths caused by hazards occur in countries developing countries,
and losses due to natural hazards are 20 times greater (as a percentage of GDP) in
developing countries than in industrialized countries.
2.2 Concepts of Risk Management and Crisis Management

 In disaster management, risk is defined as the interaction between likelihoods of
hazards and consequences of hazards. It can be said that,
Risk = Likelihoods of Hazards * Hazard’s Consequences
 Crisis management is a situation-based management system that includes clear
roles and responsibilities and process related organizational requirements
company-wide.
 The response shall include action in the following areas : Crisis prevention, crisis
assessment, crisis handling and crisis termination.

 The techniques of crisis management include a number of consequent steps from

the understanding of the influence of the crisis on the corporation to preventing,
alleviating, and overcoming the different types of crisis.
 Crisis management consists of different aspects including :
 Methods used to respond to both the reality and perception of crisis.
 Establishing metrics to define what scenarios constitute a crisis and should
consequently trigger the necessary response mechanisms.
 Communication that occurs within the response phase of emergency-management
scenarios.
 Crisis-management methods of a business or an organization are called a crisis-
management plan.
 A crises mindset requires the ability to think of the worst-case scenario while
simultaneously suggesting numerous solutions.
 Trial and error is an accepted discipline, as the first line of defense might not
work. It is necessary to maintain a list of contingency plans and to be always on
alert.
 Organizations and individuals should always be prepared with a rapid response
plan to emergencies which would require analysis, drills and exercises.
 The credibility and reputation of organizations is heavily influenced by the
perception of their responses during crisis situations.
 The organization and communication involved in responding to a crisis in a
timely fashion makes for a challenge in businesses.
 There must be open and consistent communication throughout the hierarchy to
contribute to a successful crisis-communication process.
 The related terms emergency management and business continuity management
focus respectively on the prompt but short lived "first aid" type of response (e.g.
putting the fire out) and the longer-term recovery and restoration phases (e.g.
moving operations to another site).
 Crisis is also a facet of risk management, although it is probably untrue to say that
crisis management represents a failure of risk management, since it will never be
possible to totally mitigate the chances of catastrophes' occurring.
 During the crisis management process, it is important to identify types of crises in
that different crises necessitate the use of different crisis management strategies.
Potential crises are enormous, but crises can be clustered.

2.2.1 Types of Crisis

Lerbinger categorized eight types of crises,
1. Natural disaster 2. Technological crisis
3. Confrontation 4. Malevolence
5. Organizational misdeeds 6. Workplace violence
7. Rumours 8. Terrorist attacks/man-made disasters.
A) Natural Disaster
 Natural disaster related crises, typically natural disasters, are such environmental
phenomena as earthquakes, volcanic eruptions, tornadoes and hurricanes, floods,
landslides, tsunamis, storms, and droughts that threaten life, property, and the
environment itself.
 Example : 2004 Indian Ocean earthquake (Tsunami)
B) Technological Crisis
 Technological crises are caused by human application of science and technology.
Technological accidents inevitably occur when technology becomes complex and
coupled and something goes wrong in the system as a whole (Technological
breakdowns).
 Some technological crises occur when human error causes disruptions (Human
breakdowns).
 People tend to assign blame for a technological disaster because technology is
subject to human manipulation whereas they do not hold anyone responsible for
natural disaster.
 When an accident creates significant environmental damage, the crisis is
categorized as mega damage.
 Samples include software failures, industrial accidents, and oil spills.
 Examples : Chernobyl disaster, Exxon Valdez oil spill, Heartbleed security bug.
C) Confrontation Crisis
 Confrontation crisis occur when discontented individuals and/or groups fight
businesses, government, and various interest groups to win acceptance of their
demands and expectations.

 The common type of confrontation crisis is boycotts, and other types are
picketing, sit-ins, ultimatums to those in authority, blockade or occupation of
buildings, and resisting or disobeying police.
 Example : Rainbow/PUSH’s (People United to Serve Humanity) boycott of Nike
D) Crisis of Malevolence
 An organization faces a crisis of malevolence when opponents or miscreant
individuals use criminal means or other extreme tactics for the purpose of
expressing hostility or anger toward, or seeking gain from, a company, country, or
economic system, perhaps with the aim of destabilizing or destroying it.
 Sample crisis include product tampering, kidnapping, malicious rumors,
terrorism, cybercrime and espionage.
 Example : 1982 Chicago Tylenol murders.
E) Crisis of Organizational Misdeeds

 Crises occur when management takes actions it knows will harm or place
stakeholders at risk for harm without adequate precautions.
 Lerbinger specified three different types of crises of organizational misdeeds :
crises of skewed management values, crises of deception, and crises of
management misconduct.
F) Crises of Skewed Management Values

 Crises of skewed management values are caused when managers favor short-term
economic gain and neglect broader social values and stakeholders other than
investors.
 This state of lopsided values is rooted in the classical business creed that focuses
on the interests of stockholders and tends to disregard the interests of its other
stakeholders such as customers, employees, and the community.
 It has three stages-precise - acute - chronic and conflict resolution.
G) Crisis of Deception
 Crisis of deception occur when management conceals or misrepresents
information about itself and its products in its dealing with consumers and others.
 Example : Dow Corning’s silicone-gel breast implant
 Crisis of management misconduct

H) Workplace Violence
 Crises occur when an employee or former employee commits violence against
other employees on organizational grounds.
I) Rumors
 False information about an organization or its products creates crises hurting the
organization's reputation.
 Sample is linking the organization to radical groups or stories that their products
are contaminated.
 Example : Procter & Gamble logo myth.
J) Risk Management
When a hazard event (such as a drought, flood, cyclone, earthquake or tsunami -
among others) occurs, triggering a loss of life and damage to infrastructure, it highlights
the reality that society and its assets are vulnerable to such events. When discussing
disaster risk management, a disaster can highlight the following in a community :
 The geographical area where the community is settled is exposed to such a
hazard;
 The society (including individuals) and its infrastructure, assets and other
processes - as well as services which may have experienced damage or
destruction - are vulnerable.
2.2.2 Definitions and Terminology
A) Hazard
 Hazard is defined as “a process, phenomenon or human activity that may cause
loss of life, injury or other health impacts, property damage, social and economic
disruption or environmental degradation”.
 Hazards may be single, sequential or combined in their origin and effects. Each
hazard is characterized by its "location, intensity or magnitude, frequency, and
probability".
B) Exposure
 Exposure is defined as “the situation of people, infrastructure, housing,
production capacities and other tangible human assets located in hazard-prone
areas”.

 As stated in the UNIDRR glossary, “measures of exposure can include the number
of people or types of assets in an area.
 These can be combined with the specific vulnerability and capacity of the exposed
elements to any particular hazard to estimate the quantitative risks associated
with that hazard in the area of interest”.
C) Vulnerability
 Vulnerability is defined as “the conditions determined by physical, social,
economic and environmental factors or processes which increase the susceptibility
of an individual, a community, assets or systems to the impacts of hazards”.
 Examples include, but are not limited to; poor design and construction of
buildings, inadequate protection of assets, lack of public information and
awareness, high levels of poverty and education, limited official recognition of
risks and preparedness measures, disregard for wise environmental management
or weak institutions, and governance (e.g. including corruption etc.).
D) Disaster Risk Reduction

 Disaster risk reduction "is aimed at preventing new and reducing existing disaster
risk and managing residual risk, all of which contribute to strengthening
resilience and therefore to the achievement of sustainable development".
 The UNDRR definition further annotates that “disaster risk reduction is the policy
objective of disaster risk management, and its goals and objectives are defined in
disaster risk reduction strategies and plans".
 Disaster risk reduction strategies and policies define goals and objectives across
different timescales, with concrete targets, indicators and time frames.
E) Disaster Risk Management

 Disaster risk management is the application of disaster risk reduction policies and
strategies, to prevent new disaster risks, reduce existing disaster risks, and
manage residual risks, contributing to the strengthening of resilience and
reduction of losses.
 Disaster risk management actions can be categorized into; prospective disaster
risk management, corrective disaster risk management and compensatory disaster
risk management.

2.3 Disaster Management Cycle - Phases

1. Prevention : Activities aimed at trying to prevent future disasters occurring, such
as building dykes or a dam to control flooding.
2. Mitigation : Activities aimed at trying to mitigate the impact of a disaster if
prevention is not possible, such as building schools to be more earthquake
resistant.
3. Preparedness : Activities aimed at trying to prepare communities for a disaster,
such as emergency drills or pre-stocking relief items in logistic hubs.
4. Disaster : An event that causes significant damage to people, property and
infrastructure.
5. Response : Activities aimed at understanding needs and responding to them,
including rapid assessments, provision of food and non-food items, provision of
water, sanitation and hygiene services, and health and shelter interventions.
In the immediate hours and days after a disaster, when search-and-rescue
activities are critical, it is most often local actors who are first to respond.
Information is often patchy and confused; there can be significant damage to
infrastructure, and large movements of people.
6. Recovery : Activities aimed at trying to return communities to normal life, such as
livelihoods development or formal education.
Recovery activities can start when the disaster has stabilized, and the affected
population has access to food and water and some form of transitional shelter.
This stage is sometimes divided into two : early recovery and medium-term
recovery.
7. Reconstruction : Activities aimed at rebuilding infrastructure and housing. This
can often take years and many activities may also blend back into mitigation, such
as retrofitting schools to make them more earthquake resistant.
Disaster risk management includes sum total of all activities, programs and measures
which can be taken up before, during and after a disaster with the purpose to avoid a
disaster, reduce its impact or recover from its losses.

The three key stages of activities that are taken up within disaster risk management are
as follows :
1. Before a Disaster (Pre-disaster)
 Pre-disaster activities those which are taken to reduce human and property
losses caused by a potential hazard.
 For example, carrying out awareness campaigns, strengthening the existing
weak structures, preparation of the disaster management plans at household
and community level, etc.
 Such risk reduction measures taken under this stage are termed as mitigation
and preparedness activities.
2. During a Disaster (Disaster Occurrence)
 These include initiatiaves taken to ensure that the needs and provisions of
victims are met and suffering is minimized.
 Activities taken under this stage are called emergency response activities.
3. After a Disaster (Post-Disaster)
 There are initiatives taken in response to a disaster with a purpose to achieve

early recovery and rehabilitation of affected communities, immediately after a
disaster strikes.
 These are called as response and recovery activities.
 The Disaster Risk Management Cycle Diagram (DRMC) highlights the range
of initiatives which normally occur during both the Emergency response and
Recovery stages of a disaster.
 Some of these cut across both stages (such things as coordination and the
provision of ongoing assistance); whilst other activities are unique to each
stage (e.g. Early warning and evacuation during emergency response; and
reconstruction and economic and social recovery as part of recovery).

Fig. 2.3.1 Disaster management cycle
 It is an ongoing process by which governments, civil (and military) 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.
 There are variations to the cycle but the most common version is the four phases
of disaster cycle :
 Mitigation involves implementing measures for preventing future threat of
disaster and/or minimizing their damaging effects of unavoidable threat.
 It requires hazard risk analysis and the application of strategies to reduce the
likelihood that hazards will become disasters, such as flood-proofing homes or
having flood/fire insurance, following safety standards of building materials and
appliances.
 This phase (and the whole cycle 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.
 Mitigation refers to measures that reduce the chance of an emergency happening,
or reduce the damaging effects of unavoidable emergencies.

Disaster Management 2 - 20 Approaches to Disaster Risk Reduction (DRR)
 This is achieved through risk analysis, which results in information that provides
a foundation for typical mitigation measures include establishing building codes,
zoning requirements, and constructing barriers such as levees.
 Effective mitigation efforts can break the cycle of disaster damage, reconstruction,
and repeated damage.
 It creates safer communities by reducing loss of life and property damage.
 For example, the rigorous building standards adopted by 20,000 communities
across the country are saving the nation more than $1.1 billion a year in prevented
flood damages.
 It allows individuals to minimize post-flood disaster disruptions and recover
more rapidly.
 For example, homes built to NFIP standards incur less damage from floods.
 And when floods do cause damages, flood insurance protects the homeowner’s
investment, and lessens the financial impact on individuals, communities, and
society as a whole.
 For example, a recent study by the Multi-hazard Mitigation Council shows that
each dollar spent on mitigation saves society an average of four dollars.
2.3.1 Disaster Response

 Disaster response work includes any actions taken in the midst of or immediately
following an emergency, including efforts to save lives and to prevent further
property damage.
 Ideally, disaster response involves putting already established disaster
preparedness plans into motion. It’s what the public typically thinks of when
imagining a disaster : Flashing lights, evacuation, search and rescue and
sheltering victims.
 Healthcare and psychosocial intervention response starts here. The focus in the
response phase is on meeting the basic needs of the victims until sustainable
community has been achieved.
 This phase may still continue even when recovery phase can already be started.
 A well-rehearsed emergency plan developed as part of the preparedness phase
enables efficient coordination of resources.
 Response actions carried out immediately before, during, and after a hazard
impact are aimed at saving lives, reducing economic losses, and alleviating
suffering.
 The response phase includes the mobilization of the necessary emergency services
and first responders in the disaster area.
 This is likely to include a first wave of core emergency services, such as
firefighters, police and ambulance crews. Response actions may include activating
the Emergency Operations Center (EOC), evacuating threatened populations,
opening shelters and providing mass care, emergency rescue and medical care,
firefighting, and urban search and rescue.
 Response begins when an emergency event is imminent or immediately after an
event occurs.
 Response encompasses the activities that address the short-term, direct effects of
an incident.
 Response also includes the execution of the Emergency Operations Plan and of
incident mitigation activities designed to limit the loss of life, personal injury,
property damage, and unfavorable outcomes.
 As indicated by the situation, response activities include :
 Applying intelligence and other information to lessen the effects or consequences
of an incident.
 Increasing security operations.
 Continuing investigations into the nature and source of the threat.
 Ongoing public health and agricultural surveillance and testing processes,
immunizations, isolation, or quarantine.
 Specific law enforcement operations aimed at preempting, interdicting, or
disrupting illegal activity, and apprehending actual perpetrators and bringing
them to justice.
 Restoring critical infrastructure (e.g., utilities).
 Ensuring continuity of critical services (e.g., law enforcement, public works).
2.4 Culture of Safety

 Major accidents are frequently traced to failures in the safety management system,
and investigations sometimes reveal that safety management systems bear little
relation to what goes on at the workplace.
 Safety management systems virtually exist in theory and not in practice.

 For a number of years, safety professionals, regulators and others have argued
that safety is not simply a matter of compliance with externally imposed
regulations.
 The organizations need to manage safety proactively in the same way as the
organization to manage their production activities.
 Hence, a cultural approach to enhancing the safety of organizations is now
receiving attention.
 The cultural approach to safety means that safety cannot be assured simply by
introducing a safety management system alone.
 The cultural approach to safety is something to bring safety management to life.
This means that the right organizational culture is necessary to make safety
systems work.
 When talking about organizational culture, organizational behaviour and, hence,
some relevant organizational factors will come into play.
 Organizational Citizenship Behaviour indicates that such behaviour is critical for
organizational effectiveness, but little theoretical work details how it might
contribute to enhance organizational functioning of safety.
 It is suggested that citizenship behaviours enhance the functioning of the
organization by contributing to the development of safety climate; collective
mindfulness and risk awareness for the creation of organizational behaviour of
safety.
 Organizational Citizenship Behaviours (OCB) can be defined that employee
behaviours that go beyond role requirements, that are not directly or explicitly
recognized by the formal reward system, and that facilitate organizational
functioning
 Citizenship behaviours typically stem from positive job attitudes, task
characteristics, and leadership behaviours.
 Thus prior research indicates that individuals are most likely to go beyond their
formal job requirements when they are satisfied with their jobs or committed to
their organizations, when they are given intrinsically satisfying tasks to complete,
and /or when they have supportive or inspirational leaders.
 In 1991 Graham proposed a conceptualization of organizational citizenship
grounded in political philosophy and modern political theory.

 There are three forms of organizational citizenship.

 Obedience describes employees’ willingness to accept and abide by the
organization’s rules, regulations, and procedures.
 Loyalty describes the willingness of employees to subordinate their personal
interests for the benefit of the organization and to promote and defend the
organization.
 Finally, Participation describes the willingness of employees to be actively
involved in all aspects of organizational life.
 Social participation actually takes three forms. Social participation describes
employees’ active involvement in company affairs (e.g., keeping up with
organizational issues or attending non-mandatory meetings) and participation in
social activities within the organization.
 Advocacy participation describes the willingness of employees to be controversial
in order to improver the organization by making suggestions, innovating, and
encouraging other employees to speak up.
 Functional participation describes employee contributions that exceed required
work standards (e.g., volunteering to take on extra assignments, working late to
finish important projects, or pursuing additional training and staying abreast of
new developments).
2.4.1 Three Aspects of Safety Culture

 The model consists of : psychological aspects, behavioural aspects and situational
aspects of the safety culture.
 The behavioural aspect is concerned with “what people do” within the
organization which includes the safety-related activities, actions and behaviours
exhibited by employees.
 Situational aspects describe, “what the organization has for its policies, operating
procedures, management systems, control systems, communication flows and
workflow systems”.
 The psychological aspects can be described as how employees see and feel their
organization in the aspect of safety. This aspect is concerned with individual and
group values, attitudes and perception.

Safety climate
 Psychological climate has been defined as referring to individuals cognitively
based descriptions of situational characteristics.
 Psychological climate as an experiential-based, multidimensional, and enduring
perceptual phenomenon which is widely shared by the members of a given
organizational unit.
 Psychological climate, is the intervening psychological process whereby the
individual translates the interaction between the perceived organizational
attributes and individual characteristics into a set of expectancies, attitudes and
behaviours.
Risk management
 The second element in Cooper’s model is on situation aspects.
 The situation aspects described by Cooper as “what the organization has” in
respects of policies, procedures, regulation and the management.
 Apart from the documents and procedures that a highly reliable organization
should have collective mindfulness of danger.
 The collective mindfulness is a characteristic of the organization where employees
will organize themselves in such a way that they are better able to notice the
unexpected in the making and halt its development.
 They also advocate that mindfulness organizations should have a commitment to
resilience by which organizations are not disabled by errors or crises.
Risk awareness
 Cooper defines behaviour aspects are concerned with “what people do” within
the organization, which includes the safety related activities, action and
behaviours exhibited by employees.
 The rationale for encourage risk awareness among employees is that it is
impossible to devising a set of safety rules to cover every situations.
 The rules are essential but it can never be complete bring us to something of an
impasse and he continues that one way to move beyond this impasse is to
abandon the idea where a set of rules can ever be determined once and for all and
to recognize that a regime of rules is necessarily a dynamic one which needs to be
managed.

Organizational Commitment
 The definition of organizational commitment is that it is the worker’s attitudes
about the entire work organization.
 The concept of organizational commitment has been taken to imply worker
attitudes and the concept of Organizational Citizenship Behaviours (OCB) refers
to commitment-related behaviors.
 Organizational commitment views it as composed of three dimensions :
o Affective commitment, which is the employee’s emotional attachment to the
organization;
o Continuance commitment, which refers to commitment to continue with the
organization because there are costs associating with leaving; and
o Normative commitment, which is like a sense of duty or obligation to stay with
the company.
Fig. 2.4.1 Model of the organizational culture of safety
2.5 Prevention, Mitigation and Preparedness Community Based DRR

 Communities are the first responders in case of a disaster.
 Therefore, Community-Based Disaster Risk Reduction (CBDRR) should be the
core of any risk reduction approach.
 Disaster risk reduction focuses more on reducing underlying risk, encouraging
preventive action before a disaster.
 Disaster risk management, in contrast, focuses on broader aspects of disaster
issues, from prevention and mitigation to relief, response, and recovery.
 Community-Based Disaster Risk Management (CBDRM) is an approach that
reduces vulnerabilities and strengthens people’s capacity to cope with hazards,
which seeks to :
1) Reduce vulnerabilities and increase capacities of vulnerable groups and
communities to cope with, prevent, or minimize loss and damage to life,
property, and the environment,
2) Minimize human suffering, and
3) Hasten recovery.

 Based on past disasters, it has been found that communities become actively
involved in search and rescue, relief, and post-disaster recovery.
 To enhance community participation before a disaster strikes, it is important to
focus on risk reduction issues, and therefore CBDRR has become increasingly
emphasized.
 CBDRR emerged as a result of a shift from reactive emergency management to
disaster risk reduction.
 It focuses more on pre-disaster interventions such as prevention, mitigation, and
preparedness-related activities.
 For instance, prevention measures aim to avoid the occurrence of disasters, which
may not be possible in the case of natural disasters, but the intensity and
frequency of disasters could be reduced through poverty alleviation and asset
redistribution plans and the provision of basic services such as education and
health care.
 Mitigation measures reduce and limit the impact of natural hazards on elements
of risk such as population, infrastructure, and properties through structural
measures such as bridges, protective dikes, embankments, and safety building
design and nonstructural measures like community risk assessment, community
risk reduction planning, public awareness, food security programs, group saving,
cooperatives, strengthening community disaster management organizations and
advocacy on disasters and development issues, legislation, and land use zoning,
among others.
 The disaster mitigation is intrinsic to sustainable development.
 Preparedness measures are developed in anticipation of future disasters so that
effective and appropriate actions are taken during emergencies, including public
awareness, evacuation, and emergency management, search and rescue,
immediate repair, restoration of critical facilities and utilities, capacity assessment,
non-food relief assistance, and evacuation center management.
 The key elements and features of CBDRR or CBDM explain the core of
community-based approaches for disaster risk reduction and movement.
 People’s participation is important : Community members are the main actors,
involved not only in the process but its content.
 They share the benefit or gain through improved disaster risk reduction and
development.

 Ultimately, this will lead to safer conditions, security of livelihood, and

sustainable development.
 Priorities are set for the most vulnerable groups, families, and people in the
community : Participation from all sectors is required for disaster risk reduction,
but priority is given to the most vulnerable groups, in urban areas the poor or
informal settlers, in rural areas farmers, and indigenous people.
 The most vulnerable also include the elderly, the differently abled, children, and
women.
 Risk reduction measures are community-specific : Measures provided for risk
reduction are mainly community-specific, which are identified after an analysis of
the community’s disaster risk (hazards, vulnerabilities, and capacities and
perceptions of disaster risk).
 Existing capacities and coping mechanism are recognized : The strength of
CBDRR lies in the existing capacities and coping mechanism of the community
members.
 They often lack material assets but rely heavily on their traditional wisdom, local
knowledge and resources, social organizations, shared values, cooperative coping
mechanisms, close family ties, and perseverance and resourcefulness.
 Disaster risk reduction is linked with development : The aim of CBDRR is to
reduce people’s vulnerabilities by strengthening the capacities of individuals,
families, and communities.
 It addresses vulnerabilities and the core factors behind it, such as poverty, social
inequalities, and environmental resource depletion and degradation.
 Ultimately, the idea is to develop a people-centered development as well as
equitable and sustainable development. The goal is to build a resilient
community.
 Outsiders have supporting and facilitating roles : In CBDRR, Non Governmental
Organizations (NGOs) support community members, whereas the government
role is integral to the institutionalization of the CBDRR process. Partnerships with
less vulnerable groups and other communities are forged in the interest of disaster
risk reduction.
 Community-based approaches can be defined as “an umbrella term for
approaches to programming which involve beneficiaries in their identification,
design, or management. It also refers to a set of approaches, applied within

community-level projects or as part of national programs”.

 The degree of community participation varies along a spectrum from consultation

with communities to devolution of resources, decision-making, and
implementation at the community level.
 In the field of development planning, defined eight levels of community
participation to demonstrate the quality of participation to aspire to and work for.
 These involve “the redistribution of power that enables the have-not citizens,
presently excluded from the political and economic processes, to be deliberately
included in the future”.
2.6 Structural and Nonstructural Measures
Structural measures :
 Any physical construction to reduce or avoid possible impacts of hazards, or
application of engineering techniques to achieve hazard-resistance and resilience
in structures or systems;
Non-structural measures :
 Any measure not involving physical construction that uses knowledge, practice or
agreement to reduce risks and impacts, in particular through policies and laws,
public awareness raising, training and education.
 Common structural measures for disaster risk reduction include dams, flood
levies, ocean wave barriers, earthquake-resistant construction, and evacuation
shelters.
 Common non-structural measures include building codes, land use planning laws
and their enforcement, research and assessment, information resources, and
public awareness programmes.
 In civil and structural engineering, the term “structural” is used in a more
restricted sense to mean just the load-bearing structure, with other parts such as
wall cladding and interior fittings being termed non-structural.
2.7 Roles and Responsibilities of Community
2.7.1 Concept of Community

 Originally the word ‘community’ was used to refer to the common people. It is
said that ‘the quality of having something in common’ to ‘a sense of common
identity and characteristics’ underlie a community.

 According to Allen, ‘community’ is a common group of people who live within

the territorial or administrative boundary of village or town. The identity of a
community depends on social events and institution.
 In disaster management community has been defined as a group of individuals
and households living at the same location and having the same exposure to
hazard, and share the same objectives and goals towards disaster risk reduction.
 Blaikie et al. say that ‘community’ is not homogenous. Hence it is suggested that
the community and potential disaster risks must be understood through
community structure (social, political, economic, historical), ethnicity (culture,
belief structure, social relationship, social networks, socio-economic dynamics),
and ‘community decision making processes’. Response of members of community
also varies as per their ethnicity, gender, educational level, and socio-economic
status.
2.7.2 Disaster Vulnerability in CBDM

 Though poor people tend to be most vulnerable to disasters, vulnerability is not
because of poverty only.
 Vulnerability is the characteristics of a person or a group in terms of their
capacities to anticipate, to resist and to recover from the impact of disasters.
 It can be understood in terms of the economic status, social discrimination, and
individual vulnerability. ‘Being vulnerable’ is ‘being prone to suffer’.
 The daily life of a large number of Asians is not different from the living
conditions of those hit by disaster because they hardly have any freedom of choice
regarding where and how to live.
 However, all households in a community or all communities are not equally
vulnerable during flood studied the cyclone and reconstruction in Andhra
Pradesh.
 He found that though the economic value of loss of a poor family is less than a
rich family, the impact of the loss is different.
 The impacts of disaster depend on capacity and adaptability with the extreme
event.
 The study on coastal region of West Bengal showed that if saline water pollutes
agricultural land, only farmers suffer because salt water intrusion into field
destroys their main livelihood.

 But the studies on floods in Bangladesh have shown that Bangladeshi farmers
look for floods every three to four years, the flood water carries huge amount of
silt which increases soil fertility.
 It is also found that most of the vulnerable people do not receive early warning
before the disaster. As a result, higher numbers of people suffer from destruction
and loss.
 Few researchers argue that evacuation orders do not help among vulnerable
communities, because they are highly attached to their material and economic
resources.
 The study on floods in Texas, USA showed that physical loss and destruction is
quite higher among the Afro-Americans than American.
 It is because of geographical location, low access of political power, and less
economic strength.
2.7.3 Community Needs

 The disaster impact reduction depends on individual or family needs which are
directly influenced by coping strategies and social structures. So, the needs vary
with time.
 The needs of Andhra Pradesh Cyclone affected people were not met, even many
years after the disaster.
 Bolin and Stanford studied the accessibility of post-earthquake relief and recovery
at Fillamore and Piru.
 They found that though government had spent billions of dollars, the needs of the
community were not met.
 The needs remained unmet because of inadequacy of materials, as well as socio-
economic and political vulnerability.
 It was also found that the needs of socio-economic and politically vulnerable
community were not effectively assessed and addressed by government agencies.
 In this case factors affecting the vulnerability of the affected people include
immigration issues, dependency on daily wage, job uncertainty, language, race,
and ethnicity.
 Bolin and Stanford also pointed out those existing needs of vulnerable community
increase due to the impacts of hazard.

 If the existing and increased needs are not met by them and the agencies then, it
would increase community’s vulnerability and would create trouble in everyday
life.
 The unmet needs are not only because of social vulnerability, but it is also a result
of noncooperation and lack of coordination among different layers of resource
supply agencies.
2.7.4 Community Participation

 In the late 20th century, it was realized that top-down disaster management efforts
are insufficient to reduce the impact and do not touch the bottom level
communities.
 The government’s developmental programmes remained insensitive and
ineffective in satisfying community needs.
 It was also found that the lack of involvement of communities in government
planning created an attitude of dependency on the government.
 Unless there is direct involvement of community in government decision making
process, the existing resources, the local needs, and the local knowledge to reduce
the impact of disaster cannot be understood.
 The bottom-up, community based approach has given opportunities to the
community to participate and share their efforts for reducing the impact of
disaster.
 The communities at the grass-roots level suffer during every disaster and they
respond to it based on their experience and knowledge before any outside help.
 The survival strategies of local community members are combination of
knowledge and real world experience.
 Recently, in this regard, local ways of flood risk management of coastal Asia,
traditional drought management mechanism in Sub-Saharan Africa, traditional
paddy and aquaculture in Bangladesh and many others activities have been
highlighted by the researchers.
 They indicate that disaster impacts can also be reduced by relying on local
knowledge of disaster management. The traditional knowledge is developed in
every local context to deal with the phenomenon of disasters, but it is very
difficult to generalize this for a wider context.
 Technocratic solutions for disaster management are often put forth by non-local

experts who reject local perception and knowledge towards disaster management.

 As a result, local community members find very less space for participating in
disaster management.
 Researchers working on disaster management in South-East Asian countries
found that traditional mechanisms to reduce the disaster impact is becoming
insufficient to deal with the situations and they suggest following a structural as
well as nonstructural approach for dealing with it.
 According to Tigg, community participation is the active involvement of the
people in decision making about the implementation process, programs, and
projects which affects them.
 Researchers have found that dominant decision making processes dominated by
dominant sections do not give space to socio-economically deprived section.
 Blaikie et al. also argued that communities at the grass-roots level are unable to
share their challenges with the government. So, participatory mechanism could be
a way of sharing their knowledge and related to disaster management challenges.
 Arnstein defined community participation as ‘the redistribution of power that
enables the have-not citizens, presently excluded from political and economic
processes to be deliberately included in the future’.
 Arnstein developed eight levels of community involvement in formal decision
making (see Table 2.7.1). These levels can be explained in details as below :
 Levels of non-participation : This level consists of the two bottom rungs of the
ladder :
1) Manipulation and
2) Therapy.
The objective of this is not to enable people to participate in planning and decision
making, but to enable power holders to ‘educate’ the participants.
 Levels of tokenism : This level consist of three rungs :
3) Informing,
4) Consultation, and
5) Placation.
 The rungs 3 and 4 (informing and consultation) allow ‘have-not’ to be hear but not
to speak. ‘Placation’ is a higher level of tokenism, where ground rules allow ‘have
not’ to advice in decision making. But power holders have right to decide,
whether the advice should be accepted or not.

 Level of citizen power : These citizens have power to participate in decision

making. This level consist of (6) Partnership, (7) Delegated Power, and (8) Citizen
Control.
Levels Rungs
Level 1 : Levels of Non-participation i. Manipulation
ii. Therapy
Level 2 : Levels of Tokenism i. Informing
ii. Consultation
iii. Placation
Level 3 : Level of Citizen Power i. Partnership
ii. Delegated Power
iii. Citizen Control
Table 2.7.1 Ladder of citizen`s participation
2.8 Panchayati Raj Institutions/Urban Local Bodies (PRIs/ULBs)

As Local Government in Disaster Management In India, after the 73 rd Constitution
Amendment Act, the Panchayati Raj Institutions (PRIs) have become an opportunity and
instrument for people from the grassroots level to directly join in the decentralized
decision making processes.
 PRIs provide a platform to discuss local developmental problems and community
needs, and PRIs are also able to mobilize people and resources to meet the needs
of the community.
 Prasad studied ‘community approach to flood management’ with support from
World Meteorological Organization (WMO) in Assam, West Bengal, and Bihar.
 He found that ‘Gram Panchayats’ are known as community based organization.
 According to him West Bengal has the longest experience of functioning of three
tiers Panchayati Raj Institutions and the structure has been working for flood
disaster management.
 He also found that few gram panchayats had good communication with local
officers, doctors, and NGOs for disaster management.
 Rai studied the efforts of drought affected Karunga Gram Panchayat of Okha
Mandal Taluka in Gujarat.

 They found that PRIs and community had successfully taken efforts to supply
drinking water during drought.
 The collaboration and coordination among the Gram Panchayat, Tata Chemical
Company and villagers for supplying drinking water effectively met the basic
needs during drought.
 An important workshop was organized by Basin-South Asia, in 2005 where Gram-
Panchayat members from different parts of India discussed the importance and
responsibilities of PRIs in Disaster Management.
 The main focus of the workshop was on post-disaster reconstruction and
rehabilitation.
 The representatives from Bihar, Maharashtra, and Kerala shared their experience
in different dimensions of disasters management at the panchayat level.
 The most important finding of this workshop was the importance given to
capacity building of communities and implementing community based disaster
mitigation measure.
 According to Basin-South Asia, PRIs are located at the best place to motivate
people to get involved in disaster mitigation process.
 It was also recognized that people’s participation and involvement in Gram
Sansad Sabha help to identify the vulnerable community and potential disaster
and its preparedness.
 Though PRIs are working for local level developmental planning, many time
voices of villagers have not been recognized.
 As a result, the disaster management efforts of PRIs are transformed into mere
partisan political activities.
 Though Gram Sansad Sabha and PRIs are often politicized, the Gram Panchayat
member who belongs to the village has reciprocity with the villagers.
 There is an argument that the Gram Panchayat member, from a socially deprived
community may not have enough voice in the Gram Panchayat.
 But, during Gram Sansad Sabha, the members of community share their needs
and problems with PRIs.
 As Gram Panchayat member belongs to the village, the existing reciprocity
between Gram Panchayat member and the community may lead to PRI decision’s
that are favourable to the community.

 Many researchers also argue that vulnerable people in the community do not
participate in Gram Sansad Sabha.
 But, if there is a hazard, then everybody is a victim and they share their problems
with Gram Panchayat member and PRIs.
2.9 States, Centre and other Stake-Holders - Institutional Processess

and Framework at State and Central Level -
State Disaster Management Authority(SDMA)
A) Indian Constitution and Natural Disasters

 Indian Constitution, the Magna Carta of Fundamental Rights for Indians
guarantees protection of life and security with the purpose of ensuring a welfare
State.
 Not only the laws and regulations framed by the Central and State Governments
have to be in conformity with the Constitutional provisions, but also the
authorities have a duty under the Constitution to safeguard and protect the
Fundamental Rights.
 The scope and applicability of these Fundamental Rights and the validity of the
laws passed by the legislatures and the executive actions of the government are
often the subject matter of various decisions by the Supreme Court of India.
B) The Environment Protection Act, 1986

 After the Bhopal Gas Leak Tragedy, the Indian Parliament enacted the
Environment (Protection) Act (EPA), 1986 for the purpose of safeguarding and
protecting the environment from unregulated industrial or other activities. Under
the EPA, the central Government is entrusted with responsibility to take all the
measures for protecting and improving the quality of the environment and
preventing controlling and abating environmental pollution.
 It prohibits persons carrying on any industry, operation or process from
discharging or emitting any environmental pollutants in excess of prescribed
standards.
 The EPA imposes obligations on persons handling any hazardous substance to
follow prescribed procedure and comply with prescribed safeguards.

C) Environment Impact Assessment Statement

 In the year 1994, a notification was issued by the Central Government under
Section 3 of EPA making it mandatory on the part of all new industrial units and
those with intent to modernize or expand to submit an Environment Impact
Assessment (EIA) Statement for the purpose of obtaining clearance from the
Central Government for setting up industrial projects.
D) The ‘Manufacture, Storage and Impact of Hazardous Chemical Rules’, 1989

 In the Year 1989, the Central Government framed the “Manufacture, Storage and
Import of Hazardous Chemical Rules‟, 1987 under the EPA.
 The principal objective of the rules is the prevention of major accidents arising
from industrial activity, the limitation of the effects of such accidents both on
humans and the environment, and the harmonization of the various control
measures and the agencies to prevent and limit major accidents.
E) The Coastal Regulation Zone (CRZ) Notification, 1991.

 In the year 1991, with a view to protect the fragile ecosystem of the coastal areas in
India from unregulated developmental activities, the Government of India issued
Coastal Regulation Zone (CRZ) Notification under the EPA to control the
developmental activities within 500 meters of High Tide Line (HTL).
F) The Public Liability Insurance Act, 1991

 The parliament also enacted the “Public Liability Insurance Act, 1991‟ to provide
for public liability insurance for the purpose of providing immediate relief to the
persons affected by accidents occurring while handling hazardous substances.
 The Act imposes on the person, who has control over handling any hazardous
substance, the liability to give the relief specified in the Act to all the victims of
any accident, which occurs while handling such substance.
G) The National Environment Appellate Authority Act, 1997

 This Act has been enacted to provide for the establishment of a National
Environment Appellate Authority to hear appeals with respect to restriction of
areas in which any industries, operations or process or class of industries, shall
not be carried out subject to certain safeguards under the EPA.

H) The Natural Disaster Management Act, 2005

 The Disaster Management Act, 2005 seeking for an effective management
authorities have been constituted at the National, State and at the District level.
 The National Disaster Management Authority (National Authority), which is to be
chaired by the Prime Minister of India is entrusted with the responsibilities for
laying down the policies on disaster management, and approve plans at the
national level for disaster management.
I) National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA)

 The NDMA, as the apex body for disaster management, is headed by the Prime
Minister and has the responsibility for laying down policies, plans and guidelines
for DM and coordinating their enforcement and implementation for ensuring
timely and effective response to disasters.
 The guidelines will assist the Central ministries, Departments and States to
formulate their respective DM plans.
J) National Executive Committee (NEC)

 The NEC comprises the Union Home Secretary as Chairperson, and the
Secretaries to the Government of India, in the Ministries/Departments of
Agriculture, Atomic Energy, defense, Drinking Water Supply, Environment and
Forests, Finance (Expenditure), Health, Power, Rural Development, Science &
Technology, Space, Telecommunication, Urban Development, Water Resources
and the Chief of the Integrated Defence Staff of the Chiefs of Staff Committee
members. Secretaries in the Ministry of External Affairs, Earth Sciences, Human
Resource Development, Mines, Shipping, Road Transport & Highways, and the
Secretary, NDMA will be special invitees to the meetings of the NEC.
K) State Disaster Management Authority (SDMA)

 At the State level, the SDMA, headed by the Chief Minister, will lay down policies
and plans for DM in the State.
 It will, inter alia approve the State Plan in accordance with the guidelines laid
down by the NDMA, coordinate the implementation of the State Plan,
recommended provision of funds for mitigation and preparedness measures and
review the developmental plans of the different Departments of the State to
ensure the integration of prevention, preparedness and mitigation measures.

L) District Disaster Management Authority (DDMA)

 The DDMA will be headed by the District Collector, Deputy Commissioner or
District Magistrate as the case may be, with the elected representative of the local
authority as the Co-Chairperson.
 The DDMA will act as the planning, coordinating and implementing body for DM
at the District level and take all necessary measures for the purposes of DM in
accordance with the guidelines laid down by the NDMA and SDMA.
2.10 Early Warning System
Early Warning
 The term 'early warning' is used in many fields to describe the provision of
information on an emerging dangerous circumstances where that information
canenable action in advance to reduce the risks involved.
 Early warning systems exist for natural geophysical and biological hazards,
complex socio-political emergencies, industrial hazards, personal health risks and
many other related hazards.
 An Early Warning System (EWS) can be defined as a set of capacities needed to
generate and disseminate timely and meaningful warning information of the
possible extreme events or disasters (e.g. floods, drought, fire, earthquake and
tsunamis) that threatens people‘s lives.
 The purpose of this information is to enable individuals, communities and
organizations threatened to prepare and act appropriately and in sufficient time to
reduce the possibility of harm, loss or risk.
Elements of Early Warning
Early warning is the integration of four main elements,
 Risk Knowledge : Risk assessment provides essential information to set priorities
for mitigation and prevention strategies and designing early warning systems.
 Monitoring and Predicting : Systems with monitoring and predicting capabilities
provide timely estimates of the potential risk faced by communities, economies
and the environment.
 Disseminating Information : Communication systems are needed for delivering
warning messages to the potentially affected locations to alert local and regional
governmental agencies. The messages need to be reliable, synthetic and simple to
be understood by authorities and public.

 Response: Coordination, good governance and appropriate action plans are a key
point in effective early warning. Likewise, public awareness and education are
critical aspects of disaster mitigation.
The purpose of early warning systems is to detect, forecast, and when necessary, issue
alerts related to impending hazard events.
In order to fulfill a risk reduction function, however, early warning needs to be
supported by information about the actual and potential risks that a hazard poses, as well
as the measures people can take to prepare for and mitigate its adverse impacts. Early
warning information needs to be communicated in people friendly manner in such a way
that facilitates decision-making and timely action of response organizations and
vulnerable groups. Early warning information comes from different meteorological
offices (for weather related disasters-flood, cyclone etc.); Ministries of Health (for
example, disease outbreaks) and Agriculture (for example, crop forecasts); local and
indigenous sources; media sources and increasingly from Internet early warning services.
Need of Early Warning System

 Early Warning for disaster reduction is a legitimate matter of public policy at the
highest national levels for two main reasons :
 The first one, clearly, is public safety, and the protection of human lives.
 The second is the protection of the nation‘s resource base and productive assets
(infrastructure and private property or investments) to ensure long term
development and economic growth. Conversely, by reducing the impact of
disasters, a government avoids the financial and political- burden of massive
rehabilitation costs.
 Investing in early warning and other measures of disaster reduction is neither
simple nor inexpensive, but the benefits of doing so, and the costs of failing to, are
considerable. For instance :
- In terms of reducing economic losses, early warning and disaster
preparedness ‘pay for themselves‘ many times over the life of the warning
system.
- The reduction of environmental losses can, if properly managed and
publicized, have both long-term benefits to the economy, and short-term
benefits for the administration in-charge.
- A country can strengthen its stature and influence in international relations by
a good handling of ‘externalities‘, or indirect effects, on neighboring nations.

From a public policy viewpoint, early warning, disaster preparedness and prevention
must be part of a single, well integrated process.
Communication of Early Warning Information

An effective early warning system needs an effective communication system. Early
warning communication systems are made of two main components:
 Communication infrastructure hardware that must be reliable and robust,
especially during the natural disasters; and
 Appropriate and effective interactions among the main actors of the early warning
process such as the scientific community, stakeholders, decision makers, the
public, and the media.
 Many communication tools are currently available for warning dissemination
such as Short Message Service (SMS) (cellular phone text messaging), email, radio,
TV, and web service. Information and Communication Technology (ICT) is a key
element in early warning.
 ICT plays an important role in disaster communication and dissemination of
information to organizations in charge of responding to warnings and to the
public during and after a disaster. Redundancy of communication systems is
essential for disaster management, while emergency power supplies and back-up
systems are critical in order to avoid the collapse of communication systems after
disasters occur.
Community Based Early Warning System

 Early warning systems have limitations in terms of saving lives if they are not
combined with ‘people-centered’ networks. To be effective, early warning systems
must be understandable, trusted by and relevant to the communities that they
serve.
 Warnings will have little value unless they reach the people most at risk, who
need to be trained to respond appropriately to an approaching hazard.
 Community-Based Early Warning Systems (CBEWS) are anchored in the
communities and managed by the communities.
 It is based on a "people-centered" approach that empowers individuals and
communities threatened by hazards to act in sufficient time and in an appropriate
manner in a bid to reduce the possibility of personal injury, loss of life, damage to
property, environment and loss of livelihood.

 It provides communities, practitioners and organizations involved in disaster risk

management with advance information of risks that can be readily translated into
prevention, preparedness and response actions.
 CBEWS helps to reduce economic losses by allowing people to better protect their
assets and livelihood. Essential features of community-based early warning
systems are :
- All community members especially the vulnerable groups should be involved
at all stages of the CBEWS from designing to operating the systems, receiving
the warning messages and responding to the warning.
- Measures taken should be based on the needs of everyone in the community
including the most vulnerable segments of the community.
 The community members will own the process and system.
 CBEWS measures will enhance the capacity of the community members to deal
with their situation.
 Meaningful participation in the decision-making process of EWS.
Early Warning Systems and Policy

 For early warning systems to be effective, it is essential that they be integrated
into policies for disaster mitigation. Good governance priorities include protecting
the public from disasters through the implementation of disaster risk reduction
policies.
 It is clear that natural phenomena cannot be prevented, but their human, socio-
economic and environmental impacts can and should be minimized through
appropriate measures, including risk and vulnerability reduction strategies, early
warning, and appropriate action plans. Most often, these problems are given
attention during or immediately after a disaster. Disaster risk reduction measures
require long term plans and early warning should be seen as a strategy to
effectively reduce the growing vulnerability of communities and assets.
 The information provided by early warning systems enables authorities and
institutions at various levels to immediately and effectively respond to a disaster.
 It is crucial that local government, local institutions, and communities be involved
in the entire policy making process, so they are fully aware and prepared to
respond with short and long-term action plans.

Key Elements for Successful Implementation of Early Warning

 Understand the most likely threats, likelihood of disasters and their potential
consequences
 Although natural disasters are not precisely predictable, they are most often
generally foreseeable. In other words, there are many areas where the occurrence
of floods is likely; one does not necessarily know exactly when, but one knows
they will occur sooner or later. Many natural hazards can be foreseen, or
anticipated, from past experience, the analysis of current patterns of land use, or
population distribution.
 Establish proper priorities.
Fire
 The Government of India in 1956, formed a “Standing Fire Advisory Committee”
under the Ministry of Home Affairs.
 The mandate of the committee was to examine the technical problems
Institutional Framework relating to Fire Services and to advise the Government of
India for speedy development and upgradation of Fire Services all over the
country.
 This committee had representation from each State Fire Services, as well as the
representation from Ministry of Home, Defence, Transport, Communication and
Bureau of Indian Standards.
 This Committee was renamed as “Standing Fire Advisory Council” (SFAC)
during the year 1980.
Epidemics
 The Ministry of Health and Family Welfare is instrumental and responsible for
implementation of various programmes on a national scale in the areas of
prevention and control of major communicable diseases and promotion of
traditional and indigenous systems of medicines.
 This ministry also assists states in preventing and controlling the spread of
seasonal disease outbreaks and epidemics through technical assistance.
 It is actively involved in disease diagnosis during epidemics and outbreaks,
operational research, manpower development, advisory role and other
multifarious activities towards prevention and control of a cascade of epidemic
prone disease of larger public health importance in collaboration with National

Institute of Communicable Disease (NICD) and external organisations and

institutes.
Forecasting and Warning of Cyclones

 India Meteorological Department is the nodal agency in the country to monitor
and predict the cyclonic disturbances and issue the warning and advisory
bulletins. IMD, New Delhi also acts as a Regional Specialized Meteorological
Centre (RSMC) for providing tropical cyclone advisories to the World
Preparedness and Response Meteorological Organization (WMO)/ Economic and
Social Cooperation for Asia and the Pacific (ESCAP) Panel members countries viz
Bangladesh, Myanmar, Thailand, Sri Lanka, Maldives, Pakistan and Oman.
 IMD, New Delhi also works as a Tropical Cyclone Advisory Centre (TCAC) for
international civil aviation as per the requirement of International Civil Aviation
Organization (ICAO).

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Disaster Management Disaster Risk Reduction (DRR)

[Prepared By: Mr.G.PURUSHOTHAMAN., M.E., (PhD)] Page 2

2.1.2 Disaster Risk Reduction

[Prepared By: Mr.G.PURUSHOTHAMAN., M.E., (PhD)] Page 3

Disaster Risk Reduction Strategies in India

Sendai Framework for Disaster Risk Reduction

[Prepared By: Mr.G.PURUSHOTHAMAN., M.E., (PhD)] Page 4

[Prepared By: Mr.G.PURUSHOTHAMAN., M.E., (PhD)] Page 5

 It is a non-binding agreement, which the signatory nations, including India,

2.1.3 Disaster Risk Management

[Prepared By: Mr.G.PURUSHOTHAMAN., M.E., (PhD)] Page 6

2.1.4 Information Management in Disaster Risk Reduction

2.1.5 Levels of Disasters

Level 1 - Threat of disaster without evidence

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Level 2 - Actual attack without data loss

Level 3 - Minor data/system loss

Level 4 - Major data/system loss

Level 5 - Total loss

[Prepared By: Mr.G.PURUSHOTHAMAN., M.E., (PhD)] Page 8

exceptionally difficult-though necessary - task.

[Prepared By: Mr.G.PURUSHOTHAMAN., M.E., (PhD)] Page 9

2.1.6 Concept of Operations

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Fig. 2.1.1 Levels of disasters

2.1.7 Disaster Phenomenon and Events

2.2 Concepts of Risk Management and Crisis Management

[Prepared By: Mr.G.PURUSHOTHAMAN., M.E., (PhD)] Page 11

 The techniques of crisis management include a number of consequent steps from

[Prepared By: Mr.G.PURUSHOTHAMAN., M.E., (PhD)] Page 12

2.2.1 Types of Crisis

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E) Crisis of Organizational Misdeeds

F) Crises of Skewed Management Values

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2.2.2 Definitions and Terminology

[Prepared By: Mr.G.PURUSHOTHAMAN., M.E., (PhD)] Page 15

D) Disaster Risk Reduction

E) Disaster Risk Management

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2.3 Disaster Management Cycle - Phases

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 There are initiatives taken in response to a disaster with a purpose to achieve

[Prepared By: Mr.G.PURUSHOTHAMAN., M.E., (PhD)] Page 18

Fig. 2.3.1 Disaster management cycle

 It is an ongoing process by which governments, civil (and military) society plan

[Prepared By: Mr.G.PURUSHOTHAMAN., M.E., (PhD)] Page 19

2.3.1 Disaster Response

2.4 Culture of Safety

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[Prepared By: Mr.G.PURUSHOTHAMAN., M.E., (PhD)] Page 22

 There are three forms of organizational citizenship.

2.4.1 Three Aspects of Safety Culture

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[Prepared By: Mr.G.PURUSHOTHAMAN., M.E., (PhD)] Page 24

Fig. 2.4.1 Model of the organizational culture of safety

2.5 Prevention, Mitigation and Preparedness Community Based DRR

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