Man Made Disasters - Nuclear disasters, chemical disasters, biological disasters, Building fire, coal fire, forest fire, oil fire

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Man Made Disasters - Nuclear disasters, chemical disasters, biological disasters, Building fire, coal fire, forest fire, oil fire

As human society has been beneficiary of advances of science and technology, it has also of late become victim of such advances due to their misuse in terrorist activities world over. In addition to the impacts of growing natural disasters mankind has become equally vulnerable to various man-made disasters. Nuclear and radiological emergencies are one such facet of the man-made disasters.

For improving the quality of life in the society, many countries in the world have embarked upon a large programme of using nuclear energy for generation of electricity. Further, the radioisotopes are utilized in a variety of applications in the non-power sector viz., in the field of industry, agriculture, medicine, research etc. Due to built in design features, inherent safety culture, the best safety practices and standards followed during various phases of construction and operation in these plants and effective regulation worldwide, the emissions of radioactive materials from routine operations of nuclear power plants does not normally require any protective actions on part of public. The radiation dose, to which the persons working in nuclear / radiation facilities are exposed to, is well within the permissible limits and risk of its impact in public domain is very low.

Although radiation releases from nuclear power-plant are very rare, but if they happen due to any reason, they can be devastating. Chernobyl is a good example. With modern reactor design, a catastrophic release of radiation is highly unlikely, but nevertheless, possible. This can happen due to factors beyond the control of the operating agencies e.g., human error, system failure, sabotage, earthquake, cyclone, flood, etc. In such situations, proper emergency preparedness plans must be in place so that there is minimum loss of life, livelihood, property and impact to the environment.

Any radiation incident resulting in or having a potential to result in exposure to and/or contamination of the workers or the public, in excess of the respective permissible limits can be termed as nuclear/radiological emergency. The longer a person is exposed to radiation, the greater the effect. A high exposure to radiation can cause serious illness or death.

The nuclear and radiological emergencies can be broadly classified in the following manner: i) An accident taking place in any nuclear facility of the nuclear fuel cycle including the nuclear reactor or in a facility using radioactive sources, leading to a large  scale  release  of radioactivity  in  the environment. ii) A “criticality” accident in a nuclear fuel cycle facility where an uncontrolled nuclear chain reaction takes place inadvertently leading to bursts of neutrons and gamma radiations (as happened at Tokaimura, Japan), iii)  An accident during the transportation of radioactive material. iv) A malevolent use of radioactive material as Radiological Dispersal Device (RDD) by terrorists for dispersing radioactive material in the environment, v) A large-scale nuclear disaster, resulting from a nuclear weapon attack (as happened at Hiroshima and Nagasaki) which would lead to mass causalities and destruction of large area and property. Unlike a nuclear emergency, the impact of nuclear disaster is beyond the coping capability of the local authorities and such a scenario calls for handling at the national level.

Normally the nuclear or radiological emergencies arising in the nuclear installations are within the coping capability of the plant authorities. The nuclear emergency that can arise in nuclear fuel cycle facilities specially nuclear reactors and the radiological emergency due to malevolent acts of using RDDs are the two scenarios that are of major concern. In addition criticality accidents in Reprocessing plants and Transport accidents are two another areas of concern

Because of their wide spread application, access to availability of radioactive sources has become easy. While their radioactive strength is in itself a deterrent to pilferage, the radioactive sources can still be stolen and used in a Radiological Dispersal Device (RDD) also known as Dirty Bomb.

Accidents during Transportation of Radioactive Materials are of low probability due to special design features of the containers involved and special safety and security measures which are laid down to be followed during actual transportation.

As regards vulnerability of various nuclear fuel cycle facilities to the terrorists attacks, these facilities have elaborate physical protection arrangements in place to ensure their security.

Driven by the requirement of ensuring all possible efforts to prevent any accident /emergency situation in the nuclear power plant, in the last 50 years power reactor design has undergone revolutionary changes in terms of improvement in fuel design, reactor design philosophy, instrumentation, safety considerations etc. In India, following 4 types of reactors are either in operation or under construction, therefore safety aspects of these reactors will be considered in particular

1. Pressurised Heavy water Reactor (PHWR)

2. Pressurised Water Reactor (PWR) Prototype

3. Fast Breeder Reactor (PFBR)

4. Advanced Heavy Water Reactor (AHWR)

The Nuclear Regulatory Authority in the country has the mandate to ensure that, while the beneficial aspects of nuclear programme and use of ionizing radiation are fully exploited, their use do not cause undue riskto public health and the environment. It has authority for issuance of licenses to nuclear and radiological facilities and ensuring compliance with the applicable standards and codes. It has powers, not only to license the operation of a facility but also to order partial or full shutdown of the facility that violates its guidelines.

 The Atomic Energy Regulatory Board(AERB) in India, like all the regulator world over, requires that before a plant could be licensed to operate, the regulator must have “reasonable assurance that adequate protective measures can and will be taken in the event of a radiological emergency.” Emergency planning has been adopted as an added conservatism to the “defense-in-depth” safety philosophy, where the safety systems are inbuilt with adequate redundancy and diverse working principles. Defence-in-depth is structured in various levels. Several levels of protection and multiple barriers prevent the release of radioactive material to the public domain.

Similarly to meet the radiological emergencies in public domain like transport accident, handling of orphan sources, explosion of RDD, concept of Emergency Response Centers (ERCs) has been established in India. These centres should be spread throughout the country. The task of these ERCs is to monitor and detect radiation sources, train the stakeholders, maintain adequate inventory of monitoring instruments and protective gears and provide technical advice to the first responders and local authorities.

The quality of the required emergency preparedness is maintained by periodic training courses for the on-site and off-site administrative personnel including the State Government officials and various other stakeholders. Also, the primary evaluation of the same is based on the periodic mock drills and exercises. The planning and preparedness for response to nuclear/ radiological emergency will be integrated in an all hazards approach with the planning for response to all types of conventional emergencies. The confidence level in the community to handle any nuclear/radiological emergency can be enhanced only through education and awareness generation and preparedness

The response to a nuclear/radiological emergency in a nuclear facility has many elements in common with the response to other man-made and natural disasters, in terms of services like medical, fire & emergency services, police, civil defence etc. However, some special features of nuclear emergency will need to be taken care of additionally.

As per the recently released NDMA guidelines on handling of nuclear and radiological emergencies, a holistic and integrated approach to management of disasters should be adopted covering all components of the disaster continuum viz., prevention, mitigation, preparedness, response, relief, rehabilitation, reconstruction, recovery etc. This deals with the capacity development for coping with nuclear/radiological emergency situations. This capacity needs to be enhanced at all levels; which calls for requisite financial, technical and infrastructural supports. The National Vision is to prevent nuclear and radiological emergencies which are essentially man-made in nature. However, in rare cases of their occurrence, due to factors beyond human control, such emergencies will be so managed through certain pre-planned and established structural and non-structural measures by the various stakeholders, as to minimise risks to health, life and the environment.

As per NDMA guidelines on handling of nuclear and radiological emergencies, a holistic and integrated approach to management of emergencies/disasters should be adopted covering all components of the disaster continuum viz., prevention, mitigation, preparedness, response, relief, rehabilitation, reconstruction, recovery etc. Our National Vision is to prevent nuclear and radiological emergencies, however, in rare cases of their occurrence, such emergencies should be managed through certain pre-planned and established structural and non-structural measures by the various stakeholders, so as to minimise risks to life, health, livelihood and environment.

“Safety Regulation in Nuclear Industry-Present Status and Challenges”. Nuclear industry uses high end technology with a high capital cost. Because of this there is always a pressure on production, which is not good for safety. There is a need for cooperation between the countries for ensuring global safety and security regime. It is well known that nuclear accident has an international impact, e.g. accidents at TMI and Chernobyl. However, public perception of risk as nuclear fields is disproportionate to reality and any small accident is blown out of proportion by the media. Some of the important functions of AERB with regard to safety review of nuclear facilities under design, construction; to issue license/ authorization during sitting, construction, commissioning/operation, decommissioning; and to ensure compliance with the stipulated requirements. All nuclear and radiological facilities in the country except the ones at Bhaba Atomic Research Centre are under the regulatory control of AERB.

AERB works in close cooperation with International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) and keep contacts with the regulatory bodies of other countries. Since country is planning to increase nuclear power production many fold, it is likely that NPPs of various foreign designs will be introduced in our country.

“Nuclear and radiological emergencies-handling the challenges” the concern for radiation safety has increased in recent times. In nuclear programmes, safety is implemented at all stages of the plant i.e. design, construction, commissioning, operation, maintenance and decommissioning. Defence of depth principle is applied all through. It was informed that emergency response system is always in place.

Our nuclear facilities are reasonably equipped to handle both on-site and off-site emergencies in public domain; however, main area of concern is emergencies at places other than the nuclear facilities.

In addition, DAE has set up a Crisis Management Group (CMS) that is activated during a radiation emergency in public domain. It has access to DAE’s resources in terms of communication, radiation monitoring, decontamination, safety equipment, medical facilities etc. In case of any radiation emergency a definite role has been envisaged for the important agencies namely police, fire, transport, health, civil supplies, civil defence and radio, TV and print media.

In future there is going to be tremendous growth in the fields of nuclear power generation and in industrial and medical use of radioisotopes and at the same time the issues related to nuclear terrorism will be of major security concern. As such there is a need to enhance safety features and physical protection systems, so as to prevent both accidents in nuclear facilities and also the malevolent acts resulting in radiation exposure to public.

“Post Radiological & Nuclear Emergency Preparedness and Gaps”. To deal with any emergency happening in our country due to peaceful applications of radioisotopes in industry, nuclear power production, medical, agriculture, satellite crash or during transportation of radioactive materials or terrorists created situation like explosion of a Radiological Dispersal Device (RDD), detailed Guidelines have been issued by the National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA).

“NBC Disaster Management Services: Efforts & Preparedness at BEL”. Since ‘9/11’ India is the spectre of CBRN threat has been daunting afresh worldwide. Because of no first use policy of nuclear weapons, special efforts are required to handle any CBRN disaster. Keeping this in view BEL has taken many initiatives in R&D and has developed in-house program towards CBRN preparedness. In this regard, A BELDRDO designed wristwatch type Radio Photo-Luminescent (RPL) Dosimeter having 2 major components i.e. RPL Glass & Pin diode for sensing Gamma and Neutron Radiation respectively in the range 01-1000 Rad. This equipment, unlike GM tube sensor would be resistant to EMP effect and will be operational in real N-scenario. BEL also developed a PUF Insulated Al-Shelter, Installation of state-of-the art Hot-press Bonding system used for manufacturing Al-PUF-Panels for shelter has enabled BEL to become the largest supplier of Al- Shelter in India. BEL also developed a Mobile Water Purification System for usages in CBRN Environments which can be used for purifying brackish water, dissolved solid content, inclusive of CBRN contaminants up to 5000 mg/liter.

  “Container based Nuclear Radioactivity Analysis Laboratory”. In any nuclear emergency/disaster, large amount of radioactivity is released in the environment and deposited on the ground as well as on water bodies. The response actions namely decontamination, relocation and measurement of radioactivity levels in food stuff will be carried out by the disaster management teams in the affected area.

To carry out these actions, it is necessary to analyse the radioactivity in various environmental matrices for identification of radio nuclides, level of contamination and concentration. In common practice, the contaminated samples are transferred to a stationary nuclear analysis laboratory which is equipped with various types of nuclear measuring instruments. Only few laboratories of this type are available in the country and at times may be located far away from the incident site. Considering these problems, Defence Laboratory, Jodhpur has designed and developed a container based Nuclear Contamination Analysis Station (NUCAS) which can be transported to desired locations by air, road, train and ship. This laboratory is equipped with various measuring instruments so that it can carry out the complete analysis of the contaminants in field conditions in minimum time

“Nuclear and Radiological Emergencies: Requirement of State of the Art Systems and Methodologies for Impact Assessment and Response”. The prevention and preparedness for response to nuclear and radiological emergencies involve identification of various accident and emergency scenarios that can lead to radiological consequences in public domain. The nuclear accidents at TMI and Chernobyl and radiological accident at Goiania led to serious concerns related to the contamination in public domain and made the world community understand and prepare for responding to such situations.

For an effective response to any major emergency, an Emergency Response Centre (ERC) having the facilities of, a) Environmental dose monitoring using both mobile and fixed units, b) meteorological station providing on-line data, c) generation of isodose curves in real time, d) monitoring methodologies for various routes etc are essential. 18 numbers of DAE - Emergency Response Centres (DAE-ERC) spread over the country are developed and kept in readiness to strengthen DAE’s Preparedness for ‘Quick Response to nuclear / radiological emergencies in the public domain. The DAE-ERCs will be also helping the CPMFs/Defence Forces in building up the “First Responders/Quick Response Teams” of their organizations to respond to any nuclear/radiological emergency in public domain.

Some of the important systems developed in BARC for this purpose are - Aerial Gamma Spectrometry system (AGSS) for aerial radiation monitoring, Compact Aerial Radiation Monitoring System (CARMS) for remote Aerial Monitoring using Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs), Portal Monitor and Limb Monitor and Vehicle monitor (for inspecting goods/scrap carried by vehicles).

“National Network for Early Detection of Nuclear Emergency: Indian Environmental Radiation Monitoring Network (IERMON)”. The Indian Environmental Radiation Monitoring Network (IERMON) was established across the country by Bhabha Atomic Research Centre for online detection of any nuclear emergency condition in public domain. The network is being expanded and upgraded in order to meet the different objectives of the monitoring programme. The latest version of the indigenously developed solar powered radiation monitoring system with GSM based data communication has been put to use now. The Central Station is linked to the emergency response centres and control rooms through various communication links for on-line and real time access of data.

The capacity development for coping with nuclear/radiological emergency situations needs to be enhanced at all levels; which calls for requisite financial, technical and infrastructural support. The main issues are availability of trained manpower.

Industrial and Chemical Disaster

It is now realized and well recognized that all disasters are the result of human influences. However, there are certain categories of catastrophe where the initiating event or the cause of hazard is manageable under human control and capacities by technology, participation and management. Such disasters are usually preventable and if not, then certainly controllable by way of disaster mitigation and emergency response-preparedness in advance. Industrial disaster consists of all the disasters that occur due to mishaps or failures in industry or related activities and also the disasters that affect the industrial functions, property and productivity. However, there are no hard lines between the two and also from the so called ‘natural disasters’ because of increasing understanding of the overlapping nature of causes, consequences and mitigation measures besides the interdisciplinary nature of the central risk management approach. ‘Chemical Disasters’ and ‘Industrial Disasters’, terms often used with confusion has a valid reason of being each of these to be sub-category of another. There may be chemical disasters not necessarily an industrial one and on the other hand, there may be industrial disasters other than chemical accident.

A chemical disaster may occur due to both, natural or man-made sources, however, in view of growing chemical usage and industrial development worldwide, the pre-disaster prevention and mitigation of chemical (industrial) disasters is a serious concern. Besides, the category ‘industrial disasters’ is applicable for any major activity or system that involves workers-employer, production, formulation/manufacturing, and business/ financial benefits, when it is affected by a disaster or a disaster that originates from within that industrial system/location. Chemical disaster may involve a hazardous chemical that may have - flammable and or explosive, toxic, corrosive, radioactive, highly reactive - one or more of these properties.

There are currently over 1949 Major Accident Hazards (MAH) units in the India besides other small and medium-sized industries, in huge numbers, all across the nation and new industries are also coming up at rapid rate. Chemical accidents may occur due to lack of safety measure, technical failures, a human error or negligence or another disaster of natural or anthropogenic origin, e.g., flooding, landslide, earthquake, etc.

The release of hazardous material may occur in case of an accident during manufacture, storage, handling, transport, use or disposal stage of its life-cycle. Besides these accidents, there were several instances of chemical disasters occurred due to failures of tailing dams, dykes, ash-ponds, hazardous waste facilities, ETP failure, mass contamination, etc. in manufacturing, electronic, metallurgical and other industries. Serious disaster risks are involved in water resource engineering projects including hydro-power plants. Mining industry is the one ever known for its hazard potentials whether during mining operations (underground or surface), transport, ore/mineral processing, transport, storage, etc. which are often in the form of fire, gas toxicity, explosion, flooding, subsidence, etc.

There are various environ-mental tools like EIA, Audit, Life-cycle Assessment, Risk Assessments (Safety Risk Assessment, Health Risk Assessment, Ecological Risk Assessment), Ecological Footprint, etc which have been frequently used in developmental planning. Risk Assessment originally started for product risk assessment in the industrial sector has now been widely accepted for various natural disasters as well. However, other tools are still to be re-looked for their application in various phases of disaster management. A National Guidelines on Chemical Disaster Management has been released by National Disaster Management Authority (2007) as per the provisions of DM Act 2005.There is already an established framework for chemical emergency management at various levels, viz. national, state, district and local crisis groups (under EPA 1986) and a holistic disaster management framework has recently emerged under the DM Act 2005, manifesting a wide gap between the two at planning and functional levels. Integration of the two is a key challenge as is the basic need for implementing the national guidelines and the action plan at different levels.

Industry is prone to all types of disasters, depending upon the location of the particular unit and vulnerability of that particular location. Therefore, though the specialisation is required in different fields of disaster management but we can not have compartmentalised approach to disaster management when it comes to practice. Hence, it is important that in practice, the management and the experts who assist them within the units, have a holistic multi-hazard disaster management plan in place. When we talk of industrial disasters, let us not limit the concept of industry to manufacturing sector. There is an ambitious programme of infrastructure-development projects which is prone to disasters. Mining sector is known for its hazards of accidents and coal to fire. Disasters during road or rail transport of hazardous materials are also important area of concern. Lessons have to be learnt from the past mistakes/mishaps. There are serious gaps in knowledge and we need to document the industrial disasters. Arrangements at the local level are essential for disaster prevention and response. Competent and trained manpower is a serious limitation in infrastructure and industrial sectors. Disaster management must focus prevention in all disasters.

“UNEP’s Integrated Approach to Disaster Management”. Increasing environmental disasters be the natural or anthropogenic or industrial, and complexity of their impacts on communities, resources and economies throughout the world. Environmental impacts and losses resulting from disasters jeopardise the development by affecting various environmental services, supplies and resources that are required for anthropogenic and development activities, and thus, also create the hazards and vulnerability for future disasters or conflicts. UNEP has interventions for all the disasters but has devoted programmes for chemical safety. UNEP extends leadership role providing support to the governments and private sector in management of industrial disasters. Awareness and Preparedness at Local Level (APELL) of UNEP was a successful programme in India, and the next phase of APELL has multi-hazard approach.

“Inculcating Culture of Preparedness in First Responders”. Initiatives of NDMA towards inculcating culture of preparedness in first responders, community and schools and focussed on chemical disaster management, through the means of mock exercises. Effective role of community is important in the ‘off-site’ emergencies. Mock exercises in industrial disasters were conducted in the most accident hazard units. A table-top has been conducted as a planning approach to develop the mock-exercise plan. It was informed that NDMA conducted over 150 table-top and mock exercises so far, to learn the positive lessons, opportunities for improvement and clarifying roles under ‘Incident Command System’ for ‘on-site’ and ‘off-site’ scenarios.

“Land-use planning as a risk minimizing tool”, The case of Haldia district of West Bengal. Zoning approach for siting of industries as well as for understanding the levels of risk and vulnerability to technological hazards, but in the multi-hazard environment, can offer wider benefits. The effective management and access of information about the hazardous chemicals is crucial in preparedness and response to the accidents. Environmental Risk Reporting and Information System (ERRIS) has been developed for study using GIS approach. The similar framework can be replicated for the other industrial regions of the country. Spatial Environmental Planning is an effective approach for disaster risk reduction and mitigation centric developmental planning at regional or district levels.

“Disaster Management in Transportation of Hazardous Chemicals”, The risk management and emergency preparedness for chemical disasters during transportation, the role of PESO as mandated under the Petroleum Act, Explosives Act and the Rules. A number of accidents took place in last 5 years that involved transport vehicles carrying explosives, petroleum and compressed gas. Design and implementation of standards of safety and procedures for such carriages and their drives/owners and also for other stakeholders, have been developed by PESO. PESO is an authority for granting a clearance for location and transport of hazardous materials from the explosive safety angle

“MARG concept and organisational efficiencies”. Tarapur Industrial Area is on of the prominent chemical zone of Maharashtra where more than 400 small chemical manufacturing units were located and now increased to around 1000 in numbers including units mainly chemicals, textiles and engineering categories. TIMA, Directorate of Industrial Health and Safety and Tarapur Industrial & Manufacturers Association takes up programmes of awareness on industrial safety and health. TIMA has inculcated a culture of cooperation among various units and has given significant confidence in the emergency response system

“Chemical Disaster Management Integration to Holistic Disaster Management” the key challenges in integration of chemical disaster management with the holistic disaster management at various levels. There are three different and compartmentalised systems working almost parallel on disaster management; (a) Environment and Pollution Control; (b) Revenue/Relief and Disaster Management and (c) Labour/Factories and Industrial Safety. There are again aberrations in the flow of authority and responsibility from Central, State, District to Local levels. There are different systems under – Environmental Protection Act (1986), Factories Act (1948) and Disaster Management Act (2005) and lack integration. There are NDMA and SDMA and now the proposal for Environmental Management Authority (EMA) at various levels, and the convergence among these have to be worked out.

Proper setting of industries and land-use were found to be initial stage of disaster risk management and role of Geological expertise, remote sensing & Geo-informatics and enviro-legal implications in various phases of planning and preparedness, that requires knowledge of geo-hydrological features, surface characteristics, atmospheric and climatic patterns, mapping approaches and fast access of information. Disaster management in the mining sector especially coal and the underground mining related challenges of toxic gas release, explosion, flooding, fire, etc have been pointed out. Issues of hazardous waste management in the industries, laboratories, hospitals and research centres were highlighted. It was pointed out that ‘tourism’ being a fast coming industry needs focus of disaster management, especially in the sites of hilly and coastal areas. Disaster management for the ‘information technology’ industry also received mention. Large hospitals and research laboratories are also industry.

 NIDM and National Safety council, in collaboration with relevant Ministries and Departments must take initiatives for disaster management for all industrial sectors including chemical, mining, hydro-power, tourism, IT, construction, hospitals, etc. Besides, hazardous chemicals, batteries, acids, pesticides, etc. in educational institutions and household also need attention in disaster management, be it for earthquake, floods or building collapse or fire.

·         ‘Industrial and chemical disasters’ management has to be considered in the broader ™ sense covering all the hazards/accidents and disasters that occur/affect within industrial premises, related to industrial materials and processes, and disasters/mishaps affecting industry and production.

·         DM Philosophy: The philosophy of ‘zero tolerance’ means preventing and containing ™ the trigger event and vulnerability rather than preparing only for worst-case scenarios. It requires overhaul of the industrial risk management philosophy in the country. Lower-order risks on different time-scales that may lead to major hazards also need serious concern to avoid catastrophic risks. Corporate sector roles and responsibilities need to be emphasized.

·         Land-use and geo-environmental planning is the fist level risk reduction in industrial  ™ disaster management. It must be adequately emphasized in the regional development and spatial environmental planning of urban/industrial areas. Lessons of zoning atlas and environmental risk mapping approach have to be revisited in the context of disaster reduction in multi-hazard framework.

·         Various environmental tools including of risk assessment, vulnerability characterisation, ™ cost-benefit analysis, economic evaluation of environmental impacts, environmental (environment, safety, water and health) audit need to be re-worked for integration with holistic disaster management, looking to greater emphasis on role of environmental impact assessments (EIA) and strategic environmental assessment (SEA, environmental assessment of policy, plan and programmes) as per the recent experiences of UNISDR, UN-OCHA, UNEP, WHO, etc.

·         Role of Space-technology and geo-informatics in environmental planning for risk man-™ agement, decision-making and emergency response planning for effective response preparedness has to be blended with the entire framework of disaster management. An information and knowledge cente to be established on relevant aspects to support the data-needs, risk assessment, planning, decision and training needs. Chemical risk mapping in a multi-hazard framework has to be undertaken as a basic requirement for disaster management planning at regional scales. 

·         Capacities of State-level ‘Disaster Management Centre’s’ (at ATIs/Universities, etc.) ™ are weak in terms of training design and deliveries on industrial and chemical disasters and need to be addressed in a mission mode, by NDMA and NIDM involving MoEF, NSC, NIC, DGFASLI, NEERI, DGMS, ICAR, GSI, ISRO-DMS, Corporates – FICCI, CII, ASSOCHAM, ICC, etc.

·         Institutional Capacities: Focus on industrial disasters at the nodal DM institutions like ™ NIDM and Disaster Management Centres at State-ATIs is very weak due to giving stress on only worst-case scenarios (which usually occurs in less probability). This needs to be strengthened and reinforced.

·         Focus on industrial & chemical disasters is inadequate in the ‘disaster management’ ™ sub-module under the compulsory ‘Environmental Studies’ UGC Module for undergraduate studies, implemented as per directive of Hon’ble Supreme Court of India, and needs further strengthening. Implications of climate-change related impacts and complications need to be integrated with increasing disasters incidences and losses especially with anthropogenic and industrial backgrounds.

·         Key lessons learnt from major accidents in the country in different sectors are required ™ to be compiled and shared. Community awareness is still a grey area. Mechanism should be created to provide information to the public throughout a year – prior, during and after the accident phase, which helps in avoiding panic and generating a culture for orderly and appropriate response by them.

Forest fire

Wireless Sensor Network is considered to be one of the key technologies of 21st century which have wide application in military application, forest fire, agriculture research etc. In the field of forest fire detection, Simulation study of SPIN (Sensor Protocols for Information via Navigation) protocol to route the environmental data from the active region to the sink wirelessly are encouraging.

Biological disasters

Early warning systems exist for natural geophysical and biological hazards, complex socio-political emergencies, industrial hazards, personal health risks and many other related risks.

Biological disasters are causative of process or phenomenon of organic origin or conveyed by biological vectors, including exposure to pathogenic micro-organisms, toxins and bioactive substances that may cause loss of life, injury, illness or other health impacts, property damage, loss of livelihoods and services, social and economic disruption, or environmental damage. Examples of biological disasters include outbreaks of epidemic diseases, plant or animal contagion, insect or other animal plagues and infestation. Biological disasters may be in the form of:-

          Epidemic affecting a disproportionately large number of individuals within a population, community, or region at the same time, examples being Cholera, Plague, Japanese Encephalitis (JE)/Acute Encephalitis  Syndrome (AES); or,

          Pandemic is an epidemic that spreads across a large region, that is, a continent, or even worldwide of existing, emerging or reemerging diseases and pestilences, example being Influenza H1N1 (Swine Flu).

 

Additional notes

The accidental release of a quantity of toxic chemicals into the environment, resulting in death or injury to workers or members of nearby communities. Examples include the release of methyl isocyanate from a chemical plant in Bhopal, India, at a cost of 2000 lives; and a nuclear accident at Chernobyl, Ukraine, requiring the removal of 160,000 people from their homes; the Itai Itai diseases caused by excessive cadmium which is an noted example of heavy metal pollution. We can quote many such examples.

Industrial hazards are threats to people and life-support systems that arise from the mass production of goods and services. When these threats exceed human coping capabilities or the absorptive capacities of environmental systems they give rise to industrial disasters. Industrial hazards can occur at any stage in the production process, including extraction, processing, manufacture, transportation, storage, use, and disposal. Losses generally involve the release of damaging substances (e.g. chemicals, radioactivity, genetic materials) or damaging levels of energy from industrial facilities or equipment into surrounding environments. The growth of chemical industries has led to an increase in the risk of occurrence of incidents associated with hazardous chemicals (HAZCHEM). A chemical industry that incorporates the best principles of safety can largely prevent such incidents. Common causes for chemical accidents are deficiencies in safety management systems and human errors, or they may occur as a consequence of natural calamities or sabotage activities. Chemical accidents result in fire, explosion and/or toxic release.

The nature of chemical agents and their concentration during exposure ultimately decides the toxicity and damaging effects on living organisms in the form of symptoms and signs like irreversible pain, suffering, and death. Meteorological conditions such as wind speed, wind direction, height of inversion layer, stability class, etc., also play an important role by affecting the dispersion pattern of toxic gas clouds. The Bhopal Gas tragedy of 1984—the worst chemical disaster in history is still fresh in our memories. Such accidents are significant in terms of injuries, pain, suffering, loss of lives, damage to property and environment. A small accident occurring at the local level may be a prior warning signal for an impending disaster. Chemical disasters, though low in frequency, have the potential to cause significant immediate or long-term damage.

Sources of Chemical Disasters: Chemical accidents may originate in: I) Manufacture and formulation installations including during commissioning and process operations; maintenance and disposal. II) Material handling and storage in manufacturing facilities, and isolated Storages; warehouses and godowns including tank farms in ports and docks and fuel depots. III) Transportation (road, rail, air, water, and pipelines).