International strategy for disaster reduction. Concept of disaster management, national disaster management framework; financial arrangements

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International strategy for disaster reduction. Concept of disaster management, national disaster management framework; financial arrangements

The strategy for disaster reduction

The International Strategy for Disaster Reduction reflects a major shift from the traditional emphasis on disaster response to disaster reduction, and in effect seeks to promote a "culture of prevention".

UNISDR is the secretariat of the International Strategy and mandated by the UN General Assembly to ensure its implementation.

The International Strategy for Disaster Reduction builds upon the experience of the International Decade for Natural Disaster Reduction (1990-1999), which was launched by the General Assembly in 1989. The International Strategy embodies the principles articulated in a number of major documents adopted during the Decade, including, in particular, the Yokohama Strategy for a Safer World: Guidelines for Natural Disaster Prevention, Preparedness and Mitigation and its Plan of Action, and the text below entitled "A Safer World in the 21st Century: Disaster and Risk Reduction".

Both of these were endorsed at the Programme Forum on the International Decade held in Geneva from 5 to 9 July 1999, which also adopted the Geneva Mandate on Disaster Reduction.

Disaster risk reduction is a global issue

UNISDR and reducing disaster risk is supported by the UN General Assembly Resolutions and the UN Secretary-General Report on the implementation of the International Strategy for Disaster Reduction

A Safer World in the 21st Century: Disaster and Risk Reduction

While hazards are inevitable, and the elimination of all risk is impossible, there are many technical measures, traditional practices, and public experience that can reduce the extent or severity of economic and social disasters. Hazards and emergency requirements are a part of living with nature, but human behaviour can be changed. In the words of the Secretary General,

"We must, above all, shift from a culture of reaction to a culture of prevention. Prevention is not only more humane than cure; it is also much cheaper... Above all, let us not forget that disaster prevention is a moral imperative, no less than reducing the risks of war".

To enable all communities to become resilient to the effects of natural, technological and environmental hazards, reducing the compound risks they pose to social and economic vulnerabilities within modern societies.

To proceed from protection against hazards to the management of risk through the integration of risk prevention into sustainable development.

Increase public awareness of the risks that natural, technological and environmental hazards pose to modern societies.

·         Obtain commitment by public authorities to reduce risks to people, their livelihoods, social and economic infrastructure, and environmental resources.

·         Engage public participation at all levels of implementation to create disaster-resistant communities through increased partnership and expanded risk reduction networks at all levels.

·         Reduce the economic and social losses of disasters as measured, for example, by Gross Domestic Product.

Stimulate research and application, provide knowledge, convey experience, build capabilities and allocate necessary resources for reducing or preventing severe and recurrent impacts of hazards, for those people most vulnerable.

Increase opportunities for organizations and multi-disciplinary relationships to foster more scientific and technical contributions to the public decision-making process in matters of hazard, risk and disaster prevention.

·         Develop a more proactive interface between management of natural resources and risk reduction practices.

Form a global community dedicated to making risk and disaster prevention a public value.

Link risk prevention and economic competitiveness issues to enhance opportunities for greater economic partnerships.

·         Complete comprehensive risk assessments and integrate them within development plans.

Develop and apply risk reduction strategies and mitigation measures with supporting arrangements and resources for disaster prevention at all levels of activity.

Identify and engage designated authorities, professionals drawn from the widest possible range of expertise, and community leaders to develop increased partnership activities.

Establish risk monitoring capabilities, and early warning systems as integrated processes, with particular attention being given to emerging hazards with global implications such as those related to climate variation and change, at all levels of responsibility.

Develop sustained programmes of public information and institutionalized educational components pertaining to hazards and their effects, risk management practices and disaster prevention activities, for all ages.

Establish internationally and professionally agreed standards / methodologies for the analysis and expression of the socio-economic impacts of disasters on societies.

Seek innovative funding mechanisms dedicated to sustained risk and disaster prevention activities.

Conduct a national audit or assessment process of existing functions necessary for a comprehensive and integrated national strategy of hazard, risk and disaster prevention, projected over 5-10 and 20 year time periods.

·         Conduct dynamic risk analysis with specific consideration of demographics, urban growth, and the interaction or compound relationships between natural, technological and environmental factors.

Build, or where existing, strengthen regional/sub-regional, national and international approaches, and collaborative organizational arrangements that can increase hazard, risk and disaster prevention capabilities and activities.

·         Establish coordination mechanisms for greater coherence and improved effectiveness of combined hazard, risk and disaster prevention strategies at all levels of responsibility.

Promote and encourage know-how transfer through partnership and among countries with particular attention given in the transfer of experience amongst those countries most exposed to risks.

·         Establish national, regional/sub-regional, and global information exchanges, facilities, or websites dedicated to hazard, risk and disaster prevention, linked by agreed communication standards and protocols to facilitate interchange.

Link efforts of hazard, risk and disaster prevention more closely with the Agenda 21 implementation process for enhanced synergy with environmental and sustainable development issues.

Focus multi-year risk reduction strategies on urban concentration and mega-city environments.

Institute comprehensive application of land-use planning and programmes in hazard prone-environments.

·         Develop and apply standard forms of statistical recording of risk factors, disaster occurrences and their consequences to enable more consistent comparisons.

Undertake periodic reviews of accomplishments in hazard, risk and disaster reduction efforts at all levels of engagement and responsibility.

·         Study feasibility of specific alternative funding and resource allocation modalities that can ensure continued commitment to sustained risk and disaster prevention strategies.

Governments have the primary responsibility for protecting citizens from risks and disaster, however, local communities and elements of civil society most threatened by hazards emerge as key initiators of important risk and disaster prevention actions. They must work through partnership, and together, receive necessary encouragement and support to realize the vision of disaster resilience.

Regional/sub-regional and international collaboration is essential, especially with regard to the dissemination of experience and information, scientific and technical applications, continual advocacy and the coordination of strategies to assist in the development of national capabilities.

The United Nations system has a special leadership role in global risk and disaster reduction by its universal character, inter-disciplinary and multi-sectoral scope, and role as a forum for global dialogue. It should address global risk issues, ensure coherence among humanitarian aid, disaster prevention and development, and promote collaboration among countries.

The strategy A Safer World in the 21st Century: Risk and Disaster Reduction should be closely monitored by the risk and disaster reduction community, and a global review of progress and accomplishments should be undertaken by all concerned parties within a period of five years.

National Disaster Management Authority (India)

National Disaster Management Authority, abbreviated as NDMA is an agency of the Ministry of Home Affairs whose primary purpose is to coordinate response to natural or man-made disasters and for capacity-building in disaster resiliency and crisis response. NDMA was established through the Disaster Management Act enacted by the Government of India in 30 May 2005. The Prime Minister is the ex-officio chairperson of the same . The agency is responsible for framing policies, laying down guidelines and best-practices and coordinating with the State Disaster Management Authorities (SDMAs) to ensure a holistic and distributed approach to disaster management.

By a 9-member board chaired by the Prime Minister of India. The remainder of the board consists of members nominated based on their expertise i====n areas such as, planning, infrastructure management, communications, meteorology and natural sciences. The day-to-day management of the agency is overseen by the office of the Vice Chair.

NDMA is operationally organized into the following divisions:

·         Policy & Planning

·         Mitigation

·         Operations & Communications

·         Administration

·         Capacity Building

NDMA equips and trains other Government officials, institutions and the community in mitigation for and response during a crisis situation or a disaster. It operates the National Institute of Disaster Management, which develops practices, delivers hands-on training and organizes drills for disaster management. It also equips and trains disaster management cells at the state and local levels.

NDMA also collaborates with the Lal Bahadur Shastri National Academy of Administration and Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel National Police Academy to impart training to administration and police officers in planning and incident response. It monitors and develops guidelines for the local Firefighting Services across the country. It collaborates with the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare in developing emergency health and ambulance services. Specifically, it focuses on capacity building in dealing with mass casualty at local hospitals.

Functions and responsibilities                                                                 NDMA, as the apex body, is mandated to lay down the policies, plans and guidelines for Disaster Management to ensure timely and effective response to disasters. Towards this, it has the following responsibilities:

·         Lay down policies on disaster management;

·         Approve the National Plan;

·         Approve plans prepared by the Ministries or Departments of the Government of India in accordance with the National Plan;

·         Lay down guidelines to be followed by the State Authorities in drawing up the State Plan;

·         Lay down guidelines to be followed by the different Ministries or Departments of the Government of India for the Purpose of integrating the measures for prevention of disaster or the mitigation of its effects in their development plans and projects;

·         Coordinate the enforcement and implementation of the policy and plans for disaster management;

·         Recommend provision of funds for the purpose of mitigation;

·         Provide such support to other countries affected by major disasters as may be determined by the Central Government;

·         Take such other measures for the prevention of disaster, or the mitigation, or preparedness and capacity building for dealing with threatening disaster situations or disasters as it may consider necessary;

·         Lay down broad policies and guidelines for the functioning of the National Institute of Disaster Management.

Programs

NDMA runs various programs for mitigation and responsiveness for specific situations. These include the National Cyclone Risk Management Project, School Safety Project, Decision Support System and others. India Disaster Response Summit recently held on 9 November 2017 held at New Delhi. This Summit was jointly organised by the National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA) and social networking site Facebook. India has become the first country to partner with Facebook on disaster response.

NDMA Guidelines

AT NDMA Official Site:

·         Guidelines for Preparation of Action Plan – Prevention and Management of Heat-Wave

·         Guidelines on Management of School Safety:

·         Guidelines on Management of Hospital Safety

·         Guidelines on Minimum Standards for Shelter, Food, Water, Sanitation, Medical Cover in Relief Camps

·         Guidelines on Management of Earthquakes

·         Guidelines on Management of Tsunamis

·         Guidelines on Management of Cyclones

·         Guidelines on Management of Flood

·         Guidelines on Management of Urban Flooding

·         Guidelines On Drought Management

·         Guidelines On Landslide and snow avalanches

·         Guidelines for Nuclear attack disaster.

·         Guidelines on Chemical Disaster (Industrial)

·         Guidelines for Chemical(Terrorism) Disaster )

·         Guidelines on Medical Preparedness and Mass Casualty Management

·         Guidelines for Biological Disaster

·         Guidelines for Psycho-Social Support

·         Guidelines on Formulation of State DM Plans

·         Guidelines for Incident Response System

·         Guidelines for National Disaster Management Information and Communication System

·         Guidelines for Scaling, Type of Equipment and Training of Fire Services

·         Guidelines for Seismic Retrofitting of Deficient Buildings and Structures.

Concept of Disaster Management

1.  Preparedness   ·         Planning ·         Warning	2.  Response   ·         Evacuation and Pre-Impact Mobilization ·         Post-Emergency Actions
3.   Recovery ·         Restoration (6 mos. or less) ·         Reconstruction (6 mos. or more)	4.   Mitigation ·         Hazard Perceptions ·         Adjustments

Source:  (Drabek 1986)

This framework suggests a linear approach to disaster management, while others extol a circular.  Drabek also omits reference to the development of, training for, and testing of the plan. Brewster (2004) states that four phases of comprehensive disaster management include:  mitigation, preparedness, response, and recovery:

Recovery

Mitigation

Preparedness

Response

Source:  Brewster, P. (2000). “CEM as Applied to NFPA 1600 Program Changes.”  However, it implies that each activity does not overlap with any of the others and is distinct and separate.  In keeping with Quarantelli, one approach to disaster management process is to include activities in six areas: (1) hazard, risk, and vulnerability (HRV) analysis; (2) mitigation; (3) response (including alert and warning, impact, immediate post-impact, and rescue); (4) recovery and reconstruction; (5) education and training; and (6) exercising or testing of emergency plans.

HRV analysis is included as one step within a circular disaster management process wherein, although one activity clearly leads to the next, the activities in any given step affect those in all step. In other words, Figure 1 shows that (1) the disaster management process is circular rather than linear; (2) each step in this process is distinct; and (3) each step affects every other step.

It is important to understand the role of HRV analysis in the development of mitigative strategies within the disaster management process.  Since hazards are divided into events and consequences, one has the following options: (1) prevent the event from occurring; (2) prevent the potential consequences of the event from occurring; or (3) lessen the harmful consequences of the event. To this could be added (4) develop strategies to share in risk reduction measures.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

·         Without adequate HRV analyses, communities may neglect to plan for likely hazards. This is because, without understanding the extant hazards and vulnerabilities, it would be impossible for them to adequately follow any of the foregoing options. Consequently, they would not be able to achieve “sustainable hazard mitigation” (Mileti 1999, 215).

 

·         It is important to understand the role of HRV analysis in the development of mitigative strategies within the disaster management process.  Since hazards are divided into events and consequences, one has the following options: (1) prevent the event from occurring; (2) prevent the potential consequences of the event from occurring; or (3) lessen the harmful consequences of the event. To this could be added (4) develop strategies to share in risk reduction measures.

 

·         Without adequate HRV analyses, communities may neglect to plan for likely hazards. This is because, without understanding the extant hazards and vulnerabilities, it would be impossible for them to adequately follow any of the foregoing options. Consequently, they would not be able to achieve “sustainable hazard mitigation”.

 

·         Drabek defines mitigation as “purposive acts designed toward the elimination of, reduction in probability of, or reduction of the effects of potential disasters.”  But, mitigation represents those pre-, during, and post-disaster activities that reduce the risk and consequences of any given disaster. Sustainable hazard mitigation warrants an inter-disciplinary approach that encompasses environmental, social, and economic considerations as well as technical analysis in order to determine hazards, risks, and vulnerabilities. This being the case, it is clear that an adequate HRV analysis is critical to the success of sustainable hazard mitigation.

 

·         Mitigation parallels the conclusions of MacCrimmon and Wehrung (1986, 10) concerning risk: “There are three components of risk –  the magnitude of loss, the chance of loss, and the exposure of loss. To reduce riskiness, it is necessary to reduce at least one of these components.” 

 

·         Myers (1997, 1) states that: “Mitigation, preparedness, response and recovery are not separate endeavors and they should not be pursued by separate professionals. They are a long-term process and must be linked.”

 

Financial arrangement

“Financial arrangements for Disaster Management”. It was stated that the economy of India is the third largest in the world as measured by purchasing power parity (PPP). When measured in USD exchange-rate terms, it is the twelfth largest in the world. After independence, India opted for a centrally planned economy model to achieve an effective and equitable allocation of national resources and balanced economic development. The process of formulation and direction of the Five-Year Plans is carried out by the Planning Commission, headed by the Prime Minister of India as its chairperson.

“Financing Disaster Management in India: Possible Innovations”. Various types of catastrophes which are prevalent in India, particularly focusing on nature of the risk, risk specific financing mechanisms etc. experiences about financial risk management solutions from other nations. The Scope for risk specific replication of financial measures of disaster risk management and its viability both ex-ante (Insurance, Reinsurance, Capital markets, Government relief, International funds and other measures) and ex-post.( Detailed risk specific analysis of possible mechanisms like mobilization of relief funds , CRF, NCCF, Loan, Grants etc

“Disaster Management and Commercial”

Banks, Commercial banks, touching lives of billions of people worldwide need to maintain their services 24X 7, so that the world doesn’t come to a halt because of some disaster or the other. This has been emphasized he more by acts of terrorism, outbreaks of pandemics, and various widespread natural disasters. In 2004, the Financial Stability Forum and the Bank of England co-hosted a symposium on business continuity issues. A formal working group of the Joint Forum constituted after the symposium developed a set of high-level principles for business continuity, which could apply across the financial system globally.

 “Insurance Mechanism and the Funding of Post-Disaster Relief”

Disaster management involves a multi-pronged approach. It was stated that ex-post approaches include mitigation, response, relief, rehabilitation and the expenditure on all these activities, and ex-ante measures include disaster prevention, planning and preparedness for facing and mitigating the consequences of disaster and more than anything else, providing for the funds for meeting the costs of rolling the conditions back to normal and all related activities. Insurance contracts can cover a large section of physical losses like costs of repairing or reconstructing buildings, repairing or replacing contents thereof, repairing or replacing damaged or lost property/ vehicles/ personal belongings etc. Insurance contracts can also provide agreed compensations towards loss of life, loss of wages to workmen, operating losses of factories, loss of crop; as well as reimburse accident related medical costs.

“Funding Drought Risk in developing Countries: A Perspective Based on the Use of Products and Services from earth Observation Satellites” That Agricultural insurance, aims at insuring farmers against production and price risks, which is a new paradigm. The scheme envisages seeing the government giving a premium subsidy and guaranteeing farmers a minimum income to reduce their vulnerability.

The key advantage of this kind of insurance is that payouts are based on the occurrence of a weather event, rather than on actual crop losses. Success of crop insurance initiatives of insurance companies/banks lies in strong and dynamic ‘Areas Specific’ crop and weather statistics, for which awareness needs to built upon. Recommendations Insurance should be popularized as a disaster funding as disaster risk transfer mechanism, starting with select zones.  Insurers should primarily focus on products covering- lives, houses, crop, cattle and ™ debt etc. due to death of the bread-winner.  Simple products covering these risks at affordable prices should be designed on long term basis, preferably, for terms of 10 years or more. 

The immediate objective should be to provide basic relief than comprehensive coverage. Products should be simple to administer at minimal management costs and provide for fast-track claim settlements in times of disaster.  People who can afford insurance should get the product they need at reasonable prices. For people who cannot afford to pay the premium for an initial ten-year period may be funded/ subsidized by the government.  Houses reconstructed with governmental/ humanitarian aid/ bank loans should be mandatorily insured. 

The approach may be modeled on the lines of the Universal Health Insurance Scheme designed for people in the lower income brackets and subsidized by the Government in respect of families below the poverty line.  As disaster related products would be of a non-commercial nature in the initial years, the Government may think of giving appropriate incentives to the insurers for popularizing insurance products and increasing insurance penetration.