Waiting for calamity to strike
CS RADHAKRISHNAN
India has had a long history of organized governments. But citizens’ initiative to solve social and ecological problems has been almost non-existent. People have got used to blaming the government for everything that goes wrong with them. Let us take the case of natural calamities.
Habitat planning concepts have been handed down to us from the early days of Kautilya. River banks and sea coasts have been classified as land unsuitable for permanent habitats. Exceptions are made in favour of those who have close familiarity with the ways of these water bodies and are quick to notice any change that has a potential threat. They are advised to create only temporary residences on the water fronts, so that they can be abandoned at short notice or even abandoned summarily. In spite of this traditional knowledge, the well to do citizens go on setting a bad example for the poor by constructing permanent structures which can withstand a tsunami or flood. These owners have the money and access to technical knowledge which enables them to carry out such construction.
The presence of such permanent structures on the coast lulls the vulnerable sections of people into complacency and they too imitate the rich and build permanent structures right on the water front, but minus the costly safety features. When calamity strikes, these hapless people lose everything, including life time savings invested in the permanent structures.
The experience of the relatively better off fisher folks in Kerala and Tamil Nadu after the tsunami of the recent past is worth remembering. They have been helped to build better homes at a safe distance from the sea front, but many are still trying to build close to the water, ignoring traditional and current knowledge.
Do we need to go on repeating such mistakes time and again? Should we not build awareness among the vulnerable people about the hazards they face? Should we wait for the government to do everything for us? Doesn’t the community leadership in the villages and towns have a responsibility towards their brethren? Can’t the better educated among us not get down to the task of sensitising the people towards self-preservation by employing adequate safeguards at home and in the environment?
We have witnessed the sad tragedy of Uttarakhand in the immediate past. If we see the comments by experts in the aftermath of this tragedy, we are appalled at the total absence of any reference to the citizens’ preparedness for possible calamity in such a hazardous terrain. There were stray cases where the local elders had warned the tourist pilgrims of the changing climatic factors and urged them to leave quickly. Many ignored such warnings and instead of returning to safety, ventured further into the vulnerable areas.
The University Grants Commission has approved a syllabus for disaster management training for professionals involved in disaster preparedness, mitigation and response. However, there is no syllabus exclusively targeting the potential victims of disasters. There is an urgent need to frame a simple curriculum for disaster preparedness and response for the communities. These should include the essential elements of assessing vulnerability, making a habit of identifying every activity as favouring or hampering disaster preparedness, creating ward level volunteer teams of persons with known integrity, maintaining lists of most vulnerable people and carrying out mock drill evacuations at short notice. This syllabus should be taught at all secondary schools, and simpler elements should be included even in the primary school syllabus. Colleges must take on the social responsibility of disseminating specialised knowledge about various aspects to the village and ward level volunteers.
We were not born with the trappings of wealth that we might have today, nor would we be able to carry them with us when we die. A simple preparation for a peaceful death is to carry out evacuation drills with the barest minimum belongings to survive for two or three days. The emergency backpack, one for each person in the family should be got ready and kept complete at all times.
Our state disaster management authority while training the upper echelons of the administration in the serious aspects of disaster management, should make it possible to extend help to local communities so as to make them as self reliant as possible. This would be easily achievable through school and college level awareness training.
