It seems India is ready to face any disaster, Is it so?

At last it seems India had learnt its lesson from past experiences on the value of life of its public. Disaster preparedness is never at its best as during the cyclone Phailin. With technology to its aid both the central government and the two states helped reduce any loss of life drastically as against 1999.

The cyclone Phailin which started as a depression gained in strength over a period in the Bay of Bengal and attained sustained wind speeds of 200-220Kmph, which appeared to cause major destruction bringing back the horrors of 1999 where 10000 people lost their lives at that time to the states of Andhra Pradesh and Odhisa where it had made a landfall on 12th of October. The foreign media too touted the cyclonic storm as a destructive one with a class 5 hurricane size and compared it with the hurricane Katrina that had wrecked havoc in USA in 2005 killing 1800 people and billions of dollars in losses.

With accurate predictions by the Indian Meteorological Department (IMD) and equally precise preparations by the National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA) and administration of state governments they were able to minimize the disaster with very less loss of life. Warnings by the IMD led both the state governments to evacuate as many as 550000 people from low-lying areas to much safer relief camps. Specific instructions given by the authorities to the people helped in smooth evacuation without any panic in the people. Compared with both the states the state of Andhra Pradesh is at a much advantage to Odhisa due to its advanced level of preparedness and history of mitigation.

Some steps taken by the authorities in disaster risk reduction and preparedness:

• Mass evacuation of people from low-lying areas.
• Construction of cyclone shelters by the state governments under the central government’s National Cyclone risk mitigation program (NCRMP).
• Putting army, navy and air force in the standby for any eventualities
• Deploying National Disaster Response Force (NDRF) to the affected areas
• Proactive steps taken by the district administration
• Lifting off of some dam gates to provide cushion for the flood waters
• Stockpiling of food, water and other resources by the authorities for distribution
• 24x7 media coverage helped sensitize people
• Diverting or halting the transportation network
• Better coordination among the administration
• NGOs participation in sensitizing people

With this experience we can hope that India is ready to face any disaster with minimum loss of life and one day with no loss of life. By further strengthening of preparedness and sensitization of people the disaster management can go a long way in protecting the future of the people and economy of the country.