The recent landslide in Himachal’s Kinnaur caused the tragic deaths of over 25 persons. The severe nature of the landslide and the treacherous terrain of the region created untold challenges for the rescue teams, comprising the best of men and machines. Around the same time, a cloudburst in Uttarakhand caused severe hardship, displacement, and loss of lives. The two events have brought into sharp focus the risks of disasters in the modern world. In cases where development measures such as building roads, bridges, and rail networks, essential for improving the lives of locals, are required to be undertaken in ecologically sensitive regions, the risks seem to get elevated.
There is a pressing need to balance the needs of development and the necessity to reduce risks. This is one of the central themes of the Prime Minister’s 10 point agenda for Disaster Risk Reduction. It stresses the need for imbibing disaster risk reduction approach in all development schemes. It calls especially for protecting the poor and vulnerable through financial inclusion and risk insurance. Other themes in the Agenda include greater involvement/role for women in risk reduction efforts and to learn lessons from past disasters. This 10 point Agenda is covered in greater detail in this issue of Urban Update.
Our cities are particularly vulnerable to fires, floods, and building collapse incidents. When these incidents take place in sensitive and vulnerable buildings such as hospitals and schools, the outcomes can be particularly traumatic. Often such disasters happen due to violation of safety regulations and ignored warnings (in case of collapse of dilapidated buildings). In that sense, these disasters are man-made and avoidable.
Disaster risk reduction calls for wide-ranging actions. While building disaster resilience into our development agenda, local populations need to be sensitized on the role of the natural ecosystem. Forests and other vegetation along hillslopes reduce the risks of landslides; wetlands play a role in preventing flooding; coastal vegetation such as mangroves greatly mitigates the effects of cyclones. Sadly, these natural ecosystems do not receive the required care and attention in both urban and rural settings and therefore several avoidable disasters befall us.
Early warning systems need to be honed and refined constantly in order to prepare for and minimize the impacts of natural disasters. Here, the use of technology by local governments as with weather forecasting has proven very useful. We have seen accurate early warnings in the case of cyclones which enabled timely evacuation of populations to safety. Social media has been deployed extensively in such instances to issue warnings and mobilize local populations. Local governments can devise many innovations using technology to build resilience and ensure timely, effective response.
Cities and citizens must imbibe a culture of safety, and adopt risk reduction approaches in all aspects of everyday life; and above all, preparedness to meet any eventuality that may occur nonetheless. For, as the saying goes, ‘By failing to prepare, you are preparing to fail’.
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