Is India better prepared to face natural calamities?
Is India better prepared to face natural calamities?
Introduction
Every country faces natural calamities in one form or the other. The US frequently faces tornadoes; Japan is by nature earthquake prone, Indonesia and Malaysia being coastal regions, face threats from the sea, etc. India has had her share of natural disasters in the past. The question is, how prepared are we to face these disasters, and how well can we recover from them.
What can be done?
India is blessed with natural resources in abundance. Each part of our country is filled with natural wealth. Back in the day, when our population was small, we did not face any severe natural calamities. With time, the population swelled, and more and more people had to subsist on the limited resources. Possibly this has resulted in more natural disasters like earthquakes, and tsunamis. However, our technology is not sufficiently advanced to protect our citizens from the wrath of nature.
Recently, India saw severe flash floods in Uttarkhand (June 2013). Several lives were lost because of the floods, and the resultant damages to roads and bridges. India was simply not prepared to face a situation of such magnitude. Despite getting warning from the Metrological Department of the impending floods, sufficient precautions could not be taken to protect the people in the vicinity of the area. Similarly, Mumbai faced a spate of flash floods a few years back. Several people were stuck at their workplaces, with no access to safety, or communication. The National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA) has admitted that our country is not equipped to deal with natural calamities. In the case of the Uttarakhand disaster, things were worsened by red tape.
Buildings should be built with sufficient insulation. In earthquake prone areas, every building should be insulated with the necessary precautions. Every citizen should also be trained in taking some basic precautions. It is very important that every man, woman, and child is prepared to deal with a natural disaster. The government should provide for a basic training for all citizens in disaster prone areas. Special provision should be made for senior citizens and invalids. During the tsunami, in Chennai, the government issued warnings on TV and radio, with the intention of protecting people, and preventing them from heading towards the sea. However, the warning had the opposite effect. Several foolish people made their way to the sea to ‘take a look’ at the tsunami. In such cases, no matter how much precaution the government takes, it will be of no use!
Conclusion
Proper censors and precautions should be set up in all disaster prone areas in the country. The government should pay close heed to the warnings issued by the experts, and immediately take necessary precautions, such as evacuations. In the event of a disaster, the army should be dispatched at the start, in order to restore some order, and prevent further loss of life.
Discussion
- RE: Is India better prepared to face natural calamities? -Deepa Kaushik (05/02/14)
- India is always fast in commenting and last in getting activated with the measures when the situation arises. We have plenty modules and plans written and documented. But these documents and the plans get developed only on paper, whereas the actual scenario remains the same.
Again, corruption comes into play. Everything is proved to be completed, without even initiating the task, and the wholesome amount goes into the pocket of the corrupt officials. Preparing for the natural calamities is very important in a populated country like India. It becomes very difficult to fight back the disaster situation with the rescue operations getting troubled with the responsibility of saving many a people in the short stretch of time.
We definitely have very good brains to design the project and even execute the same. But this could only happen if the corruption gets abolished from our country. The timely execution of the projects is again another challenge in our country, with someone or the other raising a plea and appealing for the stay of the project.
People should be made aware of the pros and cons of the proceedings and should be educated regarding the benefits of its execution. Also the plans should be developed in a way without disturbing the poor sections of the society like covering up their residential place etc., as these things usually create a hindrance.
- Is India better prepared to face natural calamities? -Nupur Bhargava (04/04/14)
Is India more prepared to face natural calamities now?
The entire world is being faced with various natural calamities. Earthquakes, Cyclones, Tsunamis are occurring more frequently then anytime in the past. How prepared are we in India? Are we ready to face the natural disasters that we might face in the near future?
As we all are aware natural disasters occur without any prior notice and hence each and every country needs to keep them prepared for any natural calamity that may strike. Within India, we have states like Delhi NCR, Gujrat and Himalayan Regions are the earthquake prone zones and quite often they are in the news for some or the other natural calamity that has struck them. In spite of so many natural disasters yet we are not prepared to face the disaster. Every time we face a disaster it got aggravated by negligence that happened of humans and the blame game played by the politicians. Huge population is the main concern for which India is yet not prepared to handle natural disasters. It has been observed that in foreign countries not only children but even adults are being trained to handle natural calamities; whereas in India neither the children nor the adults are being trained to handle a calamity. In the blame game played by the politicians the requisites are not reached in time to the sufferers and in the mean time they often lose their lives.
The disaster relief agencies are not well equipped to and have large gaps in organizing and being prepared for the calamities. Not only are the disaster relief agencies unprepared but even the medical services are unprepared for the natural disasters. Even though we get the latest technology to support and handle natural calamities, the officials as well as the people are not trained to use it and so it will be of no use to even buy the technology and not being able to use it.
After large population the next major concern is the quality of construction. The quality of construction is so poor that in spite of knowing that certain zones are earthquake prone zones, yet the houses there are not built in such a way to protect the people. And it is not that the builders or architects are not aware of the requisites to make the apartments safe for any calamity but the lack of regulation of rules is absent. For example In Norway, there are strict rules that the builder has to follow to protect his house from being affected by earthquakes or floods which is not persistent in India.
It is always said that Prevention is better that cure, and so the government should take the necessary action to train the country on how to handle and save them from natural calamities. Although it is true that since any natural disaster is unforeseen and nobody can predict it, so you cannot be completely ready for it all the time, but you should know the ways to handle it. At the time of the disaster the situation should not be such that the sufferers are deprived of medical aid, food and the other basic necessities. Hence each country should at least be prepared with the basic necessities and medical aid if struck with a natural calamity.
