The Hindu : Kerala News : State has no disaster management plan

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Tuesday, Dec 28, 2004

Kerala

Kerala

State has no disaster management plan

By C. Gouridasan Nair

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM, DEC. 27. What if there is another killer wave onslaught on the Kerala coast a month from now? Or a cyclonic storm or an earthquake? Kerala would be as unprepared to tackle the situation as it was on Sunday when tsunami struck several coastal hamlets killing over 160 persons. For the simple reason that Kerala has no disaster management strategy or mechanism in place.

If there are complaints galore from the worst tsunami-affected areas like Karunagappally and Alappuzha about inept and chaotic handling of rescue and relief operations, it is only because the State is yet to evolve a disaster management protocol and action plan and assign responsibilities to actors and agencies at different levels. A Disaster Management Policy and the draft of a Disaster Management Act have been pending with the Government for some time now, but nobody has cared to look at them with any kind of seriousness. This despite Kerala having been declared a `Multiple Hazard Prone State' and Thiruvananthapuram, Kochi and Kozhikode being listed among the select group of earthquake-prone cities in the country.

The United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) had sanctioned $55,000 to the three cities for conducting training programmes aimed at mitigation of damage in the event of an earthquake. The District Collectors under whom the three cities fall are supposed to lead the programme, but nothing beyond a few school safety programmes have happened because the Collectors are over-burdened with other responsibilities.

The State Government's laxity in creating a permanent disaster management mechanism should be evident from the fact that Kerala would not be represented at the workshop on cyclone impact mitigation being held in Delhi on Tuesday. Kerala is eligible to get Rs.26 crores in Central assistance for taking up cyclone impact mitigation programmes, the same as Tamil Nadu and Andhra Pradesh.

Other States

The other South Indian States have been consistent in presenting their case before the Centre and securing assistance for disaster mitigation and the workshop would have been an opportunity for the State to present its needs and challenges before the people who take the decisions.

Although the State is supposed to spend 10 per cent of the amount sanctioned annually by the Centre from the Calamity Relief Fund for purchase of equipment aimed at disaster management, this is not being done. All that the State has done so far is to purchase and supply mobile phones to the local level revenue authorities. The State's Fund allocation currently is Rs. 70 crores.

Paradigm shift

There is also no hint that the Government is in the know of the paradigm shift in disaster management from the traditional bureaucracy-centred management to community-based management. The Centre has set up the National Institute of Disaster Management (NIDM), under the Ministry of Home, with the objective of devising forward-looking disaster management strategies and the experience of the people Karunagappally and Alappuzha shows that the Government cannot defer formation of such a mechanism.

The two agencies that the State Government turns for help and advice whenever this is a calamity are the Centre for Earth Science Studies (CESS) and the fledgling Disaster Management Centre of the Institute of Land Management that functions under the Revenue Department. CESS is concerned mostly with research and its work could be of use only if its findings forms the foundation for disaster prevention and mitigation strategies.

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