Mitigating consecutive disaster risks in Assam

Starting from mid-April, Assam will conduct flood preparedness drills in rehearsal mode through this month under the aegis of the Assam State Disaster Management Authority (ASDMA) to enhance disaster response and mitigation measures during the annual flood season from May to October. The death toll mounting to 3500 and heavy rain jeopardising rescue operations in earthquake-ravaged Myanmar are grim reminders for Assam to test its capabilities to respond to consecutive disasters – a likely situation of an earthquake striking during a high flood situation. When the impact of consecutive disasters overlaps, the challenges rise manifold compared to the impact of a single disaster. Building community awareness on disaster preparedness for consecutive disasters is critical to enhancing disaster preparedness of other stakeholders. The flood preparedness plans include the National Disaster Response Force (NDRF) teams prepositioned at Cachar, Barpeta, Bongaigaon, Jorhat, Sonitpur, Sivasagar, Dibrugarh and Jonai co-districts, while the Health and Family Welfare Department will place ambulances in strategic locations to cater relief camps using Google Maps. Mobilising NDRF, State Disaster Response Force teams and ambulances to disaster-hit sites in the quickest possible time is of paramount importance to reduce casualties. When consecutive disasters strike at multiple locations, mobilising the rescue and healthcare teams, most of which are already engaged in responding to the post-disaster situation after the first disaster had struck, is a herculean challenge. Limited strength of NDRF and SDRF personnel who are trained to professionally and promptly initiate rescue operations for a state like Assam makes it difficult to keep their teams in adequate strength on standby to respond to a consecutive disaster situation. Increasing the strength of Apada Mitra – the community volunteers who are trained to play the role of first responder before the specialised rescue teams of NDRF and SDRF reach the disaster-hit location – needs a policy push. Official data shows that India has created a force of one lakh community volunteers, with 20% of them women, in 350 disaster-prone districts under the Apada Mitra scheme at a cost of Rs 370 crore. Given the scale of annual flood damage and devastation in Assam and the cumulative losses it causes to the state, each flood-prone village and town having an adequate number of community volunteers for disaster response can significantly enhance the capacity of the state to handle consecutive disaster situations. As the Apada Mitra scheme was articulated to train community volunteers to respond to flood situations in the country, the training modules were developed to train and orient them in flood rescue and recovery operations. Building their capacity to play the role of first responder during an earthquake when flood rescue operations are still in progress requires reorienting them to handle different disaster situations and providing them equipment required for rescue and recovery in different disaster situations. While predictability of flood occurrence has improved with improvement in weather forecasting and flood early warning systems, earthquakes cannot be predicted. Therefore, for all stakeholders in disaster response in a high seismic zone like the Northeast region, including Assam, earthquake preparedness is a requirement round the year, while flood preparedness is a requirement from April to October during pre-monsoon and monsoon periods. Structural mitigation measures for floods, such as embankment construction, repair and strengthening, are carried out during the non-flood season. Apart from trained community volunteers engaging in initial rescue and recovery operations, other members of the community can also play crucial roles in disaster mitigation. Building awareness among community members about the importance of keeping the disaster survival kit ready at home and at workplaces requires much more attention. The ASDMA recommends each household having a comprehensive disaster survival kit containing sufficient water bottles for three days (4 litres per person per day), non-perishable food, a radio, a first aid kit including family prescription medicine, one set of clothing, a blanket, a flashlight and extra batteries, etc. The list is comprehensive, but how many households actually keep such a disaster survival kit ready? That is the pertinent question that needs to be answered as part of flood preparedness rehearsals. The District Disaster Management Authorities undertaking the survey of availability of such kits in flood-prone villages and towns will go a long way in building the much-needed awareness in the community about its importance. The same survival kit is also essential to survive in a post-disaster situation after a major earthquake strikes when houses are damaged and people are displaced, connectivity is disrupted, making it difficult for rescue and relief teams to reach in time, and aftershocks of bigger magnitude prevent people from returning to their houses immediately. Educating the communities to prioritise keeping the disaster survival kit ready does not require much expenditure on the part of the government, and awareness of it can be carried out as part of awareness building on disasters. Using social media and socio-religious cultural institutions to build awareness of the community’s role can build the capacity of the state to handle consecutive disasters.