By CK Nayak
New Delhi: Even as the country observed International Day of Disaster Reduction on Wednesday, its ability to respond effectively to any natural calamity has been rated grossly inadequate in a global study report prepared by Action Aid that also describes the scene alarming for North East India.
The global scorecard places India at the seventh position on the climate and hunger vulnerability index. This is not the only bad news for India as its ability to respond to this crisis gets a worse ranking, below Nepal and Rawanda, at the 18th position as per the report titled ‘On the brink: Who’s best prepared for a climate and hunger crisis. Action Aid’s research shows that 1.6 billion people – nearly a quarter of the world’s population – live in countries that are highly vulnerable to climate-related food crises.
The scene is termed alarming for the Northeast which has seen some of the worst natural disasters in the past including the recent mega earthquake in Sikkim. Bangladesh with which the region shares most of its borders is in worse position and a disaster in that country it will trigger waves of human migration to the already volatile region.
The world today confronts three interlocking crisis – climate change, resource scarcity and food price volatility – posing major threats to feeding the future, said the report. “With one-quarter of the world’s people living in hunger, residing within its borders, any improvements to India’s hunger levels could dramatically reduce global poverty and hunger. India is home to one-third of the world’s undernourished children,” stressed Sandeep Chachra, Executive Director of Action Aid India.
The report reveals that Bangladesh is more vulnerable than its neighbour India. The international NGO, working on poverty and injustice, warned that the era of cheap food was nearing its end due to the triple crisis climate change, depleted natural resources and sky-rocketing food prices and Bangladesh, among other countries, may not be prepared to face the consequences.
According to Global Assessment Report of the UNDP released earlier this year, Bangladesh was marked one of the most vulnerable countries in the world. Moreover, in the World Risk Index 2011, jointly conducted by United Nations University (UNU), Germany and the Institute of Environment and Human Security, Bangladesh ranked sixth among countries that are most vulnerable to natural disasters including typhoons, earthquake and tsunamis. It is ranked second most vulnerable among the Asian countries.
The National Institute of Disaster Management (NIDM), the nodal agency responsibilities for human resource development, capacity building, training, research, documentation, public awareness and policy advocacy in disaster management observed the day at a function here.
“We need to work on decentralization of disaster reduction and mitigation efforts and to integrate the issues of disaster management with development and inclusive growth” said the Minister of State for Home Affairs, Mullappally Ramachandran as the chief guest of the function.
Ramachandran also said that the National Institute of Disaster Management needs to open regional campuses in most vulnerable zones of the country. AE Ahmed, secretary, Border Management and Disaster Management, in his address as the guest of honour, underlined the need for risk communication in the context of climate-change, ecological degradation and impact of exploitation of natural resources, resulting in new and more serious effects in form of disasters.