By H H Mohrmen
The manner in which the Government of Odisha handles the recent cyclone Fani which hit the state was appreciated even by the international body like the UN. Although the other coastal states were also hit by the cyclone, it was Odisha which was most devastated and if not for the disaster preparedness of the state machinery, the loss of life or human casualty would have been more than the 41 that is now a statistic. The credit goes to the Naveen Patnaik government which has diligently handled what would have been a major catastrophe for the State in recent times. It is now obvious that it pays to have a professional disaster response team. The SDRF or the Odisha Disaster Relief Force, the NDRF and the volunteers have done a commendable job in evacuation and rescue and relief operation.
The availability of modern technology which enables the meteorological department to accurately predict the time of landing of the cyclone and when it will hit the shores of the state is one reason that has helped mitigate the damage and particularly the loss of human lives. Such advanced technology enables the relief forces to evacuate people living in low-lying areas beforehand and help save precious lives. Apart from the disaster preparedness of the state which not only has trained professionals and volunteers to tackle the problems what was more important is that the state had ready shelters to accommodate the people evacuated from low-lying areas. There are 3000 such relief centres which are specially designed structures to protect and keep the affected population in safety till the cyclone is over. And this has helped the state machinery immensely in the rescue operations and to keep the evacuees safe. The relief operation has been meticulously planned and which lakhs of ready food packets were available to distribute to the affected population.
When the Tsunami hit the Indian Ocean on December 26, in 2004, it is believed that the indigenous people in some island that keep themselves isolated from the outside world, were able to save themselves only by using their instincts. Even though they lived without any modern technology to warn them of the imminent tragedy, they were able to escape being swept by the high waves by using indigenous knowledge that they had inherited from their ancestors. It is believed that the islanders noticed the peculiar movement of the birds and animals to higher ground and understood that something was wrong. They too moved along with the birds and animals to higher ground and that was how they saved themselves from killer Tsunami. Now what does this have teach us in Meghalaya? We definitely no longer have the indigenous knowledge of our ancestors, so the question is: do we have a foolproof plan to protect the citizens of the state and their properties in case of any natural disaster?
If we are to list the kind of natural disasters common to the state then we can say heavy rains which lead to flash floods on the villages downstream is a major natural disaster that the state encounters every year. Heavy rainfall also leads to landslides and damage to property and even to loss of precious lives. This sort of disaster visits the state quite frequently. In Meghalaya the state also experiences regular hailstorm and although there is no history of human casualty due to it but it surely damages farmers’ crops and property of the people. The state now also experiences frequent cyclones which lash out different areas of the state and not only uproots trees but in many cases damages houses and kills people too. In all the above natural disasters there are no pre-emptive systems to help the citizens prepare for the eventuality beforehand. The only thing the government does and continues to do is to provide relief to the affected person which in many cases is just a pittance.
So isn’t it time for the government to come up with some mechanisms to protect the citizens from these annual natural disasters that hit the state on a regular basis? Right now the effects of these calamities like floods, landslides, cyclones and hailstones is insignificant, perhaps this is why the government takes the job of mitigating the effects of the disaster so lightly. But one never knows. One day it could be different. It is therefore better if the state is better prepared for the eventuality.
It is also true that these are minor natural disasters which the state and its people have been experiencing for quite some time now and on a regular basis, but Meghalaya is also located in an earthquake prone zone. What if (God forbid) a huge earthquake hits the state one day? Everybody is saying that a big one is due in the sub-Himalayan region. Now is the state prepared for that? Does the state of Meghalaya have well designed disaster preparedness in the eventuality of a big earthquake? Do we have shelters readily available like in the case of cyclones in the coastal state of Odisha?
Unlike cyclones, earthquakes are unpredictable. We cannot see them coming or cannot estimate the time and date hence there is no chance of giving prior warning or of evacuating the people beforehand. This makes disaster management more difficult. In case an earthquake strikes do we have any idea what are the areas that are prone to damage and would suffer maximum casualty and areas where the impact would not be so severe? Have we identified such locations and worked on how to mitigate the damage that can happen? The threat to lives could be in the buildings that people live in, so perhaps the government should start by looking at the kind of buildings we have. Do we have buildings with weak structures and are therefore vulnerable in case of an earthquake? Has the state identifies buildings particularly educational institutions and assessed the strength of the structures and if the same can withstand a major earthquake?
The government should start identifying the kind of buildings that are vulnerable and might have large numbers of casualty in the eventuality of an earthquake and plan how to tackle evacuation out of these buildings in case of an earthquake. Thank goodness we don’t have high rise buildings but the government should check the kind of structures of the four or five-storied buildings. Are they strong enough? In case of multi-storeyed buildings, the government should have the names and numbers of people occupying the building. In Meghalaya we are in a peculiar situation in which the state and its institutions are quarrelling about building bylaws; leaders are fighting for the right to supervise construction of building in the state. But the most pertinent question is not who is supervising what, but rather to ensure that all buildings constructed in the state should be earthquake proof. The state is in an earthquake prone area, so we need government institutions to ensure that the rules for construction of buildings should be strictly adhered too.
The saying goes, ‘Hope for the best but prepare for the worst.’ One earnestly hopes that the people of Meghalaya do not have to go through the problems of natural calamities like earthquakes, but in spite of that we have to prepare ourselves for any eventuality. In recent times MeECL is one government run agency which is not in the good books of the public. People complain about the erratic supply of electricity and particularly the load shedding which has affected the lives of the consumers. Now the question is if the MeECL fails the public in ordinary times, is it prepared for extra-ordinary times such as a natural calamity hitting the state? Can the public trust it do the needful in case of natural disaster?
The job of managing a disaster is not that of the district administration, the home guard and civil defence or the SDRF and volunteers alone. Other government departments too need to do their part in protecting lives and property. The role of the other departments could be in the aftermath of the disaster. The government therefore has a lot to learn from the state of Odisha especially in disaster management.