4. Disaster Management Notes 02

Elaborate Notes

Types of Hazard

A hazard is a potentially damaging physical event, phenomenon, or human activity that may cause loss of life or injury, property damage, social and economic disruption, or environmental degradation. While hazards can be natural, the focus here is on human-induced hazards.

• Human-Induced Hazards: These are hazards that are caused entirely or predominantly by human actions or inactions. They are often complex, as they can result from technological failures, social processes, or deliberate actions.
  • CBRN (Chemical, Biological, Radiological, and Nuclear) Hazards: This category represents a significant threat due to its potential for mass casualties and long-term consequences. The National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA) of India has published detailed guidelines for managing such emergencies.
    • Chemical Hazards: Result from the release of toxic or hazardous chemicals.
      • Historical Example: The Bhopal Gas Tragedy (1984), where a leak of Methyl Isocyanate (MIC) gas from the Union Carbide India Limited pesticide plant in Bhopal, Madhya Pradesh, resulted in thousands of deaths and long-term health issues for hundreds of thousands. This event was a turning point in India’s industrial safety and environmental legislation, leading to the enactment of the Environment (Protection) Act, 1986.
    • Biological Hazards: Involve the exposure to pathogenic microorganisms, toxins, or bioactive substances. These can be accidental (e.g., laboratory leaks) or deliberate (bioterrorism).
      • Contemporary Example: The COVID-19 pandemic (2019-present), caused by the SARS-CoV-2 virus, exemplifies a global biological disaster, highlighting vulnerabilities in public health infrastructure, supply chains, and international cooperation.
    • Radiological Hazards: Pertain to the release of radioactive materials that can cause harm through radiation exposure.
      • Historical Example: The Chernobyl Disaster (1986) in the Ukrainian SSR involved a catastrophic nuclear reactor explosion. The accident released vast quantities of radioactive particles into the atmosphere, leading to immediate deaths, long-term health effects like cancer, and the contamination of large areas of land.
    • Nuclear Hazards: Similar to radiological hazards but are specifically associated with the energy released from nuclear reactions, such as in nuclear power plants or nuclear weapons.

Vulnerability

Vulnerability is a core concept in disaster studies. It refers to the conditions determined by physical, social, economic, and environmental factors or processes which increase the susceptibility of an individual, a community, assets, or a system to the impacts of hazards. It is not merely about poverty but encompasses a much wider set of circumstances.

• Affected Entities: Vulnerability affects both living and non-living components of an environment.
  • Living: This includes human beings, with varying levels of vulnerability based on age, gender, health, and social status. It also includes other species (flora and fauna), which are integral to ecosystem stability.
  • Non-living: This encompasses the entire built environment. It includes critical infrastructure like transportation networks (roads, bridges, ports), communication systems, and residential and commercial structures. It also refers to the systems we create, such as economic systems, governance structures, and supply chains.
• Conceptual Framework: The Pressure and Release (PAR) Model, developed by scholars like Piers Blaikie, Terry Cannon, Ian Davis, and Ben Wisner in their work “At Risk: Natural Hazards, People’s Vulnerability and Disasters” (1994), provides a powerful framework. It posits that a disaster is the intersection of two opposing forces: the processes generating vulnerability on one side, and the natural hazard event on the other. This model shifts the focus from the hazard itself to the root causes of vulnerability in society.

Types of Vulnerability

Vulnerability is multi-faceted and can be disaggregated into several interconnected types.

• 1) Material/Economic Vulnerability: This pertains to the economic status of individuals, communities, and nations. It is characterized by inadequate access to material resources, such as income, assets, and livelihoods.
  • Example: A small-scale farmer with a single plot of land (low asset base) is highly vulnerable to a drought, as the failure of their crop could lead to complete financial ruin. In contrast, a larger landowner with diversified income sources has lower economic vulnerability.
• 2) Physical Vulnerability: This relates to the susceptibility of the physical environment and its inhabitants.
  • For Non-living entities: It refers to the design, material, and location of structures. A building made of unreinforced masonry in a seismic zone (e.g., many older buildings in the Himalayan region) is physically more vulnerable than a retrofitted or earthquake-resistant structure built according to the National Building Code of India. The Bhuj earthquake (2001) tragically exposed the high physical vulnerability of constructions in the region.
  • For Living beings: It relates to factors like age (children and the elderly), physical disabilities, and pre-existing health conditions that can impair an individual’s ability to respond to a hazard.
• 3) Social Vulnerability: This is determined by the social fabric of a community and its ability to act collectively for its well-being. It is shaped by social inequalities, trust, and community organization.
  • Social Capital: As articulated by political scientist Robert Putnam in “Bowling Alone” (2000), social capital refers to the “networks, norms, and social trust that facilitate coordination and cooperation for mutual benefit.” A community with high social capital (strong neighbourhood ties, active community groups, high levels of trust) can organize a more effective response to a disaster (e.g., sharing resources, organizing community kitchens) than a fragmented, distrustful society.
• 4) Ecological Vulnerability: This refers to the susceptibility of an ecosystem to damage from hazards. Healthy ecosystems often provide natural buffers against hazards.
  • Example: Coastal mangrove forests act as a natural barrier against storm surges and tsunamis. The degradation or removal of these mangroves for aquaculture or coastal development, as seen in parts of coastal India and Southeast Asia, significantly increased the destructive impact of the 2004 Indian Ocean Tsunami.
• 5) Organizational/Institutional Vulnerability: This concerns the capacity and effectiveness of institutions and organizations responsible for disaster management. An organization may function well in normal times but lack the protocols, training, resources, or inter-agency coordination to handle a crisis.
  • Example: During the Uttarakhand Floods (2013), initial response efforts were hampered by challenges in coordination between different agencies like the NDMA, state authorities, and the military, exposing institutional vulnerabilities.
• 6) Educational Vulnerability: Arises from a lack of access to information and knowledge about risks and protective measures. If people are unaware of what to do before, during, and after a hazard event, their vulnerability increases.
  • Example: Japan’s comprehensive disaster education, which includes regular drills in schools (like the annual Disaster Prevention Day on September 1st) and public awareness campaigns, significantly reduces educational vulnerability to earthquakes and tsunamis.
• 7) Attitudinal/Motivational Vulnerability: This stems from people’s perceptions, beliefs, and attitudes towards risk. A sense of fatalism (“what will be, will be”) or a lack of personal responsibility can lead to inaction and increased vulnerability.
  • Example: Coastal communities that have not experienced a major cyclone for many years may develop a complacent attitude and ignore evacuation warnings, believing they are not at serious risk.
• 8) Political Vulnerability: This is rooted in the distribution of power within a society. Marginalized groups with limited access to political representation and decision-making processes are often neglected in disaster planning, relief, and recovery efforts.
  • Scholarly Insight: Nobel laureate Amartya Sen, in his work “Poverty and Famines” (1981), argued that large-scale famines do not occur in functioning democracies because political accountability and a free press ensure that governments are forced to respond to the needs of the affected. This principle applies to all disasters.
• 9) Cultural Vulnerability: Refers to cultural practices, beliefs, or traditions that can increase exposure to hazards.
  • Example: In some regions, certain religious festivals or social gatherings take place during seasons with high risk of floods or cyclones, putting large concentrations of people in harm’s way. Similarly, traditional building practices, while culturally significant, may not be resilient to modern-day hazard intensities.

Causes of Vulnerability

The root causes of vulnerability are often deep-seated developmental issues.

• 1) Rapid and Unplanned Population Growth: Leads to increased population density, often in hazard-prone areas such as low-lying coastal zones, floodplains, and unstable slopes, as safer land becomes scarce and expensive.
• 2) Environmental Degradation: Practices like deforestation destabilize slopes, leading to an increased risk of landslides. The destruction of wetlands and mangroves reduces natural flood buffers. Over-cultivation and poor land management can lead to desertification and soil erosion, increasing vulnerability to drought.
• 3) Rapid Industrialisation and Urbanisation: Unplanned urban expansion often results in the growth of informal settlements (slums) with poor housing, lack of basic services, and locations in high-risk zones. Industrial activities can also create new hazards (e.g., chemical spills).
• 4) Gender Inequality: As per reports by UN Women, disasters disproportionately affect women and girls. Socially assigned roles often make women responsible for caring for children, the elderly, and the sick, which can impede their own mobility during an evacuation. They also face higher risks of gender-based violence in post-disaster situations.
• 5) War and Internal Security Situations: Conflict displaces populations, destroys infrastructure, and breaks down social and governmental systems, creating extreme vulnerability. Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) and refugees are among the most vulnerable groups globally.
• 6) Absence of Preventive and Preparedness Measures: A lack of investment in early warning systems, community-based disaster preparedness, and structural mitigation measures leaves populations exposed.
• 7) Neglect of Developmental Issues: Underlying issues like poverty, inequality, lack of access to education and healthcare are fundamental drivers of vulnerability. Addressing these is crucial for building long-term resilience.

Risk

Risk is the probability of harmful consequences, or expected losses (deaths, injuries, property, livelihoods, economic activity disrupted, or environment damaged) resulting from interactions between hazards and vulnerable conditions.

• Risk Formula: A simplified way to understand risk is through the equation: Risk = (Hazard × Vulnerability) / Capacity
  • Hazard: The threatening event itself (e.g., intensity of an earthquake).
  • Vulnerability: The susceptibility of the elements exposed to the hazard.
  • Capacity: The strengths, resources, and skills available within a community or organization to face and manage adverse conditions. This includes infrastructure, institutions, human knowledge, and financial resources.
• Risk Assessment: This is the systematic process to identify, analyze, and evaluate risk. It involves determining the nature and extent of risk by analyzing potential hazards and evaluating existing conditions of vulnerability that could pose a potential threat or harm to people, property, livelihoods, and the environment. This assessment is foundational for effective risk reduction.
• Risk Reduction: The goal of disaster management is to reduce risk. This can be achieved by:
  • Reducing Hazard: While natural hazards cannot be prevented, their adverse impacts can sometimes be reduced (e.g., flood control dams, avalanche control measures). For human-induced hazards, the focus is on prevention.
  • Reducing Vulnerability: This involves addressing the root causes, such as poverty reduction, improving building codes, public awareness, and empowering marginalized communities.
  • Increasing Capacity: This involves strengthening early warning systems, improving emergency response services, investing in education and training, and building resilient livelihoods.

Disaster

A disaster is a serious disruption of the functioning of a community or a society at any scale due to hazardous events interacting with conditions of exposure, vulnerability, and capacity, leading to one or more of the following: human, material, economic, and environmental losses and impacts.

• Key Characteristic: The defining feature of a disaster is that the magnitude of its impact exceeds the ability of the affected community or society to cope using its own resources.
• UN Definition (as per UNDRR - UN Office for Disaster Risk Reduction): While the wording evolves, the core concept remains the same, focusing on the severe disruption and the overwhelming of local capacity.
• Disaster Management Act, 2005 (India), Section 2(d): Defines a “disaster” as “a catastrophe, mishap, calamity or grave occurrence in any area, arising from natural or manmade causes, or by accident or negligence which results in substantial loss of life or human suffering or damage to, and destruction of, property, or damage to, or degradation of, environment, and is of such a nature or magnitude as to be beyond the coping capacity of the community of the affected area.”

Causes of Disaster

The causes of man-made disasters are intrinsically linked to the drivers of vulnerability. A hazard only becomes a disaster when it impacts a vulnerable population. Therefore, the root causes include:

• Poverty and Inequality
• Rapid and Unplanned Population Growth
• Unsustainable Industrialization and Urbanization
• Environmental Degradation and Climate Change
• War, Conflict, and Governance Failures
• Lack of a developmental focus that integrates disaster risk reduction.

Disaster Management (DM)

Disaster Management is the organization and management of resources and responsibilities for dealing with all humanitarian aspects of emergencies, in particular preparedness, response, and recovery, in order to lessen the impact of disasters. There has been a significant evolution in the perspective of DM.

• 1) Reactive / Traditional Approach: This is a post-disaster, relief-centric approach. The focus is on actions taken after a disaster has occurred.
  • Sequence of Actions:
    1. Rescue: The immediate effort to save lives and extricate the trapped. Priority is often given to the most vulnerable (children, women, elderly, disabled).
    2. Relief: Providing immediate aid to survivors, including medical care, food, water, sanitation, and psychological first aid.
    3. Rehabilitation: A phase involving temporary shelters (rehab centers), restoring basic services, and helping people return to a semblance of normalcy.
    4. Reconstruction: The long-term process of rebuilding damaged infrastructure, houses, and systems, ideally to a standard more resilient than before.
  • Critique: This approach is considered non-developmental because it is cyclical. It focuses on bringing the community back to its pre-disaster state, which was already vulnerable. It does not address the root causes of vulnerability, thus setting the stage for the next disaster.
• 2) Proactive / Pre-Disaster Approach (Modern Paradigm): This approach represents a paradigm shift towards a holistic and integrated management of disaster risk. It emphasizes actions taken before a disaster strikes.
  • Key Components:
    1. Mitigation: Structural and non-structural measures undertaken to limit the adverse impact of natural hazards.
       • Prevention: Aims to completely avoid the adverse impacts (e.g., enforcing zoning laws to prevent construction in high-risk areas).
       • Reduction: Aims to lessen the severity of impacts (e.g., retrofitting buildings, constructing levees).
    2. Preparedness: Activities and measures taken in advance to ensure an effective response. This includes developing early warning systems, creating evacuation plans, training response teams, and conducting mock drills.
  • Global Context: This shift is enshrined in global frameworks like the Hyogo Framework for Action (2005-2015) and its successor, the Sendai Framework for Disaster Risk Reduction (2015-2030), which emphasize understanding risk, strengthening governance, investing in risk reduction, and enhancing preparedness for effective response and to “Build Back Better” in recovery.

---

Prelims Pointers

• CBRN: Stands for Chemical, Biological, Radiological, and Nuclear hazards.
• Bhopal Gas Tragedy (1984): Caused by the leakage of Methyl Isocyanate (MIC) gas.
• Vulnerability: The susceptibility of a community or system to the adverse effects of a hazard.
• Risk Formula: Risk = (Hazard × Vulnerability) / Capacity.
• Disaster Definition (DM Act, 2005): A catastrophe or grave occurrence from natural or man-made causes that is beyond the coping capacity of the affected community.
• Disaster Management Act, 2005: The primary legislation for disaster management in India. It led to the creation of the National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA).
• NDMA: National Disaster Management Authority, the apex body for disaster management in India, headed by the Prime Minister.
• Reactive Disaster Management Cycle: Rescue → Relief → Rehabilitation → Reconstruction.
• Proactive Disaster Management: Focuses on pre-disaster activities like Mitigation and Preparedness.
• Sendai Framework (2015-2030): The current global framework for Disaster Risk Reduction (DRR), succeeding the Hyogo Framework for Action.
• PAR Model (Pressure and Release): A framework explaining that disasters are an intersection of natural hazards and human vulnerability.

---

Mains Insights

The Vicious Cycle of Vulnerability and Disasters

• Cause-Effect Relationship: There is a bi-directional and reinforcing relationship between vulnerability and disasters. Underdevelopment and poverty are root causes of vulnerability (e.g., forcing people to live in unsafe housing in hazard-prone areas). In turn, a disaster destroys assets, disrupts livelihoods, and pushes people deeper into poverty, thus increasing their vulnerability to future events.
• Analytical Point: This cycle traps communities in a state of perpetual risk. For Mains answers, it is crucial to argue that disaster management cannot be separated from mainstream development planning. Integrating Disaster Risk Reduction (DRR) into all development projects (e.g., infrastructure, housing, agriculture) is essential to break this cycle. This links GS-III (Disaster Management, Economy) with GS-II (Social Justice).

Paradigm Shift in Disaster Management: From Relief to Resilience

• Historiographical Viewpoint: The approach to disasters has evolved significantly. The traditional view saw disasters as “Acts of God,” leading to a fatalistic and reactive response focused solely on post-event relief. The modern, scientific view sees disasters as a failure of development, leading to a proactive, holistic approach focused on risk reduction and resilience-building.
• Policy Implication: India’s DM Act, 2005 and the National Policy on Disaster Management, 2009 legally mandate this paradigm shift from a relief-centric approach to a proactive regime of preparedness, mitigation, and prevention. An effective Mains answer should critically evaluate the extent to which this shift has been implemented on the ground, discussing successes (e.g., cyclone early warning systems) and persistent challenges (e.g., lack of risk-sensitive urban planning).

The Role of Social Capital and Community-Based Disaster Management (CBDM)

• Debate: A key debate in disaster management is the balance between top-down, technology-driven approaches and bottom-up, community-centric ones. While national agencies and advanced technology (e.g., satellites for early warning) are crucial, the first responders in any disaster are the local community members themselves.
• Analytical Perspective: Social capital (trust, networks, norms of reciprocity) acts as a critical informal safety net and enhances a community’s coping capacity. CBDM empowers local communities to assess their own vulnerabilities and develop local solutions. This approach is not only more effective but also more sustainable and equitable. Linking this to GS-IV (Ethics), it highlights the importance of compassion, community participation, and empowering the vulnerable as core values in public service.

Governance and Institutional Challenges in Disaster Management

• Institutional Vulnerability: The effectiveness of any disaster management plan depends on the strength of its institutional framework. Challenges in the Indian context include:
  1. Coordination Gaps: Lack of seamless coordination between central, state, and local bodies.
  2. Financial Constraints: Inadequate funding, especially for mitigation and preparedness, as relief expenditure often takes precedence.
  3. Capacity Building: Lack of adequately trained personnel at the local level (Panchayats, Municipalities).
  4. Integration Failure: Failure to mainstream DRR into sectoral development plans, leading to the creation of new risks.
• Mains Connection: This is a core topic for GS-II (Governance). An analysis should focus on measures to strengthen institutional mechanisms, such as empowering local governments as per the 73rd and 74th Amendments, ensuring financial devolution through Finance Commission recommendations, and enforcing risk assessments for all major projects.

Climate Change as a Disaster Risk Multiplier

• Interlinking Concepts: Environmental degradation and climate change are not just causes of vulnerability; they are actively increasing the frequency and intensity of hydro-meteorological hazards (cyclones, floods, droughts).
• Analytical Insight: This necessitates a convergence of Disaster Risk Reduction (DRR) and Climate Change Adaptation (CCA) strategies. For example, protecting coastal mangroves is both a DRR measure (reduces storm surge impact) and a CCA measure (sequesters carbon, protects against sea-level rise). A forward-looking Mains answer should emphasize this synergy and advocate for integrated policy-making that addresses both challenges simultaneously.