THE BRUNT OF THE RAIN DISASTER IS HERE …
Rains come with its own advantages and disadvantages. The government wakes up to disasters when they strike — not before, not after. Disaster management is not the priority. In spite of regular happenings in the past, no lessons have been learnt. The bottom line is we do not have a clear disaster-management policy. It is the apathy that most people suffer every year and there is no proper plan or policy. Especially the low-line areas, they require special attention, as they are more vulnerable to such disasters. We do not have a clear integrated, inclusive developmental approach. Unfortunately, economy is considered more important than ecology. But the reality is, the economy depends on the health of the ecology. We have to ensure that the fragility is not disturbed and an approach is adopted that gives due importance to the ecology.
Why do we lack preparation of a district-level plan with our kind of infrastructure regarding such incidents to improve their effectiveness and make them functional? If the plan exists, as our government claims- then why it is not implemented rigorously.
The heavy rains showed the fury of Nature and it should be taken as a warning to desist from illogical development and be eco-friendly. Our politicians, bureaucrats, officers make it a point to go abroad to study how the administration in that country handles various administrative functions and one of them should be Disaster Management. But are these study tours only for visiting and are reports prepared of these tours and implemented.
Can we call it Criminal Negligence? Because now the excuse will be Rains were very heavy. We know that and to manage is the Administrators job. As the innocent citizens are paying the toll. Poor roads show the pale state of so called city. Will the authorities take care of the wastage of the property and public money?
While we may not be able to fight the nature, we can certainly increase our successes in managing the disasters, by learning from our collective failures in the past.
Environmentalists and ecologists have been warning repeatedly about our abuse of the nature. Unfortunately, the above warnings and research has not moved beyond the books, reports and some NGO work. We as an individual and a society, has externalized these warnings and activism, as happening elsewhere. Given the extent of human and material damage, and its impact on the economy of families and the nation, there has to be more focus on natural disasters and management in our curriculum. Lack of awareness at the societal level is a major reason for our failure to be well prepared to meet disaster exigencies. Having created a huge institution and given an important mandate to protect the people in a disaster situation, it is imperative to have an independent critique of this institution. We need to invest more in technology ranging from disaster prediction to management. What is written earlier in this analysis: natural disasters do not kill in large numbers; our failure at the State and Societal levels to manage these disasters kills more.
“There is no internal synergy in the organization and it just conducts meetings to show that it is indeed working”.
The impact has been borne by people. The government is unable to respond adequately to the basic questions raised. It’s not about criticizing someone, it’s just questioning the authority sitting on that chair who had promised to look after and take care of the city. For this job to be handled, these officials are granted crores of budgets. To whom should public question then???
Why is that the officials and the government respond so irresponsibly that this is common to happen and it has to be tolerated…Why can’t the government appoint the right person who can understand how to work for a particular department and carry out the solution to the problems.