Once disaster occurs, post disaster response is the most intricate task and if the state is ill prepared for it the responsibility goes far beyond one's capability. In such a situation international assistance becomes imperative. Within couple of days, 34 countries sent their Search and Rescue teams and Medical assistance landed at Tribhuvan International Airport. Within a week material and financial aids worth billions came to the country. Remarkably, numbers of foreigners as well came to Nepal on their own to provide humanitarian assistance to the needy.
But many claimed that the response in post disaster scenario to be inadequate and government reaction sluggish especially outside Kathmandu valley. To some extent this charge was genuine.
It's not wrong to claim that till date the Disaster Management (DM) venture has always remained an ad-hoc responsibility of the state. The inclusion of DM mechanism under the umbrella of Ministry of Home Affairs (MoHA), which is already overburdened with multiple responsibilities, is a substantial evidence for the claim. Besides, rather than being 'proactive risk reduction' the effort has always been a 'reactive response mechanism'. 'The authority's reluctance for stout implementation of policies like Building Code and Land Usage helped to aggravate the situation.
Additionally, all stakeholders, besides the state, always worked in a mutually exclusive manner. They neither coordinated comprehensively nor made any concerted effort as a whole, which resulted in many tasks and resources being duplicated and overlapped. Even security forces, the most reliable governmental assets, were denied of adequate resources, especially of engineering, communication, air and medical nature.
Besides some exceptions, ground preparations remained negligible. In the absence of clear cut mandate, adequate resources and expertise, District Disaster Response Committees (DDRC), the lowest state entity, chaired by Chief District Officer (CDO), remained in limbo. Their attempts to distribute reliefs down to Village Development Committees (VDC) and settlements were haphazard. And the units of I/NGOs working in the communities never remained accountable to the local authorities. Due to the lack of national level autonomous authority to look after the issue, disaster management always remained under shadows.
We can learn valuable lessons in disaster management from Sri Lanka. After tsunami hit that country in 2004, 35,322 lives were lost and 95,000 became refugees. The need of robust mechanism to fight against disaster was realized there. Without wasting any time their parliament endorsed 'Sri Lankan Disaster Management Act', which led to the establishment of 'National Council for Disaster Management' chaired by Honorable President of the State.
Subsequently an autonomous national authority 'The Ministry of Disaster Management' was established which was later renamed 'Ministry of Disaster Management and Human Rights'. Under the ministry a 'Disaster Management Center' (DMC) was set up. This technical body comprised of various units. At present their holistic effort is working on a ten years plan called 'Roadmap to Safer Sri Lanka' which is engaged in Policy, Institutional Mandates and Institutional Development, Hazard, Vulnerability and Risk Assessment, Multi-hazard Early Warning System, Planning for Disaster Preparedness and Response, and Public Awareness, Education and Training.
After a decade of the tsunami, Sri Lanka has now achieved a notable success in the enterprise. Citizens can check their cell phones for the early warnings and level of their vulnerability. DM framework has its presence in all 25 districts and regular mock drills and emergency exercises are taking place routinely in communities. As a result in April 2012, over a million people were evacuated along the coastline following a tsunami warning.
As our country is highly disaster prone, it needs robust disaster management system. The new 'Disaster Management Act', which has been pending in the parliament since long, should be promulgated soon. The prepared proposal is for the replacement of the outdated National Calamity Relief Act 1982. Its promulgation will lay national and legitimate foundation so that new doors are opened to form comprehensive mechanism to fight against disaster.
There is also an urgent need of the establishment of autonomous ministry for Disaster Management. That will give national precedence to the response to disaster. Prevailing problems such as lack of coordination among various actors (national and international), absence of one door policy, lack of resource, duplication and overlapping of tasks and resources, and lack of accountability will be easily addressed. With the establishment of its entities down to district and VDC levels the direct approach of the system to communities can be ensured with much accountability.
Capability of security forces should be strengthened by providing them with adequate resources. For that, the government has to prepare a standard policy. By setting up a dedicated timeline, on annual basis, the capability of security forces have to be enhanced. In addition to other resources like medical, engineering and communication, air capability of Nepal Army needs urgent upgrade given our country's difficult topography.
The state should also think of establishing special units like Water-borne Search and Rescue, Urban Search and Rescue, and High Altitude Search and Rescue into the organizations of security forces. This will increase national capability and lessens reliability on international assistance during mega disasters in the days to come.
The recent earthquake has taught us that due to our inadequate preparedness, unfortunately, the provision of minor relief materials like tarpaulin tents, dry foods and drinking water became our biggest hitch. But still, the accomplishment was a huge success. Many victims were pulled out alive from under the rubbles after many days, thousands of casualties were evacuated and hundreds of makeshift shelters and medical camps were established. Millions of helping hands, national and international, joined together within hours to commit themselves into the humanitarian act.
But this is not the end. Many more unpredicted disasters such as floods, landslides and epidemics will occur in the future. Many villages will be erased, there will be many casualties and much blood will be spelt. This time it was just a wakeup call to start our preparation. If we fail to heed this warning, our future will be a lot bleaker.
The author is a member of District Disaster Relief Committee (DDRC), Bajura
shrijan7malla@hotmail.com
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