Sunday, August 2, 2015

Scourge of Nature



As Nepal slowly recuperates and hobbles back to life after 2 massive earthquakes that ripped the city apart, a soul searching needs to be done by policy makers and Indian think-tanks on the most important question “How prepared is India for such natural disasters?”


Prelude:


Nepal is one of the most beautiful places on earth with breath-taking beauty. Nature has been more than bountiful in gifting this landscaped nation with scenic splendour and awe-inspiring views. Standing at an elevation of 1400 metres in a bowl shaped valley, Kathmandu the capital city is one of the top tourist destinations in Asia. In fact the city was ranked first in Asia in a popular travel website.


Disaster Strikes

Geologists and experts had warned for decades that Nepal was vulnerable to a deadly earthquake due to its massive urbanization, its fault lines in its geology and the nature of its architecture (there were a few earthquake proof buildings). At 11:56 NST on 25th of April, a colossal disaster strikes. An earthquake with a magnitude of 8.1 rips the city apart instantaneously killing more than 8,000 people and injuring more than 19,000 others. It was arguably the worst natural disaster to strike Nepal since 1934. The country is suddenly flattened by this colossal disaster. The earthquake is so strong that it triggers a massive avalanche on Mount Everest and Langtang valley making it the deadliest day even on the mountain. Hundreds go missing again. Their fate is unknown. Those who survived are made homeless and helpless for basic utilities like food and water. The quake is so strong that it levels entire villages in the upper hills and mountainous regions of 14 of Nepal’s 75 districts.


Aftershocks of the disaster

While the disaster may be over, its aftershocks continue. Continued aftershocks occurs throughout Nepal in short intervals. A second massive earthquake occurs on 12 May 2015 with a magnitude of 7.3. Again more than 125 people were killed and more than 2,500 were injured by this aftershock


Economic Impact of the disaster

Nepal is a developing nation with fledgling agricultural sector. Their yield per hectare and agricultural output is already low. Now, the earthquake occurred after the winter harvest was in. Therefore this years’ agricultural output will not be affected much. But if the villages are not ready to farm when the monsoon arrives in a few months, the all-important rice harvest will suffer and will have negative impact on the economy. The Services sector forms up to 52 percent of gross domestic product (GDP) of Nepal. As all nations evacuate their citizens from the disaster prone region, the tourism sector comes to abrupt halt. Most hotel bookings will be cancelled. It is estimated that tourism sector which employs an estimated half a million people will come to a complete halt and will take years to recover. Further the damages to the UNESCO world heritage sites and important religious and tourist places will do lasting damage to this already embattled nation. Lastly losses to insurance companies and the disaster’s pernicious effect on the banking sector is yet to be fully analysed. However the economic skies appear to be gloomy and dark for Nepal.


International Relief Efforts

Several nations across the world have come to the aid of Nepal. India has contributed abundant of supplies like over 200 tons of water, Hundreds of tons of food and dry rations, 10 tons of blankets, a reverse osmosis (RO) plant and 345 tons of relief material like dry food and essential medicines. Also several organisations have been opening accounts and collecting public relief funds. These funds will be transferred to the Prime Minister’s Disaster Relief Fund to finally reach to the aid of Nepal. Only time will tell whether Relief efforts by both nations and citizens volunteer groups were adequate and a lasting political impact, or whether it was a blip in the collective consciousness in a crisis.


What comes out of this disaster is the abysmal level of Nepal’s preparation for the disaster despite knowing that it was sitting on a high earthquake prone zone. It is as though a whole nation was caught unawares and unprepared for a calamity that was unexpected. Nepal’s history shows that during the time of its deepest despair and gloom, the civil society rises to show the way. If this strong society can look beyond the rubble, rebuild the society, cleanse its politics, and fix its governance then a sunlit path of progress lies in the future. Nepal has a long journey ahead.


Is India Prepared for such disaster?

India is sitting on the same fault line that runs across Nepal and the mountainous regions of Himalayas across the Kathmandu valley. However the level of preparation of Disaster response team of India is perhaps little better than Nepal.


While one must grant credit for developing an elite agency called the National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA) whose primary purpose is to coordinate the response to natural or man-made disasters and for capacity-building in disaster prone areas, it must also be noted that the level of preparedness for a disaster at Nepal’s scale is woefully inadequate.


Here is a wish list what India needs to do

1.India needs to make a 24/7 emergency operational call centre. In any disaster, people should be able to inform the authorities and so that concerned agencies are immediately alerted. The present call centre is insufficient to meet a large scale crisis.


2. India needs to invest in Earthquake proofing technologies to make cost of constructing earthquake resistant buildings cheaper and affordable. Subsidies may be granted for those in high risk areas and taxes on the use of this technology can be eliminated. If affordability can be attained due to economies of scale or subsidies then building code can be suitably amended to make large buildings and housing societies in very high risk areas to comply with the norms


3.It is known that mobile phones don’t work during earthquakes and natural disaster as the mobile towers are destroyed. In such cases satellite based TETRA communication networks are to be expanded to all the high risk areas. If needed, satellite can be leased from other nations for such communication purposes


4.Many parts of India are heavily populated and density of population is also very high. Those cities that sit on fault zones must be monitored diligently for shocks and signals of earthquakes. Cities like Delhi are prone to earthquakes so training must be provided in schools and colleges on how to save oneself when a disaster strikes


5.Global best practices on deployment of rescue and rehabilitation teams and its preparedness must be nurtured and developed.

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