“Any disaster is a learning process” – Julia Child
According to the World Economic Forum, in the last 20 years, 7348 disasters have come to light globally. These disasters claimed over 1.23 million lives. What is even more alarming is that India alone reported around 321 disasters in 2021!
The fact is that India has always been a disaster-prone country. The nation’s geographical layout is such that it is susceptible to natural hazards like cyclones, drought, floods, earthquakes, landslides, and avalanches. Owing to this, it has become rather necessary to have strong disaster management mechanisms in place.
As one of the leading environmental science colleges in Delhi NCR, we, at the Tribhuvan Institute of Environment and Development Sciences, understand how imperative it is for our country to have proper disaster management practices as well as educated personnel to keep things in place. This is the reason why we lay such strong emphasis on the subject and are keen on building an army of environment-conscious young minds who have the knowledge as well as potential to help save the environment.
With this write-up today, we wish to reach out to the youth and masses in general and make them aware of the growing need to understand their role as responsible citizens of the country and what all they can do in their capacity toward environmental protection.
What is Disaster Management?
From our early childhood, we have been taught to look for preventive measures over curative ones. A similar principle works here!
When any natural hazard strikes, the last thing any nation wants is to be unprepared to deal with the same. The best way out is to have disaster management mechanisms in place.
Disaster management has a lot to do with staying prepared and responding to any natural disaster that might strike suddenly. A major part of disaster management revolves around consolidating resources and utilising them at the right time. The idea is to introduce a systematic approach that deals with disaster management in stages, i.e., prevention, preparedness, response and recovery.
Why is Disaster Management Important?
- Offers a Response-Driven Approach:
While it is always a good idea to prevent a disaster from happening, it is equally important to react logically in case such a disaster strikes.
In the absence of disaster management, despite having all the resources at hand, the authorities may not know how they should react in such situations. Disaster management offers a step-by-step blueprint to the concerned individuals, who know exactly what to do and when. Improved response time helps to reduce the impact of the disaster. This, in turn, helps curb further loss to life and property.
As one of the leading environmental science colleges in Delhi NCR, we, at the Tribhuvan Institute of Environment and Development Sciences, understand how difficult it can be for people residing in disaster-struck areas to recover from a sudden shock and losses. As such, one of the best ways to keep people aware and prepared at large is to offer them the necessary education. With this in mind, we have curated our B.Sc. (Hons.) program in Ecology, Environment, and Water Management. The idea is to take the message outside the institution to every youth so that they understand how critical disaster management is.
- Optimum Utilization of Resources:
No matter how much you would like to believe that India has sufficient disaster management resources at hand, facts state otherwise.
Since we are dealing with limited resources, it is important to put them to optimum use. Resources take different forms, such as equipment, labour, food supply, and medical aid.
Disaster Management prepares authorities to get hold of the necessary amount of resources and utilize it to the benefit of all the people who have been affected by the disaster. After all, every big and small resource can be life-changing when a disaster strikes.
- Reducing Impact of the Disaster:
While the primary goal is to prevent a disaster from striking if, at all, it strikes, the next agenda should be to reduce the impact of the disaster.
The idea should be to save as many lives as possible and to prevent as much property and belongings as possible from incurring a further loss.
Disaster Management helps the rescue team understand the areas that need immediate attention. Once that comes to light, resources are diverted to that area, and ultimately, efforts are laid to reduce the impact.
In fact, disaster management has proved beneficial to reduce the impact of disasters on multiple occasions. Hence, it is high time we start seeing disaster management as an investment and cushion against future uncertainties!
- Faster Recovery:
When a disaster strikes, many households are shaken from the core. In the process, they lose their houses, belongings, and hard-earned livelihood. While this may seem overwhelming at first, they have no option but to choose the path of recovery.
In the case of disaster management, all plans and agendas are pre-planned. This means the post-disaster situation is much better than the one where disaster management is not in action.
- A Lesson Learnt for the Future:
If you see, a natural disaster generally strikes in the same areas over and over again. Many a time, this has to do with locational factors.
Whenever disaster strikes for the very first time, disaster management techniques help the community in taking proactive measures and stand strong against the situation. It is during this time that they come to know what exactly to do and how.
Even though disaster management techniques are conveyed to such communities beforehand, practical experiences can never beat theory. Moreover, when a disaster strikes, such communities get into action based on the theoretical knowledge that has been conveyed to them.
There are many do’s and don’ts that they learn in the process. They come to know what is right and wrong to reduce the impact of the disaster.
Do you know how this helps? The concerned communities, as well as the people, become well prepared to cope with any similar disaster if at all it strikes the next time around. They take their fair share of lessons, which helps ensure they are able to better deal with the odds in the future. Disaster management thus has a 360-degree, holistic application.
Environmental Management is the Key to Disaster Management
The many disasters that we encounter are a result of the rising environmental problems that India is battling with every passing day.
Environment and Disasters have a two-way connection. First and foremost, environmental woes are leading to disasters. Secondly, when a disaster strikes, one of its consequences is the negative environmental impact.
Hence, it is safe to state that taking care of the environment is the first step towards averting disasters.
At Tribhuvan Institute of Environment and Development Sciences, one of the best environmental science colleges in Delhi NCR, we firmly believe that it is high time each one of us begins caring for the environment in whatever little way possible. In fact, as a part of our syllabus, we carry out multiple practical drives, wherein the management, faculty, and students come together to do their bit for the environment.
“Conservation is a state of harmony between men and land” – Aldo Leopold
Let us speak about something we have been hearing for a while now – Deforestation. While urbanization is fast replacing the forest cover, it is leaving behind harmful and irreversible effects.
What many fail to realise here is that deforestation is interconnected with multiple environmental factors, which in turn, gives rise to heaps of other environmental issues. For instance, when trees are cut down, they lead to a loss of habitat. The number of animal and plant species is impacted heavily. But does the story ends here? No!
We all know that cutting down trees directly means more presence of greenhouse gases in the environment, which is already leading us to a massive climate change. Moreover, deforestation directly reflects in the form of soil erosion as well. When all these environmental issues come together, what follows is a string of disasters, which end up shaking the economy from its roots. This clearly shows that the need of the hour is reforestation over deforestation!
Furthermore, you may find it surprising, but Air Pollution has become a major environmental concern in India. Facts suggest that around 2 million Indians die every year because of air pollution. The causes of air pollution are many. These include industrial pollution, vehicles, and the burning of crops. The sad part is that air pollution has a direct linkage with disasters. Research has suggested that Air Pollution is the reason behind more serious natural disasters such as drought, floods, and even hurricanes. Thus, it is important to bring air pollution under control if we as a nation want to prevent ourselves from such disasters.
Climate change is another major hurdle in India. In fact, the water vapour that is being evaporated in the atmosphere is getting converted into fuel for more powerful storms. Besides, rising global surface temperatures is also looked upon as one of the major causes behind droughts and storms.
As such, it is absolutely clear that disaster management cannot always be the answer. While disaster management is indeed important, what is equally or more vital is to prevent the disaster from taking place. While this may seem like a big deal, in reality, it is not so!
All you need to do is care for the environment and try finding solutions to keep the environmental problems at bay. If that can be done, you do not have to worry about disasters striking!
We, at Tribhuvan Institute of Environment and Development Sciences, have a team of learned faculty by our side who always make efforts to go to the root of every concept. In the process, many facts and research-based evidence are unveiled. When such details are shared with the students, they become more aware of their surroundings, which in turn reflect in the form of thoughtful behaviour on the part of each one of them.
Understand – Disaster Management Begins with You!
Disaster – It is a big term in itself! However, the question here is why do we always have to rely on and blame authorities for not doing enough? As responsible Indian citizens, it is the duty of each one of us to make our contribution in whatever big or small way possible.
For instance, we just spoke about how air pollution is one of the leading reasons behind disasters. Don’t we all know the emissions from vehicles lead to air pollution? Hence, on an individual level, what we can do is to reduce the usage of vehicles. Wherever possible we can either walk or use a bicycle. If each one of us chooses to do so, just imagine the level of change that we can collectively bring about!
Once air pollution comes under control, the related disasters will too. This, in turn, will reduce our dependence on the authorities for disaster management as the frequency and intensity of disasters would come down drastically.
Similarly, we can fight deforestation by planting more trees. This will contribute positively to the climate, which again will prevent natural disasters like droughts and storms from striking our nation.
At Tribhuvan Institute of Environment and Development Sciences, we are on a mission to achieve this goal. Wouldn’t you like to join the revolution?
Disaster Management is Indispensable
It is crucial to note that the consequences of every disaster are different. In fact, every disaster is different in itself. For instance, when an earthquake strikes, one earthquake is different from the other in terms of impact and related losses.
Considering that India faces different kinds of disasters every year, each with a different impact, Disaster Management has become highly crucial.
What is equally important to know is that when a disaster strikes, the consequences pop up in the form of human, material, economic, and environmental imprints. Such consequences are both damaging and lasting. The only way out is to turn to disaster management.
When we, at Tribhuvan Institute of Environment and Development Sciences, made efforts to speak to people about disaster management, it came to our attention that not many people were well versed with this concept. Somewhere, people have accepted that natural disasters are part and parcel of our lives, and even if we want to reverse the same, there’s not much that we can do.
However, disaster management says that there is a lot that you can do! We, being one of the leading environmental science colleges in Delhi NCR, want to take this perspective to the masses, and for that, it is vital to educate the youth so that they take the message ahead to the public. We firmly believe that if today’s youth become aware of this concept, the future will be in safe hands. So, let’s come together and join hands to begin working in this direction, one step at a time!