*Sharing Responsibility –Role of Local and State Bodies

At the time of disaster various agencies both government and non -

government organizations play a crucial role in preparing the society. Home
Guards, Civil Defence, Volunteers of National Service Scheme, Nehru Yuva
Kendra Sangathan too play a major role at the time of crisis. This chapter tries
to understand the functions and role of these agencies in disaster
management, who make the society a better place to lives.

How are Disasters Managed?

The flow chart given below would give you a better understanding about the
management of disasters at various levels in our country

India with its federal system of Government has specific roles for the Central
and the State Governments. The country has an integrated administrative
machinery for management of disasters at the National, State, District and
Sub- District levels. The basic responsibility of undertaking rescue, relief and
rehabilitation measures in the event of natural disasters is with the concerned
State Governments. The Central Government supplements the efforts of the
State Government by providing financial and logistic support.

NATIONAL LEVEL:

The response from the Central Government is based keeping in view the
following factors: 1. The gravity of the disaster 2. The scale of the relief
operations 3. The requirements of the Central assistance for augmenting
financial resources and logistics support at the disposal of the State
Government. The Ministry of Home Affairs is the Nodal Ministry at the centre
for coordinating disaster management activities for all natural hazards except
drought which is taken care by Ministry of Agriculture under the Department
of Agriculture and Cooperation.

STATE:

The responsibility to cope up with natural disasters is essentially that of the

State Government. The role of the Central Government is to support in terms
of physical and financial resources. In many of the states, Secretary,
Department of Revenue is also in charge of relief operations. The states have
the relief manual called as the ‘State Relief Code’ and the State Contingency
Plan which guides them to manage disaster scenarios

DISTRICT:

The district administration is the focal point for implementation of all

governmental plans and activities. The actual day-to-day function of
administering relief is the responsibility of the District Magistrate/ District
Collector/ Deputy Commissioner who exercises coordinating and supervising
powers over all the departments at the district level.

BLOCK:

The Block Development Officer/ Taluka Development Officer is the nodal

officer at the Block level for all the disaster management activities. The
Disaster Management Committee at the Block/ Taluka level is headed by this
Nodal Officer. The other members of the committee are officers from the
Social Welfare department, Health department, Rural water supply and
Sanitation Department, Police, Fire Services, representatives from youth
organizations, Community Based Organizations, Non Governmental
Organizations, eminent senior citizens, elected representatives etc.

VILLAGE:

At the village level, the Village Disaster Management Committee headed by

the Sarpanch/ Village Headman is responsible for preparing the Village Disaster
Management Plans and also coordinating with various agencies for providing
training to the Disaster Management Teams. . Apart from national, state,
district and local levels there are various institutions who are involved in
disaster management at various levels in the country. This includes the police
and Para-military forces, Civil Defence and Home Guards, fire services, National
Cadet Corps (NCC), Youth Organizations, UN agencies, International and
National voluntary groups, public and private sector enterprises, media etc.
play a major role in managing disasters

Community Planning

Community planning is a forward planning process, which identifies human

and material resources and puts in place potential response system. It involves
active participation from the people residing in that locality in making decision
about the implementation of processes, programmes and projects, which
affect them.

For what do we need to plan?

We can plan for any possible critical event. It can vary upon the scale of
operations or processes involved as well as the population that could possibly
be affected in case of an untoward event. The most common could be natural
disasters affecting human operations or industrial disaster. The primary goal of
Community Planning for disasters is to reduce the vulnerability of the
concerned community and strengthen its existing capacity to cope up with
disasters. The approach of preparing a Community Based Disaster
Management Plan considers people’s participation a necessary prerequisite for
disaster management. By involving the community in the preparedness phase,
it increases the likelihood of coordinated action by the communities during
emergencies

Contingency Plan can be :

● Natural disaster affecting humanitarian operations and needs. ● Outbreak of

an epidemic or serious health problem ● Industrial accidents (Onsite/Offsite
Plans) ● Threat to staff, staff evacuation, attack on premises etc. ● Outbreak of
civil conflict affecting civilian population ● Sudden shortage of food or other
commodities.

Why peoples’ Contingency plan?

● They know better about the risk, their vulnerabilities and the capacities. ●
They have the best idea of the place where they stay and also the strengths
and weaknesses of the community to cope wth an eventuality. ● They are the
First Responders. ● They are also the ultimate sufferers. Their plans will be
more effective to respond to any situation if confronted

Importance of Peoples’ Contingency Plan

A contingency plan need not be sophisticated, very scientific, or computer

generated model. It need not have a series of flow diagrams showing the
process of planning. Use of technology or sophisticated analysis is only useful
when it is combined with the people’s participation. Basic information, risk
assessment and intelligence analysis is normally adequate to have a functional
people contingency plan for various hazards. The task cannot be of a single
person in the preparation of a working plan, since accuracy is considerably
Why peoples’ Contingency plan? ● They know better about the risk, their
vulnerabilities and the capacities. ● They have the best idea of the place where
they stay and also the strengths and weaknesses of the community to cope
wth an eventuality. ● They are the First Responders. ● They are also the
ultimate sufferers. Their plans will be more effective to respond to any
situation if confronted. enhanced through the assimilation of experience,
information and skills of widest possible range of sources.

Formation of a village disaster management committee (VDMC)

Village Disaster management Committee (VDMC) is formed in each of the

village and it is responsible for initiating disaster preparedness activities. It
consists of local elected representatives, grass root level government
functionaries, NGOs, CBOs, youth clubs and members from the Mahila
samities. Senior citizens too are a part of the committee. The head of the
VDMC takes a lead in mobilizing the community for the preparation of the
Disaster Management Plan.

Outlining the profile of the community

It involves outlining data pertaining to the following namely: ● Population ●

Local resources (both human like skilled manpower - health practitioners, Ex-
servicemen etc and material like boats generators etc). ● Housing pattern in
that locality (RCC, tiled etc). ● Cropping and Occupational pattern

4. Review and Analysis of Past Disasters

It refers to prioritizing disasters based on its frequency and analysis of the

estimated losses. This can be carried out by taking the help of elderly people of
the village. The villagers analyze the losses that they had incurred during
various disasters and learn the best practices carried out. Based on the
assessment of the situation actions need to be assigned to the community
members.

5. Selection of Disaster Management Teams (DMTs)

After analyzing the situation and mapping out the resources the next step is to
form Disaster management teams/ task forces from the village/ward/city so as
to carry out response activity for facing any crisis situation. It is necessary to
allot and specify the responsibilities to the selected task forces in pre/during
and post disaster operations.

6. Training of Disaster Management Teams (DMTs)

The selected team members need to be well trained in specific skills so as to

carry out their specific tasks efficiently during a given situation of a disaster.
The DMTs, which need to be well trained, are: 1. First Aid Group 2. Rescue and
Evacuation Group 3. Water and Sanitation 4. Trauma Counseling To train the
DMTs/task force members one take the help of the Fire Services, Local health
Centre, Red Cross

7. Rehearsals/Mock Drills and Plan Updating Village It is important to conduct

live disaster situation drills/rehearsals. Mock drill is an integrated part of the
disaster preparedness plan, as it is a preparedness drill to keep the community
alert. The drills are basically a series of actions according to the plan and are
usually tried out as a dummy exercise by keeping the people informed of the
exercises. If practiced several times the community would be well prepared to
respond to the situation. This is usually done keeping in mind the real time
situation. In case of areas prone to cyclone or flood the drills shall be
conducted twice a year, one immediately before the cyclone/ flood season and
other after 6 months time. The drills should be conducted at least twice a year