Rural Tsunami: A Famine in 21st Century - “GIS make things better for Drought Preparedness and Response”
Anand Sagar K
Associate Manager
PSI Data Systems, India
anand.sagar@psidata.com
Abstract :
In India, the Andhra Pradesh state is currently experiencing drought conditions that are unprecedented in the State's recent history. The unchecked exploitation of ground water, borewells loom large in the latest round of farmers' suicides in the state witnesses to “Rural Disaster”. This paper presents the issues related to rural disaster, effective measures for drought preparedness & response and how the GIS can play a key role in this aspect by providing cost-effective information at various stages of the disaster life cycle. The Kalidindi Mandal of Krishna District of Andhra Pradesh in India is well known for aquaculture farming, which is currently affected with drought has taken as a case study. In this paper, an attempt was made with regionally differentiated strategy integrating Web Enabled GIS and the Decision Support System (DSS) to provide a better solution for effective disaster management.
I believe that the thrust should be on ecological, sustainable use of basic resources such as land, water, and vegetation; in such a way that it serves the objectives of accelerated growth, employment and alleviation of hunger to put an end to this shameful blot on the country's image and build the nation for sustainable development.