Business houses can play a proactive role in disaster management. After all the root of proper business development lies in the well-being of the society.
When a disaster strikes, the first thoughts those race to all our mind is the - what is government doing? Where are the NGO? Where are the social support orgnisations?
Business houses come to mind only as a source for fund raising.
There is more to Disaster Management (DM) than just providing monetary support. Many of the business needs like "Proactive support" is applicable in the areas of disaster management also.
The other side of the coin
While government has responsibilities on one side the business also has equal responsibilities if not more to the society in such situations of dire needs. After all the business happens only due to existence of such societies and business needs shoulder its share of responsibilities.
Can business houses contribute more to disaster management that just provide money? Can there be a better proactive role that business houses in India can play in such disaster management situations?
What happens in Disaster?
Disaster permeates every corner of the society. It does not spare the rich or the poor. This affects individuals, business and organisations.
There are economic losses-direct and Indirect.
The first to get affected is the infrastructure - the railways and roads. All the utilities get affected - the telephone lines get broken, the electricity is disrupted, water pipes get broken and water gets contaminated. Many business close down and people lose their job. As per international studies, 40% of the small businesses never open again.
Damage to Business
The most obvious damage to business is the physical structure and capital equipment. With the break in infrastructure and transport the interruption to business is real. Infrastructure loss resulting in long term electrical outages and unusable roads leads halt in operations, supplies not being completed and all mission critical systems not operating. The community also loses its residents. Essentially for the business, it means loss of customers and the existing market. This is equivalent to building the market afresh. The downtime also leads to heavy business loss.
Is there a Vaccine available that can protect the communities
A vaccine is nothing but a proactive measure taken to avoid possible damage due to onset of a disease (when disease itself cannot be stopped). This is precisely what each business is trained for and focuses to do - to avoid future pitfalls and protect itself against future uncertainties.
The project Impact programme from FEMA combines this uncanny sense of business houses with disaster management plan to provide disaster resistant communities. To help communities to develop and implement measures to protect themselves from disasters, FEMA with the help of many emergency management professionals and prospective business partners has developed a model that communities can use to make their towns and cities less vulnerable. It is a four - phase process that involves building partnerships, assessing risk prioritizing need and finally, keeping the project impact community informed of the progress and the actions taken.
Project Impact
The FEMA Director James Lee Witt launched this in the fall of 1997 at the EI Nino community preparedness Summit that FEMA sponsored in Santa Monica, California Monica. The
Project Impact consists of four phases,
- Building partnerships
- Assessing risks
- Prioritizing needs
- And communicating to the disaster resistant community.
The Project Impact is all about building partnerships, identifying risks, prioritizing out needs and
implementing long term plans to protect the community from these emergencies. The success of the
programme depends equally on the ability to communicate the measures taken and success seen to the
members of the community. Thus it is also about keeping the community involved and sharing the success
with them. Let us see how FEMA looks at Project Impact and how it describes its various phases.
First phase - building Partnerships
Natural disasters like flood, earthquakes, storm do not spare any body. Hence fighting them requires everyone in the community to play their bit in mitigating its effects. The first step is then to form a Disaster Resistant Community Planning Committee. This committee would typically consist of local officials, business professionals, and others who are interested in protecting the community and maintaining its economic stability.
A guideline from FEMA suggests members from the following groups to be invited as part of the committee,
- Industry & Business
- Infrastructure: Transportation,
- Utilities & Housing
- Volunteer & Community-based
- Health Care
- Government
- Workforce
- Education