Fighting disasters with words!
Urban disasters and communication needs
The damages in urban areas due to disasters have been showing an increasing trend over the past decades. This is primarily because, with increasing economic attractions in urban areas and resultant population pressure, more and more people are occupying vulnerable parcels of land that had been left undeveloped hitherto. The response of the governments and the disaster management community is to stress on betterm3ent of forecasting and warning systems for reducing disaster, and as a result, better weather forecasting satellites with higher resolutions are launched every year, and faster and more efficient super computers are commissioned to the task of providing.
However, the reason for increasing damages in spite of timely forecasts lies not in forecasting and warning technology, but elsewhere. It lies with the last link of warning dissemination, the community link, which is either totally missing, or grossly inadequate. The warnings that the end user, i.e. the community, receives are neither at the right time, nor in the right format to be effective. Where available, it is often misinterpreted. It does not provide enough information to base decisions on, and is presented in such a manner as to be not easily understood by the target audience.
As a result, the community has lost faith in the warning systems, and there is a distinct attitude of indifference towards the warnings. Dependence is still primarily on the local warning mechanisms, which, though reliable at a micro level, are often very risky due to their narrow time margins.
The needs, therefore, is for strengthening the warning dissemination mechanisms at community level, and bridging the communication gaps that exist at present. The benefits of satellite technology and GIS have to be transferred to communities at risk, in order to make all the efforts that have gone into them worthwhile. A better public communication system for disaster warnings, coupled with enhanced awareness and understanding of the same at community levels, would go a long way in reducing the impact of disasters.
Flood in Delhi slums
The capital city of India, Delhi, with a population in excess of 10 million, has been experiencing floods of various magnitudes in the past due to overflowing of the river Yumuna and the major drains in the city. The Yamuna River traverses about 48 kilometres within the boundaries of the city. The river has crossed its danger mark 27 times during the last 35 years. In the recent past, floods of thigh magnitude have occurred in 1978, 1995 and 1998, causing loss of life and property.
The floods of September 1998 caught everyone's eye because the affected population had to abandon their inundated houses, and came to squat on the roadsides, clogging the city's major thoroughfares, such as the ITO bridge, for a considerable time duration. Few understood that these thousands of men, women and children had to leave their homes because they live in quarter settlements inside the riverbed - on the wrong side of the embankments, and in slums in the flood plains.
Overflowing of the drain systems also causes floods. This happens when there is a backflow in the drains due to high level of water in the river and heavy runoff from the surface areas. The impact of this is felt most by the populations living on low-lying lands along the drains.