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The GIS management of Disasters
The International Decade of Natural Disaster Reduction (IDNDR) is about to conclude. But it is not the end of disasters. They will continue with the same vigor and imparting destruction of similar intensities. During July 5-9, 1999 when the entire world would witness the conclusion of IDNDR at Geneva, let us hope it is a beginning of new efforts to contain the disasters! On the occasion, this issue is our humble contribution. However, it is not the result of our efforts alone. We would like to mention the contribution of Mr. N. K. Jain, Director, Joint Assistance Center in bringing out this special issue with gratitude. We are also grateful to Natural Disaster Management Division, Ministry of Agriculture, Government of India, for their valuable inputs and suggestions.
While preparing this issue, we didn’t want to treat earthquake as the sudden release of accumulated elastic energy or flood as overflowing of water on riverbanks, cyclones, caused due to the low air pressure zones or landslides due to sudden movements of land along slippery zones. More in our mind were the fractured face of Chamoli and the flooded agonies of Assam. The pain of blowing existence of Andhra Pradesh coasts and sliding tears of Malpa.
To further our contribution, we are launching a website on disaster — www.csdms.org/disasters. All the articles published in this section as well as other related information will be available on this site.
In this section, we have attempted to cover almost all the important dimensions of disaster management. Whether it is the application of advance mapping technologies and space sciences or it is the communication network. Whether it is community participation or policy. We might have even left some of the aspects. But the essence of disaster management is the human element. The emotions to share the pain of our fellow living beings who have suffered. Unfortunately, it is the aspect which is missing in most disaster management programmes.
We dedicate this issue of GIS@development to those extremely unfortunates who had been the victims of the vagaries of Nature.
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