disaster management – contribution of scientific and other ...€¦ · the conservation of...

DISASTER MANAGEMENT – CONTRIBUTION

OF SCIENTIFIC AND OTHER INSTITUTIONS

OF HIGHER LEARNING M Kavita Rao1

Abstract

The effective disaster management is primarily based on scientific knowledge and its

dissemination through education. The scientific and academic institutions contribute to this

important function. While the scientific institutions generate the basic scientific knowledge

and its applications, the academic organizations such as schools and universities disseminate

the knowledge and equip the general public in the mitigation and preparedness for disaster

and its management. This paper addresses these fundamental aspects and teaching

methodologies for disaster management.

Keywords: Disaster management, scientific organizations, educational institutions.

Introduction:

The conservation of property and lives during disasters, both natural and man-made is

referred as Disaster Management. This involves three major components and stock holders,

i.e., (1) scientific and academic institutions that are involved in the knowledge generation,

disaster assessment, development of scientific methods to address the disaster conditions, and

knowledge dissemination through the public outreach programs. (2) The agencies involved in

the disaster management plans and executions through various government departments,

under the advice of Government and Scientific/Academic Institutions. (3) General public who

are the most affected by the disaster including the vulnerable groups and end beneficiaries of

the disaster management. The disasters are both natural and man-made. The natural disasters

arise from geological (e.g., earthquakes, volcanoes, and slope failures such as landslides),

atmospheric (e.g., climate change driven extreme rain fall, heat waves, snow fall, drought,

and cyclones), and biological (pendemic diseases). The man-made disasters are wars,

terrorism, pollution driven disasters, and chemical industry related disasters. Because the

disasters are of diverse types, the disaster management would also involve different methods

and strategies. For example, the biological and geological disasters would be handled by

different organizations involved in the specialized disciplines. The Indian Council of Medical

Research addresses the biological disaster management like epidemic control; the Indian

Meteorological Department handles the disasters such as earthquakes and cyclones.

1 Staff Scientist, Centre for DNA Fingerprinting and Diagnostics (CDFD), Hyderabad

www.zenonpub.com Apr - Jun 2020 ISSN 2455-7331 - Vol V – Issue II

International Journal of Research in Applied Management, Science & Technology

Similarly, every scientific and academic institution specializes in specific fields of disaster

research and development and applications. Monitoring is another important operation of the

research and academic organizations. This helps to understand the present condition and

future forecasting. For example, monitoring of the formation of cyclones and their migration

trajectories are very important for the coastal disaster management. Similarly, the epidemics

are monitored by the medical and health organizations. In all the cases, the disaster

management is implemented through the Government departments.

The effective disaster management begins with knowledge base. For example, the

management of pendemics such as COVID-19 requires the fundamental knowledge on the

biology of viruses, its behavior, and disease generation processes. Hence, a Scientific

Organization plays an important role in understanding the biology of the pandemics. When

this first step is achieved, the drug research takes over the next operation as to how the

potential drug molecules interact with the viruses, and the target medicines are discovered. In

addition, mitigation plans are also developed based on the scientific information and is passed

on to the implementing agencies for the public awareness. This operation involves education

and training to both the implementing agencies and general public. When the disaster occurs

unexpectedly, it affects all the three components of the disaster management (scientific

organization, implementing departments and general public). The immediate response to the

disaster would originate from all components. Scientific organization supplies the knowledge

base to the implementing organization and it finally reaches the general public. Because the

scientific organizations are the knowledge providers, they undertake the most crucial role of

the disaster management, although the implementation leads to the final fruit.

Disaster management education is another important step in the prevention of natural disaster

in the case of man-made disasters.1 On the other hand, preparedness is necessary for the

natural disasters that cannot be stopped from occurring. In this case, the effective

management and preparedness are the keys. The school students and teachers can be

equipped with the disaster mitigation plans for effective spreading at the gross-root levels.

The higher educational institutions like the universities can play an effective role in disaster

management education at the higher levels so that graduates and professor can contribute to

the disaster management at very high level.2 While the scientific organizations generate the

basic knowledge, the academic institutions disseminate the knowledge, as it understands both

the basic knowledge and effective teaching methods. However, the higher educational

institutes may lack adequate experience in the disaster management of real world problems.



This short coming may be removed by the collaboration between the educational institutions

and industrial and professional bodies (Thayaparan et al., 2014).3

After deadly effect of Ebola, SARS and MERS on the human populations across the World,

Bill Gates opined (or warned) that ‘We are not ready for the next epidemic’ in his TED Talk

in 20154.It was about our lack of collective preparedness towards preventing, mitigating,

responding and recovering from a pandemic. Like anticipated, the nCovid-19 outbreak has

exposed the fragility of our systems and is still testing humanity and its wisdom. Amidst the

current pandemic India is burning with migrant worker crisis across the Nation – a cyclone in

West Bengal– a lethal gas leak in Visakhapatnam in Andhra Pradesh and several industry-

environmental accidents.

With so many natural, biological, technological and societal disasters mounting on us,

disaster management has become the language of survival. This brings us to the most

important question that deserves our consideration ‘have we invested enough of our time,

energies and money in things that matter?’

As defined by the World Health Organisation, ‘disaster is an occurrence that causes damage,

ecological disruption, loss of human life, deterioration of health and health services on a scale

sufficient to warrant an extraordinary response from outside the affected community.’5

Disaster Management, therefore, calls for efforts from all spaces and corners of society –

from Government to Non-Government organizations, Universities to Training Centers,

Community to Individual. The contribution of Academic and Scientific organizations in

Disaster Management is often unrealized and limited to imparting formal education and

minimal training. These Institutions which are the hotspots of learning, research and

innovation are failing to equip students/youth with sufficient knowledge and skill to

proactively engage during hazards and post hazards. Equipping them only with the skills to

survive in a capitalist economy is in a way sacrificing future generations to the harshness of

disasters and also depriving the community of their potential contribution.

Need for introduction of free and compulsory course on Disaster Management:

Disaster management is a social science that has been developed through experience,

observation and research over a period of time. An in-depth understanding and training in this

field is essential to everyone because no one is immune of facing a disaster. In the times of

disaster, a common man becomes the first responder and therefore, Disaster Management has

to be made compulsory course in all disciplines and it should be offered freely to people other

than students by the National institute of Disaster Management – an organisation under the

statute, National Disaster Management Act 2005, is responsible to plan, promote, train and



undertake research in the area of Disaster Management. For students, the University Grant

Commission, a statutory body endowed with the responsibility of coordination, determination

and maintenance of standards of university education in India, has to introduce Disaster

Management course at UG level across the universities/colleges. Though UGC has proposed

to the Universities to introduce a Compulsory course of Disaster Management at all levels

covering the subjects relating to earthquake, leakage of hazardous material/gases, bomb blast,

explosion, incidence of terrorism besides financial emergencies relating to health, loss of

person or property, incidents relating to Act of God.6 But a limited number of universities7

have included Disaster Management in their Short term and Inter Disciplinary Refresher

Courses spanning over 1-2 weeks out of 935 State, Central, Private and Deemed

Universities.8

Role of Scientific and Academic Institutions in disaster management

The contribution of Scientific and Academic institutions is not time-bound and extends across

all the phases of the disaster and the results are both immediate and futuristic. With

Cooperation, Collaboration and Contribution in all the phases of disaster cycle they play a

significant role:

In building community awareness and filling knowledge gaps

Being the second most populated nation and in the era of fake news, there is an urgent need

for building of community awareness. At the time of disaster, these institutions can, with the

use of know-how, student population and goodwill, could easily get into the fabrics of society

and reach the vulnerable groups, break the myths surrounding the disasters and enlighten

them on the Do’s and Don’ts. Awareness building is the first and foremost step in dealing any

problem more particularly in case of virus-related epidemics given its contagious nature and

symptomless transmission. For instance, usage of Covid-19 masks was recommended by the

WHO9 to avoid the spread of the virus, however people were not sensitized about the

potential risks and disadvantages about their usage. Such knowledge gaps can be filled

through intervention of Academic and Scientific institutions with the help of technology and

social media.

In scientific research providing immediate, mid-term and long-term solutions:

The Council of Scientific & Industrial Research (CSIR), a premier organization which has

several laboratories under its control, has played a significant role in understanding the

processes that influence climatic and extreme events and has made remarkable contributions

to the areas of natural hazards assessment, disaster mitigation, shelter planning, etc.



In the context of the pandemic COVID-19, the CSIR has adopted a strategy of fighting

against the said pandemic by setting up five technology verticals to address the current

scenario. These verticals aim at establishment of multiple laboratories of research basing on

the need for the sake of generation of more employment in rural areas and to ensure food, and

other incidental medical infrastructure to fight against the COVID-19 keeping in view the

standards prescribed by the WHO.10

In law and policy making and their effective implementation:

The information accumulated during a disaster could help in research and policy

proposals. Academicians can participate in the policy making through constructive

criticism. For instance, the COVID-19 pandemic has exposed glaring gaps in our

domestic laws. We do not have a rationally structured law to invoke and therefore, the

States were advised by the Union government to invoke the Epidemic Diseases Act of

1897 to address the pandemic within their territories. This 123-year-old colonial law

doesn’t even define what a disease is, let alone an epidemic or a pandemic. A new bill

titled Public Health (Prevention, Control and Management of Epidemics, Bio-

Terrorism and Disasters) Bill was drafted in 2017 to replace the Epidemic Diseases

Act of 1897. However, it failed to be the law. The Academic Institutions can

therefore, by closely observing the needs of the people and vulnerable groups and the

effect of improper implementation of policies can by the way of recommendations

support the Government agencies in making better laws and pol icies for future.

In development of inter-professional Collaboration through curriculum and practice

Collaborative effort has to become the new normal. It is not practically possible for the Police

force, the doctors, health care workers, psychologists, NGOs, Institutes etc., to work in

isolation. It is essential for them to collaborate in order to effectively influence with the pre,

during and post disaster phases. The need for inter-professional collaboration arises because

of the interdependency of the professional needs and because of the need for a holistic

approach towards prevention, reduction and recovery. This can be achieved by introducing

collaborative practices in the undergraduate curriculum. Drills and workshops have to be

conducted amongst the aforementioned professions and other stakeholders involved from the

learning stage ensuring smooth inter-professional collaboration at the time of crisis.

In Capacity building by engaging Medical Students contribute during hazards

Disasters create plethora of safety and health concerns for workers in the affected areas and

they call for capacity building on a large scale. There is need to promote hands on practical

training and capacity building to optimize the resultant learning for effective response and



recovery.The doctor-patient ratio in India is less than what was prescribed by the WHO. We

have 1 doctor for every 1456 population as against 1 doctor for 1000 population prescribed

by WHO. Keeping that in view and the huge demand of health workers during the hazards,

medical students who are the future professionals need to be trained in disaster management

and emergency medicine.

In providing online training during disasters:

The e-learning industry offers a swift and effective remedy in times when social distancing

and lock downs have become the new norm for the purpose of capacity building and to

prepare the learners to cope with the life post disaster. The Academic institutes on their web

portals are in a prominent position to educate and train their students and anyone who is

interested by collaborating with Educators, Industry professionals and experts through

webinars. For instance, the ‘Nyaya forum’ created by NALSAR educating the young lawyers

and students.

Therefore, it can be rightly said that the preparedness of our society in our fight for survival

against the multitude disasters is reflected in the preparedness of the Academic and Scientific

institutions in disaster management.

References

1. Singh, D., (2014) Disaster management education in India: Issues and challenges, Conference

paper, DRVC 2014, 2nd Disaster Risk & Vulnerability Conference, 24–26 April 2014,

Department of Geology, University of Kerala, Trivandrum, India

2. Ahmad, R. (2007) Roles of the University in disaster management, Malaysian Journal of

Medical Sciences, Vol. 14, No. 2, July 2007 (1-3)

3. Thayaparana, M., Malalgodaa, C., Keraminiyagea, K., and Amaratungab, D. (2014) Disaster

Management Education through Higher Education – Industry Collaboration in the Built

Environment, Procedia Economics and Finance, Vol. 18, p. 651 – 658, doi: 10.1016/S2212-

5671(14)00987-3

4. https://www.ted.com/talks/bill_gates_the_next_outbreak_we_re_not_ready

5. WHO (2002), Disasters & Emergencies Definitions, Training Package WHO/EHA Panafrican

Emergency Training Centre, Addis Ababa, March 2002 retrieved from

https://apps.who.int/disasters/repo/7656.pdf

6. https://www.ugc.ac.in/pdfnews/9302498_UGC-letter-reg-Disaster-Management1.pdf

7. ibid

8. List of Universities in India, retrieved from : https://www.ugc.ac.in/oldpdf/Consolidated%

20list%20of%20All%20Universities.pdf

9. https://www.who.int/emergencies/diseases/novel-coronavirus-2019/question-and-answers-

hub/q-a-detail/q-a-on-covid-19-and-masks

10. https://urdip.res.in/covid19/



https://urdip.res.in/covid19/

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