Disaster Risk Reduction &

Regional cooperation

Santosh KumarProf & Head

Policy, planning and Cross cutting DivisionNational Institute of Disaster Management

India

Challenges and Opportunities

South Asia

Continental dimension• 4,414,748 Sq.km of land• 1,4448.41 million of people• Longest mountain ranges• Largest non-polar glaciers• Greatest alluvial plains• 12000 km coastline• 1500 island• Hottest and coldest climate• Driest and wettest of places

A profileEight countries

Human vulnerability in South Asia

• Self-sufficiency in agriculture, progress in industry, infrastructure, science and technology etc

• One of the poorest regions of globe• With 22% of world population, it

produces only 1.3% of world income• South Asia is home of

- 40% of world poor (500 mill)- 46% of world illiterates - 50% of malnourished child- Lowest sex ratio in the world

• Home of one of the oldest civilizations of world

Regional dimension of disasters• Natural disasters of South Asia do not remain confined

to national frontiers; every disaster has a regional impact • Earthquake of Bhuj sent tremors as far deep as Karachi• Floods of Bihar and West Bengal as well as Bangladesh

and Bhutan have their origin in Nepal• Cyclones of Bay of Bengal affect coastal regions of

India and Bangladesh • Cyclones of Arabian Sea hit both the coasts of Gujrat in

India and Sindh in Pakistan• Indian Ocean Tsunami caused devastation in four out of

seven South Asian countries.• Recent quake in Pakistan devastated parts of Kashmir

Impact of disasters• Disasters and economic growth: GDP loss range

between 2 to 20% - revenue loss 12 to 66%• Social and psychological stress: Non quantifiable• Disaster and development: Disasters erode gains of

development and further siphons resources • Disasters and poverty: Disasters aggravate poverty;

Socially vulnerable: women-children-aged suffer • Disasters and environment: Disasters are both cause

and consequence of environmental degradation, every disaster aggravates the fragile eco-system of the region

• The reported number of disaster has been increasing 100 in 1975 to more than 400 in 2005.

• Cost of disaster has also exploded ; Maldives Tsunami losses

• amounted to 66 percent of GDP• Pakistan earthquake 2005 estimated damage

of $ 5 billion

HOUSEHOLD/ LIFE PERIOD / YEARS

WE

LL

-BE

ING

IND

EX

GDP/POVERTY LINE

Attaining growth rate DISASTER

DISASTER

19

DISASTER

Three dimensions of Disaster-Development Nexus

• Disaster are the outcomes of lack of development or poor development

• Disasters erode development and create further setbacks to development

• Sometimes development create new disasters

Economic

Physical Social

Ecological

Interaction of Vulnerability factors

Some commonalities

• Layers of vulnerabilities have been created by lack of development or poor development

• Physical vulnerabilities: slums in unsafe areas, poor houses, lack of water and sanitation etc

• Economic vulnerabilities: poor economic conditions, lack of alternate livelihood support

• Social vulnerabilities: social discrimination, gender inequities, lack of insurance, safety nets

• Poor governance: poor enforcement of building bye laws, lack of community participation and involvement

this task must never become an impossible burden....

2nd Asian conf.

CRF Awarded by Finance Commissions (Rs. in Crores)

40206304.27

11007.59

21333.33

0

5000

10000

15000

20000

25000

9th FC 1990-95

10th FC 1995-2000

11th FC 2000-05

12th FC 2005-10

Allocations on Dedicated Schemes 2005-12

Disaster 1 month 2 months 10 years

RELIEF REHABILITATION RECONSTRUCTION POST DISASTER

DEVELOPMENT

Emergency Management

Reconstruction Management

Recovery Management

Phases of recovery in aftermath of a disaster

Global and regional cooperation

• 1990-2000: International Decade for Natural Disaster Reduction (IDNDR)

• 1994: Yokohama Strategy on Disaster Reduction• January 2005: Hyogo Framework of Action• March 2002: Investment for Sustainable

Development in Pacific Island Countries • June 2004: African Regional Platform for

Disaster Reduction• August 2005: ASEAN Agreement on Disaster

Management and Emergency Response

Regional cooperation in South Asia

• At a bilateral level countries of South Asia had been cooperating with each other

• Humanitarian assistance during disasters even among countries with strained relations

• Proactive role of Indian Navy in search and rescue missions in Sri Lanka and Maldives during Indian Ocean Tsunami

• Indo-Pak cooperation during recent erathquake

Some Initiatives in India• As identified , 37 schemes of 8 Ministries/

Departments that are exclusively dedicated to disaster management.

• The total financial allocations on these schemes and programmes in the budget of 2011-12 are Rs. 11708.47 Cr., which is equivalent to USD 2341.69 millions.

• This works out to 0.94 per cent of the Union Budget and 0.1 per cent of the GDP.

• Building mechanism for reducing uncertainties by developing Public good –warning system, sharing information

• Building robust regional response mechanism

• Innovating financial tools at the regional level -disaster recovery , mitigation funds, risk pool and mitiagion mechanism etc

• Techno legal reforms and bringing more stakeholders as partner

• Developing regional mechanism for capacity development and in building human skills

• Developing integrated framework for CC, development and disaster risk reduction

• Investing in removing social and economic disparities

• Introducing disaster resilient security as new investment approach

• Promoting innovations, research and education

the process requires creative innovation, not mere ‘standard operatingprocedures’...

SOURCE : IAN DAVIS

Alknanda valley in 1970’s before flood

Alaknanda Valley afterAlaknanda Flood

Eco-Devlopment Camp in Village Lashyari, Chamoli

Alaknanda Valley- After regreening of the Barren Slopes 1993

Need to do….• Risk Analysis as an integral part of planning• Infrastructure projects – housing, roads, bridges,

drainage, hospitals, schools etc should integrate DRR features

• Allocate separate budget for addressing risks• Development policy should integrate DRR and CC as

priority and enforcement of law• financing and institutional Capacity building should be

made as forefront.• Revisit challenges for In-built and for the new

environment• Incentivize risk reduction and green development

DO NOT HANDLE ALONE

Ian Davis

Thank you