The sun had been playing
hide and seek through the day, and the enthusiastic pilgrims were more than
ready for trekking to Kedarnath. An IMD(Indian Metrological Department) forecast
about strong cloudbursts and three-day long heavy rains had no impact on their
trekking plans. Especially in a religious journey, people are charged up and
charmed under a different kind of spell, nothing can impede their enthusiasm. On
June 17, 2013, calamity struck the region. Torrents
of water got unleashed by burgeoning rivers and glacial lakes devastated the
area. According to an estimate, that region lost more than four thousand lives
in that incident.
Current chairman of NDMA (National Disaster Management Authority), in an interview,
candidly accepted that we were not prepared to face such a massive catastrophe
and that we could learn many lessons from this tragedy. But still a question
surprises if we really need to go through such a devastation to learn such lessons?
One of most common
arguments that did the rounds in media and prompted the policy-bearers was that
disaster management is a State subject, so bodies or institutions from the Centre
cannot act on their own unless they are called upon by a State to act. However,
we must understand that in a federal structure of government like ours, subjects
are categorized for the ease of administration and governance and for defining
job responsibilities for the people concerned. But nobody could ever deny that the
Centre cannot take up initiatives of change. Lack of coordination from the Centre
cannot be justified in the light of poor State-Centre relationship.
So, there are lessons that
we could learn from this catastrophe which are:
No Timely Action - It is known that the IMD had given the specific warning
about cloudbursts on specific dates. But the government authorities either did
not take the warning seriously or forgot to act on that, and did not do
anything to stop the pilgrims from continuing their voyage.
Communication Network- Inefficient communication was quite noticeable. Then, the
unique topography of the State made the matter worse. Though the NDRF was given
about 120 satellite phones during the rescue hours, they could not find the desired
infrastructure and, therefore like the paramilitary forces, were dependent on
the existing development were.
Pre-Disaster Management Efforts- In spite of the fact that disaster management
programmes in India are in the second phase of implementation, outcomes are
quite haphazard. Seldom, the Central or State Governments have taken the
monitoring and evaluation of such programmes seriously. In fact to begin with,
one of the most effective ways would be to first take the pre-disaster
management measures seriously.
Integrated Development Model for Mountain Regions- The Himalayan States are still fragile
and require urgent infrastructural development. Blame the mother nature that new
mountains are prone to torrential rains, including cloudbursts. States like
Himachal Pradesh and Arunachal Pradesh will have similar consequences if they encounter
that disaster. Thus, the need of the hour is that all alternative development
plans and programmes proposed should be integrated and then evaluated before their
implementation.
