Thane Cyclone: An Indication For Re-visioning Disaster Management

03 February, 2012
Countercurrents.org
National and state governments in India are well bracing up for climate change vagaries under national disaster management policy and programmes. Various government agencies and NGOs are building up their efficiencies in dealing with crisis situations. Even farmers’ organizations and civil society organization are ready to come forward to put their helping hands in such disaster situations. However yet there are some critical missing links that we need to address.
Most of these enhanced efficiencies, preparedness and perspectives are mainly directed towards enumerating the details of the damages, efficient management of relief and rehabilitation deliverables to the affected families and swift restoration of basic amenities. All these are directed towards restoring the visible damages. Do we have a shared critical perspective, policy directions and scientific attempts in valuing and assessing the invisible damage caused on the ecosystems in the disaster area? Do we have a dynamic mechanism in operation for mapping of sensitive ecosystems, predicting and projecting of potential damages of and designing exclusive intervention packages for differently varying ecosystems? By and large the answer is ‘No’.
The complete article is on http://www.countercurrents.org/rajkumar030212.htm