The Face of Disasters 2019 Report

Mains Paper 3 : Disaster Management |

From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :

Prelims level : The Face of Disasters 2019 Report

Mains level : Multiple facets of Disasters in India and thier effective management

The Face of Disasters 2019 report was recently published by Sustainable Environment and Ecological Development Society (SEEDS).

The Face of Disasters 2019 Report

The ‘Face of Disasters 2019’ report released by SEEDS as part of its 25th anniversary, analyses past trends, looking at disasters from a broader perspective to capture their varied facets.
The report talks about the need to look at disaster vulnerabilities that lie under the radar, waiting to strike.
Eight key areas have emerged that will be critical to consider as we look ahead:

Water and the changing nature of disaster risk: A ‘new normal’ of rainfall variability is bringing challenges of too much and too little water, often in parallel.
No disaster is ‘natural’: Risks lurking under the radar slip through the cracks because they don’t meet the idea of a ‘natural disaster’.
The silent events: The disasters that go unseen leave those affected at even greater risk.
Land becomes water (and water becomes land): Changes to the coastline are already affecting livelihood sources and will be hotspots for vulnerability in the future.
The complexity of disaster impact: Beyond official ‘damages’, the long-term and uncaptured disaster impacts have life-changing consequences for affected communities.
The urban imperative: Risk is rapidly urbanising and will affect everyone.
Transformations in the third pole: Himalayan glaciers are melting, with serious implications for the whole region.
Planning for what you can’t see: Earthquake risk is looming large under the radar, but are we prepared?

Significance of the report

Analysis of past trends shows us that 2019 will see unusual flooding, as well as heatwaves and drought that are already ongoing.
The complexity of disasters today requires a proactive and multi-pronged approach.
A single mega-disaster can wipe out hard-won development gains and recurrent small-scale stresses keep vulnerable families in a cycle of poverty.
While this multiple event pattern is repeated every year, only a few really capture the public attention. Other risks continue to intensify under the radar.

Way Forward

Current trends are reinforcing that disasters have multiple facets and complexities.
In 2018, India witnessed nearly every type of natural hazard, except a major earthquake and related events.
Floods, droughts, heat and cold waves, lightning strikes, cyclones and even hailstorms, a wide range of disasters impacted most of the country.
This poses some critical questions and issues and also points to risks that lie ahead. At the core is the idea that disasters cannot be seen in isolation anymore.
There is a clear need for comprehensive understanding of risks, and hyper-localised plans and allocation of resources to reduce them.

Sustainable Environment and Ecological Development Society (SEEDS)

SEEDS, a non profit voluntary organization, is a collective endeavor of young professionals drawn from development related fields.
It originated as an informal group of likeminded persons, getting together for the purpose of creative research projects of academic interest.
The group was later formalized in early 1994 and has been active in the field ever since.
It is involved in research activities in Community Development, Disaster Management, Environmental Planning, Transport Planning, and Urban and Regional Planning.
Activities are carried out on behalf of government, semi – government and international development agencies. Independent programs on vital issues are also taken up.

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