4th World Conference on Applied Sciences, Engineering & Technology 24-26 October 2015, Kumamoto University, Japan

Critical Assessment of India’s National Disaster Management System: Case Study of Kashmir Flood, 2014 DEBANJANA CHATTERJEE1, SUBHOMOY HALDER2 1

Department of Architecture and Planning, Amity University, Haryana, India 2 Assistant Manager, Philips India Ltd., New Delhi, India Email: [email protected]

Abstract: India’s geo-climatic conditions as well as its high degree of socio-economic vulnerability, makes it one of the most disaster prone country in the world. Thus disaster management occupies an important place in this country’s policy framework as it is the poor and the under-privileged who are worst affected on account of calamities. The Government of India, in recognition of the importance of Disaster Management as a national priority, enacted the Disaster Management Act, along with creation of National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA) and State Disaster Management Authorities (SDMAs) to implement a holistic and integrated approach for Disaster Management in India. In September 2014, the Kashmir region of India and the adjoining areas of Pakistan witnessed disastrous floods caused by torrential rainfall and this flood was recognized as the worst in 50 years. In this paper attempts has been made to understand the structure and framework of Disaster Management system in India and to identify its strength and weakness through the case study of Kashmir Flood, 2014 for assessing the performance of the system while dealing with disasters in India. Keywords: Vulnerability; Disaster management; Disaster management authority; Integrated approach; Disastrous floods. Introduction: India is the seventh-largest country by area (3,287,590 km²) and most populous democracy in the world with over 1.2 billion people. In India 59% of the land mass is susceptible to seismic hazard, 5% of the total geographical area is prone to floods, 8% of the total land mass is prone to cyclones, 70% of the total cultivable area is vulnerable to drought (Natural Hazard and Disaster Management, 2006). Thus the main natural hazards in India include floods, earthquakes, droughts, and cyclones. According to the latest analysis by the Working Group II of the IPCC Assessment Report (AR5), floods and droughts are likely to increase in India. India will get more rainfall but in lesser number of rainy days. Increase in extreme precipitation during monsoons has also been predicted (Centre for Science and Environment, 2014). Case Study of Kashmir Flood: Kashmir, often called ‘Paradise on Earth’, is a beautiful valley in the northernmost part of India, part of a state called Jammu & Kashmir (J&K). The Kashmir Valley, surrounded by some of the highest mountain ranges in the world, is now one of the top tourist destinations of India. This state is a multihazard prone region with natural disasters like earthquakes, floods, landslides, avalanches, high velocity winds, snow storms etc. Most of the valley regions of the state are fed by rivers like Jhelum, Indus and Chenab. Low-lying areas of the Kashmir Valley, especially Srinagar, along with parts of Jammu, are prone to floods that occur due to heavy rainfall in upper catchment areas.

Map 1 Location and Affected Areas of Kashmir In September 2014, a heavy rainfall triggered flooding and landslides in the regions of J&K in India and the adjoining areas of Pakistan. This flood was recognized

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DEBANJANA CHATTERJEE, SUBHOMOY HALDER

as the worst in 50 years and was declared a “nationallevel disaster” which claimed lives of approximately 300 people in India. The Prime Minister declared a national emergency on the 7th of September. (Refer Map 1). 1.1. Affected areas and sectors of the city/region: Heavy rainfall has caused 1) flash flooding with localized damage across the state, 2) landslides, which impacted on communities and road connectivity and 3) widespread flooding in the Kashmir Valley. Flood waters breached embankments in many low-lying areas in Kashmir, including the capital Srinagar, forcing people to move to safer places. 450 villages, with an estimated rural population of 823,281, were flooded and 2,500 villages in 15 districts have been partially or completely submerged with farmlands. The Jhelum River has been flowing four feet above danger mark in Srinagar, the summer capital of the State. 300-km-long national highway has been closed to vehicular traffic for five days because of landslides and floods. As many as 60 major and minor roads have been cut off and over 30 bridges washed away. Table 1 Total Population Affected by the Disaster Type of Affected Number Impacted by Populatio n Deaths, Injuries, Loss of Directly 1949790 Household assets, Affected Livelihood etc. Roads, Access, Local economy, Markets, Indirectly Availability of Food, 8186273 Affected Contamination of water resources, Public infrastructure etc. Total 10136063 Source: (Sphere India, 2014)

Table 2 Total Area Inundated by the Disaster Area Inundated (Sq. Type of Land Km) Agriculture land 444 Horticulture land 20 built up area 67 forest area 3 wasteland 21 others 2 Total 557 Source: (Sphere India, 2014)

1.2. Other Impacts and Losses due to Floods:  Paddy and fruit crops have suffered huge losses, and there is a reduction in yield or loss of crops and major loss of livestock. State suffered losses of Rs 1 trillion in the floods.  Supply routes and transportation networks have been severely affected, and will lead to reduced availability of food stocks, increased prices and reduced access of households to food. The total

losses are estimated to be Rs.2,630 crore for hotels, trade, agriculture and horticulture, roads and bridges, while infrastructure like railways, power and communication would have suffered a loss of around Rs.2,700-3,000 crore.  Flash floods washed away the Houses and Household assets. A total of 353864 structures have been damaged. The housing sector suffered losses over Rs 30,000 crore while business sector incurred losses worth over Rs 70,000 crores.  Water sources are inundated and likely contaminated.  Kashmir happens to be one of the top most worldwide prominent spots of tourism and tourism forms an integral part of the Kashmir’s economy. The tourism sector accounts for 5.92% of India’s GDP and 8% to J&K economy. Due to the devastating flood situation the tourism of Kashmir will also get effected which can further affect the economy of the State as well as the country. (Sphere India, 2014). This flood in the state was unprecedented in nature, as it rained more than 200-mm in 24 hours - 4times than the monthly average which is very high for a terrain like J&K. This could very well be another manifestation of an extreme weather event – induced by a changing climate. In this case, extreme events coupled with unplanned urbanization and poor preparedness had worsened the impacts. (Tata Institute of Social Sciences, Mumbai, 2015) 1.3. Rescue, Relief and Assistance: Government had not been able to initiate rescue and relief immediately after the disaster due to complete break-down of government administrative system. Most of the rescue and relief efforts are being carried out by local volunteers and Indian army and air force. Later Central and State governments have deployed 17 National Disaster Response Force (NDRF) teams for search, rescue and relief. Over 234 relief camps were installed in the state and 2, 30,000 people have been rescued in total whereas and 23,900 people were rehabilitated from the Jammu region only. Union Finance Ministry has offered to send the joint mission comprising teams from the World Bank, Asian Development Bank and other such financial institutions to help rebuilding the devastated infrastructure in the State in the wake of September floods which could ultimately paved way for monetary assistance from these financial institutions in the form of loans to the State. 2. National Disaster Management System in India: A permanent and institutionalized setup for Disaster Management in India began in the decade of 1990s with set up of a disaster management cell under the Ministry of Agriculture, following the declaration of the decade of 1990 as the ‘International Decade for Natural Disaster Reduction’ (IDNDR) by the UN General Assembly.

Proceedings of the 4th World Conference on Applied Sciences, Engineering and Technology 24-26 October 2015, Kumamoto University, Japan, ISBN 13: 978-81-930222-1-4, pp 429-434

Critical Assessment of India’s National Disaster Management System: Case Study of Kashmir Flood, 2014

2.1. Present Structure for Disaster Management in India: Two distinct features of the institutional structure for disaster management are noticed in India. Firstly, the structure is hierarchical and functions at four levels – Centre, state, district and local. Secondly, it is a multistakeholder setup, i.e., the structure draws involvement of various relevant ministries, government departments and administrative bodies. (Refer Figure1) Central Level:  At the national level, the Ministry of Home Affairs is the nodal Ministry for all matters concerning disaster management which formed the National Disaster Management Authority. Its’ role and responsibilities are: (a) To lay down policies on disaster management. (b) Approve plans prepared by the Ministries or Departments of the Government of India in accordance with the National Plan. (c) Lay down guidelines to be followed by the different Ministries or Departments of the Government of India and by the State Authorities for the purpose of integrating the measures for prevention of disaster or the mitigation of its effects in their development plans and projects. (d) Coordinate the enforcement and implementation of the policy and plan for disaster management. (e) Recommend provision of funds for the purpose of mitigation. (f) Provide such support to other countries.  National Crisis Management Committee (NCMC) is the next important functionary. Its main function is to give direction to Crisis Management Group (CMG) and any minister/department for specific action needed for meeting the crisis situation.  Crisis Management Group (CMG) is to coordinate all the relief operations for natural disaster.  National Institute of Disaster Management (NIDM) and it’s role: a) To develop training modules. b) Undertake research and documentation in disaster management. c) Organize training programs, study courses, conferences, lectures and seminars to promote and institutionalize disaster management. d) Undertake and provide for publication of journals, research papers and books.  National Disaster Response Force (NDRF) and it’s role: a) To provide specialist response in case of disasters. b) To train State Disaster Response Force (SDRF), community and NGO’S in disaster management. c) To conduct community awareness program for capacity building. State and District Level:  At the state level, there are State Disaster Management Authority and state relief commissioners who are in charge of the relief

measures in wake of natural disaster in the perspective states.  At the district level, there is District Disaster Management Authority headed by District Collector or District Magistrate who is responsible for the overall supervision and monitoring of relief measures and preparation of disaster management plans. Local Level (Involvement of City Agency and Community Groups):  In case of any disaster or emergency, before any government machinery & support reaches or outside help gets galvanized, it is the Community which has to respond immediately (at the hour). In many of the places in India City Agencies and Community groups are actively involved in the process of Disaster risk management. But there is still lack of awareness among most of the vulnerable communities.  States like Assam, Gujarat and Odisha have undertaken significant community capacity building interventions at various levels through their respective State Disaster Management Authorities. Many Non- Governmental Organizations in the country too have taken up Community based disaster preparedness (CBDP) at State or District Levels with support and facilitation as well as collaboration with State Governments.

Figure 1: Disaster Management structure in India NGO and Others:  The United Nations Disaster Management Team (UNDMT) works with diverse stakeholders, particularly key government departments, to integrate the objectives of Disaster Risk Reduction and Climate Change Adaptation into broader development plans and programmes.  Over the years NGOs have also come together through networks, coalitions and alliances so as to offer value added humanitarian services, notable examples being Voluntary Health Association of India (VHAI), Voluntary Action Network India (VANI), Sphere India, Alliance for Adaptation and Disaster Risk Reduction (AADRR), and

Proceedings of the 4th World Conference on Applied Sciences, Engineering and Technology 24-26 October 2015, Kumamoto University, Japan, ISBN 13: 978-81-930222-1-4, pp 429-434

DEBANJANA CHATTERJEE, SUBHOMOY HALDER

Confederation of Voluntary Associations (COVA), The Red Cross, Oxfam, CARE, HelpAge India, Give India etc. 2.2. Framework of Disaster Management: The interface between stakeholders and the disaster management framework is permanent, backed by legislative measures, decisions, such as those taken for establishment of the bodies and committees for managing disasters and the government orders to execute these decisions. These decisions or measures direct the composition of the structure by identifying the stakeholders to be involved in the disaster management framework. The expertise based interfaces emerge when the stakeholders serve as ‘service providers’ to the disaster management framework. For instance, the institutions under Ministry of Earth Sciences and Ministry of Water Resources, that is, Indian Meteorological Department (IMD) and Central Water Commission (CWC) respectively, provide information on the weather and climatic parameters and the potential hazards and threats to the nodal management authority. Further, these organizations are involved with disaster planning activities – flood zonation and flood plain management in case of CWC, and hazard mapping and database generation in case of IMD. The organizations and institutions under the Department of Space provide research and technical support by monitoring the weather elements and facilitating satellite based communication, and also undertaking activities such as land use mapping and hazard zoning. India is engaged with UNDP and USAID for building the capacity of its response mechanism, mapping the vulnerabilities to different kind of disasters, besides strengthening the various institutions engaged in disaster management. While India does not seek assistance during the relief and response phases, it welcomes sharing of expertise and also technical assistance based on various international developments. 2.3. Policy and Guidelines: The National Authority, under the Disaster Management Act, has been mandated with the responsibility for laying down the policies, plans and guidelines for disaster management to ensure timely and effective response to disasters. It is further required to approve the plans prepared by the ministries or departments of the Government of India in accordance with the national plans. National Policy on Disaster Management: NPDM envisages a safe and disaster resilient India by developing a holistic, proactive, multi-disaster oriented and technology driven strategy through a culture of prevention, mitigation, preparedness and response. The policy covers all aspects of disaster management including institutional and legal arrangements, financial arrangements, disaster prevention, mitigation and preparedness, techno-legal regime, response, relief and rehabilitation,

reconstruction and recovery, capacity development, knowledge management, research and development. Areas of Interventions are; i) Mainstreaming disaster management into planning and development process, ii) Mandate safe construction and iii) Coordinated action by all relevant Departments as per policy. National Plan on Disaster Management: An institutional mechanism for preparation of the National Plan has been put in place, such as, (i) National Response Plan, (ii) National Mitigation Plan and (iii) National Capacity Building Plan. National Action Plan on Climate Change: The plan identifies eight core “national missions” such as, National Solar Mission, National Mission on Sustainable Habitat, National Mission for Enhanced Energy Efficiency, National Mission for Sustaining The Himalayan Ecosystem, National Water Mission, National Mission for Green India, National Mission for Sustainable Agriculture, National Mission for Strategic Knowledge on Climate Change. It has to be mentioned that these policy and guidelines are only illustrative. The concerned Ministries related to DM activities, either have come out with their own policy, plans and regulatory mechanisms for management of disasters pertaining to their domain or are at different stages of its formulations. 3. Performance of the System: Disaster management in India has evolved from an activity-based reactive setup to a proactive institutionalized structure and from a relief-based approach to a ‘multi-dimensional pro-active holistic approach for reducing risk. 3.1. The strength of the system:  Its presence of NIDM as the research and training efforts has got a boost at national level which also promotes the culture of Disaster Prevention and Reduction.  In the Kashmir flood situation we can see a Rapid Need Assessment has been planned to collect detailed information on humanitarian needs and gaps in the affected areas. As well as the National Crisis Management Committee continued its review of the situation in J&K arising on account of floods.  The Indian Armed Forces are a major strength of nation. Being highly trained and motivated, they do full justice to disaster management in rescue and relief operations. Even though disaster management is their secondary role, they usually become the first responders on occurrence of calamities and do a professional job out of it. Around 30,000 military troops have been pressed into the rescue and relief operations - 21,000 in Srinagar region and 9,000 in Jammu region For the September flood in Kashmir.  Strong presence of NGOs is making a significant contribution in the field of disaster awareness, culture of disaster reduction, sustainable development and capacity building.

Proceedings of the 4th World Conference on Applied Sciences, Engineering and Technology 24-26 October 2015, Kumamoto University, Japan, ISBN 13: 978-81-930222-1-4, pp 429-434

Critical Assessment of India’s National Disaster Management System: Case Study of Kashmir Flood, 2014

 Likewise in Kashmir flood, Members of VAN Kashmir (Voluntary Action Network- Kashmir) are actively involved in rescue and relief works as per immediate requirements. Response teams of United Way of India’s NGO partners helped to organize health camps and the team intended to broaden the scope of intervention based on further assessments in consultation with the NDMA team. They had also set up a "United Way Disaster Response FundIndia: J&K Floods 2014" to mobilize resources from India and the world to support the relief and rehabilitation programs in Jammu and Kashmir. There were many other NGOs those who came forward for the rescue operation and relief camps at the time of the disaster.  India have been able to collaborate with UN and allied agencies world over to boost own disaster management efforts be it funding, training, relief or rehabilitation of disaster victims.  As an example we can see in Kashmir, World Bank started its detailed assessment of losses and damages in all sectors including housing, public infrastructure, industry and others due to the last year’s flood. The World Bank got a go-ahead from Government of India for their intervention to help rebuild the State’s infrastructure which was massively damaged in the flood and we hope this will lead to the path of reconstruction soon. 3.2. Weaknesses in the System: In spite of its strong hierarchical and multi-stakeholder set up India’s Disaster management System suffers from a large number of weaknesses which have been exposed at the time of dealing with devastating Kashmir Flood situation. Political Interference: Though India has an apex body to take charge of disaster related issues through NDMA and the Disaster Management Act is in place which helps institutionalize the best practices and provides for states to draft their own disaster management policies and rules, inefficient and corrupted political system creates issues for the implementation of policies and programmes. The policy makers look for short term gains to keep their vote Banks intact, resulting failure in entire disaster management system. Policies and programmes requiring long term planning and implementation take back seat and the implementation suffers from poor execution and drive to achieve optimum results. Lack of Awareness: The community needs to be well informed about the physical features of their location / settlement and the hazard events they are likely to experience. Such a social consciousness about disasters leads to building an organization / network within the community for risk reduction. Despite the fact that J&K is an unstable region highly prone to earthquakes, it appears that no one thought the state could be affected by floods. The NDMA prepares maps for flood prone regions inexplicably do

not include J&K despite NIDM noting that the state is prone to flash floods. Lack of Co-ordination and Integration: Disaster Management is an exercise which involves a large no of players like Central and State Govt., Armed Forces, Police Forces, NGOs, Private Sector, Community and so on. The integration of disaster risk management functions within local institutions is the key to achieving urban risk reduction. Due to lack of integration of efforts, India’s disaster management system suffers from lack of synergy at various levels. In the flood situation, no attempt seemed to be under way to evolve a mechanism to bring together Government, armed forces, civil society organizations and local communities together to coordinate and implement relief procurement and distribution to ensure that the relief is timely, appropriate and reaches everyone equally- especially the most deserving, marginalized and in remote locations. Since 2011 the J&K government had not responded to NDMA’s repeated requests for space for a National Disaster Response Force (NDRF) team in Kashmir. In February 2012, the state government had approved a three-tier disaster management policy but it was never able to create a separate department which would only deal with disasters. Early Warning System and Forecasting: Not all disasters can be forecasted but areas vulnerable to disasters can be identified and measures taken in advance to reduce own losses to minimum. In the situation of Kashmir flood, Flood Control Department officials had warned that the discharge in Jhelum had created new records and the river was flowing more than 14 feet above the danger mark in south Kashmir but the officials failed to give clear warnings based on the available data. (Tiwari, 2014) Centre water commission (CWC) which functions under Union Ministry of Water Resources, has a flood forecast system at more than 157 centres in India but has no flood forecasts for J&K. Financial Support and Corruption: There is a deficiency of funds to plan and implement disaster Prevention and Reduction Programmes and of whatever funds get allotted only a small percentage gets to reach the grass roots level owing to rampant corruption in the system. In 2011, the Central government had proposed that Rs 250 crore be kept as a response reserve to be given to state governments in case of any emergency. However, the Finance Commission has repeatedly turned down requests for allocation of these funds. After the Kashmir flood, reconstruction phase could not been started holistically due to insufficient financial support from Central Government and detailed study of needs assessment. Inadequacy of Specialized Equipment: A major weakness is the inadequacy of Specialized Equipment for rescue and relief operations. The result is faulty

Proceedings of the 4th World Conference on Applied Sciences, Engineering and Technology 24-26 October 2015, Kumamoto University, Japan, ISBN 13: 978-81-930222-1-4, pp 429-434

DEBANJANA CHATTERJEE, SUBHOMOY HALDER

execution of disaster management operations and illpreparedness for floods. Lack of Knowledge Management: India is yet to overcome the culture of relief than prevention. All efforts and programmes are geared to respond to disasters rather than prevention or reduction of disasters. Every time a disaster strikes, it starts from a scratch and end up re-inventing the wheel. The knowledge management in India is not institutionalized resulting in loss of wealth of knowledge on matters of disaster management. As both development and disasters are linked, there is need to put systemic thinking in place to synergize efforts of Centre and States and the Local Authorities for the cause of disaster management. Integration of development plans with disaster-mitigation is the key for successful disaster management. The enactment of Disaster Management Act 2005 must ensure that development be done with human face and it must not aid disasters. Over the last three decades, water bodies in Srinagar city, including the Jhelum and its spill-over channels, have been encroached upon with construction which has reduced its holding capacity and exposed the community into more risks due to flood. A 2004 analysis by the Jammu & Kashmir Remote Sensing Centre shows that Srinagar and its suburbs alone have lost 55% of the lakes and wetlands area due to encroachments. Many of the areas submerged are actually extensions of wetlands which had served as water sinks during the huge flooding of Srinagar city in 1902. Conclusion: Thus Kashmir flood has exposed the deep rooted lacuna in the disaster management system in India and lack of preparedness which makes India even more prone to damage in such an eventuality. [12]

The vastness of India and its unique regional features require a comprehensive approach to managing Disaster Scenarios. Disasters cannot be avoided but we have to take preventive measures at various levels within the society in order to minimize the impact of such natural hazards as much as possible for the people. References: [1] Natural Hazard and Disaster Management. (2006). Central Board of Secondary Education. [2] Centre for Science and Environment. (2014, September). J&K floods a grim reminder of increasing climate change impact in India. Down to Earth. [3] Sphere India. (2014). Rapid Joint Needs Assessment Report: Jammu and Kashmir Floods 2014. [4] Tata Institute of Social Sciences, Mumbai . (2015). Jammu and Kashmir State Disaster Management Plan. [5] Tiwari, R. (2014, September). Jammu and Kashmir floods: Nature's fury. India Today. [6] Raj, A. (2007). Comprehensive Natural Disaster Risk Management Framework. [7] Shah, A. (2014). Kashmir floods: Our “disastrous” disaster management. [8] Hussain, M. (2014). Jammu & Kashmir Floods 2014, A Strategy Paper for Rescue, Relief and Rehabilitation. COVA, Hyderabad. [9] NIDM. (2006, November). Journal of ‘Disaster & Development’. Vol 1, No 1. [10] Government of Jammu and Kashmir. 2011. Jammu And Kashmir State Disaster Management Policy. [11] Government of India. 2011. Disaster Management in India. Ministry of Home Affairs.

Proceedings of the 4th World Conference on Applied Sciences, Engineering and Technology 24-26 October 2015, Kumamoto University, Japan, ISBN 13: 978-81-930222-1-4, pp 429-434