SECOND ADMINISTRATIVE REFORMS COMMISSION

1 THIRD REPORTSECOND ADMINISTRATIVE REFORMS COMMISSIONS econd ADMINISTRATIVE REFORMS CommissionGovernment of India2nd Floor, Vigyan Bhawan Annexe, Maulana Azad Road, New Delhi 110 011e-mail : website : MANAGEMENT From Despair to Hope3 CRISIS MANAGEMENTFrom Despair to HopeCRISIS MANAGEMENTFrom Despair to HopeSEPTEMBER 2006 SEPTEMBER 2006 GOVERNMENT OF INDIASECOND ADMINISTRATIVE REFORMS COMMISSIONTHIRD REPORTCRISIS MANAGEMENTFROM DESPAIR TO HOPESEPTEMBER 2006 PREFACEThe neglect of our natural assets and environment has always led to crisis. Whether it is the MithiRiver of Mumbai or Tapi of Surat or the civilisational crises in the past in which the cradle ofcivilisation in the Middle East eventually became a desert, Greece and Turkey were deforested,and the destruction of the American prairie contributed to the Dust Bowl, these are eloquenttestimony to such neglect.

2 The once mighty Khmer Empire in Southeast Asia or the small tribesthat lived on Easter Island in the Pacific Ocean were consigned to the throes of oblivion onlybecause they so willfully decimated their natural assets and is endowed with extraordinary natural and civilisational resources. Around the time of ourIndependence, the American scholar Kingsley Davis gave a glowing account of the fabulousgeography of India, especially the great Indo-Gangetic plain: India is probably the third most gifted of the world s regions with respect to industrial capacity, and thesecond or third with reference to agricultural resources.

3 But in sheer area it is big enough. The geographicaltraits of the subcontinent are fabulous and their description requires unblushing The key to the region s peculiar geography lies more outside than inside the boundaries, althoughit has its main effects inside. This is the Himalayan range, the loftiest mountain barrier in theworld, which shuts off the subcontinent from the rest of Asia. From 150 to 250 miles, the Roof ofthe World stretches over 1,500 miles across the north of India. It boasts of the three highest pointson the earth s surface, fifty summits of 25,000 feet or more, and an average elevation of 19,000feet.

4 The Himalayas contribute greatly to the soil, climate and the isolation of India. They areeroding rapidly and sending out rich loam to the plains below. Because high plateau lands lie tothe north, the drainage runs southwards towards India. The three main rivers of the subcontinent- Indus, Ganges and Brahmaputra - with most of their tributaries, have their sources in theHimalayas and bring down silt that has made the Indo-Gangetic plain, covering the whole ofnorthern India, the most fertile areas of its size in the , we cannot prevent natural hazards, which are endemic to our geology, geography, climate,social and cultural settings, but we can certainly strive to manage crisis more efficiently so thathazards do not degenerate into disasters.

5 With a coherent and meaningful crisis managementstrategy in place, it is quite possible to visualize our country despite its manifold hazards as a placethat will eventually be free of all the realm of crisis management, announcing a policy or promulgating a law or creating aninstitution is a relatively easy task; the challenge lies in implementing policies to achieve thedesired outcomes. Crisis management, a governance issue that is both vital and complex, is at thecore of India s ADMINISTRATIVE system. The system requires innovative thinking and fundamental Crisis shouldn t turn them Mahatma Gandhi during the Bihar Earthquake in 1934changes in order to quicken the emergency responses of administration and increase theeffectiveness of the machinery to meet the crisis situation and enhance crisis that end, it is necessary that the apparatus of crisis management should perform anddeliver.

6 The India Meteorological Department (IMD), in its 24 hours forecast and theNational Centre for Medium Range Weather Forecast (NCMRWF) in its 46 hoursforecast predicted only 8 cm to 16 cm of rainfall over Mumbai on 26th and 27th July2005, while the actual rainfall recorded was cm. Thus the margin of error wasnearly 600%. There were significant intra-regional differences in rainfall due to cloudburstsin some areas. For example Colaba had a rainfall of cm while Santacruz experienceda rainfall of 96 cm. Neither IMD nor NCMRWF could forecast these huge intra-citydifferences in is needed is ushering in a new paradigm in the quality and efficacy of our institutionalcapacity and delivery mechanisms while ensuring, at the same time, that they areembedded in both the structures of authority and the mechanisms of dealing with disasters, we need to be particularly responsive to the emotional andsocial problems that people experience due to a disaster.

7 Almost 10 per cent of thepeople affected by the tsunami potentially half a million people had mental healthproblems so severe that they required professional treatment. Psychosocial care dealswith a broad range of emotional and social problems and helps in restoring social cohesionas well as the independence and dignity of individuals and groups. It prevents pathologicdevelopments and further social dislocations. Normalisation of emotional reaction is animportant task in psychosocial care for the survivors of the disaster. Emotional reactionssuch as guilt, fear, shock, grief, vigilance, numbness, intrusive memories, and despair areresponses of people experiencing unforeseen disasters beyond their coping reactions are normal responses to an abnormal situation.

8 Nearly 90% ofsurvivors of disaster do undergo these emotional reactions immediately after the care is essential for all these COMMISSION has carefully studied the present structure of crisis management, systemsand processes including the Disaster Management Act, 2005 and the perceived gaps. Inorder to arrive at its recommendations, it has critically examined aspects related toconstitutional and legal framework, institutional mechanisms, funding and infrastructuresupport systems, preparedness measures, human resources development and knowledgemanagement institutions.

9 The COMMISSION s recommendations aim at not only havingmore efficient systems of governance but also at innovative ways of capacity building andempowerment of all stakeholders at all levels including panchayats and the community,strategic applications of science and technology, realisation of a sound emergencycommunication network, building safe homes and infrastructure, and learning fromresearch and development and also from the experiences of handling crisis situations inthe past. Each of these tasks is a challenge, and calls for a careful strategy of planning andimplementation coupled with coordinated efforts of a variety of players both within andoutside the governmental COMMISSION thanks Dr.

10 Manmohan Singh, Prime Minister of India for his valuableguidance and also for having given an opportunity to the COMMISSION to critically examinethis issue. The COMMISSION is also grateful to Shri Shivraj V. Patil, Union Minister ofHome Affairs for his cooperation and me quote Mahatma Gandhi once again to highlight the essence of ourrecommendations .. A technological society has two choices. First, it can wait until catastrophic failures exposesystemic deficiencies, distortion and Secondly, a culture can provide socialchecks and balances to correct for systemic distortions prior to catastrophic failures.