Dear Peiser Benny, Bruce Nolan,Ian Davis, and friends,

We do not have hurricanes in India .But we have
superclycone, floods and tsunami,which are equally
disasterous. We organised a Symosium on different
aspects of Tsunami 12/26 as a part of our programmes
of research training and interventions in disaster
management over the years.The comments in the report
of the symposium may be contextually relevant.

Report of the National Symposium on “Tsunami :
Science, Society and Governance” March 21-22, 2005 in
Kerala House, New Delhi   and Recommendations of the
Symposium.
	The first –ever National Tsunami Disaster  Symposium
was organised by Sparta Institute of Social Studies
who are working as Consultant to UNEP and UNESCO. In
his inaugural address, Mr. Mani Shankar Aiyer,
Minister for Petroleum and Panchayati Raj, Government
of India pointed out the apathy of media and
academicians and scientists to Tsunami disaster which
occurred only three months ago. The Indian Ocean
Tsunami is the greatest disaster  in recent years. he
pointed out that the vulnerable tribal population in
Andaman and Nicobar Islands and the fishermen in the
mainland must be provided through involvement  of
different Ministries.  He also recounted his visits to
these areas for a number of tribes and interaction
with the local population and the psychological trauma
being faced by women and orphan children. He stressed
the need for qualitative psychological counselling for
brining them back to normal life. He talked about the
fate of Island Development Board farmed during the
time of Mr. Rajiv Gandhi. He pointed out the
anthropologists, psychologist and sociologists must be
involved in the Task Force for Disaster Management and
in the National Disaster Management  policy.

	Dr. A. K. Shukla of the Department of Meteorology 
elaborated the science of tsunami and the origin of
Sumatra earthquake and its transformation. He also
analyzed the feasibility of advance early warning
systems in the Indian Ocean.

	Mr. Sanjeev Kumar of Centre for the Study of
Developing Society who had been researching in
Nagipattinam district of Tamil Nadu for the last three
months recounted his field work experience. He pointed
out that initially the local community consisted of
different types of fishing communities, muslim and the
dalits were first responders in the Tsunami disaster.
The dalit community is neglected and marginalised in
the relief and rehabilitation measures of the
government.

	Mr. Bal Krishna of GIS Development highlighted the
significance of GIS in disaster mitigation. He also
pointed out how there was complete lack of
coordination between Ministry of Home Affairs and
Ministry of Science and Technology in not issuing a
timely warning or in issuing a false warning based on
unreliable scientific data. He also pointed out the
low quality and coverage of disaster awareness
programs of different ministries and the absence of
any central authority for disaster management and
preparedness in India as compared to Japan.

	Prof. G.S. Roonawal of Delhi University lamented the
paucity of reliable scientific data and the total
inadequacy of computer simulation models in the case
of earthquake and tsunami.

Prof. R.B. Singh of Department of Geography, Delhi
University analyzed the short-term and long-term
measures for disaster management and the differences
in approaches in developed and developing countries.
He stressed on the implementation Coastal Regulation
Zone  Management for reducing the impact of future
tsunamis. He also stressed on mangrove forestry and
plantation along the seacoast for protection against
tsunami disaster. Prof. P.R. Sinha dealt with the
implementation  of programs for disaster management.

	Mr. Videh Upadhyay, a well-known legal expert from
ELDF enumerated the history of disaster laws in the
countr5y and how the word `disaster’ does not appear
in the constitution. He highlighted  the disaster
should included in the concurrent list rather than
only Bihar and Gujarat government passing any kind of
disaster laws. CRZ is only a notification and not a
law introduced in 1991 and amended seventeen times due
to lobby and pressures from  different quarters. He
highlighted the urgent necessity of implementing CZMP
and  micro- zoning for coastal disaster management.

	Prof. D. Mukhopadhyay highlighted the gender issues
in disaster reduction. Disaster affects men and women
differently and the contribution of women in the
informal preparedness, mitigation and rehabilitation
is significant. In tsunami, maximum number of death
occurred for the women and children and they had the
face the serious psychological trauma after the
tsunami.  Very  little concrete measures had been
taken by Department of Women and Children as reported
by field work and research experience. He also
highlighted the importance of gendered traditional
knowledge in disaster reduction and management.

	Dr. Anuj Sinha of Department of Science and
Technology highlighted the programs being planned by
their department. He suggested the involvement of
experts, academician, trainers in this effort.

Mr. Hemant Kumar of  Delhi University enumerated the
aftermath of tsunami disaster and the relief and
rehabilitation measures being undertaken by the
government and civil society organisations. Mr.
Miachel Siromony, Resident Representative of Kerala
Government and earlier  Director of National Disaster
Management highlighted the gaps in the governances of
disaster in India. He poi8inted out how the general
public should be aware and educated, the government
machinery should be prompt and the health management
system should be efficient.

	Dr. S.K. Pachauri, Secretary Home, Government of
India in his address highlighted the preparedness
measures to be taken by the community, the government
and the civil society organisation and the need for 
interdepartmental coordination. Women and children
should be properly rehabilitated on a long term basis.

	Mr. Kapil  Sibal in his valedictory address and
interaction pointed out that early warning system in
the Indian Ocean is being implemented. He pointed out
the responsibility of the scientific community and
researchers  in disaster  management. he pointed out
the formation of Central Authority for Disaster
Management which would have members from  different
ministries. He highlighted the need from properly
framing the message of disaster awareness and its
communication through appropriate media for maximum
effectiveness.

	The meeting ended with a vote of thanks by Mr.
Sanjeev Kumar.

Recommendations of the Symposium on “Tsunami –Science,
Society and Governance” organised by Sparta Institute
o Social Studies on March 21-22, 2005.



The  following are the recommendations of the
Symposium:

1.	An efficient early warning system for cyclone and
tsunami should be immediately implemented and till
that time cooperation with other  agencies should be
established.

2.	There  is lack of interdepartmental coordination in
disaster management. A Central body should be
established with participation from different
agencies.

3.	Anthropologists, Psychologists, Sociologists should
be involved in the framing of policies and
implementation of programs  for disaster management.

4.	CZMP (Coastal Zone Management Programme) should be
effectively implemented for reducing the impact of
tsunami and cyclone disasters.

5.	Department of Women and Child Development and
Ministry of Education should be properly involved in
rehabilitation and reduction of trauma  and education
of the women and children in disasters.

6.	Professional and timely assistance should be
provided for genuine psychological rehabilitation of
the individuals affected by tsunami and other natural
disasters.

7.	Education, awareness and communication should be
given emphasis and properly implemented by individuals
and agencies having research, training and field work
experience. Disaster awareness programs should have
proper framework, content and communication
strategies. These programmes should be introduced in
schools and colleges and through NSS and NCC.

8.	The vulnerable  tribal population of Andaman and
Nicobar Islands should be sufficiently rehabilitated
with utmost care by Ministry of Tribal Affairs. 

9.	The Island Development Board should be rejuvenated
from proper development and for reducing the impact of
disaster in coastal areas of the islands.

10.	The youth, the community leaders and women
self-help groups should be involved in the long –term
disaster mitigation plans at different levels.


********* 


--- "Peiser, Benny" <[log in to unmask]> wrote:

> NEW ORLEANS'S HURRICANE EVACUATION PLAN: "YOU'RE ON
> YOUR OWN" 
> 
> New Orleans Times-Picayne, July 24, 2005
>
http://delong.typepad.com/sdj/2005/09/new_orleanss_hu.html
> 
> By Bruce Nolan, Staff writer 
> 
> In storm, N.O. wants no one left behind; Number of
> people without cars makes evacuation difficult 
> 
> City, state and federal emergency officials are
> preparing to give the poorest of New Orleans' poor a
> historically blunt message: In the event of a major
> hurricane, you're on your own. In scripted
> appearances being recorded now, officials such as
> Mayor Ray Nagin, local Red Cross Executive Director
> Kay Wilkins and City Council President Oliver Thomas
> drive home the word that the city does not have the
> resources to move out of harm's way an estimated
> 134,000 people without transportation.
> 
> In the video, made by the anti-poverty agency Total
> Community Action, they urge those people to make
> arrangements now by finding their own ways to leave
> the city in the event of an evacuation. "You're
> responsible for your safety, and you should be
> responsible for the person next to you," Wilkins
> said in an interview. "If you have some room to get
> that person out of town, the Red Cross will have a
> space for that person outside the area. We can help
> you. "But we don't have the transportation."
> 
> Officials are recording the evacuation message even
> as recent research by the University of New Orleans
> indicated that as many as 60 percent of the
> residents of most southeast Louisiana parishes would
> remain in their homes in the event of a Category 3
> hurricane. Their message will be distributed on
> hundreds of DVDs across the city. The DVDs' basic
> get-out-of-town message applies to all audiences,
> but the it is especially targeted to scores of
> churches and other groups heavily concentrated in
> Central City and other vulnerable, low-income
> neighborhoods, said the Rev. Marshall Truehill, head
> of Total Community Action. "The primary message is
> that eachperson is
> primarilyresponsibleforthemselves, for their own
> family and friends," Truehill said.
> 
> In addition to the plea from Nagin, Thomas and
> Wilkins, video exhortations to make evacuation plans
> come from representatives of State Police and the
> National Weather Service, and from local officials
> such as Sen. Ann Duplessis, D-New Orleans, and State
> Rep. Arthur Morrell, D-New Orleans, said Allan Katz,
> whose advertising company is coordinating officials'
> scripts and doing the recording. The speakers
> explain what to bring and what to leave behind. They
> advise viewers to bring personal medicines and
> critical legal documents, and tell them how to
> create a family communication plan. Even a
> representative of the Society for the Prevention of
> Cruelty to Animals weighs in with a message on how
> to make the best arrangements for pets left behind.
> 
> Production likely will continue through August.
> Officials want to get the DVDs into the hands of
> pastors and community leaders as hurricane season
> reaches its height in September, Katz said.
> 
> Believing that the low-lying city is too dangerous a
> place to shelter refugees, the Red Cross positioned
> its storm shelters on higher ground north of
> Interstate 10 several years ago. It dropped plans to
> care for storm victims in schools or other
> institutions in town. Truehill, Wilkins and others
> said emergency preparedness officials still plan to
> deploy some Regional Transit Authority buses, school
> buses and perhaps even Amtrak trains to move some
> people before a storm.
> 
> An RTA emergency plan dedicates 64 buses and 10 lift
> vans to move people somewhere; whether that means
> out of town or to local shelters of last resort
> would depend on emergency planners' decision at that
> moment, RTA spokeswoman Rosalind Cook said. But even
> the larger buses hold only about 60 people each, a
> rescue capacity that is dwarfed by the unmet need.
> In an interview at the opening of this year's
> hurricane season, New Orleans Emergency Preparedness
> Director Joseph Matthews acknowledged that the city
> is overmatched. "It's important to emphasize that we
> just don't have the resources to take everybody
> out," he said in a interview in late May.
> 
> In the absence of public transportation resources,
> Total Community Action and the Red Cross have been
> developing a private initiative called Operation
> Brother's Keeper that, fully formed, would enlist
> churches in a vast, decentralized effort to make
> space for the poor and the infirm in church members'
> cars when they evacuate. However, the program is
> only in the first year of a three-year experiment
> and involves only four local churches so far. The
> Red Cross and Total Community Action are trying to
> invent a program that would show churches how to
> inventory their members, match those with space in
> their cars with those needing a ride, and put all
> the information in a useful framework, Wilkins said.
> But the complexities so far are daunting, she said.
> 
> The inventories go only at the pace of the
> volunteers doing them. Where churches recruit
> partner churches out of the storm area to shelter
> them, volunteers in both places need to be trained
> in running shelters, she said. People also have to
> think carefully about what makes good evacuation
> matches. Wilkins said that when ride arrangements
> are made, the volunteers must be sure to tell their
> passengers where their planned destination is if
> they are evacuated. Moreover, although the
> Archdiocese of New Orleans has endorsed the project
> in principle, it doesn't want its 142 parishes to
> participate until insurance problems have been
> solved with new legislation that reduces liability
> risks, Wilkins said. At the end of three years,
> organizers of Operation Brother's Keeper hope to
> have trained 90 congregations how to develop
> evacuation plans for their own members.
> 
> Meanwhile, some churches appear to have moved on
> their own to create evacuation plans that assist
> members without cars. Since the Hurricane Ivan
> evacuation of 2004, Mormon churches have begun
> matching members who have empty seats in cars with
> those needing seats, said Scott Conlin, president of
> the church's local stake. Eleven local congregations
> of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints
> share a common evacuation plan, and many church
> members have three-day emergency kits packed and
> ready to go, he said. Mormon churches in Jackson,
> Miss., Hattiesburg, Miss., and Alexandria, La., have
> arranged to receive evacuees. The denomination also
> maintains a toll-free telephone number that
> functions as a central information drop, where
> members on the road can leave information about
> their whereabouts that church leaders can pick up
> and relay as necessary, Conlin said.
> 
> Bruce Nolan can be reached at
> [log in to unmask]
> 


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