Disasters Can Easily be Prevented with Foresight

KOCHI:
Disasters are waiting to happen. But they can easily be prevented with foresight and if simple precautions and preventive measures are taken. In spite of our best efforts if unfortunately, a disaster should occur, its impact and damage can be minimized and even almost fully neutralized by preparing in advance to meet such disasters, managing and responding to it effectively. Often only very simple and cost-free and low-cost efforts are required to prevent, manage and respond to disasters.
This is the thrust of the message that the Disaster Management Committee (DMC) of the Kochi Chapter of the All India Professionals Congress (AIPC) would like to convey to the public in Kerala and the Country, points out M. P. Joseph, former District Collector and Mayor of Cochin and Chairperson of the Disaster Management Committee.
He was speaking at a press conference held at the Ernakulam Press Club to explain outcomes and recommendations of a Seminal Study on Disaster Preparedness in High Rise Apartments conducted by the Disaster Management Committee of AIPC Kochi Chapter on 11 th July 2018.
The All India Professionals’ Congress (AIPC) is the Professionals wing of the Indian National Congress. The AIPC was set up and is led by Dr. Shashi Tharoor M.P. The AIPC has 7 Chapters in Kerala and across all the states in the country.
The Kochi chapter of AIPC, at its first meeting held on 09 th December 2017 had decided to undertake projects that could safeguard and improve lives of the residents of Kochi.A Disaster Management Committee comprising of 14 professionals was constituted with .M.P Joseph in the chair.The chapter had thereafter invited Muralee Thummarukudy, Chief of Disaster Risk Reduction in the U N Environment Programme who provided advice to the Chapter on Disaster Management.
The DMC decided as a first instance to take up the issue of Disaster Management in Apartments for a comprehensive
study and to spread awareness thereon.Thus 45 Apartments in the city were comprehensively surveyed through
administering a Survey Questionnaire.
A team of professionals volunteered to visit the apartment complexes andadminister or assist in the administration of the survey questionnaire,which consisted of 50 Questions divided into 8 Segments as well as in scientifically analyzing the data using various statistical tools.
The DMC received technical inputs for the study from domain experts such as Mr. MuraleeThummarukudy and Mr.
James Aloysious, an international expert on Disaster Management.
The Major Findings of the Study:
The results of the study demonstrate a lack of awareness and preparedness amongst Residents, Owners and Associations of Apartments in the city, both in facing and responding to disasters. The results emphasize that even simple no-cost of low-cost steps towards preparedness are not being taken by Residents, Owners or Association.
The findings of the study are that an overwhelmingly large numbers of Apartment Complexes are not prepared to face or respond to minor or major disasters.
There appears to be a lack of preparedness for the safety of residents. Such lack of concern certainly does not emerge from a lack of concern for the residents, put purely from a lack of awareness of the importance of such safety, and more importantly on a lack of awareness of what is to be done to prepare for disasters. There appears to be only a lack of knowledge and awareness on what is to be done rather than a lack of concern about safety requirements.
During the conduct of the study, it often happened that the administration of the questionnaire itself was enough to create awareness amongst residents, owners and associations on what they can do with no cost or minimal cost to ensure preparedness to face and respond to disasters.
Most residents, owners and associations were keen to understand what could be done by them to prepare, face and
respond to minor and major disasters.
The study came up with Four Fallacies which are contributing to these findings
1. A FALSE complacency that disasters will not happen in one’s own apartment. An, ‘It will not happen here’ attitude.
2. The FALSE perception that the being disaster prepared and disaster ready will be expensive.
3. The FALSE assessment that the small changes that need to be made to heighten the disaster preparedness will not be sufficient or effective.
4. A FALSE sense that since most of the work relating to disaster preparedness in apartments have been out-sourced – at least from the point of view of residents and owners – to the association they have elected and to security agencies, it was the ‘job’ of the association and the security agencies to take care of such preparedness. An ‘It’s not my business’ attitude.
The Next Steps:
Effective emergency management involves 3R’s – Reduction, Readiness and Response:
Reduction through greater awareness and better compliance
Readiness through ensuring proper well-maintained equipment and training for use as well as safety precautions.
Response through proper coordinated response procedure and including community and/or response teams.
To engage with and empower residents and their associations, the Disaster Management Committee proposes to take the following next steps:
1. Develop a Manual on Disaster Preparedness, Readiness and Response for Apartments with a set of
comprehensive guidelines for use by Residents, Owners and Associations to improve their awareness, compliance
and general preparedness against disasters.
2. Publish a self-certifications procedure by which Apartment Associations could themselves review their level of
infrastructure, training and procedural preparedness to face disasters.
3. Train a few trainers on the use of the Manual and the implementation of the guidelines.
4. Provide training to willing Residents, Owners and Associations on the use of the Manual and the implementing its
Guidelines and on conducting the process of Self-Certification themselves.
Henry Austin (Vice President,Professionals Congress Kochi Chapter), Anukumar P V (Acting Secretary, Professionals
Congress Kochi Chapter) and John Eappen (Secretary, Disaster Management Committee) have also participated in the press briefing.