{"id":340,"date":"2020-10-15T02:21:07","date_gmt":"2020-10-14T17:21:07","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/niveditakhandekar.com\/?p=340"},"modified":"2020-10-31T18:15:41","modified_gmt":"2020-10-31T09:15:41","slug":"disaster-management-common-alerting-protocol-cap-yet-to-be-implemented-for-whole-of-india","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/niveditakhandekar.com\/?p=340","title":{"rendered":"Disaster Management: Common Alerting Protocol (CAP) yet to be implemented for whole of India"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

China and India together account for over 2.8 billion disaster-affected people between 2000-2019, approximately 70% of the global total, as per the latest UNDRR report. But are India\u2019s Disaster Risk Reduction (DRR) policies and programme enough? <\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Indian Army in flood relief in Kashmir (Photo for representation purpose)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Between year 2000 and 2019, there were 7,348 major\nrecorded disaster events across the world claiming 1.23 million lives,\naffecting 4.2 billion people (many on more than one occasion) resulting in\napproximately US$2.97 trillion in global economic losses, a latest report by\nthe United Nations office for Disaster Risk Reduction (UNDRR) has stated. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

This is a sharp increase over the previous twenty years.\nBetween 1980 and 1999, 4,212 disasters were linked to natural hazards worldwide\nclaiming approximately 1.19 million lives and affecting 3.25 billion people\nresulting in approximately US$1.63 trillion in economic losses, it said. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The report \u2018Human\nCost of Disasters: An overview of the last 20 years (2000-2019)<\/a>\u2019\npublished on Monday to mark the International Day for Disaster Risk Reduction\non Tuesday, October 13, 2020 confirms how extreme weather events have come to\ndominate the disaster landscape in the 21st century. \u201cMuch of the difference is\nexplained by a rise in climate-related disasters including extreme weather\nevents: from 3,656 climate-related events (1980-1999) to 6,681 climate-related\ndisasters in the period 2000-2019, a period which also recorded floods and\nstorms as the most prevalent events and has seen the number of major floods\nmore than double: from 1,389 to 3,254, while the incidence of storms grew from\n1,457 to 2,034.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The report also records major increases in other\ncategories including drought, wildfires, and extreme temperature events. A\nmajor finding was that the two Asian giants, China, and India, together account\nfor over 2.8 billion disaster-affected people between 2000-2019, approximately\n70% of the global total. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Whither India\u2019s Common Alerting Protocol? <\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

UNDRR\u2019s 2019\nGlobal Assessment Report for Disaster Risk Reduction<\/a> has\nalready highlighted that \u201cfailure to understand and manage systemic risk is a\nchallenge for reducing disaster losses\u201d as set out in the global blueprint: the\nSendai Framework for Disaster Risk Reduction (2015-2030). <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Adopted by the UN member States on March 18, 2015 at the third\nUN World Conference on Disaster Risk Reduction at Sendai, Japan, the Sendai\nFramework for Disaster Risk Reduction<\/a>, clearly recognizes that\ndisaster risk management needs to be about managing the risk inherent in social\nand economic activity, rather than simply mainstreaming disaster risk\nmanagement to protect against external threats like natural hazards. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

A signatory to the Sendai Framework for DRR, India has\nbeen considerably and consistently increasing its efforts at DRR as that is one\nof the best forms of mitigation. Enabled by technology, the weather forecast\nhas improved considerably, especially in case of cyclones hitting the east\ncoast. But, as pointed out by UNDRR, \u201cthe failure to understand and manage systemic\nrisk\u201d is indeed a challenge for the sprawling country with varied levels of\nliteracy, poverty, and penetration of communication facilities, not to mention the\nplethora of languages.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

As per National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA), \u201cthe\nearly warning system (EWS) is a very essential component of DRR as it is not\nonly the production of technically accurate warnings but also a system that\nrequires an understanding of risk and a link between producers and consumers of\nwarning information, with the ultimate goal of triggering action to prevent or\nmitigate a disaster.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n

NDMA further divides the EWS is sub-divided into four\nseparate segments: Risk knowledge, Technical monitoring and warning service, Dissemination\nand communication of warnings and response capability and preparedness to act\n(by authorities and by those at risk). <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The last mile connectivity – the dissemination and\ncommunication of warnings – is what determines the vulnerable community\u2019s\naction\/reaction towards forthcoming disaster. The Common\nAlerting Protocol<\/a> (CAP) allows a warning message to be\nconsistently disseminated simultaneously over many warning systems to many\nInformation and Communications Technology (ICT) applications. It increases\nwarning effectiveness as even with well-coordinated structures and well-crafted\nmessages, dissemination to remote areas is still difficult in many places and\nrequires a combination of technological and non-technological solutions, NDMA\nofficials said. The CAP is the brainchild of NDMA, and the solutions have been\ndeveloped by Department of Telecommunication (DoT<\/a>) and Centre for Development\nof Telematics (C-DoT<\/a>).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The terrestrial communication networks fail during\ndisasters as was noticed during J&K floods in 2014, Uttarakhand tragedy in\n2013 and Ladakh flashfloods in 2010. The CAP comprises providing reliable telecommunication\ninfrastructure to the disaster managers during peace time as well as in the\nevent of any disaster on the one hand and on the other, the ICT services assist\nthe Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA), the NDMA, the National Disaster Rescue\nForce (NDRF HQ) and local administration in taking appropriate decisions. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

A pilot project titled as \u201cNational Disaster Management\nServices (NDMS)\u201d was conceived for 120 locations as listed: one each at MHA,\nNDMA and NDRF HQ, 36 at all state and UTs HQs and 81 in selected districts. Several\nstates said, the pilot projects were successful. The relevant disaster\nmanagement message in the local language of the pilot area were sent via SMS to\nall mobile telephone subscribers within that geography. Same messages were sent\nvia television, radio, display boards etc. through the CAP.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In 2018, the NDMA also red\nflagged<\/a> how the do-not-disturb (DND) facility on mobile phones\nprevented it from disseminating early warning messages. The DoT, in turn, asked\ntelecom operators to allow those who opted for DND to receive these SMS alerts.\nBut since then, nothing much has moved. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The CAP is yet to be implemented nation-wide. \u201cThe pilots\nare not yet over; they are in the advanced stages. Most likely in another two\nmonths the pilots would be over and then we would go for upscaling pan-India,\u201d said\na government source.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

CCDRR evolving practice in India? <\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

As has been witnessed time and again, disaster after\ndisaster, it is the children that are disproportionately affected. In such\ncrucial times, delivery of health, education, and other essentials for a child,\nsuch as nutrition, are adversely affected. And this is evident more in\nsusceptible communities that are already bearing the brunt of poverty and\ninequality. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Disaster Management experts define Child-centred DRR\n(CCDRR) as an evolving concept that has seen a rapid growth during recent years.\nIt is linked to community based DRR through participation and can broadly be\ndefined as DRR for and with children. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Most disaster risk assessments do not necessarily include\ndata about children. India has had a poor track record when it comes to data\nand this lack of disaggregated data poses a challenge in assessing the right\nvulnerability at different levels. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Perhaps recognising this, Dr Amarjeet K Sharma, Director\nof Higher Education, Himachal Pradesh wrote in his letter<\/a> to\nall schools and college principles for a three-day training programme on CRDRR\nfrom October 12-14, 2020, \u201cChildren have special needs and may require\ndifferent forms of physical, social, mental and emotional support than adults.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Some of the multitude of NGOs working on equally multitude\nof issues have focused on CCDRR. Necessarily assessing risk through children\u2019s\nlens, these programmes involve the local community in preparation of DRR plans;\nevolving their own early warning dissemination systems; enhancing search,\nrescue, and evacuation skills and also, relief shelter\/camp management.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

NGO ChildFund\nIndia<\/a> that\nhas implemented CCDRR program in 43 villages in Nagapattinam district and\nChennai city of Tamil Nadu and Kendrapara district of Odisha, has proactively\nsought to involve school children as part of the school safety intervention\nespecially keeping in mind the age group of 10 years and above. ChildFund\u2019s\nSchool Safety programme under CCDRR is currently being implemented in 133\nschools.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThe training under School safety intervention comprises \u2018Building\nunderstanding on school safety and its importance\u2019; \u2018Risk assessments at school\nlevel\u2019; \u201cPreparation of school safety planning and its implementation\u201d ; \u201cSearch,\nRescue, Evacuation skills\u2019 and last but never the least, \u2018First Aid and\nPsychosocial support\u2019.\u201d said Rama Rao Dammala, Senior Manager (Disaster Risk\nManagement) ChildFund India.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

As many as 5,964 children have been trained under \u2018school\nsafety intervention\u2019 while a total of 1,361 children and adults have trained\nunder the CCDRR at community level by ChildFund India, he added. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Obviously, much more needs to be done. By everybody. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

(The story was first carried by Newsroom24X7.com on October 13, 2020. You can read it here<\/a>.)<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

China and India together account for over 2.8 billion disaster-affected people between 2000-2019, approximately 70% of the global total, as per the latest UNDRR report. But are India\u2019s Disaster Risk … <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":352,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[12],"tags":[130,147,148,149,150,46],"class_list":["post-340","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-environmental-news","tag-climatechange","tag-disastermanagement","tag-disasterriskreduction","tag-ndmaindia","tag-telecom","tag-india"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/niveditakhandekar.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/340","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/niveditakhandekar.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/niveditakhandekar.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/niveditakhandekar.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/niveditakhandekar.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=340"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/niveditakhandekar.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/340\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":341,"href":"https:\/\/niveditakhandekar.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/340\/revisions\/341"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/niveditakhandekar.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/352"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/niveditakhandekar.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=340"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/niveditakhandekar.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=340"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/niveditakhandekar.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=340"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}