ENVIRONMENTAL STUDIES(ES)

ENVIRONMENTAL STUDIES

Lesson 23: Disaster management

Disaster management and mitigation

Disaster management is a multi-disciplinary area in which a wide range of issues that range from forecasting, warning, evacuation, search and rescue, relief, reconstruction and rehabilitation are included. It is also a multi-sectoral as it involves administrators, scientists, planners, volunteers and communities. These roles and activities span the pre-disaster, during disaster, post-disaster plans. Since their activities are complementary as well as supplementary to each other there is a critical need for co-coordinating these activities.

Until recently, the approach is post-disaster management, involving operations like evacuation, warnings, communications, search and rescue, fire-fighting, medical and psychiatric assistance, provision of relief, shelter etc. Now disaster management consisted reactive mechanisms, is shifted to mitigation-based approach.