Excelsior Correspondent
SRINAGAR, Oct 11: The State Government has ignored an important report of State Disaster Management Policy (SDMP)-2011 aimed at instituting a proper mechanism for rescue, relief and rehabilitation of the people during natural disasters.
Exposing its non-seriousness on having a comprehensive disaster management mechanism in place, the State Government has not implemented the State Disaster Management Policy (SDMP) 2011 report formulated for having pro-active, holistic and comprehensive approach towards disaster risk reduction and management. The report identifies 13 districts in the State as “Multi Hazard Districts” and calls for comprehensive disaster management plan to deal with any catastrophe.
“Majority areas of the Valley, especially Sonawari in North Kashmir, Awantipora in South and Srinagar, along with parts of Jammu are prone to floods. Upper catchments of all the tributaries of the Jhelum, Indus, Chenab and Tawi rivers are prone to flash floods,” the report says. The last month’s devastating floods caused most of the damage in these areas.
“The draft report has been confined to papers only despite the State has suffered a lot on account of natural disasters like earthquakes, floods, droughts and avalanches owing to its peculiar topography, rugged terrain and extreme weather conditions,” an official said.
The SDMP report says the State has witnessed unplanned and ill-planned development practices leading to enhanced vulnerabilities to floods, and other man-made disasters. The report also mentioned how to minimize human suffering during disasters and reduction of financial losses through integration of disaster risk reduction activities into development planning.
“Lack of well-established institutional mechanism and techno-legal regime at the State level was leading to an unprofessional approach towards managing disasters,” the report states. The SDMP 2011 states that State Government shall constitute a Disaster Mitigation Fund at the State, divisional and district levels in accordance with the provisions of the DM Act, 2005, and shall give due priority to projects incorporating disaster risk mitigation measures.
It had suggested that resource mapping and inventorisation of existing equipment with all departments, agencies and stake holders shall be done within 3 months.
“Existing mechanisms for capacity-building shall be strengthened as well as provisions for establishment of new institutions shall be made where the existing mechanisms are found inadequate,” it said, adding, training shall be imparted to various departmental officials, implementing agencies, private sector, civil society organizations and community in activities related to disaster management at all levels – State, division, district, block, panchayat and village,” the report states.
It has recommended that there shall be Emergency Operation Centres (EOCs) in each district under State Disaster Management Authority, Divisional Disaster Management Authorities and District Disaster Management Authorities shall coordinate in pooling resources and synchronize the disaster response under the guidance of SDMA.
Essential facilities like hospitals, fire services, police, schools, water supply, bridges, flyovers and underpasses, electricity and grid stations, the report says, are critical in nature for post-disaster management.
The official said there was a dire need of strengthening the capacity of all institutions concerned with disaster management and the community in order to mitigate the impact of disasters and to meet the eventualities.
“The Government has abandoned the SDMP 2011 report and took no initiative in implementing the report even after series of disasters that hit J&K in the recent past, like 2005 earthquake in Uri, flashfloods in Ladakh and last month’s deluge in the Valley,” he said. Not only for people, the Government also failed to prepare departmental disaster management plans despite several reminders made to them in the past.
Trending Now
E-Paper
Follow our WhatsApp channel