REVIEWING DISASTER MANAGEMENT CAPACITIES in BIHAR I N D I a Facilitating Humanitarianism
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REVIEWING DISASTER MANAGEMENT CAPACITIES IN BIHAR I N D I A Facilitating Humanitarianism This report has been compiled by Sheena Arora, Nishant Buragohain, Kaustubh Devale , Praveen Pawar and Aahna Srikanth of RedR India in March-April 2013, as a part of the review of Bihar’s Disaster Management capacities for the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. RedR India is a member of the RedR International federation, providing training, recruitment and advisory services for emergencies. A humanitarian and non-profit organization, RedR India maintains a register of experienced humanitarian professionals who are available to assist governments and external support agencies working in the humanitarian sector. The RedRs have a global reputation for the development and presentation of high quality training for the humanitarian aid sector and have offices in Australia, India, Malaysia, New Zealand, Sri Lanka and the United Kingdom. For more details on RedR India please visit www.redr.org.in Cover Photo: People in Khagaria district, Bihar, crossing the Bagmati River to reach Chheda Khera Panchayat. Layout: Ashok Nirgulkar Photo credits: RedR India October 2013 REVIEWING DISASTER MANAGEMENT CAPACITIES IN BIHAR Responding to emergencies effectively and efficiently over eight percent prone to floods, and 2.25 percent of requires strong national and local disaster management India’s Gross Domestic Product has been swept away by systems and emergency responders with the knowledge disasters. The numbers are stark. Constrained and information about the risks and hazards that they resources demand innovative thinking and risk-informed potentially face, the existing capacities of all actors; and planning so as to preemptively avert huge losses. the roles and responsibilities of the various stakeholders in a time of disaster. The Emergency Response team at Within India, the State of Bihar is highly prone to multi- the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation funded this study in hazards including floods, earthquakes, drought, an effort to support and assess emergency response monsoons, high wind velocity, cold waves and recurrent capacity at State, District and local levels in the disaster fires during summer months. In this context, we believe prone State of Bihar, India. Our aim is to share this that all actors in the region, both development and report with stakeholders to ensure that disaster humanitarian, should have access to knowledge and preparedness, response and management is efficient, concrete recommendations that will serve to increase effective and sustainable – ultimately resulting in a capacity to mitigate, prepare for and respond to various reduction of loss of lives and assets. threats and disasters across all levels. There is a mounting body of evidence that the frequency We hope that all stakeholders in Bihar will consider the and severity of disasters is increasing and leaving information in this report to ensure that planning efforts greater numbers of people vulnerable to their effects. In are risk-informed- properly addressing and 2012, the estimated economic losses from natural contextualizing emergency risks, integrating prevention, I disasters was USD $ 157 billion and surpassed the mitigation, preparedness, and response and recovery annual average damages from 2001 to 2010 by almost strategies into programming from the outset. ten percent (USD $ 143 billion) according to the Centre for Research on the Epidemiology of Disasters (CRED). CRED also reports that when assessing geographical distribution of disasters, Asia was the continent most Valerie Nkamgang Bemo often hit by natural disasters in 2012 - accounting for Senior Program Officer, Emergency Response 40.7 percent. According to UNDP’s vulnerability profile Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation of India, over 70 percent of the nearly 7,500-kilometre Amanda Lanzarone long coastline is prone to cyclones, 70 percent of the Associate Program Officer, Emergency Response land under cultivation is prone to drought, 60 percent of Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation India’s landmass is susceptible to earthquakes, FOREWORD We would like to thank the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation for commissioning the review of Bihar state’s disaster management capacities and for publishing this review report. This document has evolved due to the immense help and kind support extended by many individuals, organisations and communities in Bihar. We would like to extend our sincere gratitude to Mr. Vyasji Mishra, Principal Secretary DMD and Mr Anil K Sinha, Vice Chairperson BSDMA for their support and inputs towards the process. Dr. Gagan (OSD, Principal Secretary Health and formerly OSD in the DMD), Mr Sanjay Pandey (Convener, BIAG) and Mr Banku Bihari Sarkar (Senior State Coordinator- DRR, UNICEF Bihar) need special mention for their willingness to engage with our never ending questions and provide crucial insights. We would also like to thank Dr. D.K Mishra for taking time out of his busy schedule to share his invaluable experiences and counter perspective. Interactions with members of the BIAG were crucial at both the formative as well as final stages of the review, helping us understand their individual organisations as well as the disaster management community. Additionally, we would like to thank the entire range of stakeholders (government departments, quasi-government institutions, INGOs, NGOs, Civil Society and individuals) at the state, district and block levels who willingly engaged with us and whose insights were key in informing the report. iii Dr. ELSN Bala Prasad (Director General, BIPARD), Mr. Vishal Vaswani (BSDMA) and Mr. Sarbjit Singh Sahota (Emergency Specialist, DRR Section, UNICEF India) need special mention for their continued support and critical inputs. Th ‘Ananya’ teams in Delhi and Bihar helped us understand the project better, especially Indrajit Chaudhary in Patna and Sharad Chaturvedi and his team in Saharsa. We are grateful to the many communities and individuals in Begusarai, Darbhanga, Gaya, Gopalganj, Khagaria, Patna, Saharsa, Samastipur, Supaul, and West Champaran districts for their bottomless cups of chai (tea), their warm hospitality as well as their generous and honest sharing of experiences. Finally, we are grateful to the entire RedR India team for not only critically appreciating this review process but also for the logistics support and camaraderie throughout the nine months of this review. ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS FOREWORD I TABLE OF CONTENTS ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS iii 0 CONTENTS v LIST OF FIGURES AND TABLES vi ACRONYMS vii EXECUTIVE SUMMARY ix INTRODUCTION 1 BACKGROUND 2 1 THE REVIEW DESIGN 2 OVERVIEW OF THE STATE DISASTER MANAGEMENT PROFILE 7 STATE PROFILE 8 2 DISASTER RISK CONTEXT 10 FINDINGS AND ANALYSIS 13 POLICY ENVIRONMENT 16 3 ANALYSIS OF POLICY ENVIRONMENT 18 PEOPLE – THE DM ECOSYSTEM 25 ANALYSIS OF DM ECOSYSTEM 27 PROGRAMMES 30 ANALYSIS OF PROGRAMMES IN THE DM ECO-SYSTEM 32 PERFORMANCE 34 CRITICAL ANALYSIS - CATALYSTS AND BARRIERS 40 4 RECOMMENDATIONS 43 Figure 1: Framework of Analysis 3 Figure 2: Sample Selection Criteria 4 Figure 3: Key-informants for the review 5 Figure 4: Multi-hazard zones in Bihar 10 Figure 5: Disaster Management Context Timeline 15 Figure 6: The DM Ecosystem 26 Figure 7: On-going DM Programmes in Bihar 31 Figure 8: Performance Analysis 37 Table 1: Key Demographic Indicators of Bihar 8 Table 2: Status of Policy Instruments in Bihar 18 LIST OF FIGURES AND TABLES AWC Anganwadi Centre (Nutrition & early education related service provision centre at the community level as part of Integrated Child Development Scheme of Government of India) AWW Anganwadi Worker (Nutrition related service provider at the community level as part of the Integrated Child Development Scheme of Government of India) ANM Auxiliary Nurse Mid-Wife (Community level trained health service provider) ASHA Accredited Social Health Activist (Community level health animator) APHC Additional Primary Health Centre (health facility at a cluster of villages) BSDMA Bihar State Disaster Management Authority B-IAG Bihar Inter Agency Group BIPARD Bihar Institute for Public Administration and Rural Development (Government of Bihar, administrative training institute) BUDA Bihar Urban Development Agency BAPEPS Bihar Aapda (Disaster) Punarvasan (Rehabilitation) Evam (And) Punarvikas (Reconstruction) Society (An organization formed by the State government for the recovery work following the August 2008 'Kosi disaster') BDO Block Development Officer CBDRR Community Based Disaster Risk Reduction CO Circle Officer CDPO Child Development Project Officer (Block level official of the Social Welfare Department, Responsible for managing the ICDS programme in the block) vii CMG Crisis Management Group CP Contingency Plan CS Civil Surgeon (District level official of the Health Department) DAO District Agriculture Officer DAHO District Animal Husbandry Officer DDMA District Disaster Management Authority DDMP District Disaster Management Plan DHM District Health Manager DM Act Disaster Management Act 2005 DM Disaster Management DMD Disaster Management Department DPO District Project Officer DRR Disaster Risk Reduction ACRONYMS EOC Emergency Operations Centre EWS Early Warning System FMIS Flood Management Information System FMP Flood Management Plan GIS Geographic Information System GOB Government of Bihar GOI Government of India GP Gram Panchayat (decentralized governance unit of PRI at the village level) HSC Health Sub-Centre ICDS Integrated Child Development Scheme of Government of India (Flagship initiative of GOI since 1975