PREFACE People Led District Disaster Management oon after the Odisha Cyclone and increasing people's capacities to deal several agencies/departments in Sthe Gujarat earthquake, the with underlying social, cultural and Madhubani have shown willingness Government of India (GoI) prioritised physical factors. to incorporate prevention measures a national policy on disaster into their regulations, such as the management and advocated a change The key to successful disaster building codes which are used by of direction from a post-disaster management plans is to ensure the town planners to regulate the reactive approach to a proactive involvement of people who are the development of settlements. It was stance before the occurrence of victims, who are at risk, or could be encouraging to note the high level of disasters. The GoI also provided a potential victims. If this is not commitment from various new legal framework and promoted practiced it is often unsustainable, stakeholders to improving DRR the greater harmonisation of disaster costly and ineffective. Most DDMPs mechanisms. management efforts. The policy set in the country lack participation from forth principles (including the affected communities and civil Tearfund has been working along significance of community roles and society. A participatory community- with its partners to lobby active civil society participation), level disaster management approach governments at all levels for policies objectives (including emphasis on involves a cross-section of people in to facilitate the development of prevention, DRR and promoting the design and development process effective people-friendly plans. The regional and national cooperation), of the plan. When local people Madhubani DRR project implemented strategies and provisions for promoting develop these plans there is more by its partner organisation EFICOR inter-sectorial complementarities. interest, greater ownership and along with support from Sphere India understanding, resulting in the in 30 villages in Madhubani was The National Disaster Management successful reduction of suffering and instrumental in the development of Act 2005 mandated national, state and losses. The key principles of this a pilot District Disaster Management district authorities to develop approach thus are: Plan (DDMP). The strength of this policies, guidelines, and plans for the • Communities themselves are best pilot DDMP has been the process as it proper implementation of disaster placed to prioritise threats and take incorporates the involvement and management plans to reduce adverse effective risk-reducing actions. participation of all levels of impacts on communities and to • The best time to reduce the impact stakeholders, from communities to facilitate the timely and effective of disasters is before the next district/state/national government responses to disasters. It stressed the disaster occurs. Hence, preventive authorities. In view of the intensive inclusion of mitigation, actions should be an integral part involvement from all relevant preparedness, and DRR measures into of effective disaster management stakeholders, the pilot DDMP has development activities. As a result plans. received good response and State Disaster Management • The identification and mapping of acceptance from the NDMA and Authorities (SDMAs) in various states hazards along with who and what SDMA. This is considered as the first initiated the development of District may be affected is necessary before ever attempt in developing a DDMP Disaster Management Plans risk reduction plans can be made. which has been based on the active (DDMPs). However, some plans were • Progress has to be well-publicised involvement from first respondents merely a collection of contact phone to maintain interest and strengthen in natural disasters. numbers of important authorities and the culture of disaster reduction. departments from the district. There As mentioned above, the thrust of the were significant gaps in these An example of this is found in the DDMP is that it is being developed operational plans mainly due to the recent NDMA/SDMA collaboration involving affected communities. The non-availability of a standard with civil society to develop a approach has been bottom-up but at planning framework, lack of expertise community-led DDMP for the the same time inclusive of all relevant and dedicated resources. Lack of Madhubani district, Bihar. One of the stakeholders, be it government community participation and that of key highlights of the Madhubani departments or NGOs, at all stages of relevant stakeholders in the DDMP process is that though it is developing the plan. This is truly a preparation process also resulted in oriented towards response, it also plan developed by the people and for the lack of ownership among focuses on risk reduction and the people. This plan has also intended users and beneficiaries. prevention. Incidentally, prevention influenced many other civil societies has been recognised as an important to take up similar preparations for Disasters tend to happen to people at aspect of DDMPs and poverty other districts and states with the risk. People are at risk because they reduction strategies by the district support of the NDMA. are vulnerable to hazards. This and state disaster management – John Samuel, Country Program vulnerability can be best reduced by authorities. As a result of the DDMP Specialist for Tearfund UK. 2 southasiadisasters.net December 2012 MAKING DISTRICT DISASTER MANAGEMENT PLAN PROCESS Puri District Disaster Management Plan he conference location, just Dr. Kamal Lochan Mishra from the its development. He encouraged Twalking distance away from OSMDA mentioned the astonishing fact participants to give their suggestions Puri beach which has witnessed that the Odisha coast was the most hit (98 and one attendee, a traffic police tsunamis, floods and cyclones in times) by cyclones and tsunamis in the inspector, drew upon his own the past, was most appropriate to history of India for the period 1891-2000. experience to bring up the very start the process of developing Based on past trends, he made the important point that it is essential to Puri's District Disaster important observation that Puri district have fully dedicated people to manage Management Plan (DDMP). The may be affected 3 times in a season, i.e. the crisis response. round table conference conducted in the first week of July, the second week saw the District Collector of Puri, of August and the 4th week of September. Later on, a few NGOs that included Shri N.K. Nayak inaugurate the He said that a study showed that the Indo- the Society for Women Action conference and many other Burmese tectonic plates were weak and Development, Practical Action and stakeholders participate in it, could become a cause of another tsunami Save the Children gave presentations including Deputy Collectors, on the Odisha coast. Even the river which discussed their perspectives Tehsildars, BDOs (Block Mahandi had low capacity and that could and the work they had done which Development Officers), Dr. Kamal mean increased flood duration. Dr. can be used for this project. Lochan Mishra from the OSDMA Mishra also stated that when coastlines (Odisha State Disaster are hit by cyclones or tsunamis, orderly Finally, as the session drew to a close, Management Authority), Shri rehabilitation in 3 layers (0.5 km, 1 km, the District Collector of Puri said that Mihir R. Bhatt from AIDMI (All 1.5 km) based on the distances from the while involvement of field staff in India Disaster Mitigation sea is needed. It was mentioned that there planning processes would be Institute), and Shri Munish are 90 villages which fall within 2 kms of beneficial, there was a need to have Kaushik, from Cordaid. Some key the coastline and hence are extremely the right team of committed people international and local NGOs, as vulnerable. who showed interest to deliver when well as rural management the need was greatest. He called upon students, also were at the event. It Shri Mihir Bhatt from AIDMI stated that his team of BDOs to show more was convened by CENDERET, the DDMP initiative is the third of its kind sensitivity when addressing this XIMB. which emphasises community issue. participation in the planning phases. He – Jaya Krishna Behera, Coordinator, The District Collector, Shri N.K. gave an overview of the entire plan and Eastern Odisha Resource Centre (EORC) Nayak, in his inaugural speech what parameters they are looking at in XIMB-CENDERET - BBSR, Odisha talked about the widespread loss of life and property that disasters create and how disaster prevention has always been neglected. He said that while response mechanisms have improved considerably since the 1999 super- cyclone, a lot of work needs to be put into preparing a comprehensive disaster plan which includes better preparation and response mechanisms in accordance with the kind of technology that exists today. He pointed out that while we are pushed to take action in times of disasters, a lot more needs to be Roundtable conference on 'Making Inclusive DDMPs for Puri District'. done when there are no crises. Until unless specified all photographs of this publication are by AIDMI. December 2012 southasiadisasters.net 3 THEMATIC District Disaster Management Plan of West Champaran he Bihar Inter-Agency Group T(BIAG), along with the All India Disaster Mitigation Institute (AIDMI) and Caritas India, with the support of the District Disaster Management Authority (DDMA) will