Davanagere District Disaster Management Plan CHAPTER –1 DISTRICT PROFILE - 1 - Davanagere District Disaster Management Plan 1. INTRODUCTION A great Maratha warrior by name Appaji Rao had rendered great service to Hyder Ali Khan in capturing Chitradurga fort. Hyder Ali Khan was very much pleased with Appaji Rao, who had made great sacrifices in the wars waged by him. Davanagere was handed over to Appaji Rao as a Jahagir. It was a very small village of about 500 houses in its perview. Appaji Rao had to toil for the upliftment of this area by inviting Maratha businessmen from neighbouring Maharastra. A large number of Marathas arrived at this place to carry on business in silk, brasserie and other materials. In due course, due to the incessant efforts of Appaji Rao, the Davanagere village grew into a city. Businessmen from neigbouring areas also migrated to try their fortunes in the growing city were successful beyond imagination in earning and shaping their future careers. These circumstances created an opportunity for the perennial growth of the town in modern days. The word ‘Davanager’ is derived from “Davanagere”, which means a rope in kannada language which was used for tying the horses by the villages. Around 1811 A.D., this area came to be called as ‘Davanagere’. Davanagere district occupies 12th place in Karnataka State with a population of 17,89,693 as per the general census of 2001. The following table demonstrates the block wise population of Davanagere district and the rate of literacy. The DDMP has been formed keeping in view of past experiences, suiting to the needs under the able leadership of Deputy Commissioner and in co-operation of all other departments and public at large. The officers at in district level have come in several meetings and gave their valuable suggestions and tackled the problems most efficiently in a short while period keeping in inter departmental co-operation. 2. MITIGATION PLAN All the Tahsildars have been inspired and instructed to form groups of Village Accountants, Revenue Inspectors, Deputy Tahsildars, wherever nodal officers are available and to identify the vulnerable areas and also to plan for the local publicity at the time of such incidents. The taluk level officers like Executive Officer, Asst. Executive Engineers, Block Educational Officers and all other departments are also asked to be in our team to provide necessary help to provide shelter, food, repairs of roads, culverts, etc., wherever required. Karnataka - 2 - Davanagere District Disaster Management Plan Electricity Board Staff, Medical Staff and Municipality or Panchayath Staff has been asked to extend their services, within their limits. Almost all the social workers, NGOs and the likeminded people have been asked to provide their services in times of need. All the officers were kept in touch with the DDM Heads, both in taluk and district level. Police, Home guards were kept in red alert especially in project areas and on river banks. And also to identify the places where rehabilitation camps are to be opened, facilities to provide drinking water, food providing facility and areas available resources are to be identified. Medical facilities, NGO assistance, maintenance of cattle, open space for all their activities are also to be kept in mind in identifying the mitigation plan. The slum areas, the people living in low line areas, backwater level areas were kept in mind, and high alert and wide publicity arrangements were also made. 3. RESPONSE PLAN Officers of all the departments have weekly meeting to discuss with the inter departmental plans to share each other and also to eradicate the difficulties that they are facing in the field level. Local engineers of PWD, PRED, have been asked to be in red alert to assess the damage and to immediate repair/alternate arrangements in their area without waiting for procedural aspects. Logistics arrangements for rescue operation has been discussed, including animal care, management of the deceased have been discussed. 4. RECOVERY AND RECONSTRUCTION PLAN Municipal authorities, Gram Panchayath, Town Panchayath Officials were asked to keep an eye view of buildings and to take precaution care of such weak buildings, to keep up the bad drainage works repaired and to identify the risk oriented infrastructure. All the PWD, PRED officers were asked to be in the red alert. 5. STAND AND OPERATING PROCEDURES AND CHECKLISTS Information team is kept in high alert in Deputy Commissioner’s office to assist all around 24 hours. Search and rescue teams, Emergency Health Management Team, Relief Team (food, feed, fodder and civil supplies), transportation management Team, etc., have been made headed by the evaluation situation. Nodal Officers have been authorized to release the funds to the victims at their level only, to save time, assess the needy and to overcome the situation. This process has given courage and leadership to the officers to face the situation at their work spot only. Periodical meetings were held to know the situation and to keep in red alert. - 3 - Davanagere District Disaster Management Plan This has also been clarified to the nodal officers to bring it to the knowledge of DDM, the plan rescue operations they have held and to mitigate effectively. Media and information officers were in touch with the DDM to highlight the various information from public to well from DDM and inter nation plans were also made to assess the situation. DAVANGERE DISTRICT AT A GLACE Origin of the Name: Davanagere district carved out of the erstwhile three districts namely Chitradurga, Shimoga and Bellary derives its name from DEVANAGARI.* Davanagere is one of THIRTY districts of Karnataka state. With creation of the new district on 15th August 1997 with Davanagere as its headquarters the district was given the name of the headquarters town called DAVANAGERE. Location: A unique district located in the central part of northern Karnataka lies between 13.5’ and 14 .50’ north latitudinal parallels and 75.30’ and 76.30’ east longitudinal parallels. The district is bounded by five districts namely Haveri and Shimoga on the west, Bellary on the north, Chitradurga on the east, Davanagere district is a newly formed district, which came into existence during 1997 by including backward taluks from other three districts viz. Chitradurga, Shimoga and Bellary. Year of formation of district 1997 Geographical Area 5975.97 Sq. Km Average Rainfall 656.9 mm Latitude 14 N-15 N Longitude 75 5 E- 76 5 E Altitude (Mtr.MSL) 584.302 Distance from State Capital (Kms) 260 No. Of Taluks 6 No.of Hoblies 24 No. of Revenue Villages(census 923 2001) No.of Habitations 1334 No.of Grama Panchayaths 230 - 4 - Davanagere District Disaster Management Plan DAVANAGERE DISTRICT Geographical area (ha) 597597(3.13%) Forest Area. (ha.) 89918 Cultivated area. (Ha.) 460772 Fallow land (ha) 56004 Rain fall (mm) Average 656.9 mm Irrigated Area/net sown area. (ha) 157098 (36%) Expenditure on irrigation during the Last 10 years (ZP) (Rs. 167.74 lakhs) Watersheds Identified: 9 Area treated & under treatment : 6284 ha Expenditure on Watershed development in lakhs (10 years) 3345.93 Major crops and their productivity (kgs/hectare) 1334 Fertilizer consumption (kg/Ha) (2003-04) 179 Average size of land holdings(2000-01)(ha) 1.96 No. of B.P.L. families/total No. of families (lakhs) 1.426 / 3.24 Per capita income.(Current price) Rs 14056 Agriculture laborers (% to total working population) 34.57 Unemployment rate(Educated unemployed) 3.74 Agriculture and Major and secondary occupation Trade Iron ore 23350 Major mineral resources & annual production (MT) Manganese ore 6787 Total Road length (incld. CADA & Municipality) kms 5593 Railways (Kms) 59.13 No.of telephones installed (per 1000 population) 24.87 No of electrified villages. 918 (100 %) - 5 - Davanagere District Disaster Management Plan DAVANAGERE COMPARISION WITH STATE OF KARNATAKA Davanagere district occupies 12th place in Karnataka State with a population of 17,89,693 as per the general census of 2001. The following table demonstrates the block wise population of Davanagere district and the rate of literacy. Table showing the blockwise population along with the rate of literacy of Davangere District. Sl. NAME OF THE POPULATION LITERACY RATE No. BLOCK Male Female Total Male Female Total in in % in % % 1 Channagiri 149840 142522 292362 74.97 57.53 66.46 2 Davanagere 309214 292451 601665 81.18 66.44 74.02 3 Harihara 137683 131037 268720 77.9 60.81 69.57 4 Harapanahalli 126178 119449 245627 66.93 44.72 56.11 5 Honnali 113500 108990 222490 76.98 56.45 66.92 6 Jagaluru 80905 77924 158829 73.8 51.68 62.95 Total 917320 872373 1789693 76.44 58.45 67.67 Source: General census 2001. It is obvious from the above table that the total population of the district is 17,89,693. The table also reflects upon the literacy rate of the district. The literacy rate of male is higher than that of female. Our district is the 7th most literate districts in Karnataka with a literacy rate of 67.67% as against state literacy rate of 67.04%. There has been a phenomenal growth of education soon after a new district was conceived in the year November 1997. At present, there is a steady growth in the number of primary and - 6 - Davanagere District Disaster Management Plan secondary schools. It is notable that the private management have also a considerable role to play in meeting the needs of ever growing population. Bapuji Education Association, Sri Taralabalu Jagadguru Education Association, Saint Paul’s Missionary etc., are few of them to be mentioned. In recent days SC/ST and backward class management have also evinced keen enthusiasm to cater to the educational needs of rural population.