AIM: Disaster management aims to reduce, or avoid the potential losses from hazards, assure prompt and appropriate assistance to victims of disaster, and achieve rapid and effective recovery. The Disaster management cycle illustrates the on-going process by which governments, businesses, and civil society plan for and reduce the impact of disasters, react during and immediately following a disaster, and take steps to recover after a disaster has occurred. Appropriate actions at all points in the cycle lead to greater preparedness, better warnings, reduced vulnerability or the prevention of disasters during the next iteration of the cycle. The complete disaster management cycle includes the shaping of public policies and plans that either modify the causes of disasters or mitigate their effects on people, property, and infrastructure.
The mitigation and preparedness phases occur as disaster management improvements are made in anticipation of a disaster event. In this phase disaster risk reduction is integrated into developmental plans and capacity building through training of all stakeholders and community is undertaken to effectively confront a disaster. During disasters, Government and humanitarian organizations become involved in the immediate response and long-term recovery phases. The four disaster management phases illustrated here do not always, or even generally, occur in isolation or in this precise order. Often phases of the cycle overlap and the length of each phase greatly depends on the severity of the disaster.
Mitigation -Minimizing the effects of disaster.
Examples: building codes and zoning; vulnerability analyses; public education.
Preparedness – Planning how to respond.
Examples: preparedness plans; emergency exercises/training; warning systems.
Response – Efforts to minimize the hazards created by a disaster.
Examples: search and rescue; emergency relief.
Recovery – Returning the community to normal.
Examples: temporary housing; grants; medical care
DDMA:
- Deputy Commissioner is the chairperson of the District disaster management authority
- The elected representatives of the local authority shall be co-chairperson of the office, provided that in tribal areas, as referred to in the sixth schedule to the constitution the chief executive member of the district council of autonomous district shall be the co-chairperson ex officio.
- The members of DDMA are Superintendent of Police, Chief Medical Officer (DHO), Chief Executive Officer – ZP, Additional Deputy Commissioner, Joint Director, Agriculture and Executive Engineer – ZP.
- The district authorities shall act as the district planning; coordinating and implanting body for disaster and take all measures for purpose of disasters management in the district in accordance with the guidelines laid down by the national and the state authority.
- Prepare a disaster management plan including district response plan for the district.
- Coordinate and monitor the implementation of the National policy, State policy, National plan, State plan and District plan.
- Ensure that the areas in the district vulnerable to disasters are identified and measures for the prevention of the disasters and the mitigation of its effects are undertaken by the departments of the government at the district level as well as by the local authorities.
- Ensure that the guidelines for the prevention of disaster, mitigation of its effects preparedness and response measures as laid down by the National authority and the state authority are followed by all departments of the Government at the district level and the local authorities in the district.