‘Reducing disaster is everybody’s business’

[caption id="attachment_279297" align="alignnone" width="550"] Abhijit Sinha speaking at a programme in Kohima on Oct. 24. (EM Images)[/caption] Our Correspondent Kohima, Oct. 24 (EMN): The magnitude of disasters in Nagaland may not be massive compared to other major disasters around the world but understanding the issue and putting efforts towards reducing disasters should be everybody’s business, according to an official. "Finding out where the risks are coming from and understanding the strategies to address the risk is everybody’s business, to be safe", said Johnny Raungmei, officer on special duty (OSD) to Nagaland State Disaster Management Authority (NSDMA). He went on to add that “individuals, governments, businesses and decision makers cannot be strangers to disaster”. The officer was speaking at the NSDMA, Home Department's ‘capacity for the development programme of Nagaland Emergency Preparedness Exercise (NEPeX)' held on October 24 at ATI in Kohima. He felt that the development activities in Nagaland need to be redefined. Interventions should include a portfolio of investments to reduce and manage residual risk, he added. “Effective disaster risk management is cardinal to facilitate climate change adaptation and contributes to broader resilience,” Raungmei said. ‘The increase in the number of climate change induced disaster events indicates a reason to worry. Adaptation to climate change and response to climate change induced disaster for sustainable and exponential development of Nagaland is here,’ he added. Kazheto Kinimi, advisor to NSDMA, said that the main reason of NEPeX programme is to test the capability of the state’s response to any mega event or disaster that may affect the state at any point of time. The exercise is a yearly programme of NSDMA in collaboration with its line department and stakeholders. This year, the NEPeX will be conducting the exercise in every district on November 20. Disaster management has become a developmental issue all over the world and responding to a disaster event is everyone's responsibility, he said. “The mainstreaming of Disaster Risk Reduction (DRR) strategies into developmental planning of all the departments and stakeholder is imperative,” Kinimi added. The advisor said that NSDMA has undertaken major work towards making Nagaland more resilient to disasters since its establishment in 2011. He assured the works were done in accordance with the Disaster Management Act of 2005. NSDMA had established disaster management institutions in the state as well as the district and village level (Village Disaster Management Authority). It constituted the State Disaster Response Force (SDRF) with support from the Home Guard and Civil Defence departments. The authority also trained 2473 volunteers as community first responders. It has established extreme weather alert and early warning systems and developed synergies between emerging technologies towards DRR. It has provided immediate relief and restorations of damaged infrastructure by natural disasters. An ongoing multi-hazard microzonation for greater Dimapur in collaboration with the department of Geology and Mining and North East Institute of Science and Technology (NEIST) were some of the major works undertaken by the NSDMA. The advisor encouraged the department to prepare a ‘family disaster management plan’ so that even families in Nagaland will be prepared for any disaster. By doing it, he said, one can save lives and properties. Principal Secretary and Home Commissioner, Abhijit Sinha felt that disasters in the state may not be as big when compared with major disasters around the world. However, disasters in Nagaland are often scattered making it difficult to communicate; and making the disaster even more challenging. The officer said that the exercise will create a real-life situation. He also spoke about the impact of climate change in the state capital. Twenty years back, using fans and ACs in Kohima were not required; however, it is different now, he said. Lack of coordination and communication was one of the main drawbacks to disaster reduction, he said.  The commissioner directed the team to be prepared with the basic information and be prepared with resource and data. Such preparation, he said, will be able to reduce the disaster. A new web portal of the NSDMA was launched during the programme. Citizens can report any disaster incident directly through the portal and seek help. The website was developed by Ramietech Solution, a technology company based in Kohima.