As natural disasters have become commonplace, the need of the hour is to have skilled manpower and proper infrastructure in place so that casualties can be reduced. Nikhil Dawar tells you more
According to a report released by World Bank, India loses 2 per cent of its GDP and 12 per cent of Central Government revenues every year due to disaster relief measures. The report also stated that around 44 per cent posts in the district emergency operations cells were lying vacant at the district level. Yet, nothing seems to have been done about it.
More than 50 per cent of India’s landmass is prone to earthquakes of varying density, 16 per cent to drought, 12 per cent to floods, 8 per cent to Tsunamis and 3 per cent to landslides. After 1999, there has been paradigm shift from disaster relief to disaster preparation and preparedness. All these facts show that a large number of disaster managers are required to deal with the upcoming horror of devastation.
Dr Chandan Ghosh, head, geo-hazard risk management division, National Institute of Disaster Management, though there is enough scope in the disaster management field, the biggest challenge is to get skilled manpower. “We lack expertise and strategic planners. On a population of 120 crore, you won’t find more than 10 people having expertise in this field.”
Agrees Professor Pradyut Bhattacharya, dean, school of environment management, Guru Gobind Singh Indraprastha University.
“Most of the urbanisation which is taking place in India is without planning, making it disaster prone. There is lack of specialised professionals for this field.
There will be a need of 1.2 lakh professionals in the coming years. Also, Government alone can’t address the whole issue. There should be public private partnership to provide better disaster management facilities and infrastructure,” Bhattacharya tells you.
Courses offered
From short term vocational courses like flood, landslide risk management, preparing village disaster plans, chemical disaster management and geo-informatics applications to full time masters and PhD courses for research work, aplenty of courses are offered in this field. “The programmes are not just meant for training people for disaster management but also spread awareness on how to deal in time of crisis. Face to face training is conducted for senior and middle level Government officials whereas the web based training is a comprehensive and specialised course for everybody in partnership with World Bank,” Dr Satendra, executive director, National Institute of Disaster Management(NIDM) tells you.
The lack of skilled professionals in this field also exists because handling disasters requires a multi-disciplinary approach and special skills which are acquired over a long period of time.
“The Government has now set eyes on pre-disaster issues like prevention, mitigation and preparedness. The main challenges with the Government now is to ensure that disaster risk reduction is both a national and local priority along with strong institutional basis for implementation, enable to identify risks and enhance early warning and, lastly, to build a culture of safety and resilience through knowledge, innovation and education,” Dr Ghosh says.
JOB PROFIlE
Apart from disaster managers, there is a lot of scope for professionals to make specialisation in research, consultancy, documentation, training organiser, field training and mock drill experts.
“People tend to associate disaster management with helping others in rescuing and saving lives. But this is a very wide term which includes teaching, research, consultancy, documentation, training organiser, field training and mock drill experts. The demand for disaster management professionals also exists in the corporate sector. Every bank has a special disaster management team. Before approving the insurance or loan of a customer, they check whether the property is not coming under the risk of disaster prone area,” Swapnil Bora (24) who holds a masters degree in disaster management and works with a leading Multinational Bank, tells you .
Remuneration
Freshers can get from Rs8,000 to Rs10,000 per month (pm) which can go up to Rs15,000 and Rs20,000 pm. A well experienced candidate can earn up to Rs1,50,000 pm.
Where to study
· Jamsetji Tata Centre for Disaster Management, Tata Institute of Social Sciences, Mumbai
· Centre of Excellence in Disaster Mitigation & Management, IIT, Roorkee
· Guru Govind Singh Indraprastha University
· Centre for Disaster Management, Rajasthan
· National Institute of Disaster Management, Delhi.