The floods that ravaged Uttarkhand killing thousands and rendering millions homeless could have been prevented if the villagers and pilgrims had prior knowledge about disaster management and knew what to look for when stuck in such a situation.
"lack of dissemination of information often aggravate the crisis and this exactly happened in Uttarakhand. If villagers knew what to expect during heavy rains, they could have helped themselves as well as the pilgrims who were caught unawares in Kedar valley during the flash floods caused by cloud burst," said Chief Convener of Pt Govind Ballabh Pant Institute of Studies in Rural Development, Dr SP Pandey.
Dr Pandey’s team had carried out a study of Uttarakhand in 2012 to know the preparedness of the state in the face of natural disaster. The study titled "Communication requirement for Disaster management in Uttarakhand" pointed out that despite the government having disaster management plans these were seldom taken to the village level.
"The villagers did not know what to expect at the time of crisis. They were forced to act as per their instinct – which more often than not - led them to disaster," Dr Pandey
said.
Uttarakhand - a newly created state, has a large chunk of geographical area falling under the Himalayan eco-system and is hilly. Earthquake, flash floods, land slides, forest fire and road accidents are occurring frequently in different parts of the state. These natural disasters cause severe loss of property and human lives.
"Community awareness and sensitization as well as developing capacity building programmes require information seeking behaviour regarding prevention and
mitigation of disasters as well as disaster response - rescue, relief distribution, rehabilitation and reconstruction of disaster victims and affected areas," the study said.
The study mainly covered natural disasters - earthquake, land slides and flash floods.
The study said that community members suggested that early warning system has to be set up and strengthened for effective information dissemination regarding these natural
calamities. The locals were interested in materials in local language so that they could enhance their understanding and knowledge on various issues and dimensions of disaster management.
During the disasters, ham radio and community radio are the only effective means of communication as the other sources are supposed to be disrupted by disasters. "The helpline service is likely to be effective in providing required information during post-disaster for relief distribution, rehabilitation and reconstruction of the disaster affected areas," the study said. It was found that villagers and urban dwellers have not
been taught to combat disasters. Thus, most locals reported that they lack information about prevention, mitigation, disaster response and rehabilitation.
"During interatction, villagers said that the government representatives, police, government officials, religious leaders and school teachers are suitable people to provide information during disasters," the study said. It added that
villagers said they would require information about relief camps, food, clothes and first aid, transport facility, safe place and news regarding their kin at the time of disasters.