ABOUT THE ISSUE Transformation: Initiatives Towards Resilience

southasiadisasters.net August 20172

ABOUT THE ISSUE

Transformation: Initiatives Towards Resilience

Can cutting edge innovations thatintegrate disaster risk reduction

with climate change adaptationtransform our views on risk from thestandpoint of individuals, institutionsand investments that shape resilience?

This issue of Southasiadisasters.netoffers an unusual range of suchexamples from India, prevalent notonly in this country but all acrossSouth Asia.

AIDMI's two decades of work in SouthAsia has shown that "Uncertainty" isan opportunity for transformation.Dr. Lyla Mehta of IDS, drawing fromher ongoing field work on ClimateChange, Uncertainty andTransformation in the desert of Kutchand delta areas of Sunderbans, hasoften mentioned that transformationis a bottom up process wheremarginal voices, more specificallypoor women's voices, are central. Thisissue also highlights an institutionaleffort in the desert of Kutch totransform the lives of the locals bythe Gujarat Institute of Desert Ecology(GUIDE), reported by Dr. V. VijayKumar and Dr. Anjan Kumar Prusty.

Risk is never insular, it is alwayscompounded by underlyingvulnerabilities, which if notaddressed in time can precipitate intodisasters. AIDMI has found this realityin over 23 evaluations and reviewsof risk and resilience projects in SouthAsia. Dr. Lars Otto of IDS, who is alsoworking on the Climate Change,Uncertainty and Transformationproject, opines that a way to approachtransformation is through landscapeanalysis which is a first step towardstransformation.

Dr. Aliza Pradhan and Dr. R.V.Bhavani from Chennai share M.S.Swaminathan Research Foundation's(MSSRF) work that shows that therisks faced in agriculture are linkedwith the risks faced in coastal areas.Agriculture and farmers are a key toany coastal transformation towards

resilience. Dr. Rajib Prakash Baruahfrom Assam State DisasterManagement Authority (ASDMA),Guwahati, shares a way to approachthe landscape of risk: mock drills.Such drills address a wide range ofrisks and measure the capacity of asystem to respond to their impact.

Through AIDMI's work in over 56cities it has been found that anytransformation of a city ismultidisciplinary by its very nature.Cities are many Things, many places,spread across different times. Allversions of the city co-exist incollaboration as well as in conflict.Dr. Parthsarthy of IIT, in his work onClimate Change, Uncertainty andTransformation in coastal areas aroundMumbai often argues that livelihoodsare central to making transformationbenefit the economy, ecology, andcities.

Dr. Nasir Javed, shares what does ittake to transform cities and theirlivability across Pakistan. Karachi ispicking up heatwave planning fromcities in India, but in the processKarachi is transforming both, the waycity is planned and the way risk isperceived in such planning. YolandeWright of DFID UK at a panel onFuture of Urban HumanitarianResponse at Royal Institute of BritishArchitects said in June 2017.

Shri Kamal Kishore, Member,National Disaster ManagementAuthority (NDMA), India, in hispreface to South Asia Disaster Report2016 of Duryog Nivaran underlinesBuilding Back Batter (BBB) as atransformative idea to be utilized forsustainable recovery andreconstruction. Bhavesh Sodagar fromMandvi shares with us the BBB inKutch after 2001 earthquake in acandid manner: what changed, whatdid not, and what can still change tomake Kutch resilient.

Shri Ramesh of Ministry of EarthScience has repeatedly indicated to

look at transformative processestaking place in the IndianMeteorological Department (IMD) interms of it reaching out to its datausers more directly, either duringdroughts or floods or heatwaves. Dr.M. Mohapatra, IMD details some ofthese achievements, and also theefforts that went into them. PeterWalton of Oxford University warnsus that institutions do not transformif there is no widespread awarenessof risk among all stakeholders. Thehigher the degree of awareness andarticulation of risk among thestakeholders, the more likely is theinstitutional transformation.

So how do we know if transformationis taking place? Or at least we are inthe direction of moving towardstransformation? One, when we listento local and bottom up voices withcare and respect; two, in cities, whenwe focus on livelihoods and jobs forthe majority of its people; three, whenestablished institutions reach out toits primary stakeholders; and four,when we do not look at the entirelandscape of risk instead of lone parts.

Transformation is by naturemultidisciplinary; by definition itcombines past with future in thepresent by operating simultaneouslyon different systems and concepts.Insurance, markets, and private sectorare some of the ingredients that canbe leveraged by the humanitariansystem to transform cities. We havemore data than we have ever had,which gives us an opportunity tocompare cities, communities, periodsand stages of recovery to maketransformation a reality.

Where will the sustained and effectivepush for such transformation comefrom? It will come from thethousands of innovations spawned byan empowered citizenry which hasachieved access to basic services andfrom a symbiotic growth of theeconomy and ecology.

- Mihir R. Bhatt


southasiadisasters.netAugust 2017 3

TRANSFORMATION FOR EARLY WARNING

Achievements of IMD in Heatwave Warning

Increasing scientific evidenceconfirms that anthropogenic

activities lead to changes in theglobal climate system. This includeswarmer temperatures, rising sealevels, and potentially morefrequent and severe extreme weatherevents including severe heatwaves,tropical storms, monsoonal heavyrainfall, flood, drought, etc. It hasbeen found that there is a significantwarming trend over India in annualmean temperature along withsignificant increasing trend duringdifferent seasons.

Climatologically March, April andMay are the summer months inIndia. Hot winds known as "loo" arethe marked feature of summers innorthern India. Extremely hotweather is common in India duringlate spring preceding the onset of themonsoon season in June. DuringApril, the temperature greater than38°C covers large parts of India witha small pocket of central Indiahaving temperature greater than40°C. During May, the maximumtemperature increases and exceeds40°C over large parts of Indiacovering north–western parts of thecountry extending towards the Indo–

Gangetic plain. During June, thoughthe monsoon currents cool thesouthern parts of the country, themaximum temperature remainsmore than 40°C in north–westernparts of the country. Duringsummer, most areas of Indiaexperience episodes of heat waves(HW). The new definitions used byIndia Meteorological Department(IMD) for heatwave for inland andcoastal stations are given in Table 1.

Using the definition of Heatwave[HW; Definition: When normalTmax of a station 40°C, 'HW' ifTmax departure is 4.6°C to 6.4°C andSevere HW (SHW) if Tmaxdeparture 6.5°C], Past studiesindicate that there is an increasingtrend in all India Heatwave Days.Many areas of West Rajasthan,Punjab, Haryana, northern parts ofEast Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh,Chhattisgarh, Vidarbha, westernUttarakhand, East Uttar Pradesh,western parts of Jharkhand & Bihar,Gangetic West Bengal, northern partsof Odisha, Telangana, CoastalAndhra Pradesh, eastern parts ofRayalaseema and north Tamil Naduon an average have experienced 8HW Days per year.

There are several meteorologicalconditions which can be responsiblefor severe Heatwave conditions overIndia. It includes (i) Stronger thannormal anticyclone leading tosubsidence of air, (ii) Clear skyconditions leading to high solarradiation, (iii) Hot air advectionfrom northwest of India, (iv)Formation of intense low pressuresystem over the Bay of Bengal andconsequently weakening the HighPressure Cell affecting moistureincursion over east coast, prevalenceof northwesterly wind and henceheatwave conditions, (v) Belownormal or subdued thunderstormactivity, (vi) Late setting or cuttingoff of sea breeze from coastalregions, (vii) Late arrival ofsouthwest monsoon in the region (inthe month of June).

IMD is constantly engaged inproviding forecast products andearly warning for hot weatherconditions at different spatial andtemporal scales. Since 2016, forecastson different time scale during the hotweather season (March to June)including heatwaves are beingissued by the India MeteorologicalDepartment for the first time. Atpresent the forecast is issued atdifferent time scales stating fromNow casting (few hour) at city level,short to medium range (up to 5 days)at district levels, extended range (upto 4 weeks) at meteorological sub-division level and long rangeforecast (seasonal outlook onmaximum temperature and heatwave) in sub-divisional scale. Therehas been significant improvement inheatwave warning up to 5 days leadperiod in recent two years with theintroduction of high resolution

Based on Departure of Tmaxfrom Normal

Heatwave (HW): Departure is4.5°C to 6.4°CSevere Heatwave (SHW):Departure is > 6.4°C

Based on Actual Tmax

Heatwave (HW): Actual Tmax 45°CSevere Heatwave (SHW): ActualTmax 47°C

Heatwave is considered if maximum temperature (Tmax) of a stationreaches at least 40°C or more for Plains, 37°C for coastal stations and atleast 30°C or more for Hilly regions.

Table 1: Present Criteria used by IMD for defining Heatwave


global model for short to mediumrange forecasting. Also there hasbeen significant improvement inextended range (up to two weeks)and season (up to 3 months) forecastof maximum temperature and heatwave in 2016 and 2017 with theintroduction of coupled ClimateForecasting System (CFS) model.

Daily a special bulletin is preparedindicating past heat conditions in thecountry and the forecast and warningon heatwave for next five days inboth text and graphics form. Thewarning on heatwave isdisseminated to general public anddisaster managers at national andstate level through IMD headquarterand state level Meteorological andRegional Meteorological Centres.For warning dissemination, a specialweb page has been created for thedissemination of heatwaveinformation from IMD website(www.imd.gov.in). The press andelectronic media are briefed twice a

day daily. The special press releaseon heatwave condition during nexttwo weeks is issued on weeklybasis. In addition, the heatwavebulletin is also issued to variousstakeholders like health, surfacetransport, municipal corporations,power sector, etc. by different offices.In 2017, it is also being disseminatedto medical practitioners throughIndia Medical Association.

This accurate and higher lead periodwarning on heatwave by IMD along

Fig. All India Heat Wave Days from 1961 to 2010.

with the preparedness and responsemeasures of state and central leveldisaster management agencies andmajor roles played by NGOs andpress and electronic media haveresulted in reduction in loss of lifeby almost 50% in 2016 compared to2017. Further, the death toll has beenrestricted to less than 100 in 2017summer season (by the end ofApril).

– Dr. M. Mohapatra, Scientist,India Meteorological Department,

New Delhi

TRANSFORMATION FOR SMART CITIES

Heatwave and Cities: How Karachi Leads

In June 2015, Karachi, known as the"City of Lights", was hit by a

scorching heatwave which tookmore than 1200 precious liveswithin 4–5 days. Though theinhabitants of Karachi are fairly usedto of higher temperatures, but in2015 temperatures in Karachi brokerecords for that city as the highestmaximum temperature during the2015 heatwave occurred on June 20,reaching 44.8oC1. But the notablephenomenon during the 2015 eventwas the high humidity, causing the

heat index to exceed ambienttemperatures by about 7o–12oC2 aswell as absence of relief period ofminimum temperature which didnot go below 30oC.

Totally unaware of suchphenomenon before and without anyplanning, about 15 MillionPopulation of this city was lookingfor rapid emergency response fromthe Government and otherorganisations. Being the strongesteconomic hub of Pakistan, this city

demands for immediate steps by theadministration, stakeholders andcommunity in order to streamlinethe system and respond effectivelyin case of any such event in future.

One of the biggest lessons learntfrom 2015 heatwave was that thereis a need of Heatwave ManagementPlan for the city. A project named,Supporting Karachi City inMitigation of Extreme Heat Impacts,was initiated by CDKN (Climateand Development Knowledge

1 "Chaudhry, "Technical Report on Karachi Heat Wave June 2015."2 "Herring, S. C., A. Hoell, M. P. Hoerling, J. P. Kossin, C. J. Schreck III, and P. A. Stott, Eds., 2016: Explaining Extreme

Events of 2015 from a Climate Perspective. Bull. Amer. Meteor. Soc., 97 (12), S1-S145.


Network) and executed by TheUrban Unit (Govt. of Punjab) incollaboration with ESSATechnologies (Canada). This projectfocuses on building support forKarachi Metropolitan Cooperation,other concerned departments andinstitutions by providing HeatwaveManagement Plan and an effectiveemergency response system forinformed decision-making andimplementation.

The Urban Unit has collectedbaseline data that has been convertedto GIS data sets, which helped in theassessment of risks in different partsof the city to determine vulnerableareas and designing appropriatemitigation measures. The HeatwaveManagement Plan for Karachi is inthe finalisation phase, having thefollowing features;• Consistent with international

good practices built uponregional cases.

• Materials for public awarenessand understanding of potentialimpacts of extreme heat andoptions to avoid or reduce theimpacts.

• Measures to address short termand long term effects,mitigation and preparedness tolower the severity of impact aswell as implementation ofactions to respond to extreme-heat events.

• Heat alert mechanism anddetailed response actions to beperformed by stakeholders ineach type of alert.

This project broadly focuses on thedevelopment of regional toolkit topromote uptake and replication ofheatwave management practices atthe regional level.

Heatwaves are the result of climaticchanges which results in loss ofhuman life and Karachi suffered

same damage in 2015 for the firsttime at a large scale. 2017 will bethe year in which Karachi will haveits own Heatwave ManagementPlan, and this experience of Karachiwill lead towards the establishmentof Heatwave Management Plans forother cities of Pakistan. ProvincialDisaster Management Authority(PDMA) Balochistan has alreadyexpressed their interest to conductthe studies and initiate preparationof Heatwave Management Plantaking Karachi as model. Quetta, Sibi,Naseerabad and Zhob Divisions inBalochistan are well known forhighest temperatures (48Co–50Co) inSummers and they call for similarattention.

– Dr. Nasir Javed, CEO,Dr. Kiran Farhan, Project Leader,

andNasira Ahsan, Senior Research

Analyst, Urban Unit Team,Lahore, Punjab Pakistan

A usual Summer day in Karachi. (Source: The Urban Unit)


TRANSFORMATION AND TECHNOLOGY

Role of GUIDE in Disasters, Natural ResourceManagement and Habitat ConservationGujarat Institute of Desert

Ecology (GUIDE), Bhuj-Kutchan autonomous research institutionin Gujarat, India has been workingon various ecological issues in dryland areas since 1995. With a multi-disciplinary team of researchers, itaims at accomplishing basic andapplied ecological issues concernedwith dry lands, land degradation,desertification, etc. Nevertheless, itsrole in studying other allied aspectsare also significant. Some of thethematic areas on which GUIDE hasprovided technical expertise and hasbeen partnering with different linedepartments in Government ofGujarat and Government of India aredescribed as below:

Land Degradation andDesertification: One of the mainfocus areas of GUIDE has beenstudying the process of landdegradation. Some of the earlierresearch works were examining theland degradation issues in Kutchregion and beyond. This providedinsights into the process ofdesertification, and thereby thefindings facilitated to undertakeintensive works on desertificationissues. The desertification issueswere based on multi-dimensionalaspects looking the natural resourcecapital in totality, wherein peopleand livelihood options wereconsidered holistically. Thus, variousstrategies were developed to combatthe process of desertification inKutch and nearby areas.

Grassland Restoration: With an aimof restoring degraded grasslands,GUIDE initiated multi-prongedactivities which facilitated improvedfodder availability, subsistenceeconomy, and overall progress ineconomic status of Maldhari

community. The restoration exercise,conducted at Banni grasslands inKutch district, involved applicationof soil amendments, manure,channelising effective water outflow,thereby improving the soil fertilityand restoring soil moisture levels indry seasons. The grasslanddevelopment programme was alsoaimed at providing required habitatsto various bustard species such asLesser Florican. Apart from theabove, an attempt was alsoundertaken to restore villageGauchar lands (CPLR) located in 132villages in the Kutch district.

Rann Reclamation: The arid Kutchregion has vast stretches of land thatare salt marsh habitats, but are oftenremain unusable due to the hyper-saline conditions. The Greater Rannof Kutch (GRK) and Little Rann ofKutch (LRK) covers an area of 23,310km2. However, for national securityissues, some of the Bytes wererequired to be made hospitable toenable the BSF soldiers to use it attimes of emergency. Thus, twomajor Bytes covering a total area of1740hs were reclaimed with the helpof financial assistance from MoRD,GoI, New Delhi. The exerciseinvolved, use of soil amendments,and sowing grass seed of the specieswhich are capable to grow underhyper–saline conditions.

Additionally, appropriate contourbunds were constructed to facilitatewater availability during post-monsoon season. This activity apartfrom developing green cover,enhanced the biodiversity of the areaconsiderably.

Water Resource Management: Aridzones required to be managed w.r.t.their water resources so as tofacilitate ecosystem functioning andprovisioning of ecosystem services.Thus, with financial assistance fromDistrict Watershed DevelopmentUnit (DWDU), GUIDE has beenundertaking various programmes tomanage water resources andfacilitate it's availability for thelivestock, human being and thewhole ecosystem. This exercise isbeing carried out in a phasedmanner. In total 20 watershedprojects were competed in Kutchcovering an area of 16,688 ha in 18villages and 3 watershed programmecovering an area of 17,761 ha is inprogress in 10 villages of Kutch. Thisexercise involved construction ofvarious structures such as farmbunds, earthen bunds, ponds, checkdams along with renovation anddeepening of existing ponds in thetarget villages. Further, at severallocations monitoring exercises werealso carried out to assess theeffectiveness of existing and


functional water resourcemanagement structures. Thewatershed programmes enhancedthe quality of land resources andsubsequently the socio-economicstatus of the project villages throughenhanced agricultural productivityand other alternative livelihoodsupports.

Mangrove RestorationEver since its inception, GUIDE, hasbeen constantly working on therestoration and reclamation ofmangroves along the coastal belt ofGujarat. Total 2000 ha mudflats werereclaimed through mangroveplantation activities with 80 per centsuccess rate. Proven scientificprinciple for site selection, seedtreatment and post plantationmanagement has been followed inorder to ensure that the plantedmangroves grow to dischargenatural ecosystem functions. Thoughmostly Avicennia marina has beenused as a candidate species, effortshave also been made to plant other

mangrove species in order toenhance mangrove biodiversity.

Further, in some areas plantationswere undertaken through the localcommunities which helped inenhancing their capacity building inpreparation and maintenance ofmangrove nursery, plantation, etc.

Climate Change Issues: Havingexecuted various action and researchoriented programmes, GUIDE alsoundertook several exercises toexamine the environmental changesunder changing climatic dimensions.Both vulnerability and adaptationwere the core issues in suchexercises. At the initial stage, Kutchregion was covered, and the sameexercises is planned to be scaled-upin other neighbouring districts andarid areas.

All these above-listed focal areas ledthis institution to carry outecosystem assessment studies in aholistic manner. This is likely to

facilitate sustainable natural resourcemanagement in arid zones in Kutchand beyond.

Disaster ManagementAs part of disaster management after2001 earthquake, GUIDE hasundertaken many investigations atthe policy and planning level whichincludes "Gujarat EarthquakeEmergency Relief ProjectEnvironmentally SoundManagement of Rubble and Debrisand Water Audits: Sources, Uses andChallenges", "Drought Proofingthrough Micro level Action Plan forsome selected village", "Kutch Sub -state Biodiversity Strategy ActionPlan - National Biodiversity StrategyAction Plan (NBSAP), India" and"Grassland Action Plan for KutchDistrict, Gujarat State. ReportSubmitted to: EnvironmentalPlanning Collaborative, Ahmedabadfor UNDP". – Dr. V. Vijay Kumar, Director, and

Dr. Anjankumar Prusty,Senior Scientist Gujarat Institute of

Desert Ecology, Bhuj-Kutch, Gujarat


TRANSFORMATIVE RECOVERY

Gujarat Long Term Recovery

In 2001, a destructive earthquakehit Gujarat, especially the Kutch

district very badly. The Earth shookfor almost two minutes killingthousands of people, razing entirebuildings and disruptinglivelihoods.

This devastating tragedy not onlyaffected Gujarat but it madeeveryone in India feel that there wasa dire need to upgrade the area ofDisaster Management. Military,police, religious organisations alongwith several national, internationalorganisations as well as individualsgot involved in the rescue and reliefoperations immediately.

The Gujarat Earthquake Recovery ishailed as one of the best recoveriesto learn from. Governmentannounced various schemes for thebenefit of the affected communitiesin terms of compensating the lossesincurred and imposed newconstruction norms as well as bettertown planning. The media played akey role in providing informationand awareness to the people on theirrights and on various governmentand NGO schemes which lead to afaster recovery in people's life.However, it is the willpower andcharacteristics of the local peoplewhich made them stand on their ownfeet so fast to build better cities andtowns.

It was Friday, 26th January, 2001 at8:46 hrs (Indian time) when theearthquake of magnitude 7.9 struckGujarat. The Kutch district of thestate was most severely impacted bythis disaster. Dust was everywhere,people running around in confusion,some crying in pain from the injuries

they sustained, others weeping fromthe loss of loved ones, some helpingothers out and some too stunned bythe suddenness of it all could onlysit on the streets to mutely stare atthe spectacle of death anddestruction. I also lost one of myaunts in the Earthquake.

Disaster don't discriminate amongthe poor, rich, men, women,children, old people and people withdisability. This disaster had reducedthe wealthy to abject poverty aswell, as for the already poor weren'tspared of its ire either. The survivorsof this catastrophe had immediateneeds such as first-aid, shelter, food,Psychological support, etc.

Emergency Situation and RecoveryRescue operation was started.Mainly it was done by theneighbouring people, IndianMilitary and some internationalorganisation (equipped with the bestof modern equipments). However,the, Indian Military played the major

role in saving lives while the policemaintained the law and ordersituation.

After the rescue there was animmediate need for First-Aid,Medical, food, shelter andpsychological support. Thegovernment immediately deputedthe medical doctors and nurses to theaffected area. Temporary hospitalswere also established by thegovernment. Government, manylocal and internationalhumanitarian organisations startedproviding medical facilitiesincluding shifting critically injuredpeople to the hospitals in metrocities. Within 24 hours, Indian RedCross Society with the support ofInternational Federation of RedCross and Red Crescents Societiesand its partners established anearthquake operation camp at LalanCollege compound wheretemporary hospital was establishedwith the support of national andinternational doctors and nurses.

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Including many, a hospital byBidada Survodaya Trust supportedthe earthquake victims in asignificant way. Victims who hadinjuries, were given treatment fromthe Trust, free of charge.Approximately, 30,000 patients weretreated by them and food andtemporary shelter was provided to200,000 earthquake affected people.They made the life of many injuredvictims by providing them withartificial limbs.

The government announced tax freeholidays and hence many industriesand new business slowlyestablished which has increasedbusiness, job opportunities and inturn, livelihood options. New townplanning has completely changedthe town and villages. As of today,because of new town planning rulesfor there have been significantimprovements in the infrastructure.The new town planning also hadsome reverse impact on few people

as their houses have become small,etc. Kutch University was establishedafter the earthquake and newcolleges such as medical,engineering, etc. were started, whichas a result contributed to theimproved education system. A stateof the art government medicalhospital was built which isconsidered to be one of the finesthospitals in India. The hospital isearthquake resistant. Today there aremany industries and improvementof sea port can be seen in Kutch.Many communities migrated fromthe remote places towards the townand now experience an improvedquality of life and livelihood.

There is also a case where anorganisation constructed a colonywith many row houses for affectedcommunities in a village but no onemoved in to that house as thosehouses were not accommodatingtheir needs. They were not accordingto their culture and custom. The

main reason was that the agencieswhich built these hospitals had notconsulted the locals, which in turnled to their non-popularity amongthe affected community. Thesehouses are still vacant today.

Overall recovery phase after thedisaster went very well due to thestrength of local people, the supportand contribution of government,religious organisations, national andinternational humanitarianorganisations. However there weremany cases of mismanagement andpeople not getting proper aid. After10 years I asked a person, what couldhave the government done better toassist the recovery effort. He replied,"we don't need a lot of help, ifgovernment or other organisationscan make us stand on our own feet,that's all. The rest we can manageon our own. This is really a powerfulstatement. – Bhavesh Sodagar, Mandvi - Kutch,

Gujarat

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TRANSFORMATION IN AGRICULTURE

Building Climate Resilient Communities inIndiaThe M S Swaminathan Research

Foundation (MSSRF)1 is a not-for-profit organisation set up in 1988to work for sustainable andequitable rural development. TheFoundation's approach is to harnessmodern science and technology toimprove the lives and livelihoods oftribal and rural communities.Towards this end, MSSRF undertakesparticipatory and anticipatoryresearch for sustainabledevelopment in partnership withlocal communities, leveragingsupport from other knowledge-based institutions and public andprivate sector organisations. Climatechange is a major cross cuttingtheme across all initiatives.Headquartered in Chennai, MSSRFworks in the States of Tamil Nadu,Kerala, Odisha, Andhra Pradesh,Telengana, Maharashtra, Karnatakaand the Union Territory ofPuducherry. Its work currently spans31 districts, 113 blocks and 452villages across the country, reachingout to nearly 2,00,000 households.

Adoption of climate-smartagriculture practices and soil healthmanagement is a major approachadopted to enhance the food andlivelihood security of farmhouseholds. While soil and waterconservation is an effective climateadaptation strategy, Integrated PestManagement and IntegratedNutrient Management reduces theuse of chemical fertilizers/pesticidesand thereby reduces the emission ofgreen-house gases like nitrous oxideand carbon dioxide. The Foundationhas developed training material tocreate a cadre of community level'Climate Risk Managers', who cancreate awareness about climate risksand adaptation measures. Researchat the laboratory level focuses ondeveloping crop varieties withresistance/tolerance to a biotic stressconditions including drought. ICT

Demonstrating feasibility of FSN approach in terms of increase in area andavailability of climate resilient nutrient dense crops. (Photo: FSN, LANSA)

1 http://www.mssrf.org/2 http://mssrf-fs-mksp.org/3 http://www.lansasouthasia.org/4 http://www.mssrf.org/?q=content/mssrf-

placed-2nd-global-waf-award-20145 http://www.chennaifirst.in/2014/05/30/

farmers-notebook-pulse-panchayat-gains-momentum-in-tamil-nadu/

tools are used to provide need-basedagro-advisories for horizontaldissemination of knowledge atscale. Women farmers groups inVidarbha, Maharashtra2 have beentrained on sustainable and climateresilient agriculture practices underthe programme for empowermentof women farmers: Mahila KisanSashaktikaran Pariyojana (MKSP).

Both millets and pulses are beingpromoted across Tamil Nadu,Odisha and Vidarbha as rain fed andclimate resilient crops, underdifferent initiatives. More recently,MSSRF has been working withsmall, marginal farmers in a clusterof villages in Wardha district,Maharashtra and in Koraput, Odishato demonstrate feasibility of aFarming System for Nutrition (FSN)approach to address malnutritionunder a research programme onLeveraging Agriculture for Nutritionin South Asia (LANSA).3

MSSRF has demonstrated effectivesoil health managementinterventions focusing onapplication of bio-inoculantsproduced by women self help groupmanaged eco-enterprises; enhancingsoil organic matter through organicinputs like vermin composting, and

enhancing soil carbon sequestrationby maintaining continuous plantcover, no tillage and fallow landconversion. It has implemented abio-industrial watershed programmein Tamil Nadu and Odisha; andpartnered in implementing a"ClimaAdapt" Project in the states ofTamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh andTelengana, focusing on water useefficiency in the context of climatechange.

NABARD has recognised MSSRF asa project partner in implementingAdaptation Fund projects ofUNFCCC and currently MSSRF isimplementing an Adaptation Fundproject in Andhra Pradesh. TheFoundation's work on sustainableand climate resilient agriculturepractices has been recognised atdifferent forums like the GlobalHumanitarian Water and FoodAward4 and GroundwaterAugmentation Award.5

– Dr. Aliza Pradhan andR. V. Bhavani, MSSRF, Chennai


TRANSFORMATION IN PREPAREDNESS

Harnessing the Strengths and Capabilities ofEmergency RespondersAssam, a state bestowed with

nature's priceless grandeur onone hand and on the other it getsmarred with the onslaughts of floodyear after year. Two major rivers ofAssam; Brahmaputra and Barakalong with their tributaries createflood havoc which brings damagesto life and property accompaniedwith unprecedented miseries to thepeople of Assam every year. Anextremely dynamic monsoon regimecombined with uniquephysiographic setting of the basinshas been considered as the singlemost important cause for frequentoccurrence of flood in the state.Assam also falls in the highestrainfall intensity zone in the country.There is a need for a comprehensiveplan for disaster preparedness andmitigation. Assam DisasterManagement Manual 2015 has a welllaid down procedure for floodmanagement but it is believed thatconduct of flood mock drill wouldhelp to identify the existing gapsand bringing role clarity among theresponders.

The Flood Mock drill wasconducted by Assam State DisasterManagement Authority (ASDMA) incollaboration with the DDMAs andRevenue Circles. The exercise wastwo days-long preparedness exercisewhich was conducted in 100Revenue Circles of 28 districts ofAssam in 2016–2017. The exercise hasbeen conducted in association witha number of government agenciesincluding Fire and ES, SDRF, Health

and FW Dept., PHE Department,A.H. and Veterinary, PWD (Roads),Agriculture Department, Food andCivil Supplies Civil DefenceVolunteers Social Welfare, HomeGuards and former defencepersonnel as enlisted with ZillaSainik Welfare Board and VillageLand Management and ConservationCommittee (VLMCC) members.

Procedure that was FollowedA half a day long trainingprogramme of the officials of theline departments on the Coordinationof response and managing relief operationwas conducted on the opening dayof the event. This training wasfocused on the effective Inter-agencycommunication/existing Guidelinesand norms on disastermanagement/protocol on floodresponse, coordination withinagencies and communication withthe media during any flood (as perAssam DM Manual 2015). Thetraining programme was followedby a Table–top exercise. Concernedgovernment officials like Healthofficials, Police Officials and CircleOfficers, SDRF, NDRF (if pre-Flood Mock Drill in Nalbari district, Assam.

Flood mock drill in Assam.


Editorial Advisors:

ALL INDIA DISASTER MITIGATION INSTITUTE411 Sakar Five, Behind Old Natraj Cinema, Near Mithakhali Railway Crossing, Ashram Road,Ahmedabad–380 009 India. Tele/Fax: +91-79-2658 2962E-mail: [email protected], Website: http://www.aidmi.org, www.southasiadisasters.net

Denis NkalaRegional Coordinator, South-South Cooperationand Country Support (Asia-Pacific), UnitedNations Development Programme, New York

Ian DavisVisiting Professor in Disaster Risk Management inCopenhagen, Lund, Kyoto and Oxford BrookesUniversities

Dr. John TwiggSenior Research Associate, Department of Civil,Environmental and Geomatic Engineering,University College London, London

Madhavi Malalgoda AriyabanduSub-Regional Coordinator, Central Asia & SouthCaucasus, United Nations Office for Disaster RiskReduction (UNISDR), Kazakhstan

Mihir R. BhattAll India Disaster Mitigation Institute, India

Dr. Satchit Balsari, MD, MPHThe University Hospital of Columbia and Cornell,New York, USA

T. Nanda KumarChairman, Institute of Rural Management Anand(IRMA), Anand, Gujarat, India

positioned in the district), Fire andPolice officials etc. practised thesimulated scenarios to identifyroadblocks in communication andexecution of flood response. Focuswas on the drill scheduled for thefollowing day.

A major evacuation and reliefoperation – simulation drill wasthen conducted on the second day.Village Land Management andConservation Committee (VLMCC)was consulted in selectingvolunteers and venues for the drillin each Village. In one of the floodprone villages of the Revenue Circle50-100 people was evacuated as a partof the field drill. At the start of theDrill, FLEWS (Flood Early WarningSystem) alert was disseminated to theCircle Officer. On receipt of the alert,he/she acted as per the SOP givenin the Assam DM Manual. A SafeShelter place /Relief Camp area wasalready set up in nearby availableplace. Every single vulnerableperson was evacuated by VDP toshelter place and was monitored bylocal evaluators. Relief Camp wasthen declared by the Revenue CircleOfficer and the Camp In-Charge

maintained records of relief campinmates and relief materialdistributed. Medical team was alsoplaced in relief camp. Social WelfareDepartment/Anganwadi workers,ASHA worker/PHE/ WRDepartment/A.H. and VeterinaryDepartment responded and providedservices in the relief camps. Afterthat, a debriefing session called"Hotwash" was conducted in the lastsession of the second day after thedrill.

This multi-disciplinary training andexercise was aimed to foster thedevelopment of skill sets focused onflood management system of theRevenue Circle. Besides, it gave anopportunity for various agencies towork together and practice a multi-disciplinary, coordinated response toa flood situation in the RevenueCircle.

– Rajib Prakash Baruah, AssamSecretariat, Dispur, Assam StateDisaster Management Authority

(ASDMA), Govt. of Assam

Documents

ABOUT THE ISSUE Transformation: Initiatives Towards Resilience