UNIT-IV

COPING WITH DISASTER

Disaster relief work can be very rewarding. It provides an opportunity to have a profound and positive impact on the lives of those who may be in their greatest time of need. However, the work can also be very challenging and stressful. During an assignment, you may experience chaotic environments, long hours, rapidly changing information and directives, long wait times before getting to work and living quarters that are less than ideal. You may also be exposed to unfamiliar and graphic sights, smells and sounds of destruction. Many volunteers will provide services to survivors who are overwhelmed. The decision whether to go on a disaster assignment should be carefully considered. Is this the right time for you and your family? Remember, there will always be other opportunities to help.

Getting Ready to Deploy

1. Gather information about conditions at the disaster operation, so you can bring appropriate clothing and supplies.

2. Make sure your supply of personal medications is sufficient to last several days beyond the expected length of your deployment, so that an unexpected delay in your return would be covered.

3. Make arrangements with your employer and arrange for the care of dependent family members and pets.

4. Complete all the necessary deployment paperwork at your chapter. Check the toll-free deployment phone line for updates immediately before departing, and again upon arrival at your destination

5. Provide your family with your chapter phone number, so they will be able to access support and emergency communication services while you are deployed.

Building Resilience (Coping With Disaster)

Successfully managing the challenges of disaster relief work requires taking care of yourself before, during, and after your assignment. The good news is that we all have resilience—ways to help us bounce back after difficult times—even in the face of our greatest challenges. Disasters can bring forth strong emotions, even among very experienced workers, and during the course of a deployment such reactions will vary. Workers may experience strong feelings of frustration, disappointment, sadness, anger and fear, as well as memory slips and insomnia. Fortunately, such reactions are usually balanced by feelings of excitement, pride, joy, satisfaction and friendship. Focusing on these positives is one way of practicing resilience.

Below are some resilience strategies that can help you manage stress reactions while on assignment.

1. Stay Safe. The NDRF (National Disaster Response Force) is committed to maintaining a safe work environment for its workers. Be sure to attend all work orientations and briefings and follow all safety precautions and guidelines. If you have any concerns, talk with your supervisor. Knowing that you have done everything you can to stay safe can also help you

relax and focus on your work. We’re all part of a team, so you can also help by keeping an eye out for the safety of others.

2. Prioritize Your Work. Disaster relief efforts create pressure to accomplish much in a short amount of time. Work with your supervisor to prioritize tasks and set achievable goals. Keep focused on what you are accomplishing, and do not let what remains to be done overwhelm or discourage you.

3. Make Self-Care Your First Priority. Disaster survivors are best served when you stay strong and energized. Try to get enough sleep. Take breaks, don’t work through your assigned day off, eat healthy foods, drink plenty of water and make efforts to manage your stress. Exercise and stretching are great stress relievers. Keep in mind that excessive or high-risk behaviors such as drug and alcohol abuse can complicate an already challenging situation. Assert yourself and ask for help if you are uncomfortable with an aspect of your work or surroundings.

4. Stay Connected. One of the best ways to stay positive is by connecting with other workers. We experience a common bond because of our shared mission. If you are inexperienced, partnering with someone else can be especially helpful. You will no doubt find ways of being of assistance to your “disaster buddy,” too! For many workers, staying in touch with family and friends also serves as a means of support. Calling home each day has helped many workers release their daily stress. By sharing your ups and downs and showing appreciation for those who listen, you both stay connected and provide support to one another

5. Maintain a Hopeful Outlook. Regularly remind yourself of what you are accomplishing: providing for the emergency needs of survivors, and helping them along their path toward recovery. Destruction and despair may be present in the moment, but so is the spark of hope—that human thread that connects us all. Many people are being helped, and progress is being made.

6. Manage Work Relationships Professionally. While on assignment, you will participate with teams of other workers and supervisors that you may have never met. This can be exciting, but may also present challenges. Everyone has their own style of working and communicating. Some of these styles will feel comfortable, while others may feel irritating. In addition, you may not receive your preferred job assignment. You might have different ideas about how things should be done. Every disaster worker experiences these thoughts or feelings at some point. Keeping the larger disaster mission foremost in your mind can help you cope constructively with these challenges Be patient, tolerant and flexible with your teammates. Communicate calmly, and remember to focus more on solutions than pointing fingers.

7. Use Calming Strategies. Consider the usual strategies you use to relax or calm yourself, and how they might be helpful while on assignment. For example, some people like to tell a joke, have a good laugh, give someone a hug, exercise or take a walk around the block. Taking periodic breaks away from stressful surroundings can help you ”catch your breath.” Get a snack when you are hungry and drink plenty of water. If your situation begins feeling tense, slow down and take a few deep breaths. Notice which of your muscles are tight, and stretch and release them, exhaling slowly as you do so. Finally, listen to your thoughts. If

you find yourself feeling especially stressed, frustrated or pessimistic, focus more on the positive actions that you and others are taking right now that are helping others. Remember that Disaster Mental Health workers will be there to support the NDRF team.

8. Watch for Training Opportunities. Feeling confident about your disaster work skills can contribute to your sense of strength and resilience. Some operations offer training in new skills. Working alongside experienced workers and supervisors on a disaster assignment also serves as an excellent training opportunity. Watch for such opportunities, and take advantage of them when possible.

The NDRF could not accomplish its disaster mission without your gifts of time and compassion. By taking care of yourself and building on your resilience, you will be able to provide the support that disaster survivors need for the future.

Major Requirements for Coping with Disaster

The major requirements for coping with disaster, especially in terms of:

• Organization, • planning, • use of resources, • specialist skills, and • training needs.

In assessing the scale of organizational, planning, and other measures which need to be undertaken to deal with disaster, it is useful to bear in mind the range of responsibilities and tasks that are likely to arise.

For instance: • providing and disseminating warning; • search and rescue; • surveying, assessing, and reporting disaster effects; • treating and caring of victims; • clearing debris and rehabilitating roads, airfields, railway systems, ports, and other key areas; • providing emergency food and water supplies; • providing shelter; • evacuating individuals, groups, and communities, and livestock; • providing health and sanitation measures; • restoring essential services such as communications, water and power supply; • directing and coordinating counter-disaster measures; • informing and advising the public; • financially assisting victims immediately; • maintaining public morale; • counseling victims and relatives; • controlling and distributing emergency supplies; • liaising with the media; • rehabilitating crops, production, and other aspects of subsistence and livelihood; • emergency building programs; • measures for long-term recovery; and • applying emergency regulations

The scope and variety of these tasks underline the need for a carefully organized and systematic approach to all aspects of disaster management. Ad hoc measures, even if based on long experience and traditional action, are likely inadequate, although obviously they can make a useful contribution.

The Philosophy for Coping with Disaster

Before the requirements for coping with disaster can be determined and adequately met, it is essential to bear in mind the simple but nonetheless important philosophy which is involved. This is that disaster can have wide-ranging effects on a country, its government, and its people. Therefore, the primary responsibility for coping with disaster must rest with government. Government is responsible to the people for meeting the needs created by disaster, in the same

way that it is responsible for other aspects of national life. However, a government may, and usually does, need help from NGOs, the private sector, general public and, in many cases, from its international development partners also.

This being so, it is government organization and resources that necessarily have to bear the brunt of counter-disaster action. Further, when government departments and agencies (including emergency services) have to deal with disaster, they invariably have to accept a considerable additional workload. Moreover, they usually have to function under pressure and in cooperation with a variety of other agencies (government or otherwise). A further point is that disaster produces some needs that may not be covered by normal government organization such as mass feeding.

This is why, in essence, a disaster management system is needed. But —and this is important—the disaster management system does not control other government departments; it does not tell those departments how to do their jobs. The main function of the disaster management system is to ensure that at all times, and as far as possible, the resources and operations of these government departments and, as appropriate, NGOs are coordinated to produce the best possible counter-disaster effort.

In sum, therefore, the simple philosophy for coping with disaster is one of government and people working together in a coordinated way via a coherent disaster management system.

Foundation Factors

Before the major requirements for coping with disaster can be established, it is essential that certain basic or foundation factors should be effectively covered.

These include: • an understanding of the significance of disaster, especially at key levels throughout the government structure; • a clear assessment of the disaster threat; and • an effective disaster management policy.These are fundamental to the requirements of organization, planning, resource utilization, and training.

Organization

Some people have difficulty in understanding what exactly comprises a disaster management organization or system. It may be useful, therefore, to state some things that such an organization does not do.• It does not duplicate normal government organization.• It does not act independently of government.• It does not control other government departments.• It does not act outside the charter or terms of reference given to it by government, except perhaps in cases of extreme urgency.

Planning

The need for counter-disaster plans is sometimes questioned. Proponents of this view take the attitude that disaster will occur whether we like it or not. Therefore, it is better to let nature take its course, then use all available means of assistance to build a better tomorrow. However, the vast majority of international experience indicates that where plans did not exist, or where

planning was inadequate, then the effects of disaster on countries and their peoples have been worse than would have otherwise been the case.

There can be little doubt that an effective basis of planning and the maintenance of relevant plans does offer the following advantages: • clear and coherent approach to dealing with disaster; • common reference for all departments and authorities which have roles in counter-disaster activity; • basis for coordinated action; • clear allocation of responsibilities; • focus for disaster-related training; and • setting against which to review and evaluate current and future disaster management requirements.

There are, of course, pitfalls in the planning field. Plans must be reviewed and revised as necessary so that they are fully updated. Indeed, it is true that an unrevised and outmoded plan may cause more trouble than no plan at all.

It is relatively easy— given a specific set of circumstances—to produce a counter-disaster plan, put it in an attractive cover, and circulate it to all concerned. However, this can amount to little or nothing more than a useless front or facade. Because if the system which is necessary to implement the plan is not fully effective, then, quite simply, the plan will not work. In other words, if there is lack of necessary funding, personnel, equipment, facilities, systems, training support, lack of a clear national policy, expertise and so on, the plan becomes nominalistic; that is, a plan in name only. So what is very much needed in planning is realism, not nominalism.

Another planning pitfall concerns what is often called “moving the goalposts.” This usually takes the form of major changes to government policy, structure, or organization. The result is that the plan no longer fits the realities of the situation that must therefore be amended; otherwise, serious problems will arise.

Several other areas of planning can prove critical when plans are implemented in response to a disaster event. They include the following: • crisis pressure which arises from disaster impact; • effect of disaster impact on the organizational structure; • deficiencies in the information management system; • inadequacy of planning for post-impact survey, assessment, and reporting; • allocation of tasks to resource organizations; and • coordination of counter-disaster effort.

Use of Resources

One most difficult problem in disaster management is to achieve the optimum use of available resources. Difficulties tend to arise for some or all of the following reasons: • counter-disaster planning has been inadequate; • all potential resources have not been identified during the planning process; • resource organizations have not been accurately assessed in terms of their capability, availability, and durability; • allocating tasks to resource organizations has been inaccurate or inappropriate; • resource organizations are not sufficiently skilled in carrying out allotted tasks; • some resources may be destroyed or put out of action by disaster impact; lays may occur in the availability and application of resources, also due to disaster impact; • resource

organizations have had insufficient practice in their disaster roles, especially in coordinating their activities with those of other resource organizations; • system for directing the use of resource organizations, especially for coordinating their activities, is inadequate; • inadequate and/or inaccurate information may lead to ineffective deployment and use of resources; and • poor direction of resources may result in duplication or gaps in disaster-response activities.

The resources which are used to deal with disaster situations tend to be a mixture—sometimes a complex one—of: • government departments and agencies (sometimes including military forces); • NGOs; • community individuals and groups; and • international teams or volunteers.

During the planning process, it may not have been possible to accurately envisage the nature of some of these resources: for example, international volunteer teams. Therefore, the direction/coordination authority in charge of response operations may face problems in optimally utilizing all resources.

An important management proviso in all these circumstances is to correctly use the management systems within individual resource organizations. Certainly, the direction/coordination authority should, for example, tell a public works department what tasks need to be carried out such as for debris clearance, opening of roads, etc.) and what priorities should be given to these tasks. However, the direction/coordination authority should not try to tell public works how to carry out such tasks; this is essentially a matter for the department’s own management.

If this management proviso is strictly observed, then: • there will be no confusion between the management role of the direction/coordination authority and that of the resource organization; • there is unlikely to be conflict of management; • tasks will be carried out accurately and efficiently; and • overall effectiveness of response operations will be maintained at optimum level.

However, the scope of disaster-related action indicates that a multiplicity of skills is necessary if disaster management is to be effective. While most of these skills are likely to exist within various organizations and the community, they may be insufficient in strength and numbers to cope with disaster, especially on a large scale. This may particularly apply to the following:• search and rescue; • survey, assessment, and reporting; • first aid; • mobile medical teams; • evacuation; • emergency welfare (e.g., mass feeding programs); • emergency shelter (e.g., erection of tentage, emergency building repairs); • emergency logistics; • staffing of EOCs, including mobile ones; and • information management.

In this connection, the need for developing the leadership skills of team leaders/managers should be borne in mind.

Training Needs

Moving into the more general training field, it is self-evident that trained personnel constitute a key component in effective disaster management. By contrast, unskilled and untrained disaster

operatives can well be a menace to themselves and to other people, as the following examples indicate:

• Following an explosion in a building, the situation was made more difficult and complex than it was originally by unskilled people attempting to save lives. There was no clearly identifiable search and rescue coordinator on-site and this—coupled with the unskilled effort—resulted in an unsystematic search and rescue pattern. For, instance, when some would-be rescuers moved planks, bricks, and other debris to one part of the rescue site, others almost immediately moved them back again. The resultant inefficiency of the total search and rescue effort was blatantly obvious.

• An unskilled person attempting to fight a serious outbreak of fire as part of a volunteer team, almost immediately became a casualty himself. Not realizing the fire-prone nature of the synthetic clothing that he was wearing, he himself was set afire. Thus, not only did the volunteer team lose a valuable member, it also had a casualty who had to be given urgent first-aid attention. • A wrong decision—obviously based on lack of disaster management knowledge and skill—resulted in a large number of people being sheltered from a cyclone in buildings that were structurally inadequate. More than 40 people died when the buildings collapsed. Unfortunately, many other similar examples serve as reminders of the dangers arising from inadequate knowledge and training.

International experience indicates that important policy considerations need to be applied to disaster management training. They are as follows: • Nations should identify their own training needs and frame their individual policies accordingly. To take examples from other countries or academic sources, and try to apply them as exact “blueprints,” is unlikely to prove satisfactory. • Training programs must be designed to be compatible with and support disaster plans. • Responsibility for training must be clearly defined in national policy statements and counter-disaster plans.

One important first step in establishing training policies and programs is to identify clearly the scope of training activity required. This is best done by closely examining the following: • national disaster management policy; • the overall disaster management structure, through all levels; • all relevant plans including, for instance, those of individual government departments and NGOs; • requirements for public education and awareness with which training programs need to be compatible; and • other relevant sources of information (e.g., comparison with overseas training programs).

Once the scope of necessary training activity has been defined, it should be translated into a training policy. This is best done in the form of a simple policy document that clearly sets out the following: • major training consideration (see paragraph 27); • aim of training policy; • responsibility for implementing a training policy; • scope of training to be carried out (e.g., disaster management areas to be covered and levels at which programs will be implemented; • process for reviewing and updating training programs; and • periodic issue (annually or

otherwise) of training programs. In framing and implementing a training policy, it must be borne in mind that training is a dynamic activity which is susceptible to changing requirements. For instance, in a given training program, the need for some activities will diminish, while the need for other activities will arise. Consequently, assessing the training pattern annually is usually worth carrying out so that programs are kept compatible with realistic training needs.

For most countries, it is appropriate to implement a twofold training, as follows:

• In-country training -This should essentially address domestic training needs in accordance with national policy and its selected programs. Such training should use in-country resources to the best possible extent. It should usually comprise a variety of activities such as seminars, workshops, courses, exercises, etc.

• International training International training is usually designed to broaden the knowledge of key disaster management officials, mainly through the interchange of views, ideas, and experience which it provides. It should be regarded as an important adjunct to in-country training but not as a substitute for the latter.

COPING STRATEGIES/ADJUSTMENT or ADAPTATION STRATEGIES

Coping Definition

It has been stated that 'coping' is the manner in which people act within existing resources and the range of expectations of a situation to achieve various ends. For them, this involves no more than 'managing resources' in unusual, abnormal, and adverse situations.

Coping strategies refer to a set of measures taken by the communities for obtaining resources in time of adversity and disaster. They are based on their experience, social structures, resources and their capacities to combine them. Coping strategies are often complex and involve a number of sequenced mechanisms we will refer to in the text as “coping mechanisms”. They can include preparation, mitigation, and response or rehabilitation measures.

Coping strategies are often transmitted from generation to generation within communities and households. They depend on the assumption that reoccurring disasters “will follow a familiar pattern, and that people's earlier actions will be a reasonable guide for similar events”. However, coping strategies are not static and linear. Under the change of their internal and external environment, communities and households have developed progressively different livelihood patterns and subsequently the community coping methods evolve over periods of time to suit the local socioeconomic, cultural and political environment best. “Strong external influence may act, often inadvertently, to break up internal coping mechanisms and their effectiveness53”. Over time strategies which formerly served people well come under a variety of pressures, which reduce their range and efficacy (reduced family ties, population pressure, change in agricultural modes of production, negative influences of the market, etc.). Eventually indigenous coping mechanisms may be undermined or weakened, increasing vulnerability. New or emerging

hazards may be unfamiliar to communities. In adverse and uncertain conditions people have to adopt mechanisms or makeshift mitigation measures at the local level, which often prove to be totally inadequate against the characteristics or the magnitude of the hazard faced. Coping mechanisms, in those un-common crises, are often aimed to respond to the immediate effects of disaster. The coping mechanisms are focussed on short term and targeted beneficiaries while undermining the basis of the livelihood in the long run without the actors being aware of the potential negative impact on existing resources and the social environment.

There are a variety of different conceptual frameworks which have been used to categorise and analyse coping strategies

1. Structural Mechanisms

In order to cope prior, during and after an adverse event, individuals and groups call on a variety of formal and non-formal structures and relationships to mobilize resources and to help them through the difficult time. Coping mechanisms seen in this way have been classified by Margaret Kieffer (1977) as either internal or external and include social units, religious institutions, political organizations and economic systems.

2. Functional Mechanisms

Although a variety of strategies are adopted, sometimes simultaneously to cope before, during and after a disaster, disaster management literature generally attempts to categorise different strategies according to broad function: - Preventive strategies, or mitigation strategies, which aim to reduce the adverse effect of a hazard on a community or to avoid disaster from happening (by avoiding hazardous locations and time, evading seasonal disease vectors, choosing a safe location for a house). - Impact-minimizing strategies, or preparedness strategies, which seek to minimize loss and facilitate recovery (i.e., improve access to a minimum level of food, shelter, diversification of access to resources such as non-agricultural income sources, strengthening a social support network) - Post event strategies or response, are the mechanisms put into practice to address the immediate needs of the family. - Recovery strategies will ensure temporary and permanent reconstruction and rehabilitation.

3. Sequential Mechanisms

Based on their experiences and their level of vulnerabilities and capacities, communities mobilize diverse resources to face disasters following a set of sequences. They tend to adopt strategies in the first instance, which secure the sustainability of their livelihood as much as possible. People would rather eat less than to be forced to sell their assets (livestock, tools, etc.), which undermine their livelihood on the long term. However, when the magnitude of a hazard impact is beyond the capacity of the community to cope, some mechanisms become inadequate. The real crisis emerges when vulnerable communities shift from reversible to non-reversible strategies which cut into their long-term options and future ability to respond to hazard.

Peter Walker has identified four distinct stages in coping mechanisms:

Stage 1 mechanisms are based on the capacities people rely on just before and in order to respond to an emergency; the aim of these strategies is to minimize the loss of life and property.

Stage 2 encompasses the strategies people employ to overcome normal seasonal stress. They are all reversible and none affect people's main source of livelihood. The stage 2 strategies include: short term dietary changes, eating less expensive and less preferred food, diversification and shift crops, temporary migration for work and sale of non-essential possessions.

Stage 3 is reached if stress is prolonged. The strategies employed focus on short-term gains at the risk of creating long-term problems. This stage undermines the basis of people’s means of livelihood by reducing their assets and creating modes of behaviour, which differ extensively from normal routines. The strategies at this stage include sale of essential livestock (working animals), consumption of seed for next cropping season, taking paid labour which might interfere with farming and domestic work, change in gender roles and responsibilities, out migration by both men and women and prostitution.

Stage 4 mechanisms are the final strategies adopted when all else has failed. The affected people can resort to extreme measures such as raiding warehouses, permanent out-migration of whole families, and reliance upon emergency food aid, abandoning children, begging and stealing food.

The four main factors influencing people’s coping mechanisms are the locally prevailing hazards, people’s physical and material resources, their social and organizational capacities and people’s motivations and attitudes.

• Local hazards are the main hazards occurring in and around a community, threatening the livelihood of the population.

• Physical and material resources of the population are for example: human resources, skills and practice, productive resources, financial resources, location, infrastructure and buildings.

• Social and organizational capacities of the population are for example relations among the local population, organizational abilities, support mechanisms, and social coherence, decision-making process, conflict resolution capacity, management capacity.

• Social and organizational vulnerabilities of the population, such as lack of organizational abilities, support mechanisms, and social coherence, decision-making process, conflict resolution capacity, management capacity.

• Motivations and attitudes of the population are for example people’s beliefs and values, levels of education and awareness on disasters, levels of self-reliance.

The research on people’s coping mechanisms will be linked to the four stages of the disaster management cycle, which are relief, recovery, mitigation, and preparedness. This will provide an opportunity to examine how the factors influencing people’s coping change over time. This is important, as experience has shown that that the levels of resources, motivation and social cohesion in a community may considerably change when comparing the situation before, during and after a disaster. Consequently, also people’s coping mechanisms vary at different stages of the disaster management cycle.

Forms of coping

Knowledge of how vulnerable people respond to a threat is essential. Outside interventions can then be built on these strategies. Natural hazards are not new and people have been living in hazard-prone areas for centuries – in some cases for thousands of years. They have, inevitably, devised their own methods for protecting themselves and their livelihoods. These methods are based on their own skills and resources, as well as their experiences. Their knowledge systems, skills and technologies are usually referred to under the heading of ‘indigenous knowledge’. There are now many studies of this in particular contexts. There are also some useful more general discussions, which this chapter draws on.1 The application of indigenous knowledge in the face of hazards and other threats is referred to as a ‘coping mechanism’ or ‘coping strategy’ (also sometimes known as an ‘adjustment’ mechanism or strategy, and in some circumstances as a ‘survival’ strategy). The choice of skills and resources to be applied varies according to the nature of the hazard threat, the capacities available to deal with it, and to a variety of community and individual priorities that can change during the course of a disaster. Indigenous knowledge is wide-ranging. It includes technical expertise in seed selection and house-building, knowing where to find certain wild foods, economic knowledge of where to buy or sell essential items or find paid work, and knowledge of whom to call upon for assistance. People’s resources also include labour, land, tools, seeds, food stocks, animals, cash, jewellery and other items of value. These can be used up, bought, sold, or requested by calling upon obligations from family, kin, friends or neighbours, according to circumstances. The enthusiasm for sophisticated technological methods of overcoming disasters has led specialists to overlook and undervalue the effectiveness of local coping strategies and technologies. Conventional wisdom in disaster management pays little attention to local knowledge as a basis for prevention and mitigation.

Now, although there is a better appreciation of their merits in some quarters, they are still under-utilised by agencies, including many NGOs. Coping strategies have been studied most in the case of food security, drought and famine, where disaster specialists have come to appreciate their value. This came about in part from recognition that agencies’ orthodox approaches to fighting famine were less than fully effective in Africa in the mid-1980s. Strategies for coping with other natural hazards have not received so much attention, but there is a growing body of evidence to demonstrate the value of these and the circumstances that affect their adoption. It is important for development and relief/recovery workers to appreciate the extent of such indigenous skills and practices, and to build upon them as far as possible in order to maximise their value. This approach helps to make communities partners in the risk management process. It can also be costeffective because it reduces the need for expensive external interventions. It is more likely to lead to sustainable projects, because the work is based on local expertise and resources. Old skills, knowledge and technologies are not inherently inadequate. New technical approaches are not automatically superior. This lesson has now been learnt by many in the development arena, notably in agricultural and food security work, although it has taken many years. However, the opposite, romantic, trap of assuming that the older ways are always better than the modern must also be avoided. Instead, one must look for what is appropriate in given conditions.

It is possible to develop quite complex systems for categorising coping strategies and indigenous knowledge. For operational purposes, a simpler typology should be sufficient.2 This divides coping strategies into four broad categories:

This divides coping strategies into four broad categories:

• economic/material; • technological; • social/organisational; and • cultural.

Most coping strategies involve elements of all of these, so the typology should not be used artificially to place particular strategies under particular headings. Rather, field workers should regard it as a framework for viewing coping strategies and indigenous knowledge as a whole, thereby ensuring that key elements are not overlooked. It is also important to remember that coping mechanisms are often used in sequence to respond to different stages of adversity or crisis.

1. Economic/material

One of the principal elements in this category is economic diversification. Having more than one source of income (or food) is invaluable during times of stress, when some economic activities become impossible. Members of a rural household engaged in agriculture may undertake other work, such as making and selling handicrafts, carpentry, building or blacksmithing. With urbanisation and globalisation, a growing number of rural communities are coming to depend on cash remittances from family members who have gone to work in towns and cities, or even in other countries. Vulnerable households try to store up a ‘buffer’ of food, grain, livestock and cash that they can draw on in difficult times. During periods of food shortage, they will eat food

of poorer quality or eat less food, and look for ‘wild foods’, such as seeds, nuts, roots and berries. If a crisis becomes acute, they will begin to sell their assets, but sale of livelihood assets (e.g. animals, tools, seeds for planting next year’s crop or even land) is seen as a last resort. Even having a large family can be seen as part of an economic coping strategy because it gives a household additional labour. Savings and credit schemes are often an important component of economic coping strategies.

2. Technological

This category is quite broad, including land management systems as well as what is more usually thought of as technology, such as building materials and construction methods. Management of land for food production is an important element. Poor farmers, especially those working marginal or drought-prone lands, prefer mixed cropping, intercropping, kitchen gardens and other practices that reduce the risk of poor harvests by widening the range of individual crops grown. Traditional seed varieties are selected for drought or flood resistance, and for particular locations. Alternative crops may be kept in reserve to plant where others are ruined by floods. Pesticides made from local plants are applied to crops.

3. Social/organisational

This heading includes indigenous organisations that provide support in countering disasters: kinship networks, mutual aid and self-help groups. Systems of mutual rights and obligations are part of every household and community’s social structure, forming what is sometimes called a ‘moral economy’. People who are suffering – from shortage of food for instance – often call upon kin, neighbours, or patrons for help. Labour and food sharing during crises is standard in many societies. Work parties (mingas) are called up by certain indigenous communities in Latin America to rebuild after floods. The family is a fundamental social mechanism for reducing risk. Extended kin relations are networks for exchange, mutual assistance and social contact. In times of stress, relatives living outside the immediate community can become particularly important. For instance, some families living on islands in Bangladesh’s Jamuna River try to marry their children into families on the mainland so that they will have somewhere to move to should they lose their homes to erosion when the river changes course. Disaster-affected people may also appeal to the wider community for charity. In many communities, gifts or alms are expected at times of hardship.

4. Cultural

Cultural factors include risk perception and religious views, which are frequently connected. Understanding how people view risk is particularly important. The accumulation and application of knowledge are directed by vulnerable people’s perceptions of the risks they face. As we have seen, vulnerability is made up of multiple risks, not just the threat of hazards. Risk perceptions will vary greatly between and within communities according to culture, experience and (for poor people especially) the pressure to secure their livelihood. It is very difficult to gain understanding

of local views of risk. Simply asking questions about how risk is perceived does not always produce useful insights, because outsiders and local communities are likely to think about and describe risk in very different ways. It is often more constructive to talk to communities about what they do to manage a particular hazard than to discuss risks in general, provided that the full range of risks facing a community is covered in this way. But even this method is likely to miss a great deal. By spending long periods in communities, talking about and observing their daily lives, anthropologists can sometimes acquire a good understanding of the subject. Observation is valuable, as people’s statements of their views can sometimes give a misleading impression of their actual risk perception and risk-avoiding behaviour. There is a common assumption among disaster management professionals that many people are fatalistic, regarding disasters as acts of God that cannot be prevented. In many cases, this may not be true. Statements of belief in divine power are not incompatible with taking actions to reduce risk.

Limitations of coping strategies

Coping strategies and indigenous knowledge are important in reducing risk. But like any knowledge system, they have their strengths and weaknesses in different contexts and at different times. Local knowledge, skills and coping strategies must be assessed rationally and scientifically on the basis of their effectiveness. This is not a debate between indigenous/traditional and external/scientific/modern systems in themselves, but a question of finding the most appropriate approach for each situation. For example, in farming systems work, the value of local knowledge (of crops, soils, food preservation, climate, and protection against pests) is now widely recognised, and successful projects build on this. Similarly, local knowledge of indicators of drought and famine is now used effectively as a component of some famine early-warning systems. Research on communities living by the Jamuna River in Bangladesh has revealed the extent, complexity and robustness of indigenous understanding of the river and its behaviour. However, geological mapping and monitoring are needed to identify fault lines and areas liable to seismic activity – local knowledge cannot manage this. Scientific monitoring and forecasting of cyclones offer a far more reliable basis for planning evacuation than local understanding of precursors. It is also unrealistic to expect indigenous strategies to be able to cope with extreme events. A massive earthquake will overwhelm most indigenous construction techniques, for example, just as repeated years of drought will exhaust communities’ food and cash reserves, while social support structures can break down under the pressure of the struggle for scarce resources. Traditional coping mechanisms may also be inadequate for events that were not anticipated, and of which there is no previous experience, such as the HIV/AIDS epidemic.

Household Coping Strategies

Coping strategies or mechanisms are implemented by households to address the problems they face related to natural disasters. Coping strategies are defined as the choices that households make to manage natural disasters which can be divided into ex-ante and ex-post. Adaptation

strategies, on the other hand, are defined as adjustments in the behavior and characteristics of a system, such as a household, that enhance its ability to cope with external stresses, such as a natural disaster. To a significant extent, therefore, coping strategies and adaptation strategies are similar. A framework which describes four types of coping behaviour in a crisis: reactive, anticipatory, preventive, and proactive, and precautionary, defined as follow:

a) Reactive coping - is as an effort to deal with an on-going crisis or one that has already happened. In this case, since the crisis has already taken place, coping efforts aim to either compensate for loss or alleviate harm.

b) Anticipatory coping - is as an effort to deal with an imminent threat. Thus, the person has to manage this perceived risk, either by solving the actual problem through increased effort, getting help and investing resources, or by redefining the situation as less threatening through distraction or reassurance from others.

c) Preventive coping - is an effort to build up general resistance resources that result in less strain in the future (minimizing the severity of the impact of potential distress) and an overall reduced risk of the crisis.

d) Proactive coping - is an effort to build up general resources that facilitate promotion toward challenging goals. In proactive coping, people have a vision. They see risks, demands, and opportunities in the far future, but they do not appraise these as threats, harm, or loss but as challenges.

Another framework for analysing coping mechanisms of households was presented by Patnaik and Narayanan (2010) which categorizes coping strategies as ex-ante and ex-post. Ex-post strategies may include adaptive behavior such as dissaving, borrowing, and sale of assets. On the other hand, ex‐ante strategies may include income diversification (or crop diversification in rural areas) and insurance. Still another framework for understanding coping strategies employed by households in the face of natural disasters is by classifying them into three types, namely, as risk reducing (exante), self-insurance, and risk sharing.

DISASTER MANAGEMENT PLAN

For meeting the emergencies caused by major accidents, planning response strategies are termed as Disaster Management Plans (DMPs). DMPs cannot be considered in isolation or act as a substitute for maintaining good safety standards in a plant. The best way to protect against major accidents occurrence is by maintaining very high levels of safety standards.

Generally, the following five phases are involved in an emergency:

· Discovery and Notification: An event with an imminent threat of turning into an accident must first be discovered and the discoverer quickly notifies the same to the plant safety officer.

· Evaluation and Accident Control Initiation: Based on the evaluation of available information, the safety officer makes a rapid assessment of the severity of the likely accident and initiates the best course of action.

· Containment and Counter Measures: Action is first taken to contain and control the accident by eliminating the causes which may lead to the spread of accident. Measures are also taken to minimize the damage to personnel, property and environment.

· Cleanup and Disposal: After the accident is effectively contained and controlled, the cleanup of the site of the accident and safe disposal of waste generated due to the accident are undertaken.

· Documentation: All aspects of accidents, including the way it started and progressed as well as the steps taken to contain and the extent of the damage and injury, must be documented for subsequent analysis of accident for prevention in future, damage estimation, insurance recovery and compensation payment. It may be noted that some aspects of documentation, such as, photographs of the site of accident and main objects involved in the accident, survey for damage estimation, etc. may have to be carried out before the cleanup and disposal phase. However, the effort in all cases is to recommence the operation as soon as possible.

EMERGENCY CLASSIFICATION

Severity of accident and its likely impact area will determine the level of emergency and the disaster management plan required for appropriate handling of an emergency. Emergency levels and the action needed for each level are indicated below:

Level 1 Emergency A local accident with a likely impact only to immediate surroundings of accident site, such as, local fires and limited release of inflammable material. The impact distance may not be more than 15 m from the site of primary accident and may require evacuation of the building/area where accident occurred and utmost the adjacent building/area.

Level 2 Emergency A major accident with potential threats to life and property upto 500 m distance requiring the evacuation of all personnel from the threatened area except the emergency response personnel. Larger fires, release of large quantities of inflammable materials may belong to emergency level 2.

Level 3 Emergency An accident involving a very serious hazard and with likely impact area extending beyond 500 m from the operational area, that is, drilling area limits, such as, major fire, very large release of inflammable material. Major fires will usually have the triggering effect resulting in the propagation of explosion. In a level 3 emergency, evacuation of population in villages, if any, adjoining the operational area may sometime become necessary if threatened area extend to populated village area adjoining the site of the primary accident in a direction of maximum impact.

On-site Disaster Management Plan (DMP) will meet the hazards created due to all Level 1 emergencies and most of the Level 2 emergencies. In addition to on-site DMP, off-site DMP may also have to be put into operation for some Level 2 and all Level 3 emergencies.

INDUSTRIAL DISASTER MANAGEMENT CONTINGENCY PLAN

The objectives of the plan are:-

a. To ensure a timely, efficient and effective response to prevent, control and combat Industrial Disasters.

b. To develop an efficient mechanism for the detection and reporting of Industrial Disasters.

c. To ensure correct assessment of the nature of incident.

d. To encourage co-operation amongst various national stakeholders for adoption, implementation and enforcing of an effective plan.

e. To ensure that correct response techniques are employed to prevent, control and combat Industrial Disasters.

f. To strengthen the capacities of the stakeholders and to facilitate cooperation and coordination amongst them to effectively handle Industrial Disasters.

g. To facilitate information exchange, resource sharing, joint exercises and training of various stakeholders' teams responsible for combating Industrial Disasters.

h. To prevent and mitigate the damages caused by Industrial Disasters and where possible to restore the situation within available resources.

i. To evolve procedures for co-operation at national and international level to effectively respond to major Industrial Disasters

k. To ensure perception management through proactive media.

What is Emergency?

A major emergency can be defined as an accident/incident that has potential to cause serious injuries or loss of life. It may cause extensive damage to property, serious disruption both in production and working of factory and may adversely effect the environment. The following factors may cause major emergency:-

(i) Plant failure. (ii) Human error. (iii) Vehicle crash. (iv) Sabotage. (v) Earthquake. (vi) Natural Calamities. (vii) Fire

On-site Emergency

If an accident/incident takes place in a factory, its effects are confined to the factory premises, involving only the personss working in the factory and the property inside the factory it is called as On-site Emergency.

Off-site Emergency

If the accident is such that its affects inside the factory are uncontrollable and it may spread outside the factory premises, it is called as Off-site Emergency.

ROLE OF MEDIA IN DISASTER MANAGEMENT

The disasters are both natural and man-made. But the root causes of some of the seemingly natural disasters may also be certain human activities carried on in utter disregard of their consequences to the nature. Such natural disasters are also therefore preventable. Since all man-made disasters and some of the so called natural disasters are preventable, the media can educate and forewarn the people about the consequences of their dangerous actions and operations. More and in-depth education on the subject becomes necessary where the human activities and the natural calamities they lead to, are separated by a period of time. In such cases, though the casual connection is direct, since the consequences occur at a distant point of time, the people fail to appreciate the link between the two and continue to indulge in their depredations on nature, digging in turn sometimes slowly, sometimes fast, a grave for humanity.The floods, droughts and water famine situations are many times directly traceable to the human activity, while drainage mismanagement and air and water-pollution, environmental destruction and global warming are all clearly on account of the man’s misdeeds. Some excavations and destruction of forests are responsible for landslides and mudflows, while according to some experts some earthquakes are caused by the construction of the large dams and by impounding large quantities of water in them. The dam failures, dam bursts, mine fires, epidemics, food poisoning, chemical and industrial disasters, nuclear disasters and all accident related disasters are undoubtedly the handiwork of man.The impending occurrence of some natural disasters whether induced by the Man’ actions or otherwise, can now be known sufficiently in advance, thanks to the advances in science and technology. The media, by communicating the information to the people and the concerned

authorities sufficiently in advance, can enable them to take the necessary steps to prevent and minimize the losses of lives and property.While the disaster is on, the media can also play the role of relaying the measures that are being taken and monitoring them, cautioning the affected or to be affected people about the Dos and Don’ts, of scotching rumours and preventing panic and confusion, of establishing contacts, of identifying the needy spots and focusing attention on them, and generally by assisting the authorities, voluntary organizations and volunteers in reaching, informing and assuring the affected ones of the assistance and the measures taken, for their relief. During the onslaught of the disaster, what is of utmost importance is to keep the morale of the people high, to create self-confidence in them, to prevent panic and to maintain order by assuring and making available the necessary help readily and quickly. The media can help, in many ways in ensuring these conditions.The rescue, relief and rehabilitation measures need an integrated and co-coordinated approach and for that purpose all agencies, government and non-government, have to pool their resources together for efficient, expedient and effective work on all fronts. The collection of material resources and the enlisting of man-power are as much important as their efficient utilization. The depiction of devastation and of human misery through the media many times by itself acts as an appeal to the people to come forward to render help in various ways. In addition, the specific appeal made for relief through the columns and the time-slots of the media, brings in sizeable aid in the requisite form. At the same time, it becomes necessary to keep a watch and report on some anti-social elements who try to take advantage of such situations.Some disasters like floods, cyclones and droughts have become a periodic feature of our national life. The vulnerable spots and the sections of the populace also stand identified over the years. Almost always, the worst sufferers are the weaker sections of the society. They are unable to shift from these places, because there lie their sources of livelihood and all that they have in life to preserve and protect. They constitute a vast section of our society, and in normal conditions they contribute in sizeable proportion to our national wealth. Yet, except in the times of disaster, they are rarely remembered and the measures for the permanent solution of their plight are hardly ever discussed in the media. The media can also focus its attention on this problem.Not insignificant is the contribution the media can make in countering the damaging, exaggerated and negative reporting and propaganda in the foreign media on the occurrence of the disasters. This country has witnessed such phenomena in the past. A prompt presentation of the real state of affairs by our media including the news-agencies, and the correction of the misrepresentations by them will go a long way in dispelling the wrong impressions created abroad which may otherwise have adverse effect on the administration, the economy and the polity of the country.On some occasions in the past the media fulfilled its duties in full measure while on other occasions it was found wanting. However, if the media has to discharge its role properly on such occasions, it is also necessary to have a complete cooperation between it and all governmental and non-governmental agencies. The extent of the co-ordination and co-operation between them

determines the nature, the degree and the scale of the preparation to prevent and meet the disasters.

What is mass media?

The mass media are diversified media technology that are intended to reach a large audience by mass communication.

The Role of Mass Media during Disaster

Disaster is defined as what creates an imbalance in the normal and routine course of human lives. Therefore, disaster management is an applied science that uses analysis of previous disasters and recent scientific and technological advancements to find solutions for prevention or counter the effects of disasters. In this regard, mass media can increase the awareness of society about disasters and increase the society’s involvement in disaster (SID) management, taking an effective step in reducing the adverse effects of disasters, and in time help prevent future ones. The aim of this study is to investigate the role of mass media and their effectiveness in disaster management especially in improving public involvement in disaster management. This study uses simple review method by searching for relevant information incredible scientific websites, scientific texts, and scientific articles.

Disaster is driven from Greek word Krinon meaning a turning point especially in diseases and dangerous situations in political, social, and economical problems. Bournet believes disaster to the end of a spectrum which starts with an accident, continues into conflict, and finally ends with the disaster which is the most severe case of chaos. According to Herman “Disaster is an accident that causes confusion and bewilderment in people, impairs their ability for taking logical, and effective actions and as a result threatens their ability for achieving their goals.” Disaster is usually a turning point that can lead to a suitable or unsuitable change. Disasters often happen without warning and unexpectedly and are followed by a series of covert and overt consequences; therefore disaster managers must always be prepared to deal with these consequences in a suitable manner. This makes media into one of the most important strategic tools in disasters and usually the first organization whose actions and news reports during disasters are reviewed afterward. Although this sensitivity make mass media look like a subsidiary of power bases, it also emphasizes the fact that careful, and calculated planning is needed to turn media in a tool that helps solve the problem instead of making things worse. This importance has turned mass media into an inseparable part of disasters and even has led to the belief that an occurrence turns into a disaster once focused on by the media. Therefore, one can use mass media to improve the involvement of society by creating new insights about disasters and improving the belief that the help from people reduce the adverse effects of disasters. All disaster management situations involve trying to manage multiply efforts for directly responding to the disasters. Disaster is an inseparable and natural part of today’s organizations and societies. Nowadays, disaster is no longer a rare, unnatural, and random occurrence but something that

exists in the fabric of modern society. The reason for this change is that now people look for information about the disaster, its causes, and organizations responsible for dealing with the disasters based on the media coverage of the disasters. Every moment people around the world are informed about horrific news reports which are communicated at the speed of light by various news sources. In a few moments, people in all corners of the world have heard the news and are impatiently looking for updates, facts, and explanations. Therefore, the main goal of disaster management is to achieve a logical solution for removing the abnormal conditions in a way that satisfies main goals and interests of the society. Other goals of disaster management include removing disaster and emergency status, returning the society to its normal situation as quickly as possible, reduction of the effects of disaster on the society, preparing the society for dealing with future disasters, increasing the involvement of the society, rebuilding areas affected by the disaster, and educating and training the populace for dealing with disasters. A large part of the efforts in disaster management concentrate to times before a disaster happens. During a disaster, the three major activities are underway: Concentrating on communicating news and information asked by the populace, appointing an official spokesperson, and sending professional reports and messages to the mass media. Of course it is better to prevent disasters but it’s wrong to think that it is possible to prevent all disasters. On the other hand, if disaster management is defined planning for controlling the disasters, four main steps needs to be taken in order to control the effects of disasters. First one needs to predict the possible adverse effects of disasters, and then contingency plans need to be created, afterward disaster management teams need to be created, organized, and trained and finally practical exercises need to be carried out in order to determine the effectiveness of the plans. Due to the importance of the above steps and since media can play an important role in disaster control, this study aims to investigate and review previous works about disasters and the role of media in a disaster situation. We will also try to determine various viewpoints in this regard and determine the real role of media in disasters.

Generally, it can be said that media play their role in all three stages of “before disaster”, “during disaster,” and “after disaster”. In the before disaster stage, the main goal is to prevent the disaster from occurring. During a disaster, the role and effectiveness of media becomes more obvious because at this stage media can help stimulate the emotions and feelings of the populace and inform people, national and international organizations about the disaster. At the after disaster stage, the strengths and weaknesses of communications with the media and sharing of news and information can be determined. Complete involvement of the society in all stages of disaster management, before, during and after a disaster is one of the main bases of disaster management. Without involvement of general populous, the heavy load of managing disasters will be transferred to government and policy makers which can in turn lead to worsening the situation and lowering the success rate of relief operations due to limited resources of the government. The involvement of people in disaster situations include active participation in all stages of disaster prevention, reduction of adverse effects of the disaster, preparations, confrontations, and rebuilding efforts during and after disasters. In other words, people need to be involved in all

stages of disaster management from initial planning and risk assessment to final stages of disaster management which include rebuilding and returning the situation to normal. Therefore, the involvement of people is one of the most important parts of disaster management that needs to be considered in every planning effort. Active insolvent of people during countering the disaster and rebuilding efforts makes helps to successfully implement plans created before disasters and supports the needs of those affected by the disasters. Therefore, disaster management plans involving general populace need to be considered as part of the sustainable development of societies.Therefore given the power of the media for attracting mass audiences and their role in shaping of public opinion, they can play an important role in disasters and social, political, and international conflicts.

In this regard mass media plays three important roles during disasters:

• Playing the role of an information storage subsystem

• Playing the role of a communication subsystem for connecting various systems involved in the disaster

• Playing the role of a public relations subsystem and guide for humanitarian aids.

Given the above roles of the media and with three possible approaches to disaster aversion, disaster coping, and disaster acceptance in disaster management one can imagine four distinctive roles for the media in disaster management:

Passive approach in which the media prefers to keep quiet about the current disaster and its reaction in regards of the disaster is denial or neglect

Reactive approach in which the media organization reacts by answering to the threatening environmental pressures and dynamics in order to sustain its existence

Active approach in which the media becomes active immediately after a disaster in order to control and contain the disaster

Super-active approach in which media not only accepts the existence of disaster with an outlook toward new opportunities for growth and acts to contain the disasters but also makes certain predictions and preparations in order to deal with future disaster situations.

Media can increase the awareness of the populace and educate people leading to increased involvement of different parts of society and can also help use this new involvement in order to manage disaster and reduce its adverse effects. Disasters are an inseparable part of our lives and their number and extent increases each day. Therefore given the fact that disasters can happen at any moment and anywhere, it is advised to use the potential of mass media in order to improve the SID management, prevent the disaster when at all possible, or else help reduce its adverse effects.