Shelter From The Storm – As Biparjoy nears, note the quiet professionalism, also evident in Balasore, of India’s disaster management forces

Source: The post is based on the article “Shelter From The Storm – As Biparjoy nears, note the quiet professionalism, also evident in Balasore, of India’s disaster management forces” published in The Times of India on 14th June 2023

Syllabus: GS 3 – Disaster management.

Relevance: About India’s disaster management forces.

News: Due to India’s better disaster management in recent years, there’s little panic over the impact of cyclonic storm Biparjoy. Before the fall of Biparjoy, evacuation is nearly complete, shelter-food-medicine organised, and infrastructure too shored up as best can be.

Similarly, the first unit of Odisha’s rapid-responder team’s response to Balasore train tragedy has also limited the casualties.

How have India’s disaster management forces improved over time?

Odisha has been exemplary in training and equipping its disaster management authority. Odisha became India’s first to have such authority, it was set up after the 1999 supercyclone. Since then, it has engaged in countless missions including during floods and cyclones in Bengal and Andhra and up to Meghalaya to rescue miners.

Indian military’s relief work in large-scale disasters has helped India to work on disaster diplomacy. For example, in the aftermath of the 2004 tsunami in Sri Lanka, Maldives and Indonesia, India set up shelters and medical camps, supplied food and water, restored electricity and water supply, fixed bridges and so on. This approach is carried forward by NDMA and NDRF.

In Turkey, this February, NDRF and the Indian military formed the fourth largest contingent of the 80 nations on site after the temblor that killed over 50,000.

What India should do?

With adverse climate events and humanitarian crises almost the new normal, rescue missions are set to increase within India and overseas. India should require benchmark response protocols and invest in rescue tech such as faster logistics, faster processing of passports etc to meet such requirements.