India must set a precedent for Disaster Risk Reduction in the Region

According to the UNOCHA, more than 30 million people have been affected in India by unprecedented floods, 8 million in Bangladesh, and 1.7 million in Nepal, bringing the total to around 40 million people (South Asia: Flooding—Humanitarian Snapshot, as of 01 September 2017).

Floods have wreaked havoc in the states of Assam, Bihar, Uttar Pradesh, and West Bengal this year, with high casualties. 514 deaths were recorded in Bihar, followed by 254 in West Bengal, 101 in Uttar Pradesh, and 74 in Assam (ibid). The death toll and disaster-related news itself continue to receive less media attention. Government and aid agencies swung into action to respond with critical lifesaving assistance to those sheltered by the Government relief camps. This is how humanitarian response or disaster response typically works globally.

Floods, for instance, are annual occurrences in states like Assam and Bihar. India has spatial data for hazard assessment through remote sensing and GIS mapping. The existing vulnerability atlas or multi-hazard vulnerability map give a fair idea about hazard-prone geographies to supplement the experiential knowledge base. People living along the river bank or closer to the embankments are the first and worst hit. Why, then, do they continue to inhabit such risky locations? Why don’t they relocate to safer locations provided by the Government? Their physical vulnerability is directly linked with the social and economic position people occupy within the society; and (caste and ethnicity based) habitations are more conspicuous in the countryside. Relocation without a well-established and assured means of livelihood doesn’t motivate these vulnerable people to shift their base, however safe it is. This can be corroborated by the fact that most affected reached out to Caritas India in the Lakhimpur district in Assam. Araria, Katihar, West Champaran, and Sitamarhi districts comprise marginal farmers or daily wage laborers.

Unfortunately, the undocumented losses of the daily wage and lease farmers go unrecognized in the National and State Disaster Response Fund norms of relief and compensation. The state of Odisha, during cyclone Phailin, issued a notification about the compensation coverage to sharecroppers and expressed a willingness to redress this issue to a few civil society organizations pursuing the issue. However, this precedent has yet to be integrated into the humanitarian mandate of aid agencies, collectively advocated by the UN and humanitarian stakeholders with the authorities and institutionalized by the Government. Without central /state compensation and recovery packages for landless people, humanitarian organizations must engage with state governments to issue notifications to recognize their losses and compensate appropriately while building momentum for the former.

Humanitarian agencies deliver lifesaving relief materials to disaster victims, prioritizing the neediest. Yet, such responses are carried out using limited resources to complement the government response. On several occasions, India has demonstrated its commitment to Disaster Risk Reduction in the Sendai Framework for Disaster Risk Reduction, Paris Agreement, and Sustainable Development Goals. It is high time disaster mitigation plans were developed and effectively used with built-in accountability measures ahead of the monsoons in the hazard-prone regions. Economically, this will reduce loss to human lives, livelihood and community /individual assets; local economy; and the exchequer. The focus must be on the remotest and ill-prepared communities and locations through people-centered, collaborative GO-NGO interventions. This is the need of the South Asia region, and India must facilitate the shift by setting precedents on these fronts.

Based on experiences intervening in disaster response and engagements with civil society groups.

Views expressed are personal; feedback is welcome.