Assam and other Northeastern states grapple with annual floods, landslides, erosion and forest fires which leave several lakhs of people in perpetual economic shock, but communities are caught under-prepared every time a disaster occurs. Lives are lost, dwelling houses are damaged, properties get lost or destroyed, drinking water sources are contaminated; the list is endless. Post disaster rescue and relief operations continue to dominate disaster management in the region and the rest of India and preparedness is primarily focussed on structural mitigation measures such as construction or repair of embankments, anti-erosion measures and mobilization of disaster response forces by the authorities concerned.
In the United States, the entire month of September is observed as the month of raising awareness about the importance of individuals, communities, and families to prepare for disaster and emergencies. Each week, the campaign is focussed on a particular theme such as 'make a plan', 'build a kit', 'low-cost, no cost preparedness' and 'engage your community on preparedness'. The theme for the 2021 National Preparedness Month was 'Prepare to protect.
Preparing for disasters is protecting everyone you love'. Make a Plan campaign in the first week of September involves individuals talking to friends and family about how they will communicate before, during and after any disaster. In the second week, they gather supplies that will last for several days in the event of a disaster striking and requiring evacuation and devote the week to building the survival kit.
This is followed by preparing for safeguarding important documents and signing up for local alerts, which involve low or no cost to lessen the impact and the last week is devoted to teaching children and youth about disaster preparedness. Drawing parallels between the developed economy in the United States and the developing economy in India and frontier regions like the Northeast will be unwise, but developing a campaign module anchored to local socio-economic realities can be useful to raise the level of preparedness at individual, family, and community levels. While a disaster can happen at any time, floods create havoc during monsoon months and also during the pre-monsoon rain period and, therefore, timing of the occurrence is more or less known to communities and disaster response authorities.
Significant progress has been made in Flood Early Warning System (FLEWS) in the country. Assam State Disaster Management Authority initiated FLWES in collaboration with the North Eastern Space Application Centre for alerting the "likely damage centre well in advance of the actual arrival of flood, to enable people to move and also to remove moveable properties to safer places. " While its effectiveness could be noticed in some places, yet people in many areas are finding not much time to move: and having to move without any moveable properties and eatables says a lot about the gap in dissemination of early warning message to every section of people at risk.
Certain level of preparedness at the individual and community level in flooded zones will raise the awareness level to prompt people to proactively enquire about such alerts so that they can prepare in advance and build a survival kit and identify properties which the family can shift on their own and with the help of community volunteers. Access to digital and advanced communication technologies have facilitated dissemination of alerts to household level, but the level of awareness among communities living in floodplains determines the utility of such services. Communities acquiring safe and modern rescue boats at the village level can supplement rescue efforts by disaster response forces.
During awareness drive on preparedness, the communities can update information whom to call or where to locate the village rescue boat in emergencies. Inclusion of life jackets, particularly for children, the elderly and those who cannot swim, while building the survival kit can save many lives and prevent drowning during passage to safety. Merely organizing awareness drives on flood preparedness cannot produce the desired result without participation of each and every member of a household.
This can be made possible through innovative design of the campaign, and not through a limited number of people participating as passive listeners to speeches delivered by officials or NGO workers. In the Northeast region, which is located in a high seismic zone, a survival kit developed through participation of household members for flood will also be useful during earthquake. For those living in the hills, awareness about the danger of slope cutting and safety audit of their houses and can go a long way in reducing landslide risks and damage.
A month-long awareness drive well ahead of the rainy season at the family and community level in the hills, with active participation of every family member and households, will motivate them to become proactive to ascertain if their houses need any retrofit solutions or if their area is prone to landslides and seek timely help from authorities. Articulating focused and long-duration participatory campaigns on preparedness among communities of the Northeast can help build their resilience against disasters. .
