Is Disaster Management Authority unprepared to handle disasters?

If a one-word exclamation could sum up the state government's attitude to disasters and their management, it would have to be ‘Oops!'

Also read: Landslide prone areas not under us, says the BMC

National Disaster Response Force personnel recover the body of a landslide victim amid heavy rain at the site in Malin village in Pune district. Pic/AFP

For, members of the State Disaster Management Authority (SDMA) tell mid-day, disaster prevention is not very high on the current Democratic Front government's priority list, and neither is putting the right processes in place to rescue people after disaster strikes.

The first rescue team reached Malin village five hours after the landslide on Wednesday. Pic/Nitin Lawate

The CM-headed committee has, in fact, allegedly not met for a full three years. Its last meeting, government sources say, was after the March 2011 Fukushima nuclear disaster in faraway Japan, to assess the safety of nuclear installations in the state, and it hasn't even met after Wednesday's landslide in Malin Village near Pune, which left nearly 160 people trapped and 35 dead.

The ongoing rescue operations in Malin have lent credence to the authority members' claims. As reported in this newspaper, the first rescue team did not reach the spot till nearly five hours after the landslide. All communications were cut off and people from surrounding areas also thronged the site, making it difficult for rescue teams to carry out their job. The rescue operations have been hobbling along at a snail's pace because of these shortcomings, as well as natural causes.

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The SDMA comprises top-ranking officers from the state, those posted in central government establishments in Mumbai, and non-official expert members. Atul Deulgaonkar, an expert on environment science, and a member of the SDMA, said, "The current government under CM Prithviraj Chavan is not serious about disaster prevention and mitigation."

Sources said the state government has done little on capacity building for disaster response aimed at training people and creating awareness despite the July 26 floods happening under its watch. "The central government, as recommended by the 13th Finance Commission, allocates R5 crore each year to carry out the training and awareness programme but we have hardly even touched the amount in the last few years," said a senior official.

Also read: Pune landslide - 25 dead, 160 still trapped under debris

"The state government has no plan for training people to tackle disasters. It has no interest in such issues and there was no response to two different presentations I made before the CM. Even when the forum of environmental journalists expressed a desire to conduct a workshop for our legislators, there was no response from the state," added Deulgaonkar.