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Disasters bring loss of life and
loved ones, destroyed homes
and businesses, shortages of
food and safe water, and emotional stress
and trauma. One of the greatest challenges
of the 21st century is protecting people,
especially the world’s poor, from the
devastating impacts of disasters. Along
with the challenge has come new thinking
on how to deal with disasters.
In India, floods, drought, landslides, and
cyclones are common. The 1999 Orissa
cyclone, the 2001 Gujarat earthquake, and
the 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami each killed
more than 10,000 people and left millions
homeless. The 2005 earthquake in Jammu
and Kashmir was a grim reminder of the
extremely high earthquake risk throughout
much of South Asia.
The Government of India has taken
steps to improve its disaster management
system. Since 2002, a partnership between
India and the United States has brought the
best U.S. disaster management expertise
to India. With funding from the U.S.
Agency for International Development,
the Forest Service has partnered with
the Indian Government to integrate the
Incident Command System into India’s
disaster response system. A flexible system
adaptable to incidents of any scale, the
Incident Command System is used in
the United States for all types of disaster
response.
Though skeptical at first, Indian officials
came to appreciate the Incident Command
System. Faculty at the Lal Bahadur Shastri
National Academy of Administration, the
premier training institute for Indian civil
servants, embraced the system and became
its biggest champions. The academy now
routinely offers courses in the Incident
Command System, as do regional and state
training institutions. Hundreds of Indian
disaster managers have been trained, and
the Incident Command System has been
used experimentally for flood response,
event planning, and disaster simulation
exercises. The groundswell of support
indicates the system’s potential viability
in India, and the Forest Service has used
Indian trainers elsewhere in Asia to
introduce the system and explain how India
has adapted it to its particular needs.
Since 2006, the Indian National Institute
of Disaster Management has been key to
capacity building in the Incident Command
System. According to its executive director,
P.G. Dhar Chakrabarti, the system has been
proven effective but needs to be further
adapted to Indian concepts of disaster
management. The Institute has conducted
courses and helped design a pilot program
to further test the Incident Command
System under Indian conditions.
The pilot program began in February
2007 in the western state of Gujarat. Three
districts in Gujarat now have trained teams that work closely with Forest Service
experts to ensure high levels of skill. Soon
after their certification, one team was
used in response to monsoon flooding
in the district of Vadodara. Based on the
team’s favorable experience, authorities
in Gujarat plan to institutionalize the Incident Command System throughout the
state. The U.S. Agency for International
Development, with Forest Service support,
is planning more two more pilot programs,
as well as capacity building, for institutions
offering training in the Incident Command
System.
The program in India could serve
as a model for introducing the Incident
Command System elsewhere in Asia. In
November 2007, the Government of India
hosted an Asia ministerial conference
on disaster risk reduction, with several
Asian countries sharing their experiences
with the Incident Command System. If the Incident Command System can be adapted
to conditions in India, with its enormous
size and cultural diversity, then it might
well be applicable anywhere in the world.
Hurricane Katrina: Managing an Outpouring of International Aid
After Hurricane Katrina ravaged the U.S. Gulf
Coast in 2005, 151 nations and international
organizations offered assistance. The U.S.
Government had never before accepted
international aid on such a large scale, so there
were no procedures governing the process. The
U.S. Agency for International Development was asked to develop a system for processing offers
of foreign assistance and for receiving and
transmitting the donated goods.
The agency called on the Forest Service’s
Disaster Assistance Support Program for help.
Forest Service personnel served as liaisons
among Federal agencies and as field logistics
officers in Louisiana and Texas. They developed
a database to track and report on the 580
offers of foreign assistance, including cash,
commodities, and personnel. With their help,
U.S. officials were able to deliver much-needed
supplies to hard-hit communities, including
tents from Denmark and Russia, bedding from
Slovakia and Tunisia, medical supplies from
Chile and Spain, and baby goods from China
and Israel. |
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