Lots of improvement, but new risks require more robust systems - Abhinav Walia

Regional level robust Early Warning Systems need to be developed with the assurance of dissemination of warnings at the village level. Mechanisms to trap indigenous knowledge also need to be developed, so that such knowledge can be incorporated into future policies and plans. Disaster Risk Reduction should be the mandatory component for all the constructions in the vulnerable zones.  - Abhinav Walia, Research Officer, Centre for Disaster Management, Lal Bahadur Shastri National Academy of Administration, Mussoorie, Uttarakhand, India

Reflections on the improvements; especially in the fields of early warning, governance structures or policies, awareness and education, vulnerability reduction and disaster preparedness.

Indeed, we’ve significantly improved our early warning systems, governance structures/ policies, education, vulnerability reduction and disaster preparedness in all aspects. But in view to the increasing risks because of unplanned infrastructure & population growth, increased frequency, unpredictability and intensity of the disasters because of climate change impacts, it is always challenging to deal with the impacts of the disasters.   

In last 10 years, especially in context of Tsunami and Cyclones, all the costal states worked genuinely in the direction for robust preparedness and capacity building. Disaster Management Act of India has been introduced in 2005 which played a significant role in the overall preparedness and capacity building of the states, districts and local level. Along with the Act, number of guidelines and manuals, systems have been developed by various agencies to deal with the emerging risk of the Tsunamis and other disasters.

Below table provide glimpse on some of the major activities initiated to deal with the Tsunamis in the region:

Early Warning	Indian Tsunami Early Warning System at Indian National Centre for Ocean Information Services (INCOIS),	The Indian Tsunami Early Warning System has the responsibility to provide tsunami advisories to Indian Mainland and the Island regions. Acting as one of the Regional Tsunami Advisory service Providers (RTSPs) for the Indian Ocean Region, ITEWS also provide tsunami advisories to the Indian Ocean rim countries along with Australia & Indonesia According to the Scientists, the centre is equipped to warn in real time if sub-duction zone related earthquakes in Andaman-Nicobar-Sumatra island arc and the Makran sub-duction zone north of the Arabian Sea can trigger tsunamis. It receives real-time seismic data from the national seismic network of the Indian Meteorological Department (IMD) and international seismic networks, detects all earthquakes of a magnitude of more than six on the Richter scale in the Indian Ocean. Tsunami buoys installed by the National Institute of Ocean Technology (NIOT) are the key sensors to confirm the triggering of a tsunami while tide gauges monitor the progress of tsunami waves. According to officials, an early tsunami warning can help the 400 million people living in India's coastal areas to save themselves.
	SMS Tsunami Warning System	SMS-Tsunami-Warning.com is a web-based Earthquake Alert System sourced from international seismic scientific centers that serves also as Tsunami Warning System. http://www.sms-tsunami-warning.com/
	Pacific Disaster Centre	Disaster Alert is a mobile multi-hazard monitoring application created for iOS and Android™ users. By accessing the DisasterAWARE platform, it provides users with near real-time access to data on active hazards globally—showing events that are designated potentially hazardous to people, property, or assets. Disaster Alert makes complex technical and scientific information easy to understand. http://www.pdc.org/solutions/tools/disaster-alert-app/ Along with the above, there are several other organizations working towards the early warning of the Tsunamis in the region.
Governance Structures or Policies	Governance Structures & DM Act 2005, Tsunami Guidelines	India has an integrated mechanism for management of disasters at the National, State, District and Sub-District levels. The responsibility of undertaking rescue, relief and rehabilitation measures are subjected to the respective State Governments. At national level government of India has set up National Crisis Management Committee and Crisis Management Group. National Committee on Disaster Management (NCDM) under the Chairmanship of the Prime Minister, to suggest necessary institutional and legislative measures necessary for an efficient and long-term strategy to manage natural disasters. The Ministry of Home Affairs is the nodal Ministry for coordination of relief and response and overall natural disaster management. The Central Government supplements the efforts of the States by providing financial and logistic support and coordination at international level. The Contingency Action Plan (CAP) identifies initiatives required to be taken by various Central Ministries and Public Departments in the wake of natural calamities. Below are the major institutional arrangements of India for Disaster Management: ·         Calamity Relief Fund ·         National Policy ·         Disaster Management Act 2005 ·         National Disaster Management Authority ·         State Disaster Management Authority ·         District Disaster Management Authority ·         Local Level Disaster Management Committees ·         NDRF and other forces ·         National Institute of Disaster Management ·         India Disaster Resource Network (IDRN) ·         Risk Management between government agencies and public, private and civil societies DM Act 2005 and Tsunami management guideline provide detailed guidance to deal with the Tsunami hazard. Guidelines for Design and Construction of Cyclone/Tsunami Shelters developed under GoI-UNDP Disaster Risk Management Programme is one of the major bench mark for the development of Cyclone/ Tsunami Shelters. A number of other manuals have been developed by various UN and other agencies for the betterment for all the Phases of Tsunami Management.
Awareness and Education		It has been observed that most of residents lacked tsunami knowledge prior to the 2004 tsunami. The main source of information during the disaster was direct information from family and neighbors. It has been observed that School education is an important way for raising awareness for disaster reduction. Many states already incorporated disaster management in their regular curriculum. Besides this, a number NGOs, Government departments and DM specialists are working towards the capacity building of the school children by providing school safety drills, audio‐visuals on disaster education and seminars etc. Effective measures also need to be developed to safeguard the interests of tourists in the Tsunami prone areas.  Sirens, SMS, Email, TV, and radio broadcasts are effective tools for disseminating disaster warnings to residents. Governments and other organizations are working in this direction and things have been improved in the last 10 years.
Vulnerability Reduction and Disaster Preparedness		Creating mass awareness on disaster risk and vulnerability is an important assignment. In last couple of year, all the concerned stakeholders working sincerely in this direction for better Tsunami management by ensuring the participation and accountability of key stakeholders-Communities, NGOs, Government, Media & Academics.  But risk assessment and risk mitigation plans and practices need be educated.  Pre Tsunami risk assessments and post Tsunami need assessments need to be improve further in view to the increasing vulnerabilities.

The new challenges that have emerged for disaster risk reduction over the last 10 years.

In view to the emerged challenges because of the unplanned growth and CC impacts, it is important to ensure the robust preparedness in all the aspects. The accurate risk identification should be the first priority which can be done through modeling and mapping of Tsunami hazard by adding the high buffer of the climate change impacts in all the risk models. It is also important to work towards the community level effective early warning systems and accountability of the personals working for these systems.  Community level preparedness through involvement of communities in risk assessments, mock drills and tsunami management planning is an important component to consider. Transparency in governance and accountability in aid distribution is another important component for the consideration. Community need to be place first in the disaster response. Documentation of local knowledge is a treasure that has the capacity to reduce the vulnerabilities and mitigate the Tsunami.

Your message to world leaders as they create a new disaster framework. What we must do in order to avoid another such disaster?

It is highly important to have an effective regional cooperation mechanism among the all neighboring countries to deal with events like 2004 Tsunami. In case of Tsunami, early warning is the most important component. Regional level robust EWS need to be develop with the assurance of dissemination of warnings at the village level.  Mechanism to trap the indigenous knowledge also need to be develop, so that such knowledge can be incorporated into the future policies and plans. Local level bodies need to be develop for coordinating, documenting and networking at local, state, national and international level. Improvement in funding mechanism is also an important area to consider especially for post Tsunami activities. Disaster Risk Reduction should be the mandatory component for all the constructions in the vulnerable zones. Special plans need to be develop for the disables to deal with the disasters like Tsunami.