City experts laud US disaster plan

Disaster management experts in Mumbai have lauded the interim report of the ‘preparedness, response and resilience’ task force of George Washington University’s Homeland Security Policy Institute (HSPI) following the recent disasters in the US and Japan and President Barack Obama’s policy directive on national preparedness, which was released on Monday. 

The interim report represents the first in a series of contributions examining resilience policy culminating in a final report that will offer recommendations to federal policymakers on how to enhance national resilience.

“With the recent devastation caused by tornadoes and floods in the South and Midwest, the experience of the Japanese earthquake, and the release of PPD-8, we felt it was important to share our initial findings now,” said Daniel Kaniewski, task force co-chair and deputy director of HSPI. “We look forward to continuing our efforts over the course of the year.”

Referring to the report, Mahesh Kamble, member of the faculty at the Centre for Disaster Management Studies, Tata Institute of Social Sciences, said, “Our reaction to the great deluge that drowned Mumbai was to pass the Disaster Management Act, 2005. A national committee headed by the PM, state committees headed by the respective CMs, and district committees headed by local collectors were announced and that was that.”

According to Kamble, Maharashtra’s disaster management committee meets just once before every monsoon. “Many joke that this is little more than a monsoon preparedness meeting,” he said.

In a preface to the US interim report, task force co-chair and former Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) administrator R David Paulison said, “The most effective way for our country to recover from catastrophic events, whether natural or manmade, is to develop resilience in our federal, state, and local governments, our businesses, and our families.”

The release of the report coincides with FEMA’s multi-state earthquake drill (national level exercise 2011), which simulates an earthquake along the New Madrid faultline which has the potential to devastate at least seven US states. “Preparing for the unexpected is necessary to enhance the nation’s resilience for potentially catastrophic scenarios,” said task force co-chair and former New York State deputy for public safety Michael Balboni.