Before I go into my recommendations for dealing with disasters at the functional level I’d request you to read my previous two posts on this issue. Only after reading these posts you’ll be able to understand the real purpose of today’s write up. Here are the links.

Disaster Management: More questions than answers

Disaster Management: Part II

To begin with let us first appreciate one basic fact which is of paramount importance in our country, and that is that we still have to learn how to care for lives of each and every Indian citizen. Unlike the western nations who have made this aspect as the most important issue for themselves we are yet to do so. For our authorities, particularly the police, the life of an ordinary citizen is so cheap because of which the citizen too in turn cares two hoots about the country and it’s laws. As far as our police is concerned, an ordinary citizen in fact dreads to go to them for redressal of their problems. And that’s because of the attitude of the police which is ridiculous to say the least. Whatever we might say the fact is that it’s got a lot to do with the amount of workload that they have and the pay our police personnel get. As they say- when you give peanuts you only get monkeys. And currently, that’s exactly their caliber. But more about police and their problems some time later. For now we’ll have to concentrate on imbibing this virtue of caring for our people’s lives, even though it has a relation to their numerical strengths and salaries that our police personnel get.

Localizing the threat. The next issue that we have to understand is the importance of localizing the threat or the damage. By localizing I imply that any damage done or being done because of a crisis has to be fixed at a geographical location to prevent it from spreading. Unlike vehicle accidents, threats or damages have a tendency of spreading very fast thereby increasing the casualties. Take for instance a breakout of fire or a terrorist attack or even a riot. If you do not fix the geographical location of such threats they will spread to adjoining areas and cause further damage. Just think about it, had the ten terrorists who perpetrated the massacre in Mumbai on 26/11 somehow been engaged at Gateway of India we would’ve saved nearly 200 innocent lives. But that was only possible had our police force been alert to the threat to the city and was patrolling the area. Sadly, that was not the case, for whatever reasons.

If we indeed have to localize any threat, unfortunately, it is the local police or the cop standing at a crossing who has to be adept and trained to deal with it. It is the initial reaction by one or two cops which can set the chain of events by which we can not only localize this threat but even neutralize it. Take the case of a fire in a building, if the police constable in the area has been trained to deal with it he can set the ball rolling by streamlining the evacuation at the gates and informing the higher ups in the chain who can not only send fire engines but more police forces to deal with the situation. More often than not the normal police constable is more like a bystander like any other civilian. His presence or absence in the area will not make a fig of a difference to anything that’s happening around him. Or worse, he’d be the first one to duck and move away to avoid being called in to assist. I’m sure, most of us have seen this happen on more than one occasion in our lives. This attitude has to change. If we need to deal with any crisis the local cop on duty has to be trained and equipped to a level that he can face such eventualities.

Also, the cops have to be posted in buddy pairs at all times. You guys would agree that one cop cannot do anything worthwhile. It is only when there are two policemen that a threat can be effectively tackled. And one of them has to have a firearm unlike the present scenario where these people are moving around with ridiculous lathis.

Now coming to the organization of teams which we need to deal with such situations.

First Reinforcement. The first and foremost requirement is to provide reinforcement to the two cops on duty. The task and composition of such a team should be as under.

Task. To provide back up to the two cops on duty. Their job is not to deal with the crisis as such but to assist the two cops in localizing the threat. This can be achieved by pooling in all the neighbouring cops who may be deployed nearby. This will not happen on it’s own but all these cops would’ve to categorically instructed to be ready to assist others in such situations.

Composition. You only need three or four police constables to do this. The composition and placement of these constables should be such that they can reach the site within ten minutes of the incident. For this purpose they need to have reliable communications and vehicle to reach the spot at the earliest, not to forget adequate weapons which they may need for this purpose.

Second Reinforcement. This is the team which has to deal with the threat in the area, particularly a terrorist attack, a riot or such like incidents. Even though the first reinforcements may have reached the spot, time for these people is still of paramount importance. This force will have to comprise of every available policeman in every police station.

Task. Like I said, this team should be responsible for neutralizing the threat. This would include cordoning the complete area and coordinating with traffic deptt to ensure that all other vehicles are diverted so as not to create a bottleneck for smooth movement of police force or vehicles of fire brigade.

Composition. Depending upon the place that we are talking about, this team should have a minimum strength of ten to fifteen policemen with one or two persons from fire brigade (with at least one water truck) as well. They also need to have at least three other vehicles with adequate number of weapons and ammunition, available at all times. Even in off duty hours the police station will still have to cater for some manpower which can be augmented by calling up those not on duty.

For example, in case it is a major fire incident it will be the job of this team to coordinate with fire deptt to get more fire trucks and will facilitate their move and actions by doing the preliminary job of gathering requisite information about number of people trapped and possible methods of deployment.

Third Reinforcement. Depending upon the scale of disaster this team should comprise of specialists like the paramilitary units which the Policy on Disaster Management speaks of. Also, this team needs to be activated if and when the scale of disaster or threat is beyond the scope of Second Reinforcement. Their task and composition should be as under.

Task. Like I said earlier, their task would be to mitigate the threat or assist in rescue ops which are beyond the scale of Second Reinforcement.

Composition. Again, depending on the scale of the disaster or threat this team can be of one or two platoons/company/battalion of paramilitary forces. This team should have earmarked means of mobility to include helicopters or even aircrafts.

Rescue team. This is a team whose job is not to fight the threat but to rescue and provide immediate relief to affected people. Mind you, I’m only talking about immediate relief.  Though I’ve mentioned this team at number four position it doesn’t really mean that they have to reach the site in that order. This team too has to be activated at the earliest, in many cases even before the First Reinforcement, and needs to be ready for action at all times.

Task. To extricate people stuck in extreme situations who have not yet been rescued. The second task which they have to do is to provide first aid to the injured.

Composition. This team would at least comprise of minimum of ten people including one or two doctors, five/six nursing staff, drivers of two to three ambulances, one or two operators of metal cutting machines etc. They should have adequate medicines for first aid and other equipment and vehicles as mentioned earlier.

Medical Team. I realize that it will not be possible to keep a full fledged medical teams with doctors, nurses, helicopters and heavy equipment ready at all times for any kind of emergency anywhere in the country. What can be done is that this team should be on call with earmarked transport and dedicated equipment. The difference between being that dedicated equipment is available to them at all times whereas earmarked stores will be made available on requirement. This team should be activated only if the scale of disaster is beyond the scope of Rescue Team.

Task. Their task will be to assist in rescue operations and provide on the spot medical relief to injured persons.

Composition. The composition of this team, since it is on call, will depend upon the scale of disaster. Apart from adequate number of doctors and other medical staff it should also comprise of heavy metal cutters and other such machinery which may be required for this purpose. For this purpose, it is essential that civil contractors are roped into this team.

Control Room/Hqs. To control this entire activity of all the teams we need to have a control room with adequate infrastructure like communication and computers networked with the National Grid on Disaster Management. The network grid should include links with blood banks, hospitals, fire brigades,  data on volunteers and reservists etc.

To give an example, if a disaster were to take place in Uttar Pradesh and there was a requirement of a thousand blankets, tents, various types of blood groups etc the control room with the help of this network should be able to find out the nearest locations within the state where these would be available and can pass such instructions or place requests for move of the same. As for the blood groups they should be able to activate volunteers and reservists for this purpose or pass instructions to relevant authorities who in turn should be able to activate these people in shortest possible time frame.

Whether this control room will be the same as that of police or not is a decision which the administration should take.

District Disaster Management Authority(DDMA). We already have this in place, or at least orders to have this in place exist. All we need to do is refine and activate it to the extent to deal with our problems on a day to day basis. I’m not suggesting that this authority should come into play everyday. What I’m implying is that this authority should put men, material and procedures in place to do this job in the event of an emergency. The authority itself can come into play if and when the scale of disaster is huge and needs to be monitored regularly. Composition of this authority should be as under.

Composition. This authority should include District Collector, District Magistrate, MP, MLAs, District Health Officer, Civil Surgeon, DSP or SP (crime as well as traffic), representatives of Army, NCC, Home Guards etc located in the area, Mayor, representatives of Red Cross Society, major industrial houses with heavy machinery, media and prominent citizens of the society.

Number of teams. Having said this, it would be worthwhile to discuss how many such teams should be there in each district and state.

First Reinforcement- Every policeman on duty in the area should be trained to act as First Reinforcement.

Second Reinforcement- This can be done by either having a dedicated team in every police station, which is pretty difficult given the overall deficiency, or by redeploying those already on duty elsewhere.

Third Reinforcement- Ideally there should be a reactionary force in every district but practically it would not be possible at this point of time. Therefore, depending on the size of the state such forces should be located at three to four places in company lots, implying that we should have at least one battalion for each state, depending upon it’s size and population.

Rescue Team. Every district, depending upon it’s size and population, should have at least two to three teams so placed so as to cover the entire district, the main aim being to reach the site of incident in the shortest possible time.

Medical Team. Like the Third Reinforcement ideally this team should also be nominated for every district but keeping in mind our current economic status and the size of the state we can at least have one or two such teams in every state. Since these people are only on ‘on call’ basis and are generally engaged in other activities the states need to be very thorough about the availability and efficiency of this team and their equipment.

Miscellaneous Points. Apart from these there are some other points which need to be kept in mind to ensure the effectiveness of this policy.

1. This is just a guideline and is by no means comprehensive. Every situation, every threat, every danger has different characteristics and solution. And therefore the manner in which these threats/dangers/situations can be effectively dealt with differ from one occasion to another.

2. Like I said, the start point is the police cop on the ground. He is the man who has to be made responsible for every activity taking place in his area of responsibility. And he has to get involved. But thats easier said than done. Given the kind of police we have it is really asking too from them currently. And this is where the police reforms bill comes in. The bill needs to address these issues in its entirety to reach the root cause of decay in our system of maintenance of law and order. If that means making law and order the responsibility of the central govt instead of the state govts so be it. If this is too much to ask the central govt to do, in that case at least promotions and transfers of police officers and men needs to be taken away from state govts and given to central govts. What I’m getting at is that the central govt has to be involved with the functioning of state police. It is because anything to do with police has everything to with state govt and state govt only that we are in this mess today.

3. The officer of the level of inspector or sub inspector has to reach the site at the earliest and take an initial call to the degree of threat and reinforcements and rescue efforts required. You guys will appreciate that this is the most important input which can change the outcome of the existing threat. He is the man who needs to decide whether there is a requirement of a Second Reinforcement or Third Reinforcement or even the level of rescue or medical help required which can be reviewed by a superior officer at a later time frame. For example had the police inspector at Sardhia where we lost more than 150 lives recently in Maoist engineered train accident of Gyaneshwari Express been trained and equipped to deal with such situations it is highly possible that many lives could have been saved which were lost because it was only after day break that people were able see the scale of damage done and therefore the rescue teams arrived so late.

4. Rehearsals for every situation are THE MOST IMPORTANT ASPECT OF DISASTER MANAGEMENT. I can’t make it any clearer than this. Without regular rehearsals this is as good as dead. These rehearsals have to be realistic with realistic threats and reactions. These need to be carried out at all levels, eg, for minor threats like a minor fire or a small accident or such like threats rehearsals need to be done at the level of every police station. For slightly bigger incidents at every district level and for major ones at state and even at national levels. It is only after regular rehearsals will we have teams with their equipment ready at every level for deployment at all times.

This is possible if DDMA meetings are held every month to take stock of things. This is the first level where all coordination and appraisal of rehearsals carried out, loopholes plugged and SOPs refined and checked. The same can be replicated at higher levels.

5. There has to be a procedure of feedback for every rehearsal carried out and actual threat scenario dealt with which should include any shortcomings in procedures or equipment noticed. As you can see this can form the basis of improvements in Standard Operating Procedures, levels or training or equipment held with these agencies and personnel.

6. The disaster management efforts and these rehearsals have be paid for by the central govt out of Disaster Management Relief Fund. Once this happens the state govts will be more keen to carry out rehearsals and maintain their weapons and equipment to the required level of readiness.

As most things in life, Disaster Management too is a continuous learning process. Even a developed nation like America is still learning how to deal with oil spills after the recent one in Gulf of Mexico. Once we have a policy and procedures to follow in place can only they be improved upon based on rehearsals and feedbacks thereof. But we first need to have this policy and procedure in place to begin with. It is high time we impressed upon our respective state govts and central govt to make Policy on Disaster Management a working instrument which can be put to good use to deal with problems ranging from minor accidents to something as big as the tsunami of 2004.

Let me also say that if we decide to implement such a policy today it will still take a few years for it to start functioning at the level of every district and a few more to become an effective instrument of state policy which has the potential to deal with anything and everything.

Related Post

Bhopal gas tragedy: Nothing has changed!!!

Lessons from Mangalore air crash

Disaster management: Part II

Disaster management: more questions than answers

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Posted on June 13th, 2010 Best Articles, India calling • Tags: disaster, district, govt, life, management, police, policy, rescue, team. • RSS 2.0 feed • Leave a response, or trackback