This report identifies key planning strategies and important considerations associated with response to a nuclear detonation. The strategies—designed to (a) protect response personnel, (b) perform regional situational assessment and (c) support public safety were developed for emergency response planners. This work is the culmination of extensive modeling and technical analysis together with interactions among several hundred emergency response personnel in the NCR. Although sound science ...Read more >

Natural calamities claimed the lives of 249,896 people worldwide in 2004 in 360 reported disasters, compared to 84,570 killed in 1995 in 239 reported disasters, one indication that the frequency and effects of disasters on people is increasing. 1 The year 2005 began with the aftermath of the Indian Ocean tsunami and ended with the South Asia earthquake. These two high-profile disasters resulted in the unusual sight of two former U.S. presidents, George H. W. Bush and Bill Clinton, ...Read more >

During all phases of the recovery, the network usage was high. Voice and data communications were excellent in Islamabad. In the earthquake zone, the landline network was re-established in some towns (including Mansehra) within two or three days of the quake, making dial-up connectivity possible for new offices; the cell network was extended immediately after the earthquake, providing reasonable voice coverage in the main operational area. There have been villages which have been wiped out. ...Read more >

India has been traditionally vulnerable to natural hazards due to its geo climatic conditions.Floods, droughts, cyclones, earthquakes and landslides have been recurrent phenomena. About 60% of the landmass is prone to earthquakes of various intensities.Over 40 million hectares (8 percent) is prone to floods and about 8 percent of the total area is prone to cyclones. The recent disaster caused by Tsunami has further added to our vulnerability. In addition, the possibility of occurrence of ...Read more >

Recent global events have highlighted the need for disaster planning by leaders in all types of organizations civilian and military. This article illuminates lessons learned during relief operations for the 2005 earthquake in Pakistan from an academic and personal viewpoint. The author provides guidance for designing resilient and robust organizational structures that can deal with the uncertainties of a disaster environment. Organizations frequently form temporary command centers to improve ...Read more >

India is one of the most disaster prone countries of the world. It has had some of the world’s most severe droughts, famines, cyclones, earthquakes, chemical disasters, mid-air head-on air collisions, rail accidents and road accidents. India is also one of the most terrorist prone countries.India was, until recently, reactive and only responded to disasters and provided relief from calamity. It was a relief driven disaster management system. India also has world’s oldest famine relief codes. ...Read more >

This handbook provides a Concept of Operations (CONOPS) and Tactics,Techniques and Procedures (TTP) for joint forces at the operational and tactical levels tasked to perform Foreign Disaster Relief (FDR) operations in support of the Department of State and US Agency for International Development and in coordination with International Organizations such as the United Nations and International Red Cross and Red Crescent movement, other Intergovernmental Organizations (IGO) and Non-Governmental ...Read more >

The onslaught of the unsparing Tsunami on December 26, 2004 was unprecedented and unimaginable, catching us unawares in the Andaman & Nicobar Islands. This was a classic case where the police personnel were themselves sufferers of the Tsunami yet had to cast away tremors of the horrific spell from their minds and take over the role as first responders to manage the Disaster. The experience has brought about a paradigm shift in the role of Police, adding yet another important dimension of ...Read more >

Over the last decade Asia has suffered the greatest number of natural and technological disasters, with an alarming 80 percent of the global death toll. At the same time, economic growth in Asia has been strong with many Asian economies well established and making major investments in infrastructure,including militaries and disaster management. The region is also home to more than 75 pecent of the worlds volcanoes and experiences 90 percent of the worlds earthquakes. As a result, the Asian ...Read more >

The ever increasing complexity of disasters demands utilization of knowledge that exists outside domains traditionally used in disaster management. To be operationally useful, such knowledge must be extracted, combined with the information generated by the disaster itself and transformed into actionable knowledge. The process is hampered by the existing, business-oriented approaches to KM, technical issues in access to relevant, multi-domain information/knowledge and by the executive ...Read more >

Canadas military has a long tradition of responding to natural calamities in support of local (i.e., civil) authorities. During the last decade alone, the military responded to many natural disasters and at the same time worked to enhance its response capacity to such disasters outside Canada’s boundaries. To its credit, whenever it responded its contribution was significant. Nevertheless,occasionally its ability to operate at full capacity was limited by its out-of-date or inappropriate ...Read more >

The success of all military measures in aid of Civil Power depends upon the cooperation between the civil and military authorities. Successful cooperation is only achieved when there is mutual confidence and understanding. Therefore it is important that in peace time, the officers of Civil service and the officers of Army should know each other and have knowledge of each others duties.The use of troops in aid to the civil power for the prevention or suppression of disorder is a function of the ...Read more >

Due to its geo-climatic conditions, India has been vulnerable to various natural disasters. About 60 percemt of its landmass is prone to earthquakes; over 40 million hectares is prone to floods; of 7,500 kilometer (km.) of coast line close to 5,700 km. is prone to cyclones and 68 percent of the area is susceptible to drought. The Tsunami disaster, which struck five coastal States/ UTs in India in December 2004, has further highlighted the vulnerability of coastal areas.Fire incidents, ...Read more >

A serious disruptionof the functioning of a community or a society involving widespread losses and impacts -human, material, economic or environmental, which exceeds the ability of the affected community or society to cope using its own resources. UN General Assembly considered the report and recognized that scientific and technical understanding of the causes and impact of natural disastersand of ways to reduce both human and property losses has progressed to such an extent that a concerted ...Read more >

Indian Railways came into existence with running of the first train from Kurla to Thane in 1853. With the growth, railways gradually built up its own infrastructure of cranes, Accident Relief Trains (ARTs), Accident Relief Medical Equipments (ARMEs) for handling accidents. Till promulgation of Disaster Management (DM) Act in 2005, a disaster on the Railway in effect meant a serious train accident. Other disasters viz., floods, Earthquakes etc. were handled in an uncoordinated manner.The ...Read more >