Natural Disaster Management and Precautions

In recent decades, the frequency and intensity of natural disasters has been on the rise! Disasters are recurrent and therefore national development planning should involve increasing resilience and readiness over time.
Too often, urgent care could not be provided because critical care facilities were no longer functioning or there was no way to access the services. Not too much effort has been made towards reconstruction efforts or ensuring the importance of functioning lifelines - notably potable water and first aid during disasters.
Much can be done in the immediate term by making vital installations - hospitals and emergency shelters more diaster resistant. They should have uninterrupted power supply and secure provision of safe water and sanitation.
The ability to provide urgent care in critical situations has a cascading effect on the entire recovery process. Where basic connectivity to emergency medical care and water continues, it is easier when it is time to pick up the pieces as there would be more able-bodied individuals then.
India has improved its ability to provide early warning systems and hurricane shelters and evacuate areas most at risk. Under a 1990 World Bank-supported cyclone response project, mangroves have been planted on the shores which have saved the lives of many fishermen in Andhra Pradesh during the 1996 cyclone.
Earthquake-resistant building codes, enforcement of construction standards and oversight of material procurement practices are likely to pay off significantly - which is what the Chile earthquake so dramatically illustrated. And, everywhere better land use planning is proving to be essential to ensurong that people are not putting up homes in harm's way.
If we are ready to invest sizeable funds to establish mechanisms to avert financial crisis, we need to do the same with the escalating hazards of nature. Once the tragedy drops off the front pages of newspapers, international donors like the affected countries themselves, find it hard to stay engaged with prevention efforts.
When rebuilding, one must ensure that facilities vital to crisis response are linked to networks that will not fail them. So, when the the earth shakes or the waters rise, critical networks will be disaster-resilient!