Day 57 – Q 3.Discuss the various strategies to mitigate the effects of tropical cyclones.
3. Discuss the various strategies to mitigate the effects of tropical cyclones.
उष्णकटिबंधीय चक्रवात के प्रभाव को कम करने के लिए विभिन्न रणनीतियों पर चर्चा करें।
INTRODUCTION
A localized, very intense low-pressure wind system, forming over tropical oceans and with winds of hurricane force is called as Tropical Cyclone. Every year, India and countries of the Tropical belt undergo huge fatality in terms of men and money due to the harmful effects of Tropical Cyclones.
BODY
Tropical Cyclones are characterized by low-pressure center, a closed low-level atmospheric circulation, strong winds, a spiral arrangement of thunderstorms that produce heavy rains, thus naturally it is bound to cause large number of casualties. However, over the years and with experience and advent of technology, various strategies are developed to mitigate the effects of Tropical Cyclones. In the recent times several cyclones like Cyclone Vardah, Cyclone Hud hud, Cyclone Ronu have affected India and caused widespread devastation.
The Devastation that is caused due to the Cyclone includes-
- Large scale devastation of infrastructure.
- Huge loss of men and material.
- Disruption of electricity polls and Internet connections.
- Large scale flooding on railway tracks and roads etc.
Therefore, it is necessary that not only a corrective action is taken, but a preventive solution is also focused on –
- Cyclone resistant coastal infrastructure- Housing, offices in the coastal areas be built in a manner to mitigate the harmful effects.
- Cyclone shelters must be built in the short term, if evacuating large number of people isn’t feasible.
- Installing Early Warning system: Installing system with Doppler mechanism, RADAR’s to track the course of the cyclone and take preventive measures.
- Not disturbing the Mangrove ecosystems of the coastal areas, as mangroves act as a natural buffer to cyclones, tsunamis etc.
- Putting in place a mechanism in order to rescue the most vulnerable sections like women, children etc at the earliest.
- Better inter departmental coordination between different agencies.
But, in the long term- there is a need of a proper strategy, to mitigate the effects of tropical cyclones and move above just firefighting approach-
- Planning and implementing -a comprehensive disaster management policy with a long term approach to tackle the effects of tropical cyclones.
- Increase people’s knowledge about the emergency warning signals and alert notifications used in community.
- Stopping haphazard development, and allowing development only with the help of proper permissions.
- Complying by the Sendai framework of Disaster risk management at global and regional level for comprehensive disaster risk management.
- Land use – must be planned scientifically, so that the resident areas are far from the coastal areas & whatever, the residential area is -it can be easily evacuated.
- Focus on long term capacity building of people.
- Keeping, in place a system which ensures faster information dissemination.
- Keeping in place an effective health care system.
- Insurance needs to be given by the government for people and also to cyclone resistant structures.
CONCLUSION
Thus, a continuous learning is always necessary to fight the necessary evil. It is vital, therefore, that the learning’s from each event are shared nationally, and the capacity of officials and communities to manage disasters built continuously so that we are able to mitigate the effects of cyclones and keep the negative effects to the minimum.
BEST ANSWER: JOHN NASH
