Department
of Disaster Management, Government of West Bengal
The Sundarban Delta Complex which has
geo-genetic link to the tectonic Bengal Basin known for its startling coastal
landforms that include back dunal mudflats, back swamps, saltmarshes and tidal
creeks enshrouded with mangrove vegetation, low gradient supratidal and
intertidal shores with mud bank, swales and berms, rivulets, tidal flats etc.
However despite the mind boggling floral and faunal diversity Sundarban is very
much vulnerable to natural hazards e.g. storm surge, flood, tidal wave, cyclone
etc. Moreover due to rising sea level, the existing coastline is retreating at
alarming rate which is symptomatic to some impending natural catastrophes. The
inhabitants of the Sundarban estuary probably have acclimatized themselves how
to live on facing the nature’s wrath. Sundarban is still recuperating from the brunt of Cyclone Aila that
devastated thousands of hectares of once fertile agricultural land adjoining
the mangrove forests into a wasteland. The loss of human life and property is
beyond any estimation in real terms. The aftermath of these kinds of cyclones
and storm surges is on the livelihood of the people at large as due to the
ingress of saline sea water into the lush green fertile fields used for paddy
cultivation, these tracts of land rendered useless for any kind of agricultural
activities.
The ICZM
Project understands that fructification of the project can be done only when
the people living on the vulnerable coastal zones can be safeguarded to a
certain extent from the natural calamities like flood, cyclone, hail storm,
thunder squall and sometimes even to tsunamis that occurred due to
geo-morphological, climatic and seismic conditions.
The construction
of MPCS will not only pave the way for increasing the resilience of the communities
during calamity, but also opening avenue for social coordination and enhanced capacity
to shoulder responsibility by operating the shelters in a gainful pro-social
way.
The MPCS has a
multi–pronged approach in catering to the needs especially of the disadvantaged
sections of the populace through a string of activities such as:-
1.
Minimization of
loss of lives, property and livestock by providing it shelters during cyclone
calamity
2.
MPCSs will act
nodal points for receipt and dissemination of cyclone warnings
3.
MPCSs will
provide the warehousing facilities of essential stocks/ items for post
disaster usage
4.
The nodal points
for carrying out post disaster response and relief activities will be from
MPCSs
5.
MPCSs will also
provide temporary protection from the heavy downpour during the monsoon and also from the scorching heat
during the summer to the shelter less people
6.
Basic health
services like immunization programmes can be administered through these MPCSs
7.
MPCSs will acts
models for safe construction in vulnerable seismic zones.
The basic design
of the MPCSs is that it will be of 3-storied building with stilted ground floor
without any wall for keeping the rescued livestock during disaster times. The
construction of the MPCSs will be done keeping in mind the hydrostatic
and hydrodynamic forces that may be exerted upon the MPCSs whenever such
eventualities arise. The proposed MPCSs will have separate living area, drinking water and
toilet facilities for men and women. Water would be pumped to tanks on roof top
in normal course and also prior to occupation in case of a disaster warning.
Bore well with hand pump will be provided near shelter in villages having no
piped water supply scheme. MPCSs will be equipped to provide facilities for
basic medical relief during and after the disaster. MPCSs will also have
separate allotted spaces for keeping valuables and household treasure troves.
The MPCSs will have provisions for Kitchen utensils and Gas Chula.
MPCSs will also be fortified with necessary equipment whose requirements are
high during the time of exigencies such as:-
¨ Generator
Sets
¨ Light
& fans
¨ Life
Buoy
¨ Life
Jacket
¨ Rope
¨ Stretcher
¨ Telescopic
Aluminum Ladder
¨ First
Aid Box
¨ Fire
extinguisher
¨ Notice
Board
¨ Black
Board
¨ Solar
lantern
¨ Inflatable
Tower Light
¨ Portable
Power Saws
¨ Siren
¨ Hand
Held Mega Phone
¨ Flexi-water
tank with
200 lit. capacity
200 lit. capacity
¨ Hand
Held Search Light
¨ Foldable
stretcher
¨ Free
Power Radio
¨ Water
Filter
¨ Foldable
Stretcher
¨ Steel
Almirah
¨ Repair
Kit (Shovel, Trowel, Kadei, Hammer, Chisel)
¨ Rescue
Kit
There will be MPCS Beneficiary Committees
(MPCSBC) comprising the elected member of Gram Panchayat and four/five other
local persons for each of the MPCSs for keeping constant vigil on the quality
of materials and construction.
Operations & Maintenance of Proposed
Cyclone Shelters
It is proposed that, after construction,
the management of the cyclone shelters would be entrusted to the District
Magistrates, who, in their turn, would hand over those to the Block Development
Officers(BDO). The BDOs will hand over possession and maintenance to MPCS
Maintenance Committees (MPCSMCs) comprising the elected member of Gram
Panchayat and four/five young and energetic villagers. In cases where the
shelter is proposed to be used as a School, it shall be entrusted to the
Department of Education. Gram Panchayats will form Multi-purpose Cyclone
Shelter Management Committees in respective villages and that will be intimated
to the concerned BDOs for incorporating their names in a register. The MPCSMCs
will be in charge of day-to-day maintenance and monitoring of the shelters in
those sites which will not act as schools. The committee will collect suitable
maintenance fees from the users by putting them to economic use for social
functions and community based socio-cultural activities such as:
- Community centre for functions on a rental
basis
- Anganwadi centres
- Artisan complexes
- Integrated service delivery centre for the
activities like training programmes, group meetings of youth, men and
women
- Health camps
- Veterinary camps
- Welfare hostels
Wherever the asset is utilized by the
Department of Education to operate as primary schools, the maintenance
activities, standard security measures and drills will be carried out by the
Head teacher of the school. In other
cases where the MPCSMCs operate and maintain the asset, the responsibility of
security and maintenance measures will be carried out by the Block Development
Officers. The costs towards such
measures and maintenance will be drawn from the regular operational budgets of
the Department of Education and Disaster Management, as the case may be.
Corpus
fund for maintenance
For sustainable maintenance of the shelter
buildings, it is proposed that a corpus fund of Rs. 3,00,000/- per shelter will
be created. The corpus fund will be kept
in a fixed deposit scheme with a locking system for three years in the nearest
nationalized bank or post office in the joint account of the MPCSMC. The MPCSMC
cannot withdraw the amount or the interest accrued for first 3 years. After 3
years, the capital and the interest will form the capital for the next term of
deposit. The interest accrued from the said deposit only can be withdrawn by
the MPCSMC in the 6th year and be spent for maintenance of the building. The
committee cannot withdraw the principal amount at any point of time and without
prior permission of the concerned district magistrate. They can only utilize
the annual interest accrued on the deposit and can spend along with the users
fees collected towards maintenance of the MPCSs. The unspent interest will be deposited in the
joint account for expenditure in the subsequent years.
Capacity
Building
The Department of Disaster management has
also embarked upon to conduct some training sessions which will help in
mitigating the risks owing to the occurrence of natural hazards to a certain
extent. The Search and Rescue training will be as per the standardized
specification of Civil Defence Organization in the State. The First Aid
training will cover all the major aspects of first-aid techniques. The training
format will be as per the specification of Indian Red Cross Society and St.
John Ambulance and the training will be imparted by the trained lecturers of
the aforementioned organizations.
Teachers will be sensitized on basic
disaster preparedness aspects and school safety measures to disseminate
information to the students. School Education & Mass Education Departments
of the government of West Bengal will be requested to keep at least one hour of
time in a week for the students of high schools for disaster awareness
generation.
The local NGOs and
CBOs will be involved in the public interactive platform component for creating
mass awareness. Display of educational video films and posters pertaining to
natural catastrophes will be publicized at the community level. The NGOs will
be chosen in consultation with State Inter Agency Group, West Bengal. District
Magistrate, South 24 Parganas, will be the mainstay in this programme for
conducting all trainings in the district smoothly and in a structured way.
Three-tier Panchayat Raj Institution will be fully involved along with the
district administration for better coordination in the field level activities
to be taken up under the programme.
