Can this transfer of power to local governments actually help in improving disaster management systems? Can community-based disaster management work be linked to local governance? Our own experience makes us believe it can.

Local Governments Like Being "Popular"

Geo Hazards International and the United Nations Centre for Regional Development Disaster Management Planning Hyogo Office issued the final report on the Global Earthquake Safety Initiative in October 2001. It ranks Delhi as third in "total earthquake lethality potential" among the 21 cities covered in the study. The principal sources of earthquake lethality potential for Delhi have been identified as poor emergency response (implying inadequately trained manpower) and building collapse (implying loosely implemented techno-legal regimes). Both these issues are inherently related to the competitiveness of the local government, which necessarily needs to be part of any community-level intervention to make it effective.

Our experience shows that local government response is always forthcoming when communities duly recognize the role played by the local government and take a proactive stand. While working with a low-income community in informal settlements in Delhi, we were provided with some insightful learning. Community preparedness, the main focus of our DFID-supported project, is useless and rather incomplete unless it is linked to government at the lowest rung. In an almost unique attempt, the community built a fire-post for itself to take care of immediate fires, a frequent occurrence in the largely shanty settlement with highly combustible material in use for dwellings. It was only after the local elected representative visited the site and promised to make it part of the larger network linked to the local fire station, that the fire-post was made workable. Moreover, the elected representative has since become the loudest protagonist for a disaster management plan for Delhi. Disasters always attract great media attention and therefore any work done in disaster management can potentially make people, especially elected representatives, more popular.

Local Governments in Disaster Mitigation

In 1995, floods engulfed the entire small town of Rohtak, 150 km north of New Delhi, for almost a month. The local government did the best it could to rescue marooned people from their homes. Subsequently, the government has been actively propagating environmental programs that can potentially reduce the risk of floods in the town. When we entered the scene in 1999 on a SEEDS project supported by the National Foundation of India, we took the environmental program a step further, by organizing a public exhibition in the annual city festival explaining the problems that cause floods. A little later when we facilitated a citizens consultation, the government and citizens were at last talking about disaster mitigation. The only difference was that each party approached the topic from their own perspective, and understood each other well. The task of ridding the town of floods in the future now seems viable.

Local Governments Can Ensure Fair Play

In the Orissa Cyclone (1999) and the Gujarat Earthquake (2001), local governments made sincere efforts to facilitate and guide relief operations in the affected areas, thus ensuring that all damaged areas were adequately covered and that people received what they really needed. When we reached Gujarat with our relief material, we knew from the local government office, first at the state level and then at the local level, exactly where to go to distribute relief. Moreover, we were accompanied by field officers of the local government who ensured that the distribution in the village was fair and uniform. This is in great contrast to stories we heard about people looting relief trucks and large segments being left out in spite of adequate inflow of relief material in the region.

In our ongoing rehabilitation experience in Gujarat, the role of the local Panchayat (village government) has been critical. Affected victims have received government compensation for damage to their houses, while our rehabilitation approach seeks to provide additional material and training support to villagers. The success of the project has been made possible because the local Panchayat motivated and explained to villagers the package offered by the NGO.

Is It All So Easy?

The recently appointed High Powered Committee on Disaster Management, in its latest National Disaster Management Policy (Draft), has clearly highlighted the important role of local governments in tackling disaster management. Needless to say, involving local governments has not been easy. Replies such as "We don't have time for NGOs" and "We want to help but we haven't got any resources", often threaten to wash out the initiative. Moreover, disaster management is not specifically listed in their terms of reference. Experience sharing, capacity building and conscious attempts to consult and exchange ideas on the same platform, have helped in overcoming such hurdles.

Manu Gupta is the Program Director, Sustainable Environment and Ecological Development Society (SEEDS). He can be contacted at manu@seedsindia.org.