CBI just hosted another webinar in our series on InternationalModels of Emergency Management. Again, the turnout was large, reflecting the widespread professional and public interest in the subject, and we had a very informative presentation that prompted good questions and discussion. The webinar, however, was a point of departure, not just in terms of the specific topic, but the course of the series itself, and, for many of us, our perspective on EM.  

The webinar topic was International Models of Emergency Management—India. This is the first webinar in the series to focus on a specific country; in the coming months, our slate of presentations will continue this with other countries. The intent is to offer a number of perspectives and insights about international emergency management, and what better way to do that than by learning about the work in a wide variety of nations? Yet even for many who have worked in the international context, India represents a significant point of departure, a place with which they are only vaguely familiar. Yet as Professor Vinod Menon showed in his presentation, India has much to offer to those in the field. 

A full recap is not needed here, as the recorded event is available on our website under “Webinar Series.” In brief,Prof. Menon opened with a short history of disasters in India, and then surveyed the range of potential disasters, from tsunamis to earthquakes. He noted the challenges they posed, the development of means for dealing with them, and ongoing needs in India.    

The presentation was very informative and had a number of thought-provoking points. Again, in focusing on emergency management in India, it introduced many of us from the West to anew context. In a sense, this was not only an introduction to India, but many other countries as well. Tellingly, one of our participants referenced the“BRICS” (Brazil, Russia, India, China, South Africa) in a post about the applicability of the material presented. This is the sort of broader perspective that is needed in EM, and that this series is intended to provide. 

Of course, India has a long history in general, and in disasters as well. It was not able (and sobering) how prominent famines have been in this, and thus remain a focal point for the nation. Yet as a vast country, India faces a vast number of potential disasters, both natural and man-made; this places a wide array of demands on the nation’s EM planning. Of course, the2004 Indian Ocean Tsunami remains fresh in the collective global memory; one of the deadliest natural disasters in history, this killed thousands and displaced hundreds of thousands in the country. Less fresh is the 1984 BhopalDisaster, in which a deadly release of a poisonous gas from the Union Carbide chemical plant in the Indian city resulted in thousands of deaths and hundreds of thousands injured; this is one of deadliest human-induced industrial disasters in history.  

These events are in the past, yet India’s potential for natural disasters is ever-present, and as a rapidly developing country, the same can be said of human-induced emergencies. The EM challenges that India faces can be seen as on a grand scale, but as Prof. Menon pointed out, they also have smaller local aspects. He noted that the initial response to the leak from the Union Carbide plant in Bhopal was greatly hampered by the fact that many emergency personnel in the city had not been given certain basic knowledge about how to counter the effects of the poisonous gas, compounding the casualties. Twenty years later, when theIndian Ocean suddenly receded from India’s shoreline, many concerned people in fishing communities rushed to the scene, not realizing the prelude to the tsunami wave that would soon swamp them. Both cases, Prof. Menon stated, underlined the need to engage communities to disseminate knowledge about how to respond in events of emergencies. Another point concerned the use of technology. While advances such as mobile devices offer potential tools for emergency management purposes, they also have potential risks. In India, the possibility for identity theft by such means is a real problem, and not only harms the victims, but undermines the credibility of and responsiveness to emergency management efforts. Furthermore, as in most places, these means can undermine these efforts by serving as conduits of misinformation. In sum, technology can be a great resource, but not without careful thought and planning. 

Such a point is one that many in the EM field, regardless of where they are, can readily understand. Others may seem less familiar, yet when considered, also have useful insights. This is what we hope to encourage in the series going forward from this point of departure.