Going back to the past few months and
remembering the Monday morning tremors and the shock waves that traveled and shocked
the entire NE region on the 4th January 2016 with the epicenter at
Imphal reminds us the uncertainties and unpredictability of the natural forces
that can hit and cause a devastating impact on human life and man-made
infrastructures. Everyone young and old on the 4th January 2016
morning must have had a life and dead feeling and critical situation some would
be praying for life and some would be rushing to find a safe place to hide for
safety and others would have just conclude this is the end of the world “I am
ready to die” whatever comes I am ready to accept.
There are many uncertainties that we as humans
would not be able to understand and to emphasize more on the word
“uncertainties “we are talking about the unpredictable natural forces such as
wind, water, fire, earthquakes, these are the unavoidable devastating forces that
some or the other way would at any point of time can have a heavy impact on the
human life. Recalling the most talked and the most devastating earthquake on
the Himalayan region which had occurred in Nepal on the 25th April
2015 with a magnitude of 8.1 on the richter scale which had killed many humans
and destroyed many infrastructures, this is a proof of the natural forces and
their unpredictable devastating action, similarly many regions are affected by
these natural forces at some point or time.
To throw more light on the mentioned aftermaths
that had occurred, we are talking of the disasters particularly the natural
disasters however we should also not forget the other forms of disaster and
that is human induced disasters like bomb-blasts, terrorist attacks etc. but the
human induced disasters can be checked for the actions which can also be
controlled prior precise and qualitative information but unlike natural
disasters which are uncertain and unpredictable.
An interesting quote to mention “We have to learn
lessons from a country like Japan which registered minimal casualties due to
its level of preparedness,” quoted
by one of the state’s legislator during the sessions is highly applicable when
we think and comprehend on the uncertainties and unpredictability. Preparedness
is the word that we should be thinking of and it is one of the disaster
management cycle principles. How prepared are we for the uncertainties? This
article wishes to emphasize on few of the aspects related to disaster preparedness
and that is the use of recent technology advancement and sciences. We may have
heard of India’s adventure on space science, earth observatory and launching of
earth observatory satellites etc. one of the recent ways for disaster
preparedness is the use of space technology and Geo-spatial Technology, to throw
more light on Geo-spatial technology, through this technology we can prepare digital
data in the form of digital maps which can be made interactive and dynamic and
also put out for the public masses making and sensitizing them about
preparedness. With this technology we can simulate the cause and effect of
floods and what would be the level of destruction of floods in other words
flood hazard mapping. Particularly for earthquakes information on routes,
evacuation centers, medical centers can all be mapped and pre-planned out for
logistic and operations in case of the disaster. Geo-spatial technology is
highly used and also highly recommended for the post disaster effect analysis
and for search and rescue operations. To mention one of the interesting
activity that has been done by the Geo-spatial mapping community throughout the
world for the 2015 Nepal earthquake was the use of this mentioned technology in
the form of crowd sourcing and that have largely help in the search and rescue
operation recovering human lives. The other technology that most of the
disaster management wings or authorities are venturing into is the use of
drones or UAV (Unmanned Aerial Vehicles) in tandem with Geo-spatial Technology and
it was a huge success in planning, preparing and operations during the 2015
Nepal Earthquake aftermath, to mention some of the UAV scientific communities
(UAViators, UAV Humanitarian network) volunteered for the post-disaster
management.
“We cannot stop natural disasters but we can arm ourselves with
knowledge: so many lives wouldn't have to be lost if there was enough disaster
preparedness”
The quotes as said by Petra Nemcova a
philanthropist it is indeed true that we cannot avoid the uncertainties and
unpredictability of the natural forces and neither we have control over these
natural forces they come over as they wish to come but what can we do is to
equipped ourselves with the knowledge,
prepare, and scientifically plan out the
strategies and means to curb our as much
as possible human lives and infrastructures with the latest means of science
and technology and putting the planned into course of actions.
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