As earthquakes continue to hit South Asia, the most powerful being recorded in Nepal, *experts in India came together under the auspices of the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) to review emergency preparedness and response in the South Asian region and how to sustain any on-going public health intervention and the provision of relief in such situations.

*The panel was moderated by Dr. P. Ravindran, Director, Emergency Medical Relief, Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, Government of India; The speakers were Professor Vinod Chandra Menon, Founder Member, NDMA, GoI, Dr. Anshu Sharma, Co-Founder, Sustainable Environment and Ecological Development Society and Mohuya Chaudhuri, Research Associate, JNU / Senior Health Correspondent

The Government of India established the National Disaster Management Agency in order to ensure a systematic response to disasters. I am happy to note that Dr. Anshu Sharma and Mohuya Chaudhuri and all the speakers are eminently qualified to discuss the subject, as is Professor Vinod Chandra Menon, a member of that government Agency.

— Dr. P. Ravindran,
Director, Emergency Medical Relief,
Ministry of Health and Family Welfare,
Government of India
Chairman / Moderator

Professor Vinod Chandra Menon suggested that the delivery of emergency services during disasters is relative to the attitude of those providing these services and the efficacy and efficiency of facilities leaves much to be desired. These are issues that will need to be considered when confronted by mass casualties as infrastructure is inadequate even in routine situations, and thus would face a challenge if a situation of mass casualty occurs. He challenged practitioners to re-examine practices, citing the rescue of 4 people in Nepal via their heartbeats by an equipment called “Finder” that was designed by NASA. In terms of medical preparedness even one life is valuable he further emphasised.

In his presentation, Dr. Anshu Sharma focused on the need to ensure the integrity of buildings that house medical facilities, as these would be places that casualties would be taken to for treatment and management during major disasters. He cited the example of the earthquake in Bam in Iran in 2003 when over 40,000 victims could not be treated because the hospitals there had collapsed.

He shared his experiences with a project that re-examined a popular South Asian city in anticipation of a major emergency which could affect existing structures. As part of the project, they had checked the main political offices and police headquarters and discovered that those very places which were the likely structures from where emergency response would be coordinated during major disasters, would not have survived were a major disaster to strike, and were therefore recommended for urgent retrofitting. He reminded the audience that during earthquakes, death and injury comes from collapsed roofs, shattered glass, electrical shocks etc. and safeguards against these mishaps have to be reflected in building plans for structures earmarked for areas prone to earthquakes. Often the problem with regard to casualties is not the poor emergency response as much as the poor structures or even the lack of basic health structures.

Mohuya Chaudhuri spoke from her experience researching stories in areas hit by, or prone to being hit by disasters. She averred that when we talk of disasters, we talk of cyclones, landslides, earthquakes etc. but the truth is we often do not prepare and end up saying we never expected this to happen. Sadly, most of the structures designed to function in a disaster do not function and this is compounded by the lack of power, water etc. While most public functionaries in charge of disaster mitigation do not like going to places prone to these disasters, even the media is not looking in this direction so the system ends up being unprepared. In effect, she averred that those who are supposed to mitigate a disaster or raise awareness to ensure the safety of the public when one occurs are usually not ready for one when it hits.

Read complete Rapporteur’s Report.

See pictures from the discussion.

ICRC New Delh