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The Indian subcontinent is highly susceptible to natural disasters. To abate the effect of the disasters, the government emanates institutional mechanisms and strategies for disaster preparedness, mitigation and response. Although there is well-established institutional framework in India for disaster management, there is no study that proposes a disaster supply chain structure under the institutional framework and integrates information and digital technologies (IDT) of industry 4.0 within it. The present study overcomes this research gap. It introduces an IDT structure within the institutional framework of India for multi-agency information sharing, coordination and decision making. It formulates a mathematical model and analyses the impact of IDT on the total response time through three scenarios. The results of scenario analysis reveal the significance of IDT on the disaster supply chains and its capability to handle information delays and IDT failure. The present study can be adopted by disaster management institutions to construct and implement better response practices at the operational, planning and strategic levels. Furthermore, the proposed model in the study can be used for vaccination planning, which includes vaccine distribution, monitoring, regulation and effective implmentation as a response against the current pandemic situation caused due to SARS-CoV-2. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

India has been identified as one of the most vulnerable countries within the global climate crisis. Kerala has been highlighted as a hotspot of climate vulnerability within India, and this was illustrated by the floods of 2018. Nearly, 500 people lost their lives during the floods and 1.4 million were displaced, with the reconstruction programme still taking place today. Anecdotal andmedia accounts have suggested that the Keralan diaspora played a significant part in the disaster relief and reconstruction effort both during and after the floods. However, there has been very little detailed empirical investigation into this particular diasporic engagement during a time of crisis. Drawing upon original empirical research, this paper will examine the nature and impact of Keralan diasporic engagement during, and after, the 2018 floods, particularly focussing upon whether this was an inclusive relief and development effort across the categories of caste, region and religion within the state. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Existing studies on disaster relief operations pay limited attention to acts of spontaneous volunteerism by local citizens in the aftermath of disasters. The purpose of this paper is to explore how social preferences motivate citizens to help during post-disaster situations; above and beyond their own self-regarding interests. The paper begins by synthesising the literature on social preferences from the field of behavioural economics and social psychology with the discourse surrounding behavioural operations management and humanitarian operations management. By doing so, we identify the motivators, enablers and barriers of local citizen response during disaster relief operations. These factors inform a theoretical framework of the social preferences motivating spontaneous volunteerism in post-disaster situations. We evidence facets of the framework using archival and unstructured data retrieved from Twitter feeds generated by local citizens during the floods that hit Chennai, India in 2015. Our model highlights the importance of individual-level action during disaster relief operations and the enabling role of social media as a coordination mechanism for such efforts. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Information and Communication Technology (ICT) infrastructure failure due to disasters result in huge monetary losses and jeopardize entire communication networks, directly affecting Public Protection and Disaster Relief (PPDR) operations. The absence of dedicated harmonized frequency bands for public safety and disaster relief communication is a major concern in India. It limits system functionalities and rescue efforts of Indian Public Protect and Disaster Relief (PPDR) agencies. In this paper, we conduct a survey of proposed and existing disaster management systems and emergency communication spectrum being used in developed countries, specifically Europe and the US and look at possible candidate frequency bands suitable for PPDR communication in the Indian scenario. We also look at global standards and regulatory frameworks drawn up by international standardization organizations for PPDR communication and spectrum allocation. We expand our scope of discussion by looking at ICT infrastructure currently being used in India to tackle large-scale PPDR operations. We further explore the possible system and design upgrades that may be carried out in future to support advanced early warning systems and state-of-the-art broadband PPDR networks. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The west coast of India is affected by tsunamigenic earthquake along the Makran subduction zone. On 28 November 1945 at 21:56 coordinated universal time (UTC), a massive Makran earthquake (M8.0) generated a destructive tsunami that propagated across the Northern Arabian Sea and the Indian Ocean. This tsunamigenic earthquake was responsible for the loss of life and great destruction along the coasts of India, Pakistan, Iran and Oman. Modelling of tsunami stages has been made for the coasts of Pakistan, Iran, India and Oman using NAMI-DANCE computer code. The fault parameters of the earthquakes for the generation of tsunami are epicentre (25.15° N, 63.48° E), fault area (200 km length and 100 km width), angle of strike, dip and rake (246°, 7° and 90°), focal depth (15 km), slip magnitude (7 m). The bathymetry data are taken from General Bathymetric Chart of the Oceans (GEBCO) and land topography data were collected using Shuttle Radar Topography Mission (SRTM). The present simulation is carried out for a duration of 360 min. It is observed that the maximum calculated tsunami run-ups were about 0.7–1.1 m along the coast of Oman, 0.5 m near Muscat, 0.1 m near Sur, 0.7–1.35 m along the western coast of India, 0.5–2.3 m along the southern coast of Iran and 1.2–5.8 m along the southern coast of Pakistan. After the tsunamigenic earthquake, the tsunami wave reached the Gulf of Kachchh in about 240 min, Okha in about 185 min, Dwarka in about 150 min, Porbandar in about 155 min, Mumbai in about 300 min and Goa in about 210 min. The calculated 2-hr tsunami travel time to the Indian coast is in good agreement with the available reports and published data. If the tsunami strikes during high tide, we should expect more serious hazards which would impact local coastal communities. The results obtained in this study are converted to be compatible with the geographic information system based applications for display and spatial analysis of modelling results. The paper also presents classification of tsunami risk zones based on elevation vulnerability. We expect that the results presented here will be supportive to the tsunami emergency response system and useful in planning the protection measures due to tsunami. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

The magnitude of the December 2004 tsunami disaster generated a massive outpouring of donations in support of the people affected. The media attention generated, combined with the magnitude of the funds involved, presented major challenges for organizations responding to this disaster. This paper draws primarily on a project in Tamil Nadu that utilized funds from a Canadian International Development Agency, as channeled through four churches in Canada to an Indian nongovernmental organization, to address the relief and rehabilitation challenges faced by 12 coastal villages. Specifically, the challenges of a transition from relief to development in these low-income fishing villages will be analyzed to assess whether this tsunami has had longer-term effects on how development assistance is transferred to deserving participants affected by low, unstable income as well as disaster. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article discusses relief efforts following a tsunami that hit the coast of India in 2004. The author focuses on the non-governmental organization Suyam Charitable Trust, which was one of the first relief organizations to respond to the disaster. The importance of cultural awareness in relief work is examined.

India as a country is vulnerable to a number of disasters, from earthquakes to floods. Poor and weaker members of the society have always been more vulnerable to various types of disasters. Disasters result in unacceptably high morbidity and mortality amongst the affected population. Damage to infrastructure and reduction in revenues from the affected region due to low yield add to the economic losses. Poor co-ordination at the local level, lack of early-warning systems, often very slow responses, paucity of trained dedicated clinicians, lack of search and rescue facilities and poor community empowerment are some of the factors, which have been contributing to poor response following disasters in the past. The first formal step towards development of policies relating to disaster care in India was the formulation of the National Disaster Response Plan (NDRP) which was formulated initially by the Government of India for managing natural disasters only. However, this was subsequently amended to include man-made disasters as well. It sets the scene for formulating state and district level plans in all states to bring cohesiveness and a degree of uniform management in dealing with disasters. A National Disaster Management Authority has been constituted which aims to provide national guidelines and is headed by the Prime Minister of India. It is the highest decision-making body for the management of disasters in the country. The authority has the responsibility for co-ordinating response and post-disaster relief and rehabilitation. Each state is required to set up Disaster Management Authorities and District Disaster Management Committees for co-ordination and close supervision of activities and efforts related to the management of disasters. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper focuses on lessons learned from the disaster response to the Kashmir earthquake of 8 October 2005. It explores the factors that created a vulnerable environment for the creation of a catastrophe through Alexander's six-point typology of disaster vulnerability. The review of the disaster response will focus on the reasons behind chaotic relief assistance provision and poor sustenance of populations in winter conditions, as well as exploring the framework of international response, and the role of the army, voluntarism and co-ordination issues. Having reviewed the relief response, based on cross-cultural experiences, the paper then makes projections on possible challenges and issues that may emerge in the reconstruction process. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article discusses the land management technique known as land readjustment (LR) in the reconstruction of urban areas following disasters. According to the article, LR was a significant aspect of urban redevelopment in Tokyo, Japan, and Yokohama, Japan, after the Great Kanto earthquake in 1923, the redevelopment of Kobe, Japan, after the 1995 Hanshin-Awaji earthquake, and following earthquakes in Chile and India.