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Taneja and Taneja

carefully factored into the program until such time that more detailed data becomes available.………. we feel that
the Central Government/State Governments may be encouraged to adopt data policy articulating the nature and
resolution of data that would be collected and compiled by the government….” (IIT Bombay Project Team, Round
Table Discussion)
“….the engineers of the State did not have formal details and data of all buildings and structures in their jurisdiction.
Hence, the analysis of the built environment was a tedious task. Moreover, only “seemingly” representative structures
were taken, and departures from these in other structures could not be addressed…….” (IIT Madras Project Team, IDI).

4.2. Awareness of Key Stakeholders about the Earthquake Disaster Risk
The success of an effective EDS development and Shakeout exercise was largely dependent on the active participation and
coordination of all stakeholders, i.e., SDMAs, DDMAs, various line departments, NDMA, and other central ministries/
agencies with the technical team from the IITs.
In the initial phase, the project had a slow start which was mainly due to lack of awareness, understanding, and
importance of the project among state governments’ officials. With continuous and repeated efforts of NDMA, IITs team,
coordination agency, and involvement of political leadership, the activities gathered momentum. The project activities
were duly endorsed by the top leadership of states. IIT Bombay and Madras’ study team found it very tough to convince
state and district administration, especially in Punjab and Haryana, about the chance of occurring such a high magnitude
earthquake in their states as there is no recent history of such a high magnitude earthquake in these states. Similar issues
were faced by the NDMA capacity building team.
“In the 3 days capacity building programs ……………. except for the nodal district, representatives from other
districts were few or nominal in numbers.…… the key functionaries at the cutting edge-level (district level), namely,
Deputy Commissioners, Senior Superintendent of Police, and District Medical Officers mostly did not attend or
were represented by junior level officers who could not apprehend the enormity of the disaster……”(Master Trainer,
NDMA, New Delhi Round Table Discussion)
The Shakeout exercise designed based on scientific EDS was able to major contributors to convince district and state
authorities to get sensitize about the problem. Shakeout exercises with the involvement of the technical team from IITs
build not only the confidence of the state and district officials but also helped them to identify the gaps in their preparation
for high magnitude earthquake disasters.
“The Chandigarh Administration’s participation in the Mega Mock Exercise ‘Mw=8 Mandi, Earthquake Scenario’
conducted by NDMA indeed proved to be a milestone in the direction of disaster preparedness. The event helped
the Administration to assess its disaster preparedness and response during an emergency, to mitigate threats and
also help for the preparation of the Chandigarh Disaster Management Plan, SOPs of the line departments along
with resource inventory. This exercise also gives an idea about the tools and equipment required during the rescue
operation, areas of the capacity gap among staff and areas needing coordination with the line departments and
improving the capability of rescue officials in enhancing their effectiveness and efficiency to respond in any disaster.”
(Chairman, District Disaster Management Authority, Chandigarh, IDI).
Due to the lack of understanding of the importance of issue, among district and local officers’ mass advertisements for
Shakeout exercises were very late as a result of which community participation in these exercises was less than expected.
State and district governments where these activities were implemented had not taken any commendable action after
almost 1 year of completion of the exercise on the gaps identified during Shakeout exercises. The main reasons for such
inaction reported by state and district officials are lack of technical capacity, trained manpower, and no allocation of
budget on these activities as these were not the priority of state and local governments.
4.3. Rapid Visual Survey (RVS) Training and Capacity Building Programs

The selection of representatives from various line departments for RVS training or IRS capacity building programs was
not rational, which impinges on the sustainability of the Incident Response Team. Most of the participants, who have
undergone training for IRS, have already been either transferred to other departments or retired from services.
“….we have not organized RVS training in the district, only one of our assistant town planner took part in such
training before mega mock drill (13 Feb.). Our engineers are curious to take part in such types of training programs
in the future to prepare a team but we don’t have the capacity for the same. Similar is the situation for the capacity of
district officials.………. We like to organize departmental training programs for them to make them understand their
duties before, during and after any disaster…….” (Deputy Commissioner of Mohali District, IDI).

International Journal of Population Studies | 2020, Volume 6, Issue 1 35