Disasters : destruction at its worst

Disaster is a serious disruption of the functioning of a community or a society. Disasters involve widespread human, material, economic or environmental impacts, which exceed the ability of the affected community or society to cope using its own resources.

All the countries in southern asia are highly prone to hydro-meteorological and geological hazards such as floods, landslides, droughts, cyclones, earthquakes, heat waves, avalanches and tsunamis. Economic vulnerability analysis shows that India, Pakistan and Bangladesh exhibit the largest losses, which is due to large exposure at risk and the high level of hazards. Poverty, exposed population and lack of preparedness can be attributed to the vulnerability to the disasters caused by natural hazards. Bangladesh and India have the highest Multiple Mortality Risk Index (MMRI) whereas Maldives and Bhutan have the least. Although Maldives has the lowest MMRI based on the past disaster losses, the country has the high risk of tsunami, floods and potential risk of sea level rise mainly due to climate change. Urbanization, environmental degradation and lack of strong governance are exacerbating the vulnerabilities in most of the countries in South Asia. Political instability, border disputes, ineffective regional networks and climate change are triggering the hazard impacts.

The occurrence and impact of disasters due to natural hazards are not confined to a country's political boundary. Floods, earthquakes, forest fires and volcanoes have significant cross border impacts. Some examples of crossborder impacts of disasters include Koshi flooding in South Asia (2008), Kashmir earthquake (2005), Indian Ocean Tsunami (2004), and recurrent tropical cyclones in Bangladesh and India. Good governance, regional stability, economic prosperity and sound environmental management are required to have minimum impacts of a disaster. After the 2005 Kobe conference, many efforts have been initiated in line with the resilient building of the state in the SAARC region; however, there exists a huge gap in its implementation. For this, a sound disaster risk management system together with the strong coordination among the disaster risk management actors in the countries should prevail to augment the capacity building of the community and institutions and build their resilience capabilities.

Earthquakes, floods, landslides, cyclones, avalanche and epidemics are among the recurrent and devastating hazards in the South Asia Region. In South Asia, river flooding due to excessive rainfall is the major cause of floods. Flooding due to tsunami, cyclones and high tide are also common in the coastal areas. Floods occur when large amount of water overflows over dry land. They may result from prolonged or very heavy rainfall, severe thunderstorms, monsoon rains, or tropical cyclones. People, who live near rivers, or in low-lying coastal areas, live with the greatest threat of floods [5]. Glacier Lake Outburst Floods (GLOF), dam burst and avalanches are also common in South Asia.