Disaster Management

Background of the Project

Tamil Nadu covers an areaof130,058sq.km and has a coastline of about 1,076kms (inclusive of the Union Territory of Puducherry),which is about 15% of the total coastline of India. More than 40% of the population associated with fishing lives within 1km of the coast and 50% of them live within 2km of the coast.

Tamil Nadu is highly vulnerable to a range of natural hazards, particularly floods, cyclones, earthquakes, drought and landslides based on the geographical location. Land mass is prone to earthquakes of varying magnitude and coastal region is susceptible to floods and cyclones. The Government of Tamil Nadu through this training has made an effort in moving from a reactive emergency response to being proactive and implementing disaster preparedness and risk reduction initiatives. However, limited capacity of the stakeholders, including professionals undermines the coping mechanisms for sustainability. 

The geographical setting of Tamil Nadu makes the state vulnerable on natural disasters such as cyclones, floods and earthquake-induced tsunami. Cyclonic activities on the east coast (Bay of Bengal) are mores ever than on the west coast, and occur mainly around September or between Oct-December Northeast Monsoon or Retreating Monsoon.

The state also faces the problem of drought which is now becoming a recurrent phenomenon. 
To ensure sustainability, this training will be conducted once in three months in all Corporations & Municipalities of Tamil Nadu for three consecutive years to imbibe proactive thinking.
The training and knowledge exchange will provide opportunities to hundred officials from each Corporation/ Municipality of Tamil Nadu to:
i)    Improve emergency preparedness and response capacity skills of Tamil Nadu Corporation/ Municipality staff members;
ii)   Expose Tamil Nadu Corporation/ Municipality staff members to and practically train them on the ground reality of emergency management and
iii)  Conduct Training of Trainers (ToT).