For Rapid Disaster Response
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    Tamil Nadu c

Tamil Nadu covers an area of 130,058 square kilometres (50,216 sq mi), and is the eleventh largest state in India. West and North of the state are lofty hills while the East and South are coastal plains. The bordering states are Kerala to the west, Karnataka to the northwest and Andhra Pradesh to the north. To the east is the Bay of Bengal. The southernmost tip of the Indian Peninsula is located in Tamil Nadu. At this point is the town of Kanyakumari which is the meeting point of the Arabian Sea, the Bay of Bengal, and the Indian Ocean .

Tamil Nadu has a coastline of about 1,000 kilometres (600 mi) which forms about 18% of the country’s coastline (third longest). Tamil Nadu's coastline bore the brunt of the 2004 Indian Ocean Tsunami when it hit India, which left behind 7,793 dead in the state . Tamil Nadu falls mostly in a region of low seismic hazard with the exception of western border areas that lie in a low to moderate hazard zone. As per the 2002 Bureau of Indian Standards (BIS) map, Tamil Nadu falls in Zones II & III. Historically, parts of this region have experienced seismic activity in the M5.0 range.

Tamil Nadu is dependent heavily on monsoon rains, and thereby is prone to droughts when the monsoons fail. The climate of the state ranges from dry sub-humid to semi-arid. The state has three distinct periods of rainfall: (1) Advancing monsoon period, South West monsoon (from June to September), with strong southwest winds; (2) North East monsoon (from October to December), with dominant northeast winds; and (3) Dry season (from January to May).

The normal annual rainfall of the state is about 945 mm (37.2 in) of which 48% is through the North East monsoon, and 32% through the South West monsoon. Since the state is entirely dependent on rains for recharging its water resources, monsoon failures lead to acute water scarcity and severe drought.

Scenario - Scale

No Disaster Ranking Scenario
1 Floods 4 In 2005, at least 279 people were killed, and an estimated 200,000 were made homeless, due to severe floods in Tamil Nadu. Approximately 700,000 people were trapped in the floods, which also damaged at least 350,000 hectares of agricultural crops. More than 3,000 irrigation tanks and 1,500 riverbanks and channels were breached.
2 Dought 4 Drought is a growing problem for Tamil Nadu, particularly in the Southern States. In areas desertification is a problem. The loss of livelihoods and the resultant migration are of concern.
3 Cyclone 5 Tamil Nadu has a coastal length of over 800km and as a result is vulnerable to Cyclones and Wind Storms. The maximum probable estimated wind speed is 203 km/ph. The destruction of coastal forestry due to shrimp farming adds to the vulnerability to cyclones. The State has however suffered years of Cyclones (particularly in the 70s and 80s) and the population has gradually become accustomed to reacting to early warnings.    The height of storm tides can reach extreme heights above normal sea level. Particularly vulnerable are: Tuticorin (6.47m), Pamlan Pass (11.4m), Nagappattinam (4.91m), Chennai             (3.62m).  The storm surges that follow do also come further inland.
4 Tsunami 3 The tsunami killer waves struck the Tamil Nadu coast on December 26, 2004, without any forewarning. This unprecedented calamity has wrought immense devastation all along the coast causing a heavy death toll of about 8005 people, leaving many people homeless and destroying the livelihood of fishermen and others in the coastal areas. Almost 500000 people were evacuated from the affected areas.

Please note: The ranking of the disasters based on the perceptions of the participants in the workshops with CP partners on the scale of 1 (least) to 5 (high) on likelihood.

Existing logistic systems for emergency response
Every organisation has created well organized logistical and financial management systems for the regular development programmes. Most of them have not worked directly in disaster response so they do not have any special procedure for emergency. None of the logistics staff is trained in logistics in emergency.

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Interactive Tamil Nadu Map Courtesy : Google
Emergency Contingency Palnning - Tamil Nadu- 2007 - Summary Results

Note: The contingency planning workshop was conducted with five partner organizations in Tamil Nadu- CEE, TRC, DHAN, NESA and Don Bosco, PREPARE.

Representative Staff composition data of three organisations indicates that almost 80% of the staff is male and 20%. The data indicates that 30% of the staff is experienced in emergencies and 24% of the staff is trained in disaster related topics. The entire data becomes matter of concern. Looking at the reality of the growing number of hazards especially flooding during past three years it is important that the human resource are exposed and trained in disaster response. 

Volunteers
As most of the organizations are new to the disaster response they do not have any system of mobilising volunteers during emergency response. However all the organizations have capcities to mobilize volunteers from various sources like community, concern citizens and educational institutions.

Assets with the partners
Every partner organisation has office with all the communication facilities like telephone, internet, fax. Two organizations have the good facility of training center. Most of the organizations are new to the disaster response work and have never been involved in distribution of relief material at large scale, so they have not located the warehouse facility. This is an important strength that the partners have communication facility as well as training centers. It is important that this strength is utilized in building formal coordination amongst partners during disasters as well as in normal times for exchange of the information, experience and knowledge. Initiation and facilitation of e-groups, exchange via emails etc. could enhance the collective efforts of disaster preparedness.

 

  

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