Question

Write a note on preparedness by government during flood

Answer 1

Flood preparedness planning is about putting inplace a set of appropriate arrangements in advance for aneffective response to floods. Some of the commonly identifiedflood preparedness activities are; Public awareness raisingon flood preparedness, response and mitigation measures;Stockpiling of emergency relief materials i.e., food, fodder forlivestock, emergency medicines, materials for temporaryshelter etc; Installation of community-based early warningsystem for issuance of timely and effective flood warnings;Management of safe areas for temporary removal of peopleand property from a threatened location; Transportation tosafe areas/ evacuation centre; Ensuring access to health andsanitation facilities; Conducting drills and rehearsals. Thekey to flood preparedness planning is to have a clarity andagreement on the roles and responsibilities of relevantstakeholders such as the government agencies, disastermanagement organizations, Red Cross, voluntary groups aswell as community members. Such an arrangement is possibleby forming disaster management committee and teams atvarious levels to agree on set of standard operatingprocedures (SOPs) defining what actions to be taken before,during and after floods. The benefits of the flood preparednessplanning are many and some of them are listed:oSystematic arrangement and deployment of resourcesto reduce the impact of flood disaster.oVulnerable communities to get access to crucialinformation, such as timely flood forecast