Siddhanth Tokas
Jindal Global Law School
Introduction:
Tropical cyclones are one of the most deadly natural disasters taking many human lives every year. Many coastal areas have been regularly affected by cyclones causing high winds, storms, and heavy rainfalls, often resulting in floods. Recently, cyclone Burevi and Nivar had hit the coastal areas of Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh, Pondicherry, and Kerala, bringing along heavy rains.[i] These cyclones have already killed 11 people, with five others missing. Over the last two centuries, around 1.9 million people have lost their lives globally due to natural disasters related to cyclones.[ii] Tropical cyclones have also caused enormous damage to the local environment and economy. Further, it has been suggested that the intensity of tropical cyclones will probably increase under likely future climate change scenarios and thus coastal people and the environment will be more vulnerable to tropical cyclones.[iii] Although it is not within the reach of human beings to stop cyclonic disasters altogether, but the impacts of such disasters can be largely mitigated using modern technology. This article aims to discuss how modern technology can be used to curb the impacts of natural disasters.
Technology and Disaster Management:
Information is very important for effective disaster management and social media can be very effectively used as an information source by disaster relief agencies as it enhances awareness as well as two-way communication.[iv] During the Nepal earthquakes of 2015, a digital volunteer community was established and around 3000 volunteers helped in creating a map representing affected areas along with the number of victims, which helped extensively in delivering relief operations. With the rise of these new information technologies the way in which information was collected by relief organizations has surely changed and thus led to the debate on how the relief organization should implement these technologies. Moving forward, we will discuss how technology can be applied in different stages of disaster management (i.e., risk reduction, preparedness, response, and recovery).
- Reducing Overall Risk:
The risk of disasters can be reduced by using monitoring technologies such as UAV (Unmanned Aerial Vehicles) and sensor network systems on buildings. These sensor systems can monitor the endurance and degradation of various buildings and can report their vulnerability. Further, sensors can also be used to detect a rise in the water level of rivers and can enable the local authorities to predict river flooding. These technologies can help in recording information, which can be further used by authorities to do disaster planning for future hazards. The recent development of AI technologies can also be used to enable disaster management authorities to analyse recorded data and declare an alert. Moreover, an AI platform has already been devised that can detect water rise from social media posts. However, one drawback of these sensor network systems is that they require frequent observation.
- Technology and Prepration:
The information recorded by sensor systems can be effectively utilised in strengthening disaster preparedness by making people aware of vulnerable areas. Recent technologies can offer people the opportunity to get field experience before a real disaster through scenario simulation. An example of such technology is the (VR) Virtual Reality system, which can help in teaching people how to survive a disaster.[v] These kinds of technologies can help people to get familiar with the disaster situations visually and learn various techniques of survival. VR technology has also been adopted by some of the hospitals as it supports emergency medical training.[vi] Being aware of the upcoming threats allows the local authorities to take necessary measures to minimise the damages that may be caused. Even though in Chinnai, cyclone Nyar caused flooding in the vulnerable localities due to constant rainfall even two days before the landfall, the steps taken by the authoritis for prepration like destiling of waterways and storm water drains proved to be very helpful in preventing waterlogging in parts of the city that are usually flooded.[vii]
- Responding to the Disaster:
Social media can be used to enhance situational awareness by enabeling the victims of the disaster to report the exact conditions around them. The situational information is used by the local government to initiate rescue missions, gathering voulenteers and generating funds. Situational information that can be enhanced through social media to deliver these operations. Social media aids the local communities by enabeling communication with the relief agencis. The agencies use Information Systems that allow them to record, exchange, and process disaster-related information throughout the disaster management process. Information and data that is gathered in all the stages, enables efficient recovery operations.
- Aerospace Technology and Tropical Cyclones:
Aerospace technology can also be used to acquire data, which can play a significant role in disaster management. The most significant contribution of aerospace technology in managing tropical cyclones is monitoring. This technology can be used in weather forecasting and in keeping track of the path of cyclones. “Weather satellite observations, for instance, through the Geostationary Meteosat and the Polar-orbiting NOAA Satellites in combination with airborne and ground radar observations lead to detection, monitoring, and forecasting cyclones.”[viii] The system generally functions very satisfactorily, and its accuracy in early warnings can only be limited to some extend when unexpected changes occur in the intensity and direction of the cyclone. Hazard zoning of coastal areas using aerospace technology can also be used in siting flood refuge structure. Hazard mapping is yet another technology that can be used to identify erosion, sedimentation and flooding caused further inland. Further, radar images can essentially be used for mapping the areal extend of floods during emergency operations.
Conclusion:
Technology can help in curbing the damages caused by natural disasters by allowing the authorities to predict disasters like cyclones using satellite images and weather forecasting softwares and be better prepared for the upcoming threat. Risk to life and property can be reduced using sensors, open satellite images and UAVs to allow the authorities to record real-time situation of the affected area. An estimate of vulnerability and risk in an area can be made from the information gathered using the technological tools. To enhance the preparedness of the authorities and the local population, disaster field exercises can be conducted by the government through VR training systems to allow people an experience of the real life situation. Gathering situational information once a disaster has occurred becomes essential as citizen-generated information through social media could increase awareness about the situation and help devise an appropriate response plan to make the relief process more efficient and curb the overall damage caused due to the disaster.
REFERENCES:
[i] Anjali Marar,‘Week after cyclone Nivar, Tamil Nadu braces for cyclone Burevi’ (The Indian Express, 30 November 2020) <Week after cyclone Nivar, Tamil Nadu braces for cyclone ‘Burevi’ | India News,The Indian Express> accessed 8 December 2020.
[ii] Muhammad Hoque, Stuart Phinn, Chris Roelfsema, Iraphne Childs, ‘Tropical cyclone disaster management using remote sensing and spatial analysis: a review’ IJDRR.
[iii] ibid
[iv] Mihoko Sakurai, Yuko Murayama, ‘Information technologies and disaster management – Benefits and issues [2019] PDS.
[v] Li C, et al., ‘Earthquake safety training through virtual drills’ [2017] TVCG 1275.
[vi] McGrath JL, et al., ‘Using virtual reality simulation environments to assess competence for emergency medicine learners’ [2018] AEM 186.
[vii] Lakshmi K, ‘Cyclone Nivar | How preparedness took the edge off the storm’ (The Hindu 30 November 2020) <https://www.thehindu.com/news/national/tamil-nadu/how-preparedness-took-the-edge-off-cyclone-nivar/article33205602.ece> accessed 6 December 2020.
[viii] H. Th. Verstappen, ‘Aerospace Technology and Natural Disaster Reduction’ [1995] IIASES (11)3
