Maghelal Praveen, Arlikatti Sudha
Faculty of Resilience, Rabdan Academy, PO Box 114646, Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates.
Amrita School for Sustainable Futures, Amrita Vishwa Vidyapeetham, Amritapuri Campus, Kerala State, India.
Heliyon. 2024 Dec 26;11(1):e41446. doi: 10.1016/j.heliyon.2024.e41446. eCollection 2025 Jan 15.
The State of Uttarakhand, located in the Himalayan region of North India, suffered one of the worst flash floods on June 16, 2013 where 5700 were presumed dead or missing. Since then, the region has suffered two other major flooding events in 2021 and 2023. Although numerous national government agencies recommend keeping disaster preparedness kits ready, the saliency and effectiveness of a household disaster preparedness kit in helping survivors, has not been empirically tested in the region. Responses to "items they took with them when they evacuated for the flash flood" from 316 households were analysed. Majority were not prepared for evacuation with essentials like food, water, hygiene kits and items for children and the aged, and totally dependent on first responder agencies to come to their rescue. Our findings help to underscore the need to: 1) Ensure disaster kits are recommended by every Panchayat for local at-risk communities and handed to visitors/tourists at points of entry. 2) Revive the National School Safety Programme (NSSP) to help school children create disaster preparedness kits. 3) Conduct additional empirical research in various disaster contexts around the country to demonstrate the benefits for immediate survival and increasing household resilience.
北阿坎德邦位于印度北部的喜马拉雅地区，在2013年6月16日遭受了最严重的山洪暴发之一，据推测有5700人死亡或失踪。从那时起，该地区在2021年和2023年又遭受了另外两次重大洪水事件。尽管众多国家政府机构建议随时准备好防灾应急包，但家庭防灾应急包在帮助幸存者方面的显著性和有效性，在该地区尚未得到实证检验。分析了来自316户家庭对“他们在山洪暴发疏散时随身携带的物品”的回答。大多数人没有为疏散准备食物、水、卫生用品以及儿童和老年人用品等必需品，完全依赖应急救援机构来营救他们。我们的研究结果有助于强调以下必要性：1）确保每个村委会为当地高危社区推荐防灾应急包，并在入境点分发给游客。2）恢复国家学校安全计划（NSSP），以帮助学童制作防灾应急包。3）在全国各种灾害背景下进行更多实证研究，以证明其对即时生存和增强家庭恢复力的益处。
