District Disaster Management Plan of Wayanad district

Vision

The main vision behind the DDMP- 2021 is to work towards a safer district. The DDMP recognizes that disasters undermine the capacity of the district for sustainable development and that an effective disaster risk reduction approach requires political, administrative, and financial commitment towards sustainable human development and effective management of the environment. DDMP was developed in the understanding that disaster resilience requires coordinated, committed, and inclusive action of departments, institutions, local self-governments, and civilians to develop effective strategies for preventing hazard events from turning into disasters and to respond effectively to all disasters. It emphasizes building societal capacities for disaster risk reduction by promoting and advocating a policy of sustainable development and by creating institutional awareness and enhancing the preparedness measures. Kerala State Disaster Management Plan was developed using the knowledge base of the hazards and effective preparedness to deal with the physical, psycho-social, economic and environmental vulnerabilities to disasters that civic society encounters. It also ensures a safer community that implements a pragmatic and holistic response mechanism to manage an event of a disaster and consistently advances in all aspects of disaster risk reduction. 

Mission

The mission behind the DDMP is to develop and establish structurally and functionally competent administrative units supported with the directive or restrictive orders and guidelines at District and taluk levels, cognizant and adept in disaster management activities, which is prepared to minimize the devastating effects of a disaster, whether natural or human-induced and capable of appropriate timely deliverance of services upon an emergency. 

Objectives

The objectives of District Disaster Management Plan of Wayanad district are

• To identify hazards that the district is vulnerable to
• To lay down guidelines or orders at the district level for disaster risk reduction for departments at District Level and Local Authorities to follow
• To enhance the disaster resilience of the district by way of capacity building at the local selfgovernment level 
• To proactively utilize print, audio, visual and social media for disaster risk reduction
• To constantly highlight the importance of disaster risk reduction perspective in the future development activities of the district 
• To strengthen the District Emergency Operations Center (DEOC), Wayanad to function effectively as the backbone of disaster risk reduction programs in the district
• To institutionalize disaster management in the Wayanad district 
• To accomplish the best disaster management mechanism at the district and taluk level to handle any unprecedented events.
• To prevent and minimize loss of life, property, and infrastructure in the district 
• To document, analyze and evaluate earlier disasters and identify the vulnerable locations in the district based on the database of hazards.
• To provide clarity on the roles and responsibilities of all the stakeholders and capacitate them for effective disaster preparedness and emergency response.
• To set up hazard early warning systems and monitoring systems
• To periodically improve and ensure the upkeep of multiple communication systems ensuring critical redundancy 
• To strengthen community-based Disaster Risk Reduction initiatives at the local selfgovernment level
• To encourage and empower the local community to adopt measures of disaster risk reduction and disaster resilience by way of capacity building.
• To implement mitigation activities 
• To mainstream disaster management concerns to the developmental planning process through the endorsement of appropriate strategies and responses to deal with impending disasters.
• To coordinate the activities of all governmental and nongovernmental agencies, local authorities as well as the general public and bring about quick decision making on relief, recovery, reconstruction, and rehabilitation in the aftermath of a disaster.
• To envisage a culture of disaster preparedness in the district. 
• To coordinate and implement long term disaster rehabilitation activities 
• To ascertain the status of existing resources and facilities available in the district to make them available on requisition 

Scope of the document

The District Plan  includes the following.

• Hazard, Vulnerability, Capacity and Risk Assessment
• Institutional Arrangements for Disaster Management (DM)
• Prevention and Mitigation Measures
• Preparedness Measures
• Capacity building and training measures
• Response and Relief measures
• Reconstruction, Rehabilitation and Recovery Measures
• Financial Resources for implementation of DDMP
• Procedure and methodology for monitoring, evaluation
• Coordination Mechanism for implementation of DDMP
• Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs) and checklist

Hazard profile of the district

Wayanad is a district, prone to various kinds of disasters. These include

• Earthquakes : District is classified under Zone III, ie, Moderate Risk Damage Zone with respect to Earth Quakes.
• The hill ranges bordering Wayanad with Malappuram and Kozhikkode districts are also landslide prone areas.
• Floods have also frequented this district many times. Minor flooding has been disrupting normal course of life, during Monsoon. 
• Drought is another serious disaster which has affected the district during the past, many a times.
• Another serious disaster, that affected the district in the recent past was the Kyasanur Forest Disease (KFD) aka Monkey Fever

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