Gender Issues in Disaster Management

Description

One of the most popular disaster prone areas in the world is The Indian Subcontinent. Many hazardous events take place in this country like floods, tsunamis, cyclones, droughts, landslides, etc. These are so frequent which leads a great loss to life and property and environmental damage also takes place. According to National Disaster Management Guidelines, 2012, approximately 58% of India’s landmass is prone to earthquakes. Moreover 40 million hectares of land is prone to floods. Further 8% is prone to cyclones and 68% to draught and many of the hilly areas are prone to landsides and avalanches. Finance, Infrastructure, Crop and Productivity is hampered due to these disasters. The main reasons for the rise in vulnerability of disasters from the last four to five decades have been haphazard urbanization, rising population, structural development in high risk zones, environmental degradation, climate change, etc. The risk and vulnerabilities people face from natural disasters is as much as a product of social situation as that of their physical environment. Women and men shape their capability o cope up with the disasters through their social network, powerful relationships, knowledge and skills, gender roles, health, wealth and location.