SPEECH
BY SHRI K.R. NARAYANAN, PRESIDENT OF INDIA, WHILE INAUGURATING THE SEMINAR
"ROLE OF MEDIA: PREPARING PEOPLE TO COPE WITH DISASTERS"
THURSDAY,
NOVEMBER 16, 2000
Revolution
in communications and omnipresence of the media have made the world to-day
more disaster-conscious than ever before. It has been estimated that during
the last ten years the highest number of disasters that struck the world
was in the year 1999. India is particularly vulnerable to disasters given
its immense population, geographical extent, vast coastal belt and the
spread of rivers and mountains. In fact almost 30 to 40% of the days in
a year witness, apart from man made disasters, natural calamities like
floods, droughts, heat and cold waves, and tropical cyclones. Referring
to this phenomenon Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru in his letter to the
Chief Ministers of India on 1st September 1950 wrote, "I imagine
that India has set up some kind of a new record, not a record to be proud
of. It is a record of disaster and calamity, one following another in
quick succession, bringing sorrow and misery to vast numbers of human
beings ….. we do not yet know the full extent of this disaster in which
millions of people are involved."
A few months later he wrote again, "Indeed,
every calamity is a challenge to our nationhood ….. and a nation is ultimately
judged by the way this challenge is accepted". Nehru’s admission
is that he did not know the full extent of the disaster testifies to the
dearth of information on the subject. This lack of information itself
can be described as a disaster. We can avoid this disaster only if the
media plays its role in disseminating information. That role is not to
advertise anti-earthquake pills and then ask the skeptical consumer 'what
is the alternative' as it is said to have happened in the great earthquake
of Portugal, but inform and educate, and prepare the public on the question.
It is said that prevention begins with information. To a large extent
the functioning of modern society depends on the fast spread of information
through the media.
I
am glad that this Seminar has been organised by the Press Council of India.
The Interim Report of the High Powered Committee for Preparation of the
Disaster Management Plans, had indicated that the Press Council would
be requested to conduct a workshop on the role of media and disaster management.
The Committee during its deliberations repeatedly focussed on the crucial
role played by media in disaster situations and highlighted the importance
of disseminating reliable and correct information on disasters to the
people so that they remain prepared to face such situations. Realising
that the electronic media assumes greater significance for faster dissemination
of information, it proposed that their role should be thoroughly examined
and would request the Director General of Prasar Bharati to contribute
a Chapter on the theme "Role of Electronic Media in Disaster Management
Efforts".
In
our history there are lessons available about the use of mass media for
awakening consciousness of the people to fight against outbreak of plague,
cyclone, flood, earthquake, famines etc. For instance, Mahatma Gandhi
wrote extensively in the Indian Opinion, the Harijan, the Amrit Bazar
Patrika and several other newspapers about the methods to prevent plague.
It is instructive to learn that Mahatma Gandhi in his articles, essays
and letters blamed our unclean habits and unhygienic conditions for the
emergence of plague and exhorted through his writings to make sanitation,
what he called, "alpha and omega of civic life". He even appealed
to the educated Indians to become missionaries in hygiene and sanitation.
Once when plague broke out in Johannesburg in 1905, he asked, "what
is the duty of the press on such occasions"? The answer he gave to
that question constitutes the theme of this Seminar today. He wrote that
the duty of the press was to notify the incidence of plague as soon as
it occurred for information of the public so that they remain prepared
to meet the hazard. After that he suggested that the press would highlight
people’s faults which caused the disease. It is a fine example of strategic
use of media for alerting the public to avert the problem and at the same
time critically examine the actions of people for its management.
I
recall that when India was hit by plague in the 1990s many newspapers
reproduced the writings of Mahatma Gandhi on the issue and widely circulated
them for the benefit of the public. It is because of the focus of the
media on cleanliness and hygiene that many citizens of our country were
motivated and cleared garbage from places close to their residences and
put there a picture of a God or Goddess to prevent others to throw garbage
in the same places. This is how the media acted as a vehicle of preventive
health care during that calamity.
In
1976 I was a witness to the great earthquake in China, the Tangshan earthquake,
and I have vivid recollections of the manner in which Chinese faced the
calamity, by giving information to the nation and by organization and
collective action by the people.
In
India soon after independence we faced a great human earthquake in the
influx of refugees following the partition of the country. On one occasion
when Mahatma Gandhi was asked to address the refugees at Kurukshetra,
he agreed to do so personally by physically going there. When that could
not be made possible he was requested to address the refugees through
radio. That was the first and the last live broadcast by Mahatma Gandhi
over radio which took place on 12 November 1947. It is interesting to
know his feelings after he used the medium of radio to reach out to the
distressed people. Referring to the radio he said, "This is a miraculous
power. I see Shakti, the miraculous power of God in it".
In
21st century in a well wired and connected world, Gandhiji
would have expected us to render better service to people by using the
miraculous powers of space technology, information technology, electronic
media and many other channels for faster communication. I am glad that
the Minister for Information and Broadcasting Hon’ble Smt. Sushma Swaraj
has declared 12th November, the day on which Mahatma Gandhi
addressed the refugees over radio, as the National Public Service Broadcasting
Day.
The
UN World Disaster Reduction Campaign which was launched in 1998, underlined
the necessity of enlisting the media as working partners in promoting
natural disaster prevention measures worldwide.
The
Super Cyclone that hit the Orissa coastal belt rendered all the communications
ineffective. Even the capital of the State remained inaccessible. At that
particular time the HAM technology could have served the purpose of establishing
the links. It is indeed a pity that the technology, which is available
in our country, is not widely used by the agencies concerned. I have come
across literature which say that the magnitude of impact of the super
cyclone in Orissa could have been minimised if people had access to appropriate
information. We have, apart from well established print media, space technology,
information technology and wide spread network of TV and Radio. These
can be combined together to generate mass action at the time of disasters.
I
was going through the Interim Report of the High Powered Committee for
Preparation of the Disaster Management Plans. They have listed and identified
several disasters, both natural and man made. They have also outlined
various steps to be taken to prevent disasters. May I suggest that in
their final report a separate chapter on ‘women and children’ would go
a long way in specifically addressing their problems. Because it is well
known that they face the worst consequences of any disaster or calamity.
Some studies show that women are pro-active respondents in relation to
disaster management.
The International Decade for Natural Disaster Reduction
has specially identified women and children as keys to prevention of disasters.
Our plans for disaster management may have got an unintended male perspective.
For instance, while constructing life saving public shelters in disaster
prone areas it has been found that women and children do not find easy
and safe access to them. Therefore in any plan for disaster management,
women should be mobilised and integrally associated with those plans.
Media has a greater role to play in harnessing public opinion to this
effect.
It
is said that a free press and electronic media is the best guarantee against
occurrence of famines. I am sure that media can play a great preventive
role against all disasters by informing and preparing people to face such
disasters.
In
regard to man-made disasters like plague, AIDS and war and violence and
social ills and injustices the media can do a tremendous lot in the way
of prevention as well as alleviation of their human consequences. Incidentally,
awareness and preparedness by the general public in respect of natural
and man-made disasters, will be a sort of preparation of the people for
dealing with any kind of emergencies that may befall the nation in a disciplined
and organized manner. The media to-day has at their disposal all the methods
and instruments that can educate and enable the people in performing their
duty to the nation effectively, intelligently and speedily in times of
crisis.
I
congratulate the Press Council of India for holding this and the companion
Seminar. I also congratulate the press and media persons on the occasion
of the National Press Day, being observed today.
Thank you
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