Idling under the Neem Tree

  Are we prepared for the impact of this year’s El Niño? Here’s a bare-bones checklist. Malini Shankar Digital Discourse Much is being made of the El Nino this year. But how much are we prepared? What lessons have been learnt and documented in the public domain? In 2009 and 1998 El Nino washed out the South-west monsoons and then the Northeast monsoons wrought havoc in South India. United States of America’s National Oceanographic and Administrative Administration had said in a press release in 2009 El Niño conditions are evident in this sea surface temperature anomaly image based on data from the Advanced Microwave Scanning Radiometer for EOS (AMSR-E) on NASA’s Aqua satellite on July 26. The current data are compared to long-term average temperatures (1985-1997) measured by the Advanced Very High Resolution Radiometers that have flown on several NOAA missions”. This time too, in 2026 the impact of El Nino has ‘not arrived’ but has been felt on India’s coasts and landma...

                                                 Need for Mock Drills By Malini Shankar Digital Discourse When I asked Ask Gemini the question “How many mock drills have been held world over since the Colombian earthquake?, the answer I got is copied below: “There is no single, globally tracked count of every mock drill held worldwide since major Colombian earthquakes (such as the devastating 1999 Armenia earthquake or the 1979 Tumaco earthquake). Because earthquake mock drills occur daily on micro and macro levels across thousands of jurisdictions worldwide, a comprehensive total does not exist. Here is why: 1. Decentralized & Routine Execution Schools and Universities: Millions of educational institutions in earthquake-prone regions (e.g., Japan, California, Chile, Turkey, India) conduct mandatory earthquake drills ...

                                     Mock drills are central to efficient administration By Malini Shankar Digital Discourse The earthquake in Colombia on Monday revealed the need for preparedness at the very least. While Preparedness calls for food rations and potable water availability for atleast 60 days for every citizen in every city, Multipurpose disaster shelters with enough water supply and sanitation and compatibility to frail, infirm and nursing mothers must be built for the entire population in every village in India, Medical preparedness, civic preparedness, training for search and rescue agencies, evacuation logistics and early warning  installations, HIV screened blood supply, medicines, volunteers database,  are other high points of disaster preparedness. In Smart City governance this can be made easier if calibrated against planned residential com...

                                Geriatric Day has just gone past us. By Malini Shankar Digital Discourse It was in the wake of the Asian Tsunami that the phrase “Build Back Better” was coined by the former US President Bill Clinton who was part of a UN team that visited affected coasts to start the process of rehabilitation of the affected coastal communities. This phrase then came to embody incorporation of development to build resilience in the communities to be ‘prepared’ for the impact of future natural calamities. This “Build Back Better” initiative included initiatives in the field of education, health care, fisheries, sanitation, awareness in menstrual hygiene, micro finance, infrastructure, utilities compounded on a per capita basis, housing, earthquake safe construction, nutrition and so on … all areas of human interventions and economic activities. Thus came the evolution of ...