Dr. Manzoor Ahmad Yetoo
Natural or man made disasters cause serious negative impacts on life, property, livelihood and industries often resulting in permanent changes to societies and environments. In disasters, creation of waste due to damaged buildings and infrastructure is unavoidable. If these wastes are not properly managed, serious environmental and economic burdens will fall on general living conditions, reconstruction and as well as general waste collection processes. Therefore, management of disaster waste has emerged as a critical issue and poses a significant challenge to governing bodies in responding to a disaster. This is not unique to Jammu and Kashmir which is prone to frequent natural disasters such as floods,and landslides .Here we have to see post disaster waste management strategies to be adopted and issues and challenges encountered at both national and local levels in Jammu and Kashmir. A comprehensive study reveals that most affected districts need to be selected based on two types of disasters namely floods and, landslide. Local level findings reveal that strategies, issues and challenges vary according to the type of disaster, magnitude and location.
Unavailability of a centralized body, poor implementation of rules and regulations; Poor standards of local expertise and capacities, in adequate funds, lack of communication and coordination are the key issues to be identified at national or international level.Disaster waste, waste management strategies, local level, national level, C&D debris . Impacts of disasters, whether natural or man made, have both human and environmental dimensions .(Except, casualties, including deaths, injured and misplaced people, property damages, collapsing buildings, infrastructures and crop destructions are some critical matters,which lead to create tremendous amount of disaster waste. Managing disaster waste become further critical unlike ordinary waste as it is mixed and difficult to separate. Furthermore, disaster waste may be contaminated with certain toxic or hazardous constituents which lead to environmental degradation and health problems. Thus, ineffective management of disaster waste lay the foundations for serious environmental and economical problems in the state of Jammu and Kashmir.
Especially Construction and Demolition (C&D) waste block drainage systems, streams, rivers and lagoons creating number of issues like floods, decomposition, offensive odors and proliferation of vectors .In addition, material shortage and high prices eventually occur as a result of sudden demand for construction material, due to increasing volume of reconstruction where C&D waste has a significant importance to ensure price stability by salvaging large amount of materials for reuse and recycling.
Ground realities reveal that this debris will need proper disposal, reuse or management. Thus, in Kashmir there is a significant necessity to evaluate building waste management strategies adopted in post disaster scenarios, Conclusions
Disaster is not a new phenomenon that the J &K is witnessing today with devastating impacts towards communities and the environment. Although, the human loss is the true tragedy of disasters, destruction of buildings and infrastructure can also be considered as a significant impact on an economy as well as an ecosystem. Those ruined buildings and infrastructure generate tremendous quantity of debris including rubble, concrete, bricks steel and timber which place an additional burden on a community in order to cope. Thus, in rebuilding, the process should encourage incorporation of building waste reduction, reusing and recycling strategies. India is also identified as a disaster prone country, experiencing a variety of disasters with immense damages to livelihoods, interrupting economic and social activities during the recent past.
Findings revealed poor waste management strategies to be creating many environmental and social issues. This was further aggravated by unavailability of enforceable legislation, non-availability of institutional framework, lack of coordination and communication, non-availability of district and divisional contingency plans, less political will and inadequate resources including finance, equipments and labour. In conclusion, although government institutions encompass certain legal powers to carry out post disaster building waste management, it will be hard to happen due to lack of resources such as expert man power,finance and technology. Conversely, non government organizations do not posses any legal power to implement their own projects, where as most of them are willing to provide their financial and other technical supports on managing disaster debris. Therefore, it is evident that proper waste management strategies need to be adopted in our state of Jammu and Kashmir for sustainable waste management.
The author is an expert in environment ,project & waste Management, occupational safety& health & pollution control and empanelled expert for IRCA).
--(You may reach him at [email protected]) |
