Mitigation in Disaster Management: Meaning, Examples and Tools

February 7, 2016 February 7, 2016

Mitigation refers to all actions taken before a disaster to reduce its impacts. Mitigation activities fall broadly into two categories viz. Structural Mitigation and Non-structural mitigation. Structural mitigation involves the construction projects which reduce economic and social impacts. Non-structural mitigation involve the policies and practices which raise awareness of hazards or encourage developments to reduce the impact of disasters.

Various mitigation activities include:

Reviewing building codes and building use regulations
Vulnerability analysis updates
Zoning and land-use management and planning
Implementing preventative health measures.
Educating businesses and the public on simple measures they can take to reduce loss or injury, for instance fastening bookshelves, water heaters, and filing cabinets to walls to keep them from falling during earthquakes.

Examples of Mitigation

In the aftermath of the Chennai Floods, the Tamil Nadu state government has decided to provide financial support to any new project aimed at reducing the risks of floods.
In the aftermath of Super cyclone 1999, Odisha government decided to construct multipurpose cyclone shelters along the Orissa coast to provide safe shelters to the vulnerable people during floods and cyclones.
In October 2015, 11 mountain states of India viz. Arunachal Pradesh, Assam, Himachal Pradesh, Jammu and Kashmir, Manipur, Meghalaya, Mizoram, Nagaland, Sikkim, Tripura and Uttarakhand adopted a building code separate from the rest of India via a resolution.