25/04/2016
When about a dozen people lost their lives in a boat accident off Fort Kochi last year, Justice K. Narayana Kurup felt a sense of righteous anger. He wished the government had heeded his recommendations.
Heading the commission that investigated the Kumarakom boat tragedy in 2002 that killed 29 people, Justice Kurup had recommended a number of measures including a safety commissioner for water transport like the one in Railways.
"Recommendations of enquiry commissions are not legally binding on the government," he told Stance in the wake of another enquiry commission being put in place to investigate the recent Paravur fireworks tragedy that has claimed 109 lives, and left many still in hospital.
"They (governments) may act on it or put on the back burner without any action. Nobody can move the court for a direction to compel the government to implement the recommendations."
Justice Kurup's words reflect the attitude of governments in appointing an enquiry commission.
"Once the agitating public is appeased and the immediate need is over, none bothers about the commission. Public memory is very short and this is a blessing in disguise for governments. There is a tendency to put liability on the last man—the man holding the smoking gun, which shows the defect within our system."
From road to water, every year we add large numbers to the list of accident statistics. It is likely to happen that way especially when disaster management is seldom looked at as a preventive measure but as a first-aid, band-aid solution.
"We still perceive disaster management as a science pertaining to post-disaster activities," said Dr. Thara K.G, head, Disaster Management Centre, Government of Kerala. "We need to shift our attention to pre-disaster activities."
If an officer or person fails to deliver his or her official responsibilities, Section 51 of the Disaster Management Act 2005 is "a very effective provision" to use against any such a person, she said.
As we all are slowly getting over the shock and shudder of the Paravur tragedy, the worst of its kind in the state, an introspection of such 'avoidable' accidents may show us how much is still lacking in our safety management.
Firework accidents are not new to Kerala, most of which occur when precautions and safety measures are not taken seriously. With thousands of people depend on the industry for a living and millions of rupees are spent on firecrackers every year, the industry calls for stringent safety measures. Not that the procedures aren't in place, but the trouble is in the laxity in implementing it. Or, worse, the system is circumventing it.
Some experts say it is not about banning fireworks at temples but the way it is being conducted.
"Fireworks display is an art form. It’s grown through the centuries and is performed worldwide with active participation of the public," said Muralee Thummarukudi, Chief of Disaster Risk Reduction in the U.N. Environment Programme. "So how we conduct an art form safely which needs technical knowledge and enjoyed by mass is the important thing here. There is no dearth of guidelines worldwide for conducting this safely."
However, Dr. Thara is in favor of banning pyrotechnics, provided proper réhabilitation is assured for the people who work in the industry.
"We burn 60 billion rupees worth firecracker every year. Can we not invest the money in socially rehabilitating the workers?," she asked.
Worldwide, road traffic injury is the single leading cause of unintentional death. Every year we lose around 4,100 lives on Kerala roads, according to the State Crime Records Bureau. Reasons for the accidents vary from rash or aggressive driving, over speed, drunken-driving, violation of traffic rules, not wearing helmets, bad condition of roads, to youngsters' craze for speed on latest high-powered bikes. More than half of the road accident victims are in the age group of between 20 years and 55 years.
"Our norms on roads are still revolved around proper tarring. We are yet to open to highway engineering which is developed globally to such an extent that planning, designing, constructing and maintaining roads are done mechanically and scientifically for future traffic flows," said Justice Kurup. "The number of vehicles on the road has gone up enormously that even acts like parking without park lights, deafening air horns and absence of reflector are contributing in accidents."
Between 2002 and 2015, we had five water tragedies in Kerala claiming 101 lives. The worst of them was at Thekkady when a tourist’s boat capsized, killing 45 people. The boat, which had a passenger capacity of 75, had 87 people on board. Investigations revealed the boat had structural problems and the steersman lacked expertise in operating a fiber boat. In another accident, 15 primary schoolchildren and three teachers were killed when their boat sank in a reservoir near Thattekkadu bird sanctuary near Ernakulam in 2007. In most of these accidents, two main reasons were overloading and structural defects of the boat.
Though ministers have announced many safety measures, all these remain on paper as most of the boat services are done flouting rules and regulations.
"Pre-disaster activities like preparedness, mitigation and prevention will help us avert disasters. Preparation of disaster management plans alone will not help,” said Dr. Thara. "We need to inculcate a culture of preparedness in to every system and daily administration."
The Peruman train tragedy, which had claimed 105 lives in 1988, is still a mystery. The exact cause of the tragedy is still unknown though there were two enquiry commissions. From a tornado story, over speed, lack of proper communication between authorities concerned about maintenance on the track to bridge collapse, reasons vary. In due course of time, the Indian Railway has constructed a new bridge across the Ashtamudi Lake.
Now a fortnight after the 'Black Sunday' firework tragedy, life is limping back to normal. As usual, we have almost done everything well after the tragedy. Rescue operations were commendable; the national and state leaders were at Ground Zero, compensations have been announced and departments are passing the buck, blaming one another. Moreover as usual, a commission has been put in place to investigate into the incident. After a few months, the commission will submit a report to the government, which, as in Justice Kurup's words, is not legally binding on the government — they can act or afford to allow it collect dust.
Former director of America's National Hurricane Centre, Max Mayfield, once said: "Preparation through education is less costly than learning through tragedy."
Will we ever learn?
(Photo credit: IceBone via Foter.com / CC BY-NC-ND)