Compliance of Techno-Legal Regime Technical Session 2: Strengthening Disaster Risk Governance to Manage Disaster Risk Compliance of Techno-Legal Regime Prof. Ravi Sinha, IIT Bombay

Disaster Risk in India Around 85% of the country is prone to one or more disasters Geological factors cause most fatalities in India Nearly 60% of India’s landmass is vulnerable to damaging earthquakes The Himalaya and Western Ghats have high landslide hazard (Ahmedabad, 2001)

Disaster Risk in India Man-made factors also lead to major disasters in India Numerous collapses of both old and new structures occur in India every year More than 200 structure collapse calls to Mumbai Fire Brigade annually (Bhiwandi, MH, 2013)

Disaster Risk Damage to buildings is the largest contributor to human casualties during a disaster During 20th century, nearly 40% of deaths in natural disasters were caused by building collapse Damage to lifeline and infrastructure further enhances the adverse effect of disasters (Kolkata, 2016)

Recent Earthquake Disasters Date Place Fatalities Mw Magnitude Building Damage Data Collapsed Damaged January 26, 2001 Bhuj earthquake, Gujarat, India 13,805 7.7 339,000 783,000 December 26, 2003 Bam earthquake, South eastern Iran 27,000 – 31,000 6.6 85% of buildings damaged or destroyed October 8, 2005 Kashmir earthquake, Pakistan 87,000 – 100,000 7.6 At least 32,335 buildings collapsed May 12, 2008 Sichuan earthquake, China 69,197 7.9 5.36 million 21 million January 12, 2010 Haiti earthquake, Haiti 316,000 7 97,294 188,383 April 25, 2015 Gorkha earthquake, Nepal 9,018 7.8  489,307 261,865

Disaster Management Cycle Disaster Risk Management aims to focus on reducing severity of future disasters through proactive measures (www.fao.org)

Managing Disaster Risk Reducing vulnerability of structures can be a key to minimize casualties due to disasters Better constructions require science-based approach Use best knowledge Implement best practices Employ competent professionals and tradesmen Integrate both top-down and bottom-up approaches Bottom Up Approaches (skills) Top Down Approaches (knowledge)

Managing Disaster Risk Reducing vulnerability of structures can be a key contributor to minimizing casualties due to disasters Successful approaches require science-based approach Use best knowledge Implement best practices Employ competent professionals and tradesmen Integrate both top-down and bottom-up approaches Policies, Legal Framework and Processes need to be aligned for integrating top-down and bottom-up approaches – Techno-Legal Regime Bottom Up Approaches (local skills) Top Down Approaches (knowledge)

Resource-Responsibility Mismatch Stakeholders with responsibility include: Central government State governments Local governments/PRI Techno-Legal regime governing constructions need to overcome this mismatch Stakeholders also include technical professionals, skilled artisans and unskilled workers and need to be included in Techno-Legal regime Central Government Responsibility Resource State Government Local Government/PRIs

Techno-Legal Framework Mechanism to tie all these together Technical Professionals (Architects, Engineers, etc.) Central Government Responsibility Resource Artisans & unskilled workers State Government Local Government/PRIs

Principal Requirements Regulate: People Process Products Delineate responsibility of each stakeholder Match responsibility with skill & resources Provide audit-trail to monitor responsibility Require continuous improvement

Current Status Impressive progress has been made to improve Techno-Legal regime, particularly after 2001 Gujarat earthquake Most attention has been on process & role of technical professionals Techno-Legal regime needs to extend to address other requirements Focus should shift to outcome (product) from process Continuous improvement should be integrated

Current Status - Compliance Compliance mechanism not well developed Weak audit-trail Other than metro cities, local bodies poorly resourced and equipped to implement techno- legal regime (Bharatpur, Rajasthan, 2017)

Way Forward Build on improvements during last decade Update byelaws to incorporate latest knowledge and practices Ministry of Urban Development’s Model Building Bye-laws 2016 very well-crafted document Change focus from compliance with construction process to quality of constructions Specify roles and responsibility of all stakeholders Regulate professionals and tradesmen

Summary Damage to buildings main cause of casualties due to natural disasters Most damage is due to poor building stock Improvement in Techno- Legal regime essential to enhance quality of constructions Severe mismatch between resources and responsibility inhibit quality of constructions Techno-Legal regime require fundamental changes to meet the challenges in future

Thank You