1. 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

2. 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)

3. 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)

4. 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)

5. 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

6. Disaster Management Cycle
Disaster Risk Management aims to focus on reducing severity of future disasters through proactive measures (

7. 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)

8. 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)

9. 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

10. 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

11. 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

12. 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

13. 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)

14. 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 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

15. 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

16. Thank You