Disaster Recovery and the Road Ahead - IGNOU

Watershed Management
Significant proportion of rainwater drains away even in water scarce drought prone areas. Much of
this water can be harnessed through appropriate structural measures like construction of checkdams,
contour-bunding, nala plugging etc. These can be supplemented by providing vegetative cover
wherever feasible and economical. This
strategy is useful because it has shorter
gestation period, better environmental impact
and greater adaptability to local level
decentralized planning.
Water Harvesting in Small Catchments
In order to ensure effective irrigation, two
pronged strategies may be adopted at a
macro-scale through large projects or at
micro-scale through water harvesting in small
catchments. Large reservoir projects have
many advantages and benefits. That is why
they are impressive, but often have several
financial, administrative, political, social,
environmental and operational problems.
Source: Irrigation Canal near Satanur/panoramio.com
EXERCISE 1
WRITE THE MEANING OF THE FOLLOWING TERMS IN YOUR OWN WORDS:
CROP SAVING TECHNIQUES
DEFORMABILITY
WATER HARVESTING
MONITORING; AND
DOCUMENTATION
1.3 STAKEHOLDERS IN REHABILITATION
As you all know, disaster management is a collective or team work. Many stakeholders are involved
even at disaster rehabilitation and reconstruction phases. They all perform the following tasks in
varied degrees:
Damage Assessment
Facilitation of Reconstruction Activities
Awareness Generation for Controlling Epidemics
Mobilization of Resources
Promotion of Alternative Technology to Reduce Costs
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