*Dr. Trishanjit Kaur Associate Professor Email: trishanjit.kaur@gmail & * Dr. Jagtar Singh

1. Sensitising the Stakeholders about Disaster Management in Libraries and Information Centres in India *Dr. Trishanjit Kaur Associate Professor Email: trishanjit.kaur@gmail.com & *Dr. Jagtar Singh Professor and Head *Department of Library and Information Science, Punjabi University, Patiala -147 002 (India) Email: jagtar.kindu@gmail.com

2. India Sensitive to Disasters “Of the 35 states and union territories, as many as 27 are disaster prone. And if the perceived threats due to other disasters such as chemical and terrorist attacks are added, every square inch of India is vulnerable, calling for immediate attention and sustained effort” (Bhandari, 2006). Disasters vary from termite to tsunami.

3. India’s Response to Disasters • Disaster Management Act 2005. (India, Parliament, Rajya Sabha, 2005) (http://www.rajyasabha.nic.in/bills-ls-rs/2005/LV_2005.pdf) • Establishment of National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA) (http://www.ndmindia.nic.in) headed by the Prime Minister with multi-disciplinary experts. • The Act recommends creating State Disaster Management Authorities in all states under the Chief Ministers and District Disaster Management Authority, as this authorizes it to coordinate disaster management activities from national to local level with offices at state, district and local level when disaster strikes.

4. India’s Response to Disasters (Contd.) • National Institute of Disaster Management (NIDM) to meet the multi-pronged need for research, training, education and institutional cooperation. There is an integrated mechanism for management of disasters at the National, State, District and Sub-District levels. • The National Policy on Disaster Management is almost finalized. • But no mention of libraries in any of these important documents.

5. Disaster Management Education Online training e.g. NIDM and World Bank Institute Washington are offering ‘On-line Training on Disaster Management’ (http://nidm.gov.in/WBI_09.pdf) Role of CBSE and other boards Role of AICTE Role of UGC

6. Disaster Management in Libraries Paper-based to digital documents Preservation versus access Threats from termite to computer virus Man made and natural disasters or water and climate related, geologically related, and chemical industrial and nuclear, accident related and biologically related.

7. International Scenario The United Nations in 1989 declared the 1990s as the International Decade for Natural Disaster Reduction Unesco: International Council of Museum (ICOM) International Committee of the Blue Shield (ICBS) IFLA: IFLA-PAC is conducting a series of four conferences pertaining to the dangers of air, water, fire and earth to our documentary heritage. For more information access (http://www.ifla.org/VI/4/pac.htm).

8. Reasons for Apathetic Attitude Apathetic attitude of the govt. towards libraries and disaster management (DM). Quality flows from the top, hence governments At union and state level must put DM on priority list. Lack of awareness of DM among LIPs at large. DM is the missing link in the LIS education programmes. Casual attitude of authorities towards prevention and cure with regard to DM.

9. Sensitisation Strategies Incorporating the DM components in the LIS syllabi. Following the Lessons learned and best practices. Educating, training and equipping LIPs with necessary knowledge and skills about Disaster Management. Functional buildings, Awareness initiatives.

10. Suggestions Role of governments, UGC, professional associations, national libraries, state central libraries, and all other libraries across frontiers. Collaboration with other agencies and programmes, such as UNESCO, IFLA, MoW, museums, archives etc. Sensitizing the stakeholders at different levels.

11. Reference • Bhandari, R.K. 2006. Disaster management in India-a new awakening. http://www.vitcdmm.org/journal_on_disasters.pdf (accessed August 22, 2009)

12. Thank You For your kind attention