শুক্রের সরন দেখুন ৬ই জুন ভোরবেলা থেকে
It won't happen again until December 2117.
On June 5th, 2012, Venus will transit the face of the sun in an event of
both historical and observational importance. The best places to watch
are in the south Pacific.
Credit: Science@NASA
http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/sunearth/news/2012-venus-transit.html
Also See http://www.vigyanprasar.gov.in/TOV_2012/tov_main.aspx
Dr. Tuhin Ghosh
School of Oceanographic Studies, Jadavpur University, Kolkata 700032
Our earth is constituted of different components of nature with various natural elements. Each of these components has definite role in our earth system and every element has their own shapes, forms and properties. Each element or a group of elements interact with each other and create various natural events and situations. The natural events in combination of various natural elements can create some important natural disasters, like cloud & heavy rain can create flood, while cloud, heavy rain & mountains may produce flash flood. Likewise, cloud and heavy rain in combination with high wind can produce flood & cyclone, typhoon and hurricane. It is interesting to note that rainfall (excess or shortages) and wind velocities play very crucial roles in all these types of natural hazards.
Natural events like flood and cyclone are normally referred as natural calamities or natural hazards, though in reality they are all natural events/ incidents. Though we are hardly responsible in creating these natural hazards or calamities, some of our actions, may accelerate, trigger or advance some of these natural events to a certain extent. The impact of these natural events on the human beings is largely functions of our alertness to respond, preparedness to face and precautions to safeguard. Natural events or natural hazards or natural calamities often become natural disasters in the absence of above.
So, we may conclude that -
NATURAL DISASTER = Natural Events or Incident + Absence of our Preparedness
General Impact of Disaster Incident
The impact of all major disaster incident are basically on the primary resources like life and gender, water, land and biomass, cause damage to forest & greeneries, livestock & wildlife, population and property, and negatively impact the economy, education, infrastructure, health & sanitation and employment. Major factors, which contribute to the disastrous consequences of such incident are human vulnerability resulting from poverty and social inequality, environmental degradation resulting from improper land and water use, rapid population growth, and lack of preparedness.
What is the present day effort?
• Emergency response to save life and properties, only limited within 3R - Rescue, Relief and Rehabilitation
• Human centric rehabilitation, recovery and reconstruction
• We react only after the disaster has struck us and not before
• All our attention is towards physical aspects of human beings
• Hardly it is focused towards other living species and nonliving objects (like impact of disaster on water, land, forest, industrial outputs)
What is preparedness?
Preparedness for disaster is for disaster impact minimization. As and when disaster strikes, we need to be mentally, physically, organizationally prepared to face it and see that, minimum damage happens to the life, health, properties and the environment. To achieve the result of preparedness, we really need to prepare for the coming disaster. The preparedness include four important items, which are -
1. What to do before the disaster strikes?
2. What to do during the disaster?
3. Mobilization of resources for effective rescue, recovery, reconstruction, return to normalcy and further development
4. Empowering (on all the above 3 items) the policy makers, implementers, community leaders, NGOs, grass root workers and potential victims.
Thus, preparedness really includes the following components –
1. Awareness
2. Sensitization, training & skill building
3. Knowledge development and transfer
4. Vulnerability and Hazard analysis
5. Risk assessment and public commitment
6. Warning
7. Planning for Response & Recovery
All these are to be done much before disasters strikes.
Preparedness also encompasses preparation & planning for all the following components
- Response
- Rehabilitation
- Prevention and
- Support activities.