A Public-Private Partnership Model for Managing Disasters in India

Abstract

The frequency of natural disasters across the globe has increased and the intensity of each disaster has only exposed all nations to the vulnerabilities associated with the occurrence of disasters. Rapid urbanization, climate change, the growing gap between the haves and have-nots, inability of the state machinery to meet the needs of the socially marginalized communities and exponential growth in population are some of the reasons for the occurrence of natural disasters and the adverse effects associated with them. The financial burden of disasters is something that the government alone cannot handle. Therefore there is a greater need for private sector participation in disaster management more than ever before. Disaster planning is equally important as response and recovery and the private sector can play a crucial role in this area. Public private participation in disaster management is needed to encourage greater involvement of the private sector in disaster management efforts. The main challenge is to make such partnerships more productive so that disaster management can be effective. This study has reviewed the body of work in this area to highlight the challenges associated with public private participation in disaster management and the key research areas emerging from the same. Limited insurance and reinsurance capacity has led to the need to examine alternative risk transfer mechanisms to meet the financial obligations in the aftermath of a disaster. This effort addresses the public private participation in disaster management from both angles viz. the involvement of private sector in disaster planning, response and recovery as well as involvement in alternative risk transfer mechanisms. Based on experiences of private sector in disaster management in various regions of the world, this study has recommended actions that need to be taken by the state machinery to evolve a regulatory framework so that greater value can be derived from public private partnerships.Key words: Public-Private participation, disaster management, disaster, disaster recovery, reinsurance, alternative risk transfer, resilience. IntroductionIn an increasingly fragile world, climate change, urbanization, exponential growth in population in some regions and environmental degradation has resulted in increase in the frequency and intensity of disasters. It has therefore become important to get risk management right. A recent World Bank report concluded that the cost of disasters has quadrupled over the last 30 years -from an annual average of around a year in the 1980's to annual losses of some US$ 200 billion today. Unpredictable nature of environmental hazards are challenging for governments, communities and individual households as they lack the capacity to manage the covariant risk presented by droughts, floods and hurricanes (Kelman & West, 2009;Mycoo, 2011, Campbell & Beckford, 2009. Over 25 million people were affected by droughts in the Horn of Africa and the Sahel. Typhoon Haiyan in Philippines impacted over 16 millio...

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