The question as to why we forget what we should not, often crops up after major disasters when masses seem to have learnt no lessons from previous ones and forgotten those completely.
Believe me or not, we all are hard-wired by evolution to forget, and for that matter we tend to forget unpleasant and traumatising moments much faster than happy moments, and Psychologists call that a gift of evolution.
Risk
जोखिम लेने की हमारी प्रवृति
संता – भाई, क्या आपदा के कारण होने वाले नुकसान के लिये हमारी जानबूझ कर जोखिम लेने की आदत उत्तरदायी नहीं हैं? बंता – सो तो हैं, पर यह हमें प्रकृति द्वारा दिया गया वरदान भी तो हैं। संता – वरदान? बंता – इसे सकारात्मकता या फिर Positivity Bias कहते हैं, और इसके चलते […]
Out Risk Taking Behaviour
Despite gifted with sensing dangers, we fall prey to positivity bias and ignore safety measures – thus inviting damage, loss and misery. So for bringing forth disaster resilience we have to do away with our evolutionary programming through sustained and well designed advertising strategy.
Regulate high altitude pilgrimage
In the evening hours – on the trek route to Hemkund Sahib – glimpse of the crowd of tired but satisfied people slowly stepping down to reach the road head is commonplace. Some of these are in groups, but then some prefer travelling solo and maintain distance. Others like to gossip and share experiences – […]
आपदाओं का होना या ना होना हमारे हाथ
Disasters are caused by the process of slowly accruing vulnerability due to human actions and decisions, and certainly not by nature.
खुशियों को तौलने का सबब
एक तरफ जी 20 की अगुवाई तथा संयुक्त राष्ट्र सुरक्षा परिषद में स्थाई सदस्यता की पैरवी, तो वही दूसरी तरफ वैश्विक भुखमरी सूचकांक में 121 देशो में हम पीछे से 15वे स्थान पर और इस सूची में उत्तरी कोरिया, इथियोपिया, सूडान, रवांडा, नाइजीरिया व कांगो जैसे देश हमसे ऊपर। इतना ही नहीं खुशियों के वैश्विक सूचकांक की 137 […]
Disaster: Manmade and gradual process
Be it on the aftermath of sudden ground shaking as in Bhuj Earthquake of 2001, or occurrence of some unheard of phenomenon like sudden swelling of waves as with Indian Ocean Tsunami of 2004, or unexpectedly heavy rainfall and ensuing floods as in Kedarnath in 2013 or prolonged creep of ground silently unfolding into a […]
Human psychology and aggravated disaster risk
Despite geographical, religious, cultural and linguistic diversity humans think, act and react in amazingly similar fashion, particularly during distress and life threatening situations. This is attributed to evolution, as behavioural traits providing relative advantage and maximizing chances of survival get engrained in our behavior and psychology. Though evolved through the struggle for survival and aimed […]
Risk and uncertainty
We are inclined to favour known probabilities or take risk, rather than facing uncertainty where probabilities off the outcome are not known.
XV Finance Commission: Disaster Risk Index
In accordance with the recommendations of the XIV Finance Commission (FC) to take note of disaster risk faced by the states so as to bring objectivity in resource allocation, the XV Finance Commission (FC) developed the disaster risk index (DRI) through a quantitative exercise wherein scores were assigned to the probability of hazards striking the states […]