With Kerala declaring man-animal conflict as a State-specific disaster, the Kerala State Disaster Management Authority (KSDMA), the apex decision making body to facilitate, coordinate, review, and monitor disaster-management activities in the State, will frame standard operating procedures (SOPs) specifying the roles and responsibilities of various stakeholders in mitigating the man-animal conflict and issue the guidelines to be followed. These will include who is responsible for what and who should be approached for specific needs in case of a disaster or to avoid such a situation.
According to the present disaster-management norms, cyclone, drought, earthquake, fire, flood, tsunami, hailstorm, landslide, avalanche, cloudburst, pest attack, frost and cold waves have already been declared as disasters covered under the SDRF (State Disaster Response Fund). Coastal erosion, lightning, strong wind, sunstroke, and soil piping are also considered State-specific disasters.
Sekhar Kuriakose, Member-Secretary, KSDMA, told The Hindu that a high-level meeting to be headed by the Chief Minister and the Chief Secretary would take a call on the steps to be followed in the wake of the man-animal conflict being declared a State-specific disaster.
Data sought
“We already have detailed SOPs and guidelines for notified disasters. In this case, the KSDMA has sought all the data regarding man-animal conflicts in the State in the past five years. After studying the data, a map detailing the areas prone to different types of human-wildlife conflicts would be prepared. Based on these maps, effective risk reduction and crisis management measures will be framed in a bid to minimise loss to lives of people, property, and livelihood.”
Section 71 of the Disaster Management Act, 2005 says that no court, except the Supreme Court or a High Court, shall have jurisdiction to entertain any suit or proceeding in respect of anything done, action taken, orders made, direction, instruction or guidelines issued by the Central government, National Authority, State government, State Authority or district authority in pursuance of any power conferred by, or in relation to its functions, by this Act. This is expected to empower the State to take a call on shooting down an animal considered a threat to human lives, irrespective of its status, according to experts. According to Forest department statistics, around 20-25 people are killed on an average by wild elephants in the State yearly. The total deaths in attacks by wild animals come to 100 a year with snakebite deaths topping the list.
