Korba, India faces risks from natural disasters like drought and heat waves as well as industrial accidents from its coal mining and power generation activities. Drought is a major concern as rainfall has decreased in recent years. Heat waves have caused deaths. Industrial pollution threatens water resources and climate change. To prevent disasters, solutions include water conservation, employee safety training, hazard waste handling, and cooperation between local governments, companies and communities.

1. Case Study on Korba
Report by Ayush Singh 1
DISASTER MANAGEMENT
RISK ANALYSIS AND PREVENTION
IN KORBA,C.G.
REPORT BY-
AYUSH SINGH
111EE0234

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Report by Ayush Singh 2
CONTENTS
TOPIC PAGE
1. Introduction 3
2. Risk Analysis 6
3. Major Concern 9
4. What's the future have in store ? 11
5. Solution & Prevention 12
6.References 17

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1.INTRODUCTION-
Located in the Korba District of Indian state of
Chhattisgarh, City of Korba is the Power capital of the
state housing several public and private power
generating companies in addition to being a mining hub
and a major aluminium producing city.
Situated near the river Hasdeo and Ahiran district comes
under Bilaspur division and is inhabited mainly by
tribals including the protected tribe Korwas (Pahadi
Korwa). Korba is blessed with lush green forest cover,
where a sizeable number of tribal population is found.
The Adivaisis in the forest areas live in tandem with the
environment and have retained their distinctive cultural
characteristics and traditional observances Korba is
often referred as the Industrial Hub of Chhattisgarh. The

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district within itself is enriched with all the essential raw
materials needed for power generation namely coal and
water.
Figure 1 Gevra Project-Asia largest Coal Mine
1.1 Geography-
 It is situated at the confluence of the Hasdeo and
Ahiran rivers.
 Located at 22*20' North latitude and 82*42' East
longitude, with a height of 304.8 meter above sea
level.
 The District's total area is 714,544 hectares, of
which 283,497 hectares is forest land.

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1.2 Demographics
As of 2011 India census,
Population 365,073
Male 52%
Female 48%
Under the age of six 12%
Literacy 84.36%
Male Literacy 91.93%
Female Literacy 76.17%
1.3 Climate
Korba District falls under the hot temperate climate zone
and hence the district experiences very hot and dry
climate. Summer season starts from April to mid June.
Rainy season is due to the South-West Monsoon starting
from mid June till the end of September. The average
rainfall in the district is 1506.7 mm. and normal rainfall
is 1287.6 mm.

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2. RISK ANALYSIS
Though City of Korba is not under any high risk zones of
natural disaster it is enriched with natural resources
which led to high amount of extraction and consumption
of resources on a daily basis. We will look at potential
risk of all the major natural and manmade disaster on
the region and further on we will look at the future
dangers and prevention methods.
2.1 Natural Disaster
1. Earthquake-
Korba comes under least prone earthquake zone in India as its
far away from edges of any tectonic plate and sea area. Though
some alerts were issued in early 2000's, no major seismic activity
has taken place in the area.
2. Flood-
Though the city is near two river( i.e. River Hasdeo and River
Ahiran) , both contains low level of water flow with very low risk
of flood.
3. Drought-
Chhattisgarh is one of the worst affected drought zones in India.
In 2010, over 50 Tehsils were declared drought affected in which
southern part of the state suffered the worst.
4. Heat Wave-
Along with drought, heat waves are the biggest natural disaster
in Chhattisgarh with over 40 people suffering heavily from it on
annual basis.

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2.2 Manmade Disaster
1.Industrial Disaster-
Heavily crowded with industry and plants, industrial disaster
are the biggest threat to Korba. Heavy extraction of coal and
presence of over 4 major thermal power plants produces a huge
amount of pollution contaminating mainly air and water.
The severe use of natural resources are rapidly changing the
geographical features and terrain of the region resulting in the
increase of risk in the region.

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1.Engineering Failures-
Figure 2 2009 Balco Chimney Collapse
Structural failure have been the biggest demon for the city in
recent with the incident of chimney collapse in 2009 which
caused the death over 45 people. The probability of occurrence
of such events are high as they require minimum of mistakes to
occur. No accurate up-to-date figures exist for the number of
occupational accidents and deaths in India, but the UN’s
International Labour Organisation has estimated that 50,000
people die here each year from work-related causes.
2.3 Epidemics & Other Disaster
Recent outbreak of malaria and cholera are some of
the incidents where pollution, lack of upper
management and lack of cleanliness in village areas
has caused death and mass hysteria.

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3.MAJOR CONCERNS
3.1 Drought-
 Drought is a major concern for the region.
 Rainfall stat for the Korba is not consistent as to give us a
clear view.
Rainfall data for city of Korba over 2003-10 in terms of mm
2003 1778.8
2004 1250.0
2005 1369.5
2006 972.8
2007 1235.7
2008 1237.7
2009 937.3
2010 1164.8
As a major producer of rice the farmers of Korba as well as
of Chhattisgarh depends heavily on rainfall & a picture such
as below is not only bad but is a serious threat to their
livelihood.

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3.2 Heat Wave-
 The temperature reaching as much as 47°Celsius in
May-June.
 Dependency on monsoon for rain.
 Large Population of tribes and naxalite affected area
remain untouched by any sort of Government or
NGO help.
SOME OF THE RECENT HEADLINES IN RECENT
MEDIA ARE PROOF OF ADVERSITY FELT BY
PEOPLE-
 Heat wave claims 4 in Chhattisgarh-DNA INDIA
 Heat wave grips Chhattisgarh- The Indian
 Chhattisgarh schools extend summer vacation as heat
wave continues-Mid-Day
3.3 Accidents and Industrial Disaster-
 Large extents of mine area prone to landfills accidents, landslides
disaster and earthquake hazards.
 Multiple large construction are prone to mistakes.
 Chemical wastage.
 Pollution in large amount.
 Fast depletion of resources and rapid changes in terrain due to unfair
practices.
Reason for Engineering Failures-
 Human factors (including both 'ethical' failure and accidents)
 Design flaws (many of which are also the result of unethical practices)
material failures.
 Extreme conditions or environments, and, most commonly and
importantly
 Combinations of these reasons

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4.What's the future have in Store ?
1. Mine-Induced Seismicity- Mining leaves voids that
generally alter the balance of forces in the rock. These
voids may collapse producing seismic waves and in
some cases reactivate existing faults causing minor
earthquakes. Natural cavern collapse forming
sinkholes would produce an essentially identical local
seismic event.
2. Industrial Pollution causing climatic changes-
Industrial pollution is pollution which can be directly
linked with industry, in contrast to other pollution
sources. Samples of ice cores from Antarctica and the
Arctic both show high levels of industrial pollutants,
illustrating the immense distances which pollutants
can travel, and traces of industrial pollutants have
been identified in isolated human, animal, and plant
populations as well.
3. Industry v/s Temperature Rise-Industry in Korba i.e.
thermal plants and aluminium plants causes huge
amount of consumption of energy which in turn
reflects in the rise of temperature.
4. Rapid changes in terrain-The geographical features
of a city like Korba changes daily due huge amount of
excavation and its replenishment. Due to lack of
vigilance the ground are not refilled causing huge
areas with weak bases in deep. Such weak bases are
prone to earthquake and landslides in future if they
are not taken care of.
5. Industry damaging water-The region surrounding
Korba is highly dependent on rainfall and faces many
challenge in absence of rainfall. In case the water
resources such as lakes, ponds and rivers are
damaged, it will create a potential drought situation
which will be catastrophic especially for large number
of tribes living the area.

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5.SOLUTION & PREVENTION-
In this we will tackle the four major problems for the
region i.e. Drought, Heat Wave, Industrial Disaster and
Engineering Failures.
5.1 DROUGHT-
Q. What we can do?
Ans- We can-
1. Save water at home and encourage our
neighbour to do so.
2. Educate those who don't have a clue and are
not aware of the problem.
3. Imply Rain water harvesting methods.


4. Try changing ours and others work related
practices on water.

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5.2 HEAT WAVE
Q. How to beat the heat?
Ans- We can-
1.Stay in the coolest place as much as
possible, and avoid too much activity.
2.Eat lightly and drink plenty of fluids. Avoid
caffeinated drinks. Don't take salt tablets
unless advised to do so by a doctor.
3.Rub wet washcloths, packs of frozen food
or ice cubes over your wrists, face and
back of neck.
4.Seek medical help if cooling-off measures
are not working. Heat stroke can be fatal if
not recognized and treated in time.
5.3 INDUSTRIAL DISASTER-
Q. Human error can be fatal, how to save yourself
and other?
Ans-We can-
1. Danger zone warnings. A lot of industrial
accidents result from neglecting to inform or
warn people of danger zones.
2. Quality assurance of equipment. Another cause
of industrial accidents is due to equipment that
is not checked for quality.
3. Employee training. Employee incompetence is
another thing that causes injury accidents. In
order for employees to work in dangerous

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settings, they must be trained how to handle
certain equipment and dangerous substances.
4. Emergency briefing of employees. Employees
must be briefed on emergency procedures when
industrial accidents happen. If employees aren’t
briefed, there is a bigger chance that more
people can be harmed when accidents occur.
5. Proper handling of hazardous waste materials.
Some industrial accidents occur because of
proper disposal of hazardous waste materials
and chemicals. This may cause fires and
explosions. Employees should be briefed on the
proper handling and disposal of these materials
to avoid untoward incidents.
6. Health and safety inspection checks. There are
some non-profit organizations that conduct
health and safety inspection checks in different
industrial settings. These organizations not only
inspect the workplace, but they also provide
training to employees, consulting for
improvement and dissemination of important
information on industrial health and safety.

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5.4 ENGINEERING FAILURES/DISASTER-
Q. How to prevent a mistake from being a disaster?
Ans- Some logics-
1.Few, if any, failures in service are first-time events. If it
is likely to happen in the future, odds are it happened
before - but not necessarily in the same industry.
Learning from earlier mistakes are the first options to
prevent disaster.
2. There is no such thing as a "root cause". Virtually all
failures consist of sequences of events drawn from the
entire range of the product development life cycle.
Efficiency in all the operations are a must.
3.Failure event sequences display a consistent logic,
which can be defined and used as a pattern to identify
potential failures in similar, but not necessarily identical
circumstances in the future. Material and computer logic
failures are particularly suited to this form of treatment.
4.Be true to your ethics. Many accidents are caused by
unethical practices in buying, making and selling
processes. Remember CORRUPTION AND GREED CAN
CAUSE DISASTER!!!

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5.5 Administration and Government Role-
1.Drought-
1. Policy issues-national, regional and district level
policy to prevent mass loss.
2. Development of infrastructure in rural areas
especially those having tribes.
3. Food resources and advisory services to be
arranged so they can be useful in time.
2.Heat Wave-
1. Construction water pumps and water stalls.
This measure have been recently applied by the C.G
Government in the Korba District.
2. Working Hours to be managed in an
appropriate manner.
3. Medical and other emergency services to be
trained specifically to be prepared for this type
of disaster.
3.Industrial Disaster-
1. Be strict on corporate sector to be more careful.
2. Regular inspection.
3. Being Vigilant toward this.
4.Engineering Failures-
1. Stricter regulation for punishment toward
unethical practices.
2. Regular inquiry into personnel practices at
his/her workplace.

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Final Thoughts-
As concluded from recent meeting of UN officials in Geneva last
week, COOPERATION IS THE KEY to fight and prevent any
disaster.
6.REFERENCES-
1. http://www.dnaindia.com/india/1370643/report-heat-wave-claims-4-in-
chhattisgarh
2. http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC420061/
3. http://www.business-standard.com/article/economy-policy/chhattisgarh-
declares-50-more-tehsils-drought-hit-110020500008_1.html
4. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chhattisgarh
5. http://agridept.cg.gov.in/agriculture/rainfall_last_10_year.html
6. http://www.business-standard.com/article/economy-policy/delayed-
monsoon-likely-in-chhattisgarh-110060800005_1.html
7. http://www.hindu.com/2004/11/10/stories/2004111008940300.htm
8. http://www.howtodothings.com/business/how-to-prevent-industrial-
accidents
9. http://www.un.org/apps/news/story.asp?NewsID=44339#.UWqawLWl7is