Essay --

INTERNATIONAL ACCOUNTING ASSIGNMENT Q.1) A brief history of the two organisations, and their objectives, in as far as theyrelate to accounting practices regionally and/or internationally, as necessary. A.1)1. EUROPEAN UNION (EU) The EU was initially formed in the mid 1940's to unite neighbouring nations developed to have a considerably more critical and important purpose. In 1957 the European Economic Community (EEC) was made to fabricate and incorporated economic market between the six establishing parts of the EU. The EEC was referred to a common market between the countries and over the time period more and more and more nations joined the EU, the EEC later got known as the European Community (EC). The EC turned into one of the primary mainstays of the EU and its point was to help make a local market between membered nations where there is an opportunity of transporting products and labour. As the amount of nations expanded the EU set directives for every nation to accompany to harmonise bookkeeping practices, these directives are listed below: ï  ¶ The endeavor to harmonise bookkeeping practices was by means of the issuing of directives ï  ¶ EU directives have the power of law and the member states are obliged to join the directives into their laws ï  ¶ They are trying to bind the member states, yet the outcomes that are accomplished are at the discretion of each member nations. ï  ¶ Two directives pointed at harmonising bookkeeping ï  ¶ The fourth directive of 1978 includescomprehensive bookkeeping standards for the individuals, and not for united records ïÆ'Ëœ Measurement (Valuation) guidelines, ïÆ'Ëœ The guidelines for the making of financial statements ïÆ'Ëœ Disclosure of data for both public and privately owned businesses ïÆ'Ëœ Establish the 'tr... ...combinations leading to the SEC removing the requirements for reconciliations CONCLUSION: The globalization is increasing in the world and the companies are going abroad to enter into new markets and capture new customers as well as the investors. The companies need to make accounts according to the new country and the investors need to study the financials of the company before investing into it. This is a problem as due to difference in the accounting standards are causing problems and hence.The financial reporting systems are converging, as international capital markets become more investor oriented since the investors now want to invest more in oversees and the globalization is increasing day by day there is an urgent need to make the accounting information comparable. The International Accounting Standards Board is at the center of the convergence movement now.

Tim Horton’s Website Analysis

On October 25, 2010, I examined the website of Tim Hortons Company. I did this as part of my assignment for Business Communication course in University of Toronto Scarborough. The assignment requires students to compose a website analysis report of a business. And I chose Tim Hortons because it has always been one of my favorite coffee shops. This report describes the strengths and weaknesses of Tim Hortons’ website. And at the end of the report, you will find my personal recommendations on the points that could be improved. The report’s purpose is to help Tim Hortons establish a more customer-friendly website. I will explain more on the word â€Å"customer-friendly† through the following parts of the report. Strengths of the Website I am quite impressed by the design of Tim Hortons’ website. By simply looking at the theme colors when I first entered in, I am able to recognize the brand. These brown and red colors are what we commonly see in a local Tim Hortons store. The use of the colors makes the store and website an integral whole. Another thing that attracts me is the flashing banner. Those well-designed advertisement videos give customers a quick view of what is new at the store. They also lead to a better trade promotion. I compared the webpage of Tim Hortons with Starbucks and Second Cup’s. And I discovered that Tim Hortons has some competitive advantages over the other two famous coffee shops. Here are four most prominent ones: * An Offer of Healthier Products Options. Many customers today are not in favor of eating traditional donuts that contained large amount of fat and sugar. In order not to lose those customers, more healthier food options are offered on the website. In the online menu, customers can find one category named â€Å"Healthier Options†. By applying those options, customers may add milk instead of cream to their coffee. They may also choose bagels that are high in fiber instead of donuts. People who enjoy a healthy lifestyle will find Tim Hortons’ products appealing to them. Moreover, for customers’ convenience, there is a link to the â€Å"Nutrition Calculator† beside each category of food. By clicking the link, customers can quickly obtain further information on the products. * Clear Classification of the Products. The catalog appeared in the menu helps to arrange all productions into detailed classes. The arrangement makes the menu more organized and clearer to look at. Customers who want to look for a certain type of products will quickly find their targets. This is a demonstration of â€Å"customer-friendly† webpage. * The Idea of Weather Forecast. On the front page of the website, I discovered a window shown the weather forecast and the best product option to choose under this weather. I found this idea very attractive. The weather forecast transfers a message that Tim Hortons is very concerned about it’s customers. It deserves a brand loyalty. Besides, customers who are aware of this information may come to the website everyday to check the weather. This will result in a higher click rate to the website and more exposure to the advertisements. * Online Shopping Option. A link to the online shopping website is attached to the front page. Not only can customers find cans of grind coffee there, but they can also find gift baskets and other accessories available. This online shopping option will contribute to a larger sale of Tim Hortons coffee. Weaknesses of the Website On the other hand, I discovered some weaknesses of Tim Hortons’ website after compared with other coffee shops’. Speaking critically, there are certain places that could be made better. To demonstrate my findings, I listed four problems below: * Catalog is Not Clearly Indentified. Most customers come to Tim Hortons website to search for information on coffee and baked goods. However, the catalog shown on top of the front page does not include these two items. It takes some time for customers to find their desired information. Besides, all the menus and nutrition information are under the category of â€Å"In Our Store †. I personally think this title is inappropriate. Because â€Å"In Our Store† can mislead people to think about locations, staffs and other unrelated information. * Nutrition calculator is difficult to use. The idea of making a calculator to track calories is very creative. However, the calculator did not function well when I was using it, especially on a Mac computer. The button for â€Å"Detailed Information† is often hidden behind the product category list. This makes the button difficult to click on. Fonts are Too Small to Read. Except for the headlines, the font sizes for most of the written materials are too small. This will result in unwillingness for customers to go further reading. Though the storyboard tells a thrilling adventure, customers may have no interest to look at. * No Sounds for the Banner. Research shows that people’s retention becomes stronger when they can be provided with both visual images and sounds. Having a banner is absolutely a good promotion choice, but without any audio inputs, the advertisements are a bit lack of excitement and harder for customers to remember. Conclusions A website can be said to be â€Å"customer-friendly† if it is able to offer the most to its customers. For the design, the website should be attractive and fun to look at. And for the function, the company ought to focus on an idea of clarity, convenience and simplicity. Compared with the webpage of other famous coffee shops, Tim Hortons is good at making convenience accesses for its customers and delivering sales messages. This is demonstrated by its strengths of clear classification, option of online shopping and an offer of eather forecast and healthier options. Nevertheless, Tim Hortons is a bit weak at providing clear information. Because some titles of the catalog fail to transfer definite information and the fonts of the words are too small to read. Things can be improved also include the nutrition calculator and the sounds of the banner. Recommendations Competition between coffeehouses is quite fierce these days. Though Tim Hortons are most well known in Canada. It does not have such popularity in other countries, even in the United States. One of the accesses for people to gather information of Tim Hortons is through the Internet. Therefore, it is of top primarity for Tim Hortons to establish a more customer-friendly website. Here I provide four recommendations that will contribute to its success: * Change the Titles of the Catalog Categories. Make Category titles clearer to indentify. For example, name â€Å"Coffee† or â€Å"Menu† instead of â€Å"In Our Store†. Also, put the items customers most interested to prominent places. For example, modify the â€Å"Menu† button as the first icon appeared in the catalog at the front page. Improve the Nutrition calculator. If the technical problems cannot be solved, simply add a list of nutrition information containing all products to the website. It is also a good idea to provide a search engine for that information. * Make the Fonts Larger. Make the size of the fonts larger so that customers can easily read the information they are looking for. * Make Banner’s Alive. Deliver music commercials. Add more fun and excitement to the website. This will catch customers’ attention and result in a higher click rate of the website.

Essay on Biography of Barak Obama

Research Front Arnab B Chowdhury – Founder and Knowledge Architect, Ninad Consultancy Services www. ninad. in, [email  protected] in When Technology Meets Health Care in Knowledge Society†¦ Aurosiksha: online learning platform for blindness prevention workers â€Å"Intelligence and capability are not enough. There must also be the joy of doing something beautiful. Being of service to God and humanity means going well beyond the sophistication of the best technology, to the humble demonstration of courtesy and compassion to each patient. † – Dr. G Venkataswamy (Founder Chairman – Aravind Eye Care System) Abstract: This case study (www. urosiksha. org) is about two great movements one in Technology (the FOSS) and the other in Health Care – the Aravind Eye Care Systems (AECS) and LAICO that trains blindness prevention workers. At the con? uence of the two is an eLearning platform called Aurosiksha, which is based on Moodle. Aurosiksha seeks to r each out to the global user, share its rich knowledge base, and in the process create a community of lifelong learners. Keywords: FOSS, ICT, LMS, MOODLE, mLearning, Mobile Moodle, AECS, Aravind, Aravind Eye Care System, Vision 2020, WHO, LAICO, Aurosiksha, eLearning Platform, knowledge society, ocial health care. Introduction As we all know, the Free and Open Source Software (FOSS) movement began as a renegade call to what was felt to be increasing restrictions on collaborative development, distribution, and ownership of software[2]. Free software focuses on the philosophical freedoms (a matter of liberty rather than price) it gives to users, whereas open-source software focuses on the perceived strengths of its peer-topeer development model. Openness, coownership, and transparent collaboration continue to drive the FOSS movement. Development, modi? cation, ownership, and redistribution of software could now e cohesively managed by communities of like-minded developers. This also le d to an evolutionary model of copyright and licensing (GPL) ensuring community ownership. The FOSS movement has evolved from the stages of philosophy and licensing into a complex and pragmatic ecosystem for software production and distribution bene? ting humanity globally. FOSS has introduced technological self-reliance, efficient use and sharing of resources, and C SI Communications | June 2012 | 12 collaborative innovation  and development. One of the most signi? cant areas where the FOSS movement has made strides is in the ?eld of education.During the past decade, education has been rapidly reorganized to leverage information and communication technology (ICT) within the classic teaching-learning-assessing cycle. At the foundation of FOSS is a desire for an equitable and open model of access to knowledge. If one of the aims of FOSS technologies is dissemination of educational content, then Aurosiksha is a case in point. The Case Aurosiksha is an online learning management syste m (LMS). An initiative launched recently (25th July, 2011) in its beta version by Lions Aravind Institute of Community Ophthalmology (LAICO), established in 1992 with the support of he Lions Club International, SightFirst Program, and Seva Sight Program. LAICO is Asia's ? rst international training facility for the broad range of blindness prevention workers from India and other parts of the world. It contributes in improving the quality of eye care services through teaching, training, capacity building, advocacy, research, and management consultancy. It offers university-affiliated long-term courses in Eye Care Management, with eye care management programs for directors of eye hospitals, program managers, as well as several skill development courses in the areas of instrument maintenance, community utreach and social marketing, counseling in India, Africa, and South East Asia. LAICO accomplishes this objective within the broader environment of Aravind Eye Hospitals and Aravind Medi cal Research Foundation – all aspects of AECS. Headquartered at Madurai, India, AECS is the world’s largest eye care service provider, which performs 300,000 surgeries per year. Aravind Eye Care was founded and directed by the legendary Padmashree Dr. G Venkataswamy known as Dr. V. Fig. 1: Inspiration and Inspirer www. csi-india. org Fig. 2: LAICO's global reach Designated by the World Health Organization as a Collaborating Centre forPrevention of Blindness, Aravind is studied as a model in prestigious business schools around the world, including Harvard, Stanford, Michigan, IMD-Lausanne, and the Indian Institutes of Management. Currently, LAICO works with over 270 hospitals across the developing world replicating Aravind model of high-quality, low-cost eye care service delivery. Followup studies have shown that several of the programs exposed to the Aravind model have doubled (and in some cases even tripled) surgical productivity and as a result are now ? nancially se lf-sustaining. †¢ †¢ 270+ hospitals (and still growing) that are partnering with Aravind?How do we create courses that cover the broad needs of our trainees that include paraprofessionals, ophthalmologists, eye care program managers, administrators, and others? How do we continue to empower our all-women team of paraprofessionals who form the backbone (about 60%) of Aravind’s workforce? Since †¢ †¢ most of them come from humble, rural background and are trained as assistants and nurses, can this eLearning platform give them the opportunity for continuous training? How can eLearning work consciously toward the empowerment of women and gender equality – an important objective within the Millennium Development Goals?How do we collate, aggregate content to create an interactive Knowledge society The Challenge The real challenge for knowledge society then is in creating equal opportunity in offering the ability to access, to create, to develop, and to ut ilize the right information at the right time in a cost-effective manner. This applies to the public (consumer) as well as the service provider professionals. In this case study, we focus on a decisive initiative with the objective of providing quality training and management skills via the virtual medium for eye care, which is an important area of social health care. †¢ How do we train more than 10,000 lindness prevention workers worldwide, year after year, across Education FOSS ICT Aurosiksha AECS LAICO Education & Management Fig. 3: The case for Aurosiksha C SI Communications | June 2012 | 13 ophthalmic technology evolving so quickly, everyone recognizes the importance of keeping our eye care management skills and knowledge up-todate for the bene? t of our patients. The eLearning solution will allow especially the paramedics to access continuous educational opportunities over the Internet and provide a valuable forum for our members/experts to exchange views and tap into the expertise of their colleagues and fellow olleagues around the world. † Aurosiksha has leveraged ICT in an inclusive way. It is meant Fig. 4: Aurosiksha home page and introduction to provide a one-point Internet access to eye training mechanism that does care training for professionals worldwide justice to the enormous data and with the premise that ‘up to 80% of experiences that Aravind has the world's blindness is avoidable†¦ ’ collected over decades and share it where ‘avoidable blindness is de? ned as with the world so that other blindness blindness which could be either treated prevention professionals and social or prevented by entrepreneurs may feel inspired to nown, cost-effective create Aravinds elsewhere? means’ (VISION 2020 †¢ How do we create a viable way Action Plan 2006to share this ocean of aggregated 2010  © World Health experiences into meaningful content Organization). harvested since 1976? The Solution †¢ How do we instill the Aravind model into our courseware? Especially since Aurosiksha – the the Aravind model needs to be ‘lived’ need of the times and ‘experienced’ as a broad set of LAICO came up values of service, compassion, and with Aurosiksha to self-reliance at its core, along with enhance the reach and management principles that identify quality of education uality care and efficiency that drawn from the rich Aravind stands for? knowledge base that These were perhaps the broad AECS has harvested questions that LAICO asked itself after it since 1976. In this age trained and consulted 60 hospitals in 29 of knowledge society, [1] countries and 213 hospitals in India . its four essential On the eve of the launch of characteristics Aurosiksha, Mr. R D Thulasiraj, Executive digitization, Director (LAICO) said, â€Å"I think this immediacy, is a very important development and virtualization, and underscores the AECS’s commitment globalization – drive to continually enhance the range of nowledge sharing. services we offer to eye care service. With C SI Communications | June 2012 | 14 Aurosiksha was developed and implemented by the LAICO team with the help of instructional designers who joined the AECS as volunteers for the sole purpose of developing its own online educational program. Promoting lifelong learning The goal is to allow all users to take highly engaging and interactive units in order to learn about the theories, techniques, and practical aspects of both clinical and nonclinical management. The idea is to provide an online space where AECS staff can learn, share, and develop their nowledge of providing the best eye care services in all aspects ranging from fundamental concepts to advanced skills using assessed, accredited, and selfre? ective activities and resources. The program The program includes: †¢ Courses & stand-alone sessions: These have been developed by internal and external subject matter experts (SMEs) with the assistance of instructional designers and technicians by using standard training curriculum. They are also assisted by JCPHO, ICO, and other professionals from leading noneye care institutes, such as the Indian Institutes of Management (IIM). Quality Fig. 5: Course on cataract ww. csi-india. org Camstasia studio Moodle environment MOODLE usability Pedagogy Technology: MOODLE Information transfer †¢ Add resources (docs, web links) †¢ Forum †¢ Wiki †¢ Glossary †¢ Lessons †¢ Assignments Communication and interaction Assessment of learning †¢ Tests †¢ Discussion forum Co-creation of content †¢ Quiz (self-test) †¢ Lessons †¢ Assignments †¢ Discussion forum †¢ Wiki †¢ Database Articulate quizmaker Fig. 6: The Moodle-based Aurosiksha environment check is performed by including sessions in Aravind’s acclaimed training program. The material is interactive with voice narration, with short quizzes in between ideos to assess the learning. †¢ Assessment with immediate feedback: Assessment is featured in different ways like an organized discussion forum, Q forum, blogs (students are allowed to create), and exercises/quiz. After quiz/exercises, immediate feedback will be given to the student on each submit. For example, if a student chooses a wrong answer, the feedback will spell out why the answer is incorrect and give the correct answer to ensure learning is happening with each and every activity. †¢ Course completion tracking: The tracking feature controls the student/ teacher to provide a better learning/ teaching experience.The tool gives accurate course completion and grading report. This includes customized reports for the bene? ciaries on the impact side. Selecting the tool – a con? uence of spirit and values LAICO’s systems division began with an open mind and explored various Content Management Systems (CMS) and related technologies (Course Manageme nt Systems) both proprietary and FOSS, such as WizIQ, Joomla! , ConferenceXP (an open-source videoconferencing platform from Microsoft Research), and MOODLE (abbreviation for Modular ObjectOriented Dynamic Learning Environment). Echoing Aravind’s values – quality, compassion, self-reliance – Aurosiksha’s bjectives resonated with Moodle. At its core, Moodle is an educational software grounded in a philosophy of collaborative learning, often referred to as social constructionist pedagogy. Additionally, Aurosiksha’s pedagogical approach matched with that of Moodle. The organization and design of Moodle’s interface supports learners and learning tasks, rather than technology and tools. Moodle presented the ideal vehicle for Aurosiksha. LAICO adapted its knowledge resources to the Moodle mould; customization was minimal. It was a happy con? uence of technology and LAICO vision; both shared the same spirit and values.Moodle is based on a social co nstructionist approach, which helps us understand how learning happens in a group and how learning is a product of innumerable human choices. Moodle was built with elements and tools that embody pedagogical understanding. A Moodlebased course can consist of lessons, including reading materials, activities (such as quizzes and projects), and social events that encourage participation between students. In Aurosiksha, one ? nds the Camstasia Studio software to be integrated in Moodle for quality and streaming-like videos for the audiovisual elements in its courses. Similarly, Articulate Quizmaker andles the self-test modules at the end of the lessons. An open (institutional) learning environment Cloud environment Educational institutional environment WEB PAGES Student ID database se Student information system WEB 2. 0 apps Assessment tools Proprietary and licensed content Collaboration tools Student generated content Personal publishing tools Open content Fig. 7: Open learning environm ent C SI Communications | June 2012 | 15 Fig. 8: Beta users statistics As Aurosiksha grows in terms of content repository, user base, and feedback from users, it will trigger a proportionate scaling in features, tools, and technologies ithin and outside Moodle. The following pointers can be considered for Aurosiksha’s future: †¢ Interoperability: Aurosiksha may want to communicate and share its data with that of other medical research institutions. It also needs to be SCORM-compliant (Sharable Content Object Reference Model). †¢ Deeper reach with low-cost handheld devices and low Internet bandwidth leading to low footprint m-learning: With greater penetration of ICT and hand-held devices ranging from tablets (such as Akash) to mobile phones (voice and short messaging services), a strippeddown version of Aurosiksha can be An open learning environment:Moodle and Aurosiksha Apart from being part of FOSS family and therefore free, Moodle is an Open Source Course Managem ent System (CMS). It is also known as an LMS or a virtual learning environment (VLE) and is very popular among educators around the world as a tool for creating online dynamic web sites for their students. Aurosiksha as the learning arm of LAICO-AECS is an experiment in a similar space, moving from Constructionism to Constructivism – an environment in which human beings don’t just act (Construct) but also make sense of their actions as a group (Constructivist). This happens as humans make sense of reality, learn and reate new knowledge continuously while learning. Effective learning happens while learners are in an actively constructing knowledge mode rather than in a passive reading, viewing, and memorizing mode. The kind of knowledge generated impacts attitudes of learners, which in turn re? ects in their actions (practice). Aurosiksha is a Community of Learners in the making, offering insight and reaching out with a sense of service. Future Direction Aurosiksha, in its beta stage, is currently being tested by over 500 beta testers worldwide that range from paraprofessionals, managers, eye care professionals to faculty members.C SI Communications | June 2012 | 16 Fig. 9: Course creation www. csi-india. org †¢ Mentor-guided courseware †¢ Turnitin (functionality to let the student submit assignments) Acknowledgment Fig. 10: E- and M-learning: logical system architecture †¢ a source of knowledge to especially paraprofessionals on the ? eld. Extensive reach with browserbased handheld devices leading to m-learning: With proliferation of 3G and upcoming 4G, Aurosiksha can be experienced on devices, such as iPhone, iPad, and Android-based phones quite extensively with Mobile Moodle (a set of mobile apps and server components from Moodle). †¢ †¢Right now, Google Analytics and Google Maps are being applied to study the online learning behavior of the beta users. This initiative could be further explored with other statistics gen erated dynamically. Relevant pedagogical applications that can be included (already available in Moodle) are as follows: †¢ Grade report †¢ Timer-based courseware Fig. 11: Google maps: geographical spread of beta users We wish to thank Mr. R D Thulsiraj (Director – Operations, AECS; Executive Director – LAICO) and Dr. R D Ravindran (Chairman and Director – Quality, AECS) for all the insightful and frank conversations we had with them. We thank Prof.R K Shyamasundar (Faculty of Technology & Computer Science – Tata Institute of Fundamental Research) and Mr. M D Agrawal (President – Computer Society of India) for their encouragement. We acknowledge the spirit of FOSS and the World Wide Web (WWW) to continue to grow as active members of the knowledge society they foster. Finally we wish to acknowledge the spirit and values of Dr. G Venkataswamy (Dr. V) that pulsate through everything that Aravind is and does. We bow with deep reverence to the spiritual teachers of Dr. V: Sri Aurobindo and the Mother. References [1] P. Mehta, and S Shenoy, In? nite vision: how Aravind became the orld’s greatest business case for compassion, 1st ed. , Berrett—Kohler Publishers Inc. San Francisco [2] Satish Babu, â€Å"The FOSS Movement and its impact on Education†, CSI Communications, vol. 35, Issue 6, September 2011, pp. 19-20 [3] http://moodle. org/about [4] http://aravind. org/ [5] http://laico. org/ [6] http://aurosiksha. org/ [7] h ttp://en. wikipedia. org/wiki/Free_ and_open_source_software [8] h t t p : //w w w. i f o s s f. o r g /i f o s s f _ library_0 [9] h ttp://www. vision2020india. org / orbiscourse/homepage. htm [10] h ttp://www. vision2020. org/main. cfm? Type=NI=4460 [11] h ttp://www. ats-pyjamas. net / wp-content /uploads/2010/05/ M o o d l e To o l G u i d e fo r Te a c h e rs _ May2010_JS. pdf n Selected among the top 4 papers expressing ‘Collaboration for inclusive growth' at   SEARCC 2011    seminar (South East Asia Regional Computer Confederation, Mumbai, December 2011) [With inputs from Prarthana Kalaskar – Design Principal (Ninad), Remi Boutinet – Outreach Consultant (Ninad), Shwetav Agarwal – Solution Architect (Sri Aurobindo Institute of Culture), LAICO team (Deepa Krishnan – Senior Manager – Operations; Vinoth Palanichamy – Online Manager – Education)] C SI Communications | June 2012 | 17

Relative Frequency And Effects Of Disasters Environmental Sciences Essay

IntroductionHarmonizing to India catastrophe study 2011, 14 States and one Union Territory of India had experienced at least one catastrophe during the twelvemonth 2011. The harm occurred in footings of figure of human lives lost was 1432 and figure of cowss perished was 6266. In entire 6,84,901 houses were damaged and 16.28 lakh hectares of cropped country were affected. 1 Rank Catastrophe Year of happening Entire figure of people affected 1 Drought 1987 300,000,000 2 Drought 2002 300,000,000 3 Drought 1972 200,000,000 4 Flood 1993 128,000,000 5 Drought 1965 100,000,000 6 Drought 1982 100,000,000 7 Drought 2000 50,000,000 8 Flood 2002 42,000,000 9 Flood 1975 34,000,000 10 Flood 1982 33,500,000 Source- EM-DAT: The OFDA/CRED International Disaster Database www.em-dat.net – Universite Catholique de Louvain – Brussels – Belgique Table1.2 Top 10 Natural Disasters in India during 1900-2012 in footings of economic harm Rank Catastrophe Year of happening Damage ( 000 US $ ) 1 Flood 1993 7,000,000 2 Flood 2006 3,390,000 3 Flood 2005 3,330,000 4 Earthquake 2001 2,623,000 5 Storm 1999 2,500,000 6 Flood 2004 2,500,000 7 Flood 2005 2,300,000 8 Storm 1990 2,200,000 9 Flood 2009 2,150,000 10 Flood 2010 1,680,000 Source- EM-DAT: The OFDA/CRED International Disaster Database www.em-dat.net – Universite Catholique de Louvain – Brussels – Belgique Droughts and inundations were the catastrophes which affected maximal figure of people in India. Table1.1 shows the top 10 natural catastrophes in India in footings of entire figure of people affected during 1900-2012. In footings of economic harm it was once more the inundations which had caused immense economic losingss to India. Table1.2 shows the top 10 natural catastrophes in India in footings of economic harm during 1900-2012.1.2 CatastropheSo what is a catastrophe? Let ‘s discuss about it. Disaster is defined as happening of calamity in any country which may be due to natural or manmade causes. It can happen as an accident or due to negligence and may ensue in loss of human life and/or cattle life and/or harm to belongings. It may besides take to debasement of environment. Community of the affected country normally do n't hold the capacity to get by with the state of affairs without external support. 2 Catastrophes can be classified into two wide types: natural catastrophes and manmade catastrophes. The High Power Committee on catastrophe direction in India, constituted in 1999, has identified 31 different catastrophes which can be categorized into five major groups. 3 I. Water and clime related catastrophes two. Geological catastrophes three. Chemical, industrial and atomic catastrophes four. Accident related catastrophes v. Biological catastrophes1.2.1 Disaster directionDisaster direction is necessary non merely for prompt response during catastrophe but for bar of it and for decrease of hazard and badness of any catastrophe. It is a uninterrupted and incorporate procedure of planning, organizing, organizing and implementing different activities and steps. It includes readiness, appraisal of magnitude of effects, prompt response such as emptying, deliverance and alleviation. It besides includes rehabilitation and reconstruction.2 A typical catastrophe direction rhythm has six elements ; the pre-disaster stage comprises of bar, extenuation and readiness while the post-disaster stage comprises of response, rehabilitation, Reconstruction and recovery. 4 Traditionally, direction of any catastrophe worldwide, focussed on immediate deliverance and alleviation operation, so as in India. After the Great Famine of 1876-1878 in India, the Famine Commission was constituted in 1880. The Famine Relief Code was besides adopted. 5 Relief sections were set up under British regulation for exigencies during catastrophes. After independency, catastrophe direction in each province was looked after by Relief Commissioners, under Cardinal Relief Commissioner. Their function were limited to distribution of alleviation stuff in the affected countries. 3 Consequent upon announcement of the decennary 1990-2000 as International Decade for Natural Disaster Reduction ( IDNDR ) by the general assembly of the United Nations 6 and the universe conference on natural catastrophes decrease at Yokohama, Japan in 1994, Government of India constituted a High Powered Committee in August, 1999. 7 The High Power Committee gave its recommendations in October 2001 including a bill of exchange of the catastrophe direction measure and suggested for the constitution of National Disaster Management Authority. 3, 5 After Odisha Super Cyclone ( 1999 ) and Gujarat Earthquake ( 2001 ) , India changed its catastrophe direction attack from reactive to proactive. 8 After the super cyclone, the Government of Odisha established the Odisha State Disaster Management Authority ( OSDMA ) . 51.2.2 Relative frequence and effects of catastrophesWorld meteoric organisation statistics shows that harm caused by natural catastrophes during 1963-2002 was worst for inundations ( Flood-32 % , Tropical cyclone-30 % , Droughts-22 % , Earthquakes-10 % and other disasters-6 % ) . 3 78.4 % of all catastrophe events worldwide occur due to hydro-meteorological causes and 47.94 % of all catastrophe deceases worldwide are due to hydro-meteorological catastrophes from 1900 to 2009. 3 Children and adult females are the most vulnerable group as 85 % of the deceases during catastrophes are of adult females and kids. 31.3 FloodFlood is defined as ‘the status that occurs when H2O overflows the natural or unreal confines of a watercourse, river, or other organic structure of H2O, or accumulates by drainage over low-lying countries ‘ . 9 Flood can happen in a little localised country due to heavy rainfall over a sustained period of clip and the attendant drainage job. Flash implosion therapy occurs when it rains excessively rapidly, by and large for less than six hours. But river inundations are normally of longer continuance as it may last a hebdomad or more and in some instances for months together doing more harm to human lives and farm animal. Coastal inundations are caused by tsunami, heavy costal rainfall and tidal action.10 River inundations are expected in some geographical countries. Peoples by and large welcome inundations as they provide rich dirt for cultivation and H2O for assorted intents. But flood at an unexpected graduated table and with inordinate frequence causes harm to lives, farm animal and the environment. Matter of concern is that, there is addition in the frequence and strength of inundations in many parts of the universe including India due to current clime change.111.3.1 Flood in IndiaThe Indian sub-continent is extremely vulnerable to assorted types of natural catastrophes like drouths, inundations, cyclones, temblors, and landslides etc. India is one of the 10 worst catastrophe prone states of the universe. 3 Among all these natural catastrophes that occur in the state, river inundations are the most frequent and frequently the most annihilating. In India, 40 million hectares of land which is about one-eighth of the entire country of the state is prone to inundations. Flood occurs in 23 out of entire 35 provinces and brotherhood districts in the state. 3 To command inundation in the state, The National Flood Control Program was launched in India in 1954. 31.3.2 Flood in OdishaOdisha province which is situated in the east seashore of India is one of the most vulnerable Indian provinces to climate change.12 It is located between 170 48 ‘ N and 220 35 ‘ N latitudes, and 810 47 ‘ E and 870 32 ‘ E longitudes. 1 The chief rivers of Odisha are Mahanadi, Brahmani, Baitarani, Budhabalanga, Subarnarekha, Rushikulya etc. These rivers are perennial with sulky flow throughout the dry season. With the oncoming of monsoon they swell threateningly and deluge big countries. 1 Odisha experiences terrible inundations in about every two old ages. 131.3.3 Flood in Kendrapara territory of OdishaKendrapara territory is one of the coastal territories of Odisha. After separation from Cuttack territory as a separate territory in 1993, Kendrapara has faced terri ble inundations in 1994, 1995, 1997, 1999, 2001, 2003, 2006, 2007, 2008, 2009 13and late in 2011.14 Harmonizing to India catastrophe study 2011, Kendrapara territory was severely hit by inundation in 2011. All the nine development blocks in the territory were affected. 473 small towns of 116 Gram Panchayats and two Urban Local Bodies ( ULBs ) were affected. Entire figure of population affected were 507145 ( Third highest after 625897 in Puri territory and 526923 in Cuttack territory ) with 13 human casualties ( Highest in the province ) . 27000 houses were damaged ( Second highest after Puri territory ) including kuchha and pucca houses. 11.3.4 Health effects of inundationFloods are frequently considered the most frequent and dearly-won of all natural catastrophes in footings of human agony and economic loss.15 Health impacts of inundation vary between populations and these depend on the physical exposure of population, single every bit good as community readiness and the type and continuance of flood event. The immediate wellness effects of inundation can be submerging, hurt, acute asthma, tegument roseolas, stomach flu, and respiratory infections. The mid-term effects of inundation are infected lesions, toxic condition, catching diseases, and famishment. The long-run wellness effects of inundation can be disablement, hapless mental wellness and malnutrition. 16 Approximately two-thirds of the flood deceases can be attributed to submerging. This implies that other one-third human deaths are due to causes other than submerging, such as physical injury, bosom onslaught, fire, C monoxide toxic condition and electrocution.17 In inundation state of affairss, there are ever increased opportunity of transmittal of diseases like cholera, cryptosporidiosis, infantile paralysis, rotavirus, enteric fever and paratyphoid, particularly in countries if the community does non hold entree to safe imbibing H2O and sanitation.18 Common mental upsets like anxiousness, depression and posttraumatic emphasis upset are common after a nerve-racking event of an exceptionally baleful nature like terrible inundation. 18 These may attest with symptoms like upseting memories, turning away of fortunes associated with the stressor, sleep perturbations, crossness and deficiency of concentration.18 Loss of cherished ownerships in inundation can hold much more impact than fiscal losingss. 19 One survey found a four times increase in unwellnesss among people whose places were flooded compared with those whose places were non flooded.20 Referrals to infirmaries were more than double from the flooded families than not flooded families for the old ages following the inundations in Europe. 21 One community degree survey in rural Odisha, India shows that exposure to inundations is associated with long-run malnutrition. Children who are exposed to inundations during their first twelvemonth of life show higher degrees of chronic malnutrition compared to the kids who are non exposed to deluge during their infancy.221.4 Public wellness system and inundationPublic wellness system should stay prepared to supply exigency services to the community as the demand may increase all of a sudden when inundation strikes the community. 23 but public wellness systems face tonss of jobs in pull offing the inundation state of affairs.1.4.1 ProblemsFlood can hold impact on the public wellness attention systems in two ways. The direct impact is due to structural harm to wellness installations and the secondary impact is through other direction jobs. 24 Scarcity of resources reduces the ability of the wellness system to react efficaciously. 25 Public wellness systems besides face jobs in presenting services due to population supplanting and power failure. Population supplanting leads to herding and sanitation job around the impermanent colonies. This may take to outbreak of diseases. 26 Water intervention workss may halt working due to power failure job during inundations. This increases the hazard for waterborne diseases. Power failure job besides affects proper operation of wellness installations such as care of cold concatenation. 26 Disease surveillance in affected countries is of import to understand the impact of inundation on diseases. But acquiring accurate and timely information during inundation is often disputing. 26 Healthcare instantly after inundation is frequently delivered by many bureaus and organisations. Coordination among them at that clip becomes a challenge. 261.4.2 ReadinessIn general inundation readiness steps include building of dikes, land usage planning, watershed direction, inundation prediction and warning system, inundation eventuality planning and readiness of community for self-defense activity and capacity edifice programmes. 11 Public and the public governments ever focus on structural intercessions that modify and control the velocity and the force of flood.10 Primary wellness Centres under public wellness system are the chief wellness attention establishments in rural countries to cover with wellness impacts of catastrophes. 27, 28 Poor people are more likely to be affected than the wealthier, when public wellness establishments are affected. 29 To cut down the wellness impacts on a population significantly, wellness system should hold information on impending inundation. 30 Flood readiness planning for public wellness system should be an on-going procedure. It should embrace all stakeholders so that the corporate wisdom can be utilised to cut down the impact of inundation, to take necessary action during the inundation event and to take up proper rehabilitation and recovery activities. 31 but it is a common fact that public wellness planning processes in most of the states including India are based on premises and guesss instead than grounds. 271.4.3 CommunityNational Disaster Management Authority ( NDMA ) has advised the Ministry of Panchayati Raj and Rural Development to turn to the concerns of catastrophe direction in the preparation of representatives of the Panchayati Raj Institutions and local organic structures. Women Self Help Groups ( SHGs ) , Anganwadi workers and adult females voluntaries are playing a lead funct ion in catastrophe direction readiness. Accredited Social Health Activist ( ASHA ) workers are besides easing first assistance and hunt and deliverance preparation for big figure of people. 8 So community should be cognizant about their exposure and strength. They are themselves the first respondents to any type of catastrophes. Education and preparation of the general community in first assistance and resuscitation decidedly helps in salvaging many lives before formal medical assistance reaches the catastrophe site. Evaluations of developing plans on first assistance and resuscitation have shown good consequences. Contingency plans and extenuation programs for inundation become successful merely when the planning procedure involves all the community members and it take into history the bing societal constructions and dynamics.32 It has been estimated that, 80-90 per centum of wellness attention demands in the first 24 hours after inundation strikes the community can be managed by trained voluntaries from the community itself. This besides reduces the work load on the public wellness system. 331.4.4 Public wellness workersEnrolling and retaining human resources in public wellness system is an all clip challenge. There is acute deficit of human resources in rural countries and it is felt clearly during catastrophes like inundation. 34 But Training of available human resource in flood direction can cut down the service spread during inundation well. 35 Training and capacity edifice of wellness forces is one of the most of import elements of catastrophe readiness program of public wellness system. Trained work force shows assurance in managing exigency state of affairss. Evaluation of preparation and capacity edifice activities are normally done by comparing pre-tests and post-tests36 but the existent rating of competence and effectivity occurs as the jeopardy strikes the community. Training besides helps to detect inadequacies in accomplishments, determination pickings pattern and information systems. 37 Training should hold theory Sessionss based on success narratives elsewhere in the universe and mock Sessionss supplying accomplishments to cover with the practical job. The most of import thing is that there should be refresher preparations on a regular basis with regular updating of cognition. 38 There should be more capacity edifice activities for community degree wellness workers as they are the first contact points for the community in exigency state of affairss like inundation. These activities should be based on recognized scientific attacks but adapted to the local culture.391.5 Public wellness system in OdishaCommissioner-cum-secretary of section of wellness is the administrative caput of the section and studies to the wellness curate. Nine managers and the drug accountant of Odisha study straight to the commissioner-cum-secretary. These managers are Mission Director, National Rural Health Mission ( NRHM ) ; Project Director, Odisha State AIDS Control Society ( OSACS ) ; Dir ector, Medical Education and Training ; Director, Acharya Harihar Regional Cancer Centre ( AHRCC ) ; Director, Family Welfare ; Director, Health Services ; Director, Public Health ; Director, State Institute of Health and Family Welfare ( SIHFW ) ; Director, Indian System of Medicine ( ISM ) and Homeopathy. Commissioner-cum-secretary is besides helped by secretaries at assorted degrees such as particular secretary, extra secretary, joint secretary, deputy secretary and under secretary. ( Annexure-1 ) District wellness disposal is headed by head territory medical officer. Public wellness system below territory degree has been described in the subdivision 3.1 ( Health system in the survey territory ) of consequence chapter. Table1.3 gives an thought about the figure of public wellness attention establishments in Odisha which provide services to entire population of 41,947,358 ( Rural 34,951,234 and Urban 6,996,124 ) in Odisha.40 Medical College and Hospitals 3 District Hospitals ( 30 territories + Capital Hospital, Bhubaneswar & A ; Rourkela General Hospital ) 32 Sub-Divisional Hospitals 26 Community Health Centres 377 Other Hospitals 79 Primary Health Centres 1228 Sub-Centres 6688 Ayurvedic Hospitals 2 Ayurvedic College & A ; Hospitals 3 Ayurvedic Dispensaries 619 Homoeopathic College & A ; Hospitals 4 Homoeopathic Dispensaries 561 Unani Dispensaries 9 Source- Annual Activity Report 2011-12, Health and Family Welfare Department, Government of Odisha.1.5.1 Public wellness system response to inundation in OdishaDirectorate of Public Health in Odisha has been created by a declaration of Department of Health & A ; Family Welfare in 2009. Disaster direction is one of the chief activities of the board of directors. 14 The State unit of Integrated Disease Surveillance Project ( IDSP ) becomes the province control room during inundation. During 2011 inundation, 135 medical alleviation squads were deployed and 482 Medical Relief Centers were opened in the inundation affected districts.141,73,374 packages of ORS and 52,74,613 Halogen tablets were distributed. 11.6 Rationale for the surveySuccessful direction of wellness impacts of inundation depends on the coordination of assorted sections and bureaus with the wellness section, cooperation from the community and leading of the wellness section. This can merely be achieved by bettering the ap prehension of wellness hazards in local scenes and of the societal and cultural qualifiers of those risks.17 Research on inundation hazards and response has mostly focused on economic sciences, support and agribusiness. Very few researches have given attending to wellness dimension of inundation. 41 A study of primary wellness centres in Jagatsinghpur territory of Odisha, surrounding territory of Kendrapara was done instantly after 2008 inundation. The aims were to measure the readiness and functional capacity of primary wellness centres in the territory for inundation response. Pretested questionnaire was used to interview medical officers merely. Health workers and other back uping staffs were non interviewed. 42 No mentions of survey conducted in Kendrapara territory which tries to understand the wellness hazards of community and wellness staffs, inter and intra wellness section work kineticss, outlook and cooperation of community and community based organisations in flood state of affairss were found. This survey is an effort to understand these local wellness system kineticss which can be utilized to alter the policy for better readiness of wellness system to pull off and extenuate the inauspicious wellness impacts of inundation in Kendrapara territory.1.7 Aims of the surveyaˆ? To analyze the major jobs encountered by public wellness workers in presenting the services after inundation aˆ? To analyze the readiness of public wellness workers for pull offing inundation state of affairs aˆ? To happen out the capacity spreads of public wellness workers in covering with inundation state of affairs

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