Decision Making Part 1

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Decision Making
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Decision Making
Part-1
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Decision Making Part-1

Matters at Stake
Good problem solving and decision making can avert tragedy and help the people
recover from the event more quickly. Conversely, poor decision making? or the
absence of decisions? potentially can result in injury or death to victims or
responders. (Clearly, in our case study, if the District Magistrate makes a poor
decision-or simply doesnt make any decision before its too late-the consequences
could be disastrous for the people of Murariganj and Dumdama.
But the repercussions dont stop there. Poor decisions in the early stages of an
event can make the responders job more difficult and more dangerous. In addition,
they can give rise to much more critical or complex decisions later on? not to say
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the consequences on the lives of the local people. Good decision-making skills
are one of your most critical assets as an Administrator, and CSAT will test on this
account before you step to the next stage for the selection to top administrative
jobs in India. In this book , we shall familiarize you with what CSAT will actually
attempt to test in you. We take here a case study to understand this aspect of
making decisions in emergency.
Making Decisions in Emergency

Case Study* - Floods Fury and Koshis Wrath in North Bihar
Instructions: Read the following case study. As you read, try to identify what
decisions must be made by the District Magistrate or other emergency
management officials. Mind your ideas as you read the situation.
Background: Heavy rains have hit, and the entire area of the Koshi belt in the
North Bihar bordering Nepal is inundated due to change of course of Koshi. The
district town of Sakri-located in the North Biharsits high and well away from the
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fury of Koshi, so the fear of floods is riot much of concern of the people in the
Town. As the DM of Sakri district, last year you got a new chute(gutter,
passageway) built to increase the capacity of the Reservoir in Sakri to 35 Crore
litres of water. Two other subdivisional towns downstream-Murariganj and
Dumdama are less than 15 minutes of drive from Sakri. Each Town has about
10,000 residents on both the sides of National Highway 77.
Events Chronology
Late afternoon Rains begins, and the Meteorological Office at Patna predicts it
will be a strong, pachhuwa (Westerli(e), which will produce heavy rains.
8:12 p.m. A flash flood watch is issued by the Meteorological Office.
8:30 p.m. Heavy rains begin.
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10:15 p.m. The Executive Engineer of Sakri stations a Junior Engineer on the
dam to watch for, and report any problems. The Junior Engineer sees water
pouring a good 2 feet over the chute. (It was later estimated that the reservoir
was holding 55 Crore litres of water during and after the storm!)
11:30 p.m. Six inches of rain have fallen over the last 3 hours.
1:15 a.m. The Junior Engineer sees a section of dirt break away.
1:30 a.m. When water recedes below the top of the dam, Junior Engineer and
other workers discover that water has eaten around the drainage and is gradually
carving away the side of the earthen dam. A first attempt at closing the hole with
sandbags fails when the force of the water carries the bags right through.
1:45 a.m. As the DM of Sakri , you are now in meeting with the Executive
Engineer of Sakri, the PWD Engineer, the SP, the Chief Medical Officer of Sakri,
and the District Disaster Cell Manager to discuss the situation.
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The names of some of places and other recognized symbols could be fictitious
and resemblances to events already occurred or occurring to the situations
described here are only coincidental. This is just an academic reconstruction.
Decision Points
What decision points did we identify in the above situation? It is to be noted that
the central problem is that if the dam breaks, the people in the downstream towns
will be flooded. Numerous decisions must be made to address this problem.
Some of the key decisions that must be made are as follows, and we probably
identified others as well.
1.
Should residents in the two downstream subdivisional towns of

Murariganj and Dumdama be evacuated?
2.
If the decision is to evacuate, when should the evacuation take place?
3.
Who will notify the populace of the evacuation, and how?
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4.
What additional resources will be necessary to accomplish the

evacuation and provide any shelter needed?
5.
What is the most effective way to keep the dam from collapsing, and
what resources will be needed to accomplish that?
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Decision Making Part-1

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Making Decisions in Emergency

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Should residents in the two downstream subdivisional towns of

If the decision is to evacuate, when should the evacuation take place?

Who will notify the populace of the evacuation, and how?

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What additional resources will be necessary to accomplish the

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Buy CSAT Paper -2 Study Kit in Hard Copy:

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