Ethnographic Approaches In Disaster Management Among Indian States- A Comparative Study

Abstract

Indigenous knowledge refers to the understandings, skills, and philosophies by societies with long histories of interaction with their natural surroundings. For rural and indigenous peoples, local knowledge informs decisions making about fundamental aspects of day-to-day life. The Indigenous traditional knowledge found in local communities in India is an amalgation of strategies, skills, rules and techniques gained through shared adaptive man- environment interactions to live and survive in the natural way of life. There is much to learn from indigenous and community-based approaches, for the natural disaster preparedness.  The people have developed their own strategies and traditional knowledge, and practices provide an important basis for facing even greater challenges of natural disasters.  Although their strategies may not succeed completely, they are effective to some extent and that is why the people continue follow those. The present paper tries to explore the Ethnographic approaches in Disaster Management practiced in select Indian States.