India

Total Area – 3,287,240 sq km1

Total Population – 11696100002

Urban:72.2%
Rural:27.8%

GDP per capita: 3,290$3

Sectoral Distribution of GDP:4

GDP-Agriculture: 17.2%
GDP-Industry: 29.1%
GDP-Service: 52.7%
Source : mapsof india.com

India being a country of diversity has both opportunities and challenges attached to it. It is a well
known fact that natural disasters strikes countries, both developed and developing, causing
enormous destruction and creating human sufferings and producing negative impacts on national
economies. Due to diverse geo-climatic conditions prevalent in different parts of the globe,
different types of natural disasters like floods, droughts, earthquakes, cyclones, landslides,
volcanoes, etc. strikes according to the vulnerability of the area. India is considered as the world's
most disaster prone country.5

Main Hazards. In the recent past it has witnessed devastating natural disasters like droughts,
floods, cyclones, earthquakes, landslides, tsunami etc.

Indian agriculture is significantly dependent on monsoon as a source of irrigation. Any incident of

low rainfall will directly cause drought. Historically speaking Rajasthan and Gujarat are most hit by
drought which chokes the life out of the population leading to famine or migration. In the year
2002, 300 million were hit by drought in India.6

Indian river system is not optimally channelized to minimize the impact of floods. Like most
civilizations the major population lives on banks of rivers thus open to risk of floods. Cosmopolitan
like Mumbai or Delhi had recently suffered both by ways of losing lives and economic impact.

1 Data of yr 2001: Excluding 120849sq km under dispute) as per Census India (Govt of India)
2 As per the Population Commission of India
3 IMF Data (2010)
4 Data of yr 2001: as per Census India (Govt of India)
5 Gupta, Dr. Alok (2000), Information Technology and Natural Disaster Management in India.
6 BBC News

Author – Anshul Goel

Course – CDRMF
 Cyclones majorly impact coastal areas like
Orissa, Andra Pradesh, Gujarat, Tamil Nadu and
Kerela. They are formed due to change in
pressure points in the ocean. A recent tropical
cyclone named “Laila” caused loss of life and
disrupted the crude oil output for some days.

India is placed is a very seismic sensitive point.

It is regularly struck by quakes. These earth
quakes further lead to land slides in Himalayan
range causing acute loss of property and lives.
This even makes the rehabilitation more
challenging. 26th Jan, 2001 at Bhuj, Gujarat is
still fresh in memories of the Indians.

Tamil Nadu woke up the crude reality of

Map details the Disaster prone geographical regions
Source : mapsof india.com
tsunami in 2004. It was caused due to sudden
shifts tectonic plates (earth quakes Indonesia)
causing formation of large waves subsequently
engulfing coastal life of India and Sri Lanka. The
Loss of life was estimated to be of 12000 and
huge economic loss in terms of tourism and
infrastructure.

Disaster Management Framework7. On 23 December, 2005, the Government of India (GoI)

took a defining step by enacting the Disaster Management Act, 2005, (hereinafter referred to as
the Act) which envisaged the creation of the National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA),
headed by the Prime Minister, State Disaster Management Authorities (SDMAs) headed by the
Chief Ministers, and District Disaster Management Authorities (DDMAs) headed by the Collector or
District Magistrate or Deputy Commissioner as the case may be, to spearhead and adopt a holistic
and integrated approach to DM. It further trickles down to Panchayati Raj institution where they
are responsible for their catchment area. Institutions like NIDM (National Institute of Disaster
Management) working with multiple research bodies to create knowledge-based network. NDRF
(National Disaster Relief Force) is a specialized tactical force trained for scenarios both natural or
man-made such as chemical, biological, radiological and nuclear. Multiple ministries will play key
role in management of disasters. Existing structure like National Crisis Management Committee
and Armed Forces remain key contributors.

There needs to be a paradigm shift, from the erstwhile relief-centric response to a proactive
prevention, mitigation and preparedness-driven approach. Policy based mitigation activities
implemented are as follows:
• Building mitigation measures into all development projects in high priority areas, with the
help of the Central Ministries and Departments concerned and the States.
• Indigenous knowledge on disaster and coping mechanisms adopted across country

7 National Policy on Disaster Management

Author – Anshul Goel

Course – CDRMF
Challenges.
This is a herculean task and some clear challenges that are being faced by policy makers are:
Short Term :
• Risk Assessment and vulnerability mapping.
• Incremental improvement in competency development in disaster management.

Long Term :
• Most plans though well drafted remain on paper due to multiple bottlenecks.
• Awareness and inclusion till the Bottom of pyramid
• Environmental sustainability prone to rapid advancement.
• Climate change adaptation due to changes in ecology.

Recommendations
Technology to play instrumental role in mitigation and management.
Increase in number of disaster management professional
Awareness and training to the most excluded.
Financial planning on aid management.

Author – Anshul Goel

Course – CDRMF