The International Day for Disaster Risk Reduction was started in 1989, after a call by the United Nations General Assembly to promote a global culture of risk awareness and disaster reduction. It was in December of 1989 when the UN decided to observe the second Wednesday of October as International Day for Natural Disaster Reduction (National Day Calendar, 2020). Hence the following year, it was observed on October 13th, for the very first time.  It is organized on October 13 every year to understand how people and communities around the world are managing exposures to disasters and raising awareness about the importance of reining in the risks that they face. 

For the Indian sub-continent whose hazard profile is dependent on geo-climatic conditions and topographic features, vulnerabilities and casualties like floods, droughts, cyclones, tsunamis, earthquakes, landslides, avalanches and forest fires are common. It is estimated that 59% of India’s land area is prone to earthquakes and out of the 40 million hectares of flood prone area in the country, around 7.5 million hectares are affected every year by recurring floods; approximately 71% (5,300 km) of the 7,516 km long coast of India is susceptible to cyclones (Khera, 2020) . Additionally, according to the annual report (2012-13) of the Ministry of Home Affairs, out of the 35 states and Union Territories in the country, 27 are disaster prone. 

In the 1990s, with the inauguration of a disaster management cell under the Central Ministry of Agriculture, a permanent and institutionalized set up towards managing disasters began. This move followed the UN General Assembly’s declaration of the decade of 1990s as the ‘International Decade of Natural Disaster Reduction’ (IDNDR). A committee was constituted under the chairmanship of J C Pant, Secretary, Ministry of Agriculture, following a series of disasters such as Latur Earthquake (1993), Malpa Landslide (1998), Orissa Super Cyclone (1999), and Bhuj Earthquake (2001). It was mandated with a task of drawing up a systematic, comprehensive, and holistic approach towards disasters. This action marked a shift in policy from a financial aid disbursement approach towards relief to a holistic one that addressed disaster management. Consequently, the disaster management division was shifted from the Ministry of AGriculture to the Ministry of Home Affairs, highlighting the emergence of a hierarchical structure for disaster management in India. 

Recognizing the importance of disaster management as a national priority after the Gujarat earthquake, the Government of India in August 1999 set up a High Powered Committee (HPC) and a National Committee. The task of these agencies was to make recommendations on the preparation of the disaster management plans and suggest effective mitigation mechanisms. Eventually, institutional actions like introducing the Disaster Management Chapter in the 10th Plan and mandating review on financial arrangements in the Twelfth Finance Commission were done. As a result, The National Disaster Management Act of India was passed on 23rd December 2005, which provisioned the establishment of National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA). While the state governments are responsible for managing disasters in India, the ‘nodal ministry’ coordinating between all the states with Central guidelines is the Ministry of Home Affairs. 

The Role of NDMA 

NDMA is mandated to deal with all types of disasters, natural or man-made. Its vision is of building a safer and disaster resilient India by a holistic, proactive, technology driven and sustainable development strategy that involves all stakeholders and fosters a culture of prevention, preparedness and mitigation. It executes its operations and functions by coordinating the enforcement and implementation of the policy and plan for disaster management between various agencies at the Central and State levels.

Disaster Contingency Plans for all the state-level departments are central to the preparedness and response aspects of State Disaster Management Plans. 

The NDMA has a specialized Disaster Information System for both natural and manmade disasters. For policy planning purposes it uses a BMTPC Atlas, which is a tool developed under the Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs. The tool collates data of existing hazard scenarios with respect to earthquakes, wind, cyclones, and floods for the entire country, delineating state/UT and district boundaries and ascertaining vulnerability (level of damage risk) of existing housing stock. This Atlas has been greatly utilized by the State Governments and their agencies as a valuable guide for evolving micro-level action plans for reducing the impact of natural disasters. 

Source: BMTPC

The BMTPC Atlas makes use of data from varied sources such as Indian Meteorological Department (IMD), Survey of India (SOI), Geological Survey of India (GSI), Census of India, Bureau of India Standards (BIS), National Remote Sensing Centre, and Central Water Commission (CWC). While most of these organizations are responsible for monitoring hazards, the Bureau of Indian Standards Committees on Earthquake Engineering and Wind Engineering provides a Seismic Zoning Map and the Wind Velocity Map for the country. Meanwhile, the Central Water Commission furnishes the Flood Atlas of India.

 

Among the current major assignments of NDMA, few are: 

• National Cyclone Risk Mitigation Project (NCRMP): The overall objective of the Project is to undertake suitable structural and non-structural measures to mitigate the effects of cyclones in the coastal states and UTs of India. Phase I of the Project is completed and Phase II is being implemented in the states of Goa, Gujarat, Karnataka, Kerala, Maharashtra, and West Bengal. The project’s objectives of reducing vulnerabilities and increasing capacities are sought to be achieved through installation of Early Warning Dissemination System (EWDS), and the construction of Cyclone Risk Mitigation Infrastructure (CMRI)

Source: NDMA Website

• Web-based dynamic composite risk atlas (Web-DCRA): This web-based risk assessment system provides the concerned stakeholders with a risk assessment framework that offers cross-cutting decision support for mitigation planning at all levels of the Government—Central, State, District, Taluka/Tehsil/Mandal (Taluka), City/Town and Village.
• National Seismic Risk Mitigation Program covering 9 states/UTs: India is also a part of a global network for earthquakes and tsunamis. The Indian Tsunami Early Warning System is situated at Indian National Center for Ocean Information Services, Hyderabad. It monitors real-time earthquake activity and evaluates the potential tsunamigenic earthquakes in the Indian Ocean. This network comprises 17 broadband Indian seismic stations that transmit real-time earthquake data through VSAT communication. With the central receiving stations  located at the Indian Meteorological Department, New Delhi, and the Indian National Center for Ocean Information Services, Hyderabad, their primary task is to simultaneously process and interpret the received real time information. Besides this, earthquake data from around 300 global seismic stations are also received at these centers, which is provided by IRIS Global Seismographic Network and GEOFON Extended Virtual Network through the Internet (Uma Devi, Sunananda, Ajay Kumar, Patanjali Kumar, & Srinivasa Kumar, 2016).
• Hydro-Meteorological Resilience Action Plan being developed for six cities
• Incident Response System: For effective, efficient and comprehensive management of disasters and minimizing the loss of life and property, Incident Response System plays a key role. The Response teams are designated at the levels of Planning, Operations, and Logistics and on receipt of Early Warning, the corresponding Responsible Officer activates them. This system collates information and prepares plans as required, assesses the availability and requirement of resources and procures them, and executes different tactical operations in response to the disaster.

 

Organization Structure and Standard Operating Procedures: 

The NDMA Secretariat comprises five divisions, based on the functions performed by the organization. These are: (i) Policies, Plans, Rehabilitation & Recovery, Awareness Generation and Capacity Building and Training Division (ii) Mitigation Division (iii) Operations and Communications Division (iv) Administration and Coordination Division and (v) Finance and Accounts Division. 

For preparing the policy guidelines for disaster management and risk mitigation, the NMDA works in conjunction with a host of agencies like:

1. Lead Ministries like Ministry of Agriculture, Ministry of Housing & Urban Affairs, Ministry of Home Affairs etc.

2. Departments like Indian Meteorological Department (IMD), Survey of India (SOI), Geological Survey of India (GSI), Census of India, Bureau of India Standards (BIS), National Remote Sensing Centre, and Central Water Commission (CWC).

3. Scientific and Technical Institutions & Academic Community

4. State Disaster Management Authorities (SDMA)

5. NGOs and Civil Societies

The Reporting system encapsulates the VSAT Communication at National Disaster Management Services (NDMS) Sites. As the terrestrial communication network is prone to failure during disaster, NDMA provides reliable telecommunication infrastructure to the SDMA and selected DDMAs. NDMS has been planned using satellite media by developing very small terminal (VSAT) outreach at 120 locations in the country. This network is backed up with a terrestrial network and HF Radio. The project is implemented by Bharat Sanchar Nigam Limited (BSNL). Schematic Diagram of the reposting system is shown below.

Source: NDMA

Some of the disasters where NDMA played a role in mitigating the risks include:

1. Visakhapatnam Gas Leakage on 7th May 2020: Due to an accidental leakage of a styrene gas-a hazardous chemical, the contaminated air disseminated over a radius of almost 3 km and killed at least 11 people and hospitalized over 5.000 people. In addition to this, a large number of livestock, birds and other animals in the region also lost their lives (Akhter, 2020). While the National Disaster Response Force (NDRF) team was deployed to evacuate people from the nearby colonies at the earliest, the guidelines prepared by NDMA way back in 2007 regarding chemical disasters were brought into action. As per the NDMA guidelines, the knowledge of the chemical disaster risks and its framework of mitigation was communicated and mainstreamed to the local people. Creation of an adequate buffer zone that adhered to strict rules of not permitting people to stay in that zone was also ensured (NIDM; MoEF, 2009)

2. Flash Floods of Tamil Nadu in December 2015: The experience of mitigating a flash flood caused due to torrential rainfalls and preventing the possibilities of the ensuing epidemic by the Government of Tamil Nadu handling and NDMA is worth mentioning. In 2010, NDMA had issued guidelines on Urban Flood Management in India (NIDM, 2008)that established a provision to create a National Hydro-meteorological Network. As per the NDMA guidelines there is a provision of providing early warning, which has to be implemented by the Central Water Commission (CWC) based on the real-time hydro-meteorological network. Seeing urban floods as a completely dissociated phenomenon than riverine floods, NDMA had devised the mitigation strategy for the Chennai Flash floods (Government of India, 2016). 

3. Cyclone Preparedness of Orissa Government:  Four major cyclones, the Super Cyclone, Phailin, Hudhud, and Fani have hit Odisha since 1999. Each of them has called for greater levels of preparedness of the Orissa state government. With the assistance of NDMA, the number of deaths has been limited and the State has adopted better evacuation techniques and early warning systems (Ray, Jain, & Thakur, 2020).

CONCLUSION

The NDMA has been at the forefront of mitigating disasters and assuring preparedness among the settlements. For example, in November 2018, Cyclone Gaja hit Tamil Nadu. About 52 people died and 259 were injured. Almost 5.6 lakh persons were directly affected (NDMA, 2019).  Based on the warnings received from the IMD for wind speed, sea condition, and storm surge at vulnerable areas, an advisory was issued. Various institutional mechanisms for initiating preparedness among the citizens were initiated. Based on the legacy data and maps, assessment of risk was undertaken and 4,399 vulnerable areas were identified and classified into 4 categories based on the intensity of risks. The Incident Response Team (IRS) strengthened the disaster risk governance through the constitution of mobile teams and effective monitoring mechanisms. This has paved the way for a holistic and integrated management of disasters with emphasis on prevention, mitigation and preparedness. For a country like India which is prone to many natural calamities owing to its geographical location, a framework on lines of managing health emergency and disaster risk management shall eventually gain the front seat (World Health Organization, 2019). This approach will not only ensure proactive disaster preparedness but also demonstrate public health imperative to scale up risk-informed actions towards reducing hazards and building capacities to protect public health from emergencies and disasters.

Source:

Akhter, S. (2020, May 11). A Tragedy that Unfolded in Visakhapatnam. Critical Edges.

(2009). Chemical Disaster Management: Proceeding Volume of the National Workshop. New Delhi: MoEF & NIDM.

Government of India. (2016). Disaster in Chennai caused by torrential rainfall and consequent flooding. New Delhi: Government of India.

Khera, G. (2020, October 13). Status Of Disaster Management In India. Retrieved from Geography & You: https://geographyandyou.com/status-of-disaster-management-in-india/

National Day Calendar. (2020, October Tuesday). International Day for Disaster Risk Reduction – October 13. Retrieved from National Day Calendar: https://nationaldaycalendar.com/international-day-for-disaster-risk-reduction-october-13/

National Day Calendar. (2020, October 13). International Day for Disaster Risk Reduction- October 13. Retrieved from National Day Calendar: https://nationaldaycalendar.com/international-day-for-disaster-risk-reduction-october-13/

NDMA. (2019). Study Report on GAJA Cyclone 2018. New Delhi: NDMA.

NIDM. (2008). National Disaster Management Guidelines: Management of Floods. New Delhi: NIDM.

NIDM; MoEF. (2009). Chemical Disaster Management: Proceeding Volume of the NationalWorkshop. New Delhi: NIDM; MoEF.

Ray, S., Jain, S., & Thakur, V. (2020). India's disaster risk resilience strategy: lessons from cyclones in Odisha. New Delhi: ICRIER.

Uma Devi, E., Sunananda, M., Ajay Kumar, B., Patanjali Kumar, C., & Srinivasa Kumar, T. (2016). Real-time earthquake monitoring at the Indian Tsunami Early Warning System for tsunami advisories in the Indian Ocean. Journal of Ocean and Climate: Science, Technology and Impacts, 20-26.

 World Health Organization. (2019). Health Emergency and Disaster Risk Management Framework. Geneva: WHO.

 

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