Disaster means a catastrophe, mishap, calamity or grave occurrence in any area, arising from natural or manmade causes, or by accident or negligence which results in substantial loss of life or human suffering or damage to, and destruction of, property, or damage to, or degradation of, environment, and is of such a nature or magnitude as to be beyond the coping capacity of the community of the affected area (definition according to Disaster Management Act 2005, Government of India).
The Government of India (GOI), in recognition of the importance of Disaster Management as a national priority has enacted the Disaster Management Act.
Disaster Management Act, 2005
- Provides for effective management of disaster and for matters connected therewith or incidental thereto.
- Provides institutional mechanisms for drawing up and monitoring implementation of disaster management.
- Ensures measures by various wings of Government for prevention and mitigation of disasters and prompt response to any disaster situation.
- Provides for setting up of a National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA) under Chairmanship of Prime Minister, State Disaster Management Authorities (SDMAs) under Chairmanship of Chief Ministers, District Disaster Management Authorities (DDMAs) under Chairmanship of Collectors/District Magistrates/Deputy Commissioners.
- Provides for constitution of different Executive Committee at national and state levels. Under its aegis, National Institute of Disaster Management (NIDM) for capacity building and National Disaster Response Force (NDRF) for response purpose has been set up.
- Mandates concerned Ministries and Departments to draw up their own plans in accordance with the National Plan.
- Contains provisions for financial mechanisms such as creation of funds for response, National Disaster Mitigation Fund and similar funds at state and district levels for purpose of disaster management.
- Provides specific roles to local bodies in disaster management. The enactment of 73rd and 74th Amendments and emergence of local self- government, both rural and urban, as important tiers of governance, role of local authorities becomes very important.
From Disaster Response to Risk Reduction
- In past two decades, India’s policy on disaster management has shifted from a focus on relief and rehabilitation efforts to holistic management of disasters. This new policy approach incorporates pre-disaster issues of prevention, mitigation, and preparedness, as well as post-disaster issues of response, recovery, and reconstruction.
- New initiatives, such as mainstreaming disaster risk reduction in development, building capacity through education and greater awareness at all levels, and utilizing advanced technologies, have enhanced India’s preparedness for each phase of disaster management.
Challenges
- Unsafe building practices in rapidly growing urban settlements constitute one of India’s greatest challenges for disaster management. A major earthquake in any of India’s densely and heavily populated cities in seismic zones would be catastrophic in terms of fatalities.
- Climate change has far-reaching implications for managing disaster risk in India, as the frequency and intensity of flash floods, landslides, droughts, cyclones, and storm surges are expected to increase in upcoming decades.
- Disaster management policies do not incorporate programs to protect the most vulnerable segments of society—the poor, marginalized, women, children, disabled, and elderly.
- Lack of coordination among institutional structure. Lack of Role Clarity and Integration of Role Players. Disaster Management is an exercise which involves many players e.g., Central and State Govts, Armed Forces, Paramilitary Forces, Police Forces, NGOs, PSUs, Private Sector, Community and so on.
- People are ignorant of the linkages between development and disasters, nature conservation and role of community in prevention, reduction and relief in case of disasters.
- There is a deficiency of funds to plan and implement disaster Prevention and Reduction Programs.
Second ARC Recommendations
- States in leading roles:
- Disaster/Crisis Management should continue to be primary responsibility of State Governments and Union Government should play a supportive role.
- Task of implementation of mitigation/prevention and response measures may be left to State Governments and district and local authorities with the line ministries/departments of Government of India, playing a supportive role.
- Categorisation of Disasters:
- Categorization of disasters (Local, district, state or national level). This categorization along with intensity of each type of disaster will help in determining level of authority primarily responsible for dealing with the disaster as well as scale of response and relief - detailed guidelines may be stipulated by the NDMA on this subject.
- Functions of National Disaster Management Authority should be: To recommend policies and coordinate implementation
- Prominence to local government:
- Role of local governments should be brought to the forefront for crisis/disaster management.
- In larger cities Mayor, assisted by Commissioner of Municipal Corporation and Police Commissioner should be directly responsible for Crisis Management.
- Penalty for corruption: Law should make provisions for stringent punishment for misutilization of funds meant for crisis/disaster management.
- National Disaster Management Authority assisted by NIDM, may facilitate a common platform between the Science and Technology organizations and the users of the relevant technologies. Such mechanisms may be operationalised both at the Union and State levels.
NIDM may continue as an autonomous body and function as apex professional institution in disaster management. In addition to research and studies, the institution needs to engage itself in documenting and disseminating global and national best practices and in developing planning, training and evaluation methodologies.