disaster management
overview
Natural Disaster Management in India
Vinod K Sharma
D Kaushik Ashutosh
isaster is defined as
‘Catastrophic situation
in which the normal
pattern of life or
ecosystem has been
disrupted and extraordinary emergency interventions
are required to save and preserve
lives and or the environment’
(Ministry of Home Affairs, 2011).
The Disaster Management Act
has included man-made disasters
also and defines disaster as ‘a
catastrophe, mishap, calamity
or grave occurrence in any area,
arising from natural or man made
causes or by accident or negligence
which result in substantial loss of
life or human sufferings 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 an affected area’.
D
Indeed, concurrent
to these
occurrences, the
government at
various levels too,
has responded by
taking appropriate
measures for
prevention and
mitigation of the
effects of disasters
The Indian scenario
The Indian subcontinent is highly
vulnerable to cyclones, droughts,
earthquakes and floods. Avalanches,
forest fire and landslides occur
frequently in the Himalayan region
of northern India. Among the 35
total states/ Union Territories in
the country, 25 are disaster prone.
On an average, about 50 million
people in the country are affected
by one or the other disaster every
year, besides loss of property worth
several million (Table 1).
In the 1970s and the 80s,
droughts and famines were the
biggest killers in India, the situation
stands altered today. It is probably
a combination of factors like better
resources management and food
security measures that has greatly
reduced the deaths caused by
droughts and famines. Floods, high
winds and earthquakes dominate
(98 percent) the reported injuries,
with ever increasing numbers in
the last ten years. The period from
2001 to 2011 has been associated
with a large number of earthquakes
in Asia that have a relatively high
injury to death ratio. Floods,
droughts, cyclones, earthquakes,
landslides and avalanches are some
of the major natural disasters that
repeatedly and increasingly affect
India (Table-2).
The authors are with Indian Institute of Public Administration & National Institute of Disaster Management, New Delhi
respectively.
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YOJANA March 2012