A disaster 

is any event, natural or man-caused, which creates an intense negative impact on

people, goods and services, and/or the environment, and exceeds the affected community’s
internal capability to respond, prompting the need to seek outside assistance.
Disaster management in India refers to the conservation of lives and property during a natural
or man-made disaster. Disaster management plans are multi-layered and are planned to
address issues such as floods, hurricanes, fires, mass failure of utilities and the rapid spread of
disease. 
Types of natural disasters

 Water and Climate Disaster: flood, hail storms, cloudburst, cyclones,

heat and  snow avalanches, cold waves, droughts, sea erosion, thunder
and lightning

 Geological Disaster: landslides, earthquakes, mine fires, dam failures

and general fires.

 Biological Disaster: epidemics, pest attacks, cattle epidemic and food

poisoning

 Nuclear and Industrial Disaster: chemical and industrial disasters ,

nuclear accidents.
 Accidental Disaster: urban and forest fires, oil spill, mine flooding
incidents, collapse of huge building structures

On 1 June of 2016, Narendra Modi, the Prime Minister of India, launched the Disaster
Management Plan of India, which seeks to provide a frame work and direction to government
agencies for prevention, mitigation and management of disasters. This is the first plan nationally
since the enactment of the Disaster Management Act of 2005
 Disaster management Act, 2005 defines Disaster Management as an
integrated process of planning, organizing, coordinating and implementing
measures which are necessary for-

1. Prevention of threat of any disaster

2. Reduction of risk of any disaster or its consequences
3. Readiness to deal with any disaster
4. Promptness in dealing with a disaster
5. Assessing the severity of effects of any disaster
6. Rescue and relief
7. Rehabilitation and Reconstruction

Agencies involved in Disaster Management

 National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA):- The NDMA being an

apex body for disaster management is lead by the Prime Minister . The
common superintendence, direction and control of the National Disaster
Response Force (NDRF) is carried out by the NDMA.
 National Executive Committee (NEC):- The NEC consists of members
like Union Home Secretary as Chairperson, and the Secretaries to the
Government of India (GoI)like Ministries/Departments of Agriculture,
Atomic Energy, Defence, Drinking Water Supply, Environment and
Forests and so on. The NEC prepares the National Plan for Disaster
Management as per the National Policy on Disaster Management.
 State Disaster Management Authority (SDMA):- The SDMA is headed
by the Chief Minister of the respective state. The State Government
shall constitute a State Executive Committee (SEC) to assist the State
Disaster Management Authority (SDMA) on Disaster Management.
 District Disaster Management Authority (DDMA):- The DDMA is headed
by the District Collector, Deputy Commissioner or District Magistrate as
the case may be, with the elected representative of the local authority
as the CoChairperson. The DDMA ensures that the guidelines framed
by the NDMA and the SDMA are followed by all the Departments of the
State Government at the District level and the local authorities in the
District.
  Local Authorities:- Local authorities would include PanchayatiRaj
Institutions (PRI), Municipalities, District and Cantonment 11 Institutional
and Legal Arrangements Boards, and Town Planning Authorities which
control and manage civic services.
 National Institute of Disaster Management (NIDM):- The NIDM’s primary
responsibilty is capacity development, along with training, research,
documentation and development of a National level information base.
The NIDM runs the training of trainers, DM officials and other
shareholders.
 National Disaster Response Force (NDRF):- The command and
supervision of the NDRF would be under the Director General of Civil
Defence and National Disaster Response Force selected by the Central
Government. Currently, the NDRF comprises eight battalions and these
battalions will be positioned at different locations as per the varying
requirements.
 Mitigation Reserves:-. These reserves are needed for prepositioning of
some essential reserves at crucial locations, including some for the high
altitude areas intended to augment the resources at the State level.
Mitigation reserves will be placed at the disposal of the NDRF on the
wake of a disaster.
Disaster Prevention and Mitigation

 Mitigation measures besides proper planning of developmental work in

the risk prone area, would prevent hazards like earthquake, floods and
cyclones turn into disasters. These are the key areas which should be
addressed to achieve this objective:

 Risk Assessment and Vulnerability Mapping: Hazard zonation, mapping

and vulnerability analysis in a multi-risk structure will be conducted
utilising Geographic Information System (GIS) based databases like the
National Database for Emergency Management (NDEM) and National
Spatial Data Infrastructure (NSDI). The NSDI established by the Survey
of India, to collect, compile, analyze and prepare value-added maps for
use by various agencies in the area of DM for management of natural
resources, industrial applications etc.

 Increasing Trend of Disasters in Urban Areas:- Unplanned urbanization

should be prevented and the action plan to meet this end should be
given the highest priority. State Governments/UTs concerned on the
other hand focus on urban drainage systems with special attention on
 non-obstruction of natural drainage systems. Urban mapping of
infrastructure of spatial resolution should be initiated for development of
Decision Support System (DSS) for managing the urban challenges.

 Critical Infrastructure:- Critical infrastructure like roads, dams, flyovers,

irrigation canals, bridges, power stations, railway lines, water storage
towers,  delta water distribution networks, ports and river and coastal
embankments should be continuously checked for safety standards with
respect to worldwide safety benchmarks and fortified where lacking.

 Environmentally Sustainable Development:- Environmental

considerations and developmental efforts, should be handled
simultaneously for ensuring sustainability.

 Climate Change Adaptation:-. The challenges of increase in the

frequency and intensity of natural disasters like cyclones, floods and
droughts should be tackled in a sustained and effective manner with
promotion of strategies for climate change adaptation and disaster risk
reduction.

Case study

The heavy southwest monsoon rains cause the Brahmaputra and other rivers to distend
their banks, often flooding surrounding areas. Though they provide rice paddy farmers
with a largely dependable source of natural irrigation and fertilization, but the floods can
kill thousands and displace millions. Almost all of India is flood-prone, and extreme
precipitation events, such as flash floods and torrential rains, have become increasingly
common in central India over the past several decades, coinciding with rising
temperatures

When ‘calamities of severe nature’ such as the natural disaster in Uttarakhand occur, the
Central Government is responsible for providing aid and assistance to the affected state,
as may be needed, including the deploying, at the State’s request, of Armed Forces,
Central Paramilitary Forces, National Disaster Response Force (NDRF), and such
communication, air and other assets, as are available and needed. The response of the
central government is based on ‘gravity of a natural calamity’ and the ‘scale of the relief
operation’.