Disaster Management

Concepts

• A hazard is a potential threat. A disaster is a hazard that exceeds a community's ability to cope.
• Risk = hazard × exposure × vulnerability ÷ capacity.
• Disaster management cycle: mitigation, preparedness, response and recovery (rehabilitation and reconstruction). The emphasis has shifted from relief to risk reduction.

India's vulnerability

• About 58.6% of land is prone to earthquakes of moderate or higher intensity.
• More than 40 million hectares (about 12%) are flood-prone.
• About 68% of cultivable area is drought-prone.
• About 5,700 km of a 7,500 km coastline is prone to cyclones and tsunamis.
• Hilly areas are prone to landslides (Wayanad, 2024; Uttarakhand).
• Newer risks: heat waves, lightning, urban floods and GLOFs.

Framework

• Disaster Management Act, 2005:
  • The NDMA is chaired by the Prime Minister.
  • SDMAs are chaired by the Chief Minister.
  • DDMAs are chaired by the District Collector / DM.
  • The NEC is chaired by the Union Home Secretary.
  • The NDRF has 16 battalions.
  • The NIDM handles training.
  • The 2025 amendment gives the NDMA and SDMAs a statutory basis for national and state disaster databases and sets up urban disaster authorities.
• National Policy on Disaster Management (2009) and the National Disaster Management Plan (2016, revised 2019), aligned with Sendai.
• Finance: the 15th Finance Commission created NDRMF and SDRMF with mitigation windows. Centre–state sharing is 75:25 (90:10 for the north-eastern and Himalayan states).
• Global frameworks:
  • the Sendai Framework (2015–30): 7 targets and 4 priorities (understand risk, strengthen governance, invest in resilience, "build back better");
  • the Hyogo Framework before it (2005–15).
• India's initiatives:
  • the CDRI (2019);
  • the G20 DRR Working Group (2023);
  • the Aapda Mitra volunteers scheme;
  • the Common Alerting Protocol (Sachet).

Hazard-wise

Floods

• Causes: heavy monsoon rain, Himalayan rivers with high silt, embankment breaches, poor drainage and deforestation.
• Measures:
  • flood forecasting by the CWC;
  • flood plain zoning, which has a model bill but little uptake;
  • embankments, which give a false sense of security and silt up;
  • reservoirs;
  • raised platforms;
  • community preparedness.

Droughts

• Types: meteorological, hydrological and agricultural.
• Measures:
  • IMD and the Drought Manual 2020;
  • watershed development;
  • micro-irrigation;
  • crop insurance;
  • MGNREGA works.

Cyclones

• Odisha's "zero casualty" approach: early warning, shelters and evacuation, as in Phailin (2013) and Fani (2019).
• The National Cyclone Risk Mitigation Project.

Earthquakes

• Building codes (BIS, IS 1893); retrofitting; zone V areas, which include north Bihar.
• The Bihar–Nepal earthquake of 1934 devastated Munger and Darbhanga. The 2015 Nepal earthquake was also felt in Bihar.

Heat waves

• Heat Action Plans, starting with Ahmedabad in 2013.
• The Bihar heat wave of June 2019 killed more than 100 people in Aurangabad, Gaya and Nawada.

Lightning

• Causes about 2,500–3,000 deaths a year in India. Bihar, Jharkhand, Odisha, MP and UP are the worst affected.
• Measures: the Damini app, lightning arresters on schools and public buildings, and community awareness (avoid trees and open fields).

Bihar and Jharkhand focus

• Bihar:
  • About 73% of north Bihar is flood-prone.
  • Rivers: the Kosi (the "Sorrow of Bihar"), Gandak, Bagmati, Burhi Gandak, Kamla and Mahananda.
  • The Kosi breach at Kusaha (2008) affected about 30 lakh people.
  • South Bihar suffers drought (Gaya, Nawada, Aurangabad).
  • Arsenic contaminates groundwater.
  • The Bihar State Disaster Management Authority; the Bihar Disaster Risk Reduction Roadmap 2015–30 (the first state roadmap aligned to Sendai).
• Jharkhand:
  • drought (Palamu, Garhwa);
  • lightning, among the highest death rates;
  • mining disasters: Jharia mine fires and subsidence, and mine collapses;
  • elephant–human conflict;
  • flash floods in the Subarnarekha.

Exam tip: End any disaster answer with "Sendai + community + technology + finance". Name one Bihar or Jharkhand example: the Kosi 2008 breach, the Bihar DRR Roadmap, Jharia fires, lightning deaths.