India’s Disaster Resilience: Strategy, Implementation, and Future Roadmap

Context:

  • Recently, India has experienced a series of natural and manmade disasters, testing its disaster resilience.
  • These events highlight the need for a comprehensive, multi-hazard approach to reduce the adverse impacts of disasters.
  • Effective disaster resilience ensures communities, individuals, and systems can resist, absorb, adapt, and recover from hazards while maintaining essential functions.

Definition of Disaster Resilience:

  • The ability of communities, individuals, and systems to minimize losses and preserve essential functions during disasters.
  • It involves a dynamic process: preparedness, response, recovery, and continuous learning from adverse events.

Need for India:

  • India is a vast, multi-hazard country prone to heatwaves, extreme rainfall, cyclones, floods, and landslides.
  • International coordination is crucial for learning global best practices and sharing India’s expertise.

Institutional Oversight:

  • The Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) and National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA) monitor both pre- and post-disaster phases.
  • They follow the Prime Minister’s Ten-Point Agenda on Disaster Risk Reduction (2016) as guiding principles.

India’s Disaster Resilience Framework and Initiatives

1. 15th Finance Commission’s Approach to DRR

  • Year: 2021
  • Total Fund Allocation: ₹2.28 lakh crore (~$30 billion) over five years.
  • Focus: Expanded from post-disaster relief to include:
    • Prevention
    • Mitigation
    • Preparedness
    • Capacity building
    • Post-disaster reconstruction

Fund Breakdown:

  • Pre-disaster (30%):
    • Preparedness & Capacity Building – 10%
    • Mitigation – 20%
  • Post-disaster (70%):
    • Response – 40%
    • Reconstruction – 30%

Five Priority Areas:

  1. Evaluate and prioritize India’s multi-hazard challenges.
  2. Integrate scientific concepts of mitigation and reconstruction into public finance.
  3. Avoid duplication with existing programs.
  4. Enhance inter-ministerial, institutional, and Centre-State coordination.
  5. Establish light-touch regulatory processes.

Implementation:

  • Standards and procedures for project design and expenditure established.
  • Inter-ministerial and Centre-State appraisal committees oversee hazard- or region-specific projects.

2. Reconstruction and Post-Disaster Response

  • First five reconstruction packages approved for Uttarakhand, Himachal Pradesh, Sikkim, Assam, and Kerala.
  • Outlay: ₹5,000 crore
  • Scientific damage assessments ongoing for extreme precipitation events during the monsoon.

3. Pre-Disaster Preparedness

  • Fire Safety Modernisation: ₹5,000 crore allocated.
  • Volunteer Networks:
    • Apda Mitra and Yuva Apda Mitra, totaling 2.5 lakh volunteers.
  • Capacity Building:
    • Establish geo-spatial training labs.
    • Expand faculty-led action-based research at National Institute of Disaster Management (NIDM).
    • Launch 36-stream standard course for mainstreaming disaster preparedness at the panchayat level.

4. Mitigation Initiatives

  • Fund Allocation: 20% of pre-disaster funds.
  • Projects Approved: ₹10,000 crore (~$1.2 billion) across States.
  • Focus: Nature-based, climate-resilient solutions for long-term risk reduction.

Cyclone Mitigation:

  • National Cyclone Mitigation Programme (2011–22) – ₹5,000 crore
  • Achievements: Early warning systems, cyclone shelters, embankments across 8 coastal States.

NDMA’s Mitigation Priorities:

  1. Revitalize urban water bodies and green spaces to prevent floods.
  2. Use remote sensing and automated weather stations for glacial lake monitoring.
  3. Apply bio-engineering solutions for landslide-prone zones.
  4. Rejuvenate Brahmaputra’s beels.
  5. Strengthen forest fire prevention through water body management and fuel evacuation.

5. Early Warning Systems and Community Engagement

  • Common Alerting Protocol (CAP): Timely alerts in regional languages.
  • Institutional Support:
    • 327-member university network
    • Training at NDRF Academy, National Fire Service College, and NIDM
  • Mock Exercises & School Programs: Promote hazard-specific awareness and safety education.

Conclusion: Way Forward

  • International collaboration is vital for knowledge exchange and capacity building.
  • India leads initiatives like the Coalition for Disaster Resilient Infrastructure (CDRI) and engages in DRR at G20, SCO, BIMSTEC, and IORA.
  • With guidance from public, private, academic, and scientific institutions, India is focusing on innovative, sustainable, nature-based solutions to reduce risks from climate change and multi-hazard events.

Source : The Hindu

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