BENGALURU: Principal Secretary to the Prime Minister Dr P K Mishra on Wednesday said that India has emerged as a key global responder in Humanitarian Assistance and Disaster Relief (HADR) operations under the leadership of PM Modi.
Speaking at the Silver Jubilee Foundation Day of the Centre for Public Policy (CPP) at the Indian Institute of Management Bangalore on, Dr Mishra emphasised the pivotal role that institutions, legislation, regulation, and capacity building have played in transforming India’s disaster management system over the last 25 years.
Delivering a special lecture titled “From Gujarat to Myanmar: Evolution of India’s Disaster Management Policy and Practice during the Last 25 Years,” he reflected on India’s journey from being disaster-prone to disaster-ready.
India’s disaster management reforms, he explained, were born out of catastrophic events such as the 1991 Odisha Super Cyclone, the 1993 Latur earthquake, the 2001 Gujarat earthquake, the 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami, and the 2005 Kashmir earthquake. These events exposed systemic vulnerabilities but also became catalysts for change.
The Gujarat earthquake, in particular, became a watershed moment. The state’s recovery programme, through the Gujarat State Disaster Management Authority (GSDMA), introduced a comprehensive model of response, reconstruction, risk mitigation, policy formulation, and public awareness. This model was later mirrored in national frameworks and institutions, he highlighted.
Dr Mishra underlined how India institutionalised disaster management through legal and regulatory frameworks, backed by scientific knowledge, training networks, and community participation. “Building codes were revised, hazard-resistant construction adopted, and response systems decentralised to empower state and local agencies,” he said.
He also pointed to the influence of global frameworks - the International Decade for Natural Disaster Reduction (IDNDR), the Hyogo Framework for Action, and the Sendai Framework for Disaster Risk Reduction, which guided India’s policies and encouraged a proactive, risk-reduction approach
Dr Mishra emphasised that disaster management must be viewed as a continuum - encompassing preparedness, response, recovery, and mitigation, all requiring differentiated but integrated financial planning.
He pointed out that the results of these efforts are tangible. “Mortality rates have significantly declined across both rapid-and slow-onset disasters. Improved cyclone preparedness has saved countless lives. National and state-level response capacities have improved, with systems now capable of managing large-scale emergencies with far greater efficiency than in the past,” Dr Mishra said.
While acknowledging progress, Dr Mishra cautioned that new challenges are emerging - from climate change and urbanisation to geopolitical volatility. Future disaster management, he said, must be dynamic, iterative, and grounded in real-world practice. Risks like urban flooding and heatwaves need to be integrated into development planning, and climate resilience embedded in recovery strategies, he added.