I turn my focus this week to a domain in which India is making huge strides with little public knowledge. Much is written on climate change but hardly anything emerges on disasters that manifest from those threats except the casualties and destruction of material and livelihoods. Today, the more modern concept of preparedness and mitigation which constitute Disaster Risk Reduction (DRR) has pride of place in disaster management (DM). The tragic Coromandel Express accident at Balasore, and the recent Cyclone ‘Biparjoy’ which hit the Gujarat coastline, are the triggers for this column. Both disasters were brilliantly handled by various responsible organisations.
For those unaware of the strides India has made in DRR in recent years, we need to go back to the Odisha Super Cyclone (1999) and the Bhuj earthquake (2000) which resulted in massive fatalities. That is when the process of professionalising DM began. Gujarat enacted a DM Act to provide a legal and regulatory framework for DM. The National DM Act was subsequently enacted in December 2005 under which a National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA) was set up with two adjunct organisations: the National Disaster Response Force (NDRF) and the National Institute of Disaster Management (NIDM).
The home ministry assumed charge of the DM domain from the agriculture ministry. The NDMA, with the prime minister as its chairman, became the apex authority on policy formulation, budgeting, training and everything else to bring transformation to this field. NDMA issues guidelines for the management of different hazards and sponsors the development of various technologies. It also develops national campaigns such as the National School Safety Programme for earthquake-prone districts. It approves plans prepared by the ministries or departments of the Government of India, and guides state authorities in drawing up the state plan.
The DM Act (2005), also spurred by the Indian Ocean tsunami of December 2004, gave a legislative sanction to modernise DM and created the right structures for execution. Besides the central institutions, each of the 36 states and UTs are required to constitute a State Disaster Management Authority, with an Emergency Operations Centre, and prepare a State Disaster Management Plan. It does not stop there: it goes down to the 750 districts, each having a District Disaster Management Authority, with the Deputy Commissioner as its head, and a DM plan. The plans also cater for external responses and the most optimum ways of employing those. We recently witnessed the Odisha and Gujarat SDMAs perform most optimally.
With the advent of Prime Minister Narendra Modi in 2014, DRR received a grand fillip. His overall interest in this domain ensured a series of initiatives commencing with the Ten Point Program for DRR, spelt out at the Asian Ministerial Conference for DRR in 2016 at New Delhi. This program is now being quoted as the mantra of DRR around the world and includes aspects such as risk mapping, gender sensitivity, strengthening of community response, hazard risk assessment, disaster-resilient technologies, disaster-resilient infrastructure, knowledge management through networking of universities, and the appropriate use of social media, etc. As an example, to ensure sensitivity towards the golden hour of life-saving in all disasters, the strengthening of community response is receiving considerable attention; a force of three lakh trained volunteers called Aapda Mitras (friends in disaster) has been partially raised for the most disaster-prone districts of the country. Each Aapda Mitra is provided with a ‘saviour kit’ and regular training by the local NDRF to ensure basic life-saving skills—probably the most optimum capacity building at the district level.
The NDRF is now 16 units strong and is a highly technical force with state-of-the-art equipment. It is deployed in the same way as the National Security Guard, with units distributed in hubs and Regional Response Centres (RRCs) based on disaster risk mapping. As per the National Policy on Disaster Management, 2009, the state governments are required to raise their own SDRF to quickly respond to disasters. Many have raised their SDRF and efforts are on to ensure early raising by others.
India’s response to international disaster emergencies through Humanitarian Assistance and Disaster Response (HADR) has been hugely appreciated after the response to Nepal in 2015, and the example of Türkiye and Syria this year. There is also renewed focus on hazards such as forest fire which is becoming a major threat. Mitigation programs for earthquakes, landslides, heat waves, lightning and forest fires are a few projects in the making, largely due to the financial support provided by the 15th Finance Commission. The National Cyclone Risk Mitigation Project (NCRMP) is a World Bank project which has developed coastal infrastructure to support the vulnerable elements of the coastal population against cyclones.
India Disaster Resource Network (IDRN) is a web-based platform that provides a database of information on the availability of equipment and human resources required to combat any emergency situation. As a part of technology induction, early warning and dissemination have received much attention. With organisations such as Indian National Centre for Ocean Information Services (INCOIS), National Remote Sensing Centre (NRSC), Defence Geoinformatics Research Establishment (DGRE) and the India Meteorological Division (IMD), all working towards early warnings of potential disasters, several digital apps have been developed, such as ‘Damini’ for potential areas of lightning strike, ‘Gagan’ for fishermen at the high seas, and ‘Sachet’ under the Common Alerting Protocol (CAP). The Emergency Response Support System (ERSS), which caters for individual emergencies, is now linked to the state-wise distress response system through the single emergency number 112.
Among the many challenges DM authorities face for the future is the strengthening of the district-level system, professionalisation of disaster management through a cadre of professionals, knowledge capture and management, and a more disaggregated early warning system.
We are witnessing a revolution in DRR in India. The academic and scientific community along with civil society organisations, have all come together, excited by the government’s renewed focus which is also invoking international interest in India’s best practices. It augurs well for the nation.
Lt Gen Syed Ata Hasnain (Retd)
Former Commander, Srinagar-based 15 Corps, and now Chancellor, Central University of Kashmir. Member of the National Disaster Management Authority