Disaster Management in India | Additional Study Material for UPSC PDF Download

Disaster management in India has evolved from an activity-based reactive setup to a proactive institutionalized structure and from a relief-based approach to a 'multi-dimensional pro-active holistic approach for reducing risk'.

• In the pre-Independence era, the policy was relief oriented and relief departments were set up for emergencies during disasters. Activities included designing the relief codes and initialising food for work programmes. 
• Post- Independence, the task for managing disasters continued to rest with the Relief Commissioners in each state, who functioned under the Central Relief Commissioner, with their role limited to delegation of relief material and money in the affected areas.
• A permanent and institutionalised setup began in the decade of 1990s with setting up a disaster management cell under the Ministry of Agriculture, following the decade of 1990 as the 'International Decade for Natural Disaster Reduction' (IDNDR) by the UN General Assembly. 
• Following a series of disasters such as Latur Earthquake (1993), Malpa Landslide (1994), Orissa Super Cyclone (1999) and Bhuj Earthquake (2001), a high powered Committee under the Chairmanship of Mr. J.C. Pant, Secretary, Ministry of Agriculture was constituted. Consequently, the disaster management division was shifted under the Ministry of Home Affairs in 2002 and a hierarchical structure for disaster management evolved in India.
• The Tenth Five-Year Plan document also had, for the first time, a detailed chapter on Disaster Management. The Twelfth Finance Commission was also mandated to review the financial arrangements for Disaster Management.

Paradigm Shift in Disaster Management

• On 23rd December 2005, the Government of India (Gol) enacted the Disaster Management Act, 2005, which envisaged the creation of the National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA), State Disaster Management Authorities (SDMAs) and District Disaster Management Authorities (DDMAs), to adopt a holistic and integrated approach to Disaster Management. 
• This acted as a paradigm shift, from the erstwhile relief-centric response to a proactive prevention, mitigation and preparedness-driven approach to minimise loss of life, livelihood and property.

National Disaster Management Act, 2005

• The National Disaster Management Act, 2005 lays down institutional, legal, financial and coordination mechanisms at the National, State, District and Local levels. The Act provides for the setting up of NDMA at the national level and the SDMA at the state level and the DDMAs at the district level.
• The primary responsibility for management of disaster rests with the State Government concerned. The institutional mechanism put in place at the Centre, State and District levels helps states manage disasters effectively.

Institutional Framework at National Level

• Disaster Management Division, Ministry of Home Affairs: The overall coordination of disaster management vests with the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA). The Disaster Management Division is responsible for response, relief and preparedness for natural calamities and human-made disasters (except drought and epidemics).
• On behalf of the Central Government, DM Division in the Ministry of Home Affairs coordinates with disaster affected State Governments, concerned line ministries/departments, National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA), National Disaster Response Force (NDRF), National Institute of Disaster Management (NIDM) and the Directorate General of Fire Services, Home Guards and Civil Defence, and Armed Forces for effective disaster risk reduction.

National Executive Committee

• It acts as the coordinating and monitoring body for disaster management. The Union Home Secretary chairs it. 
• It comprises Secretary-level officers from the Ministries and departments having control of agriculture, atomic energy, defence, drinking water supply, environment and forests, finance (expenditure), health, power, rural development, science and technology, space, telecommunications, urban development and water resources. The Chief of Integrated Defence Staff of the Chiefs of Staff Committee, ex-officio, is also its member.
• The NEC will coordinate response in any threatening disaster situation or disaster where central assistance is needed. The NEC may give directions to the relevant Ministries/Departments of the Gol, the State Governments, and the State Authorities regarding measures to be taken by them in response to any specific threatening disaster situation or disaster as per needs of the State.

The Cabinet Committee on Security (CCS) and the National Crisis Management Committee (NCMC) are the key committees involved in the top-level decision-making about disaster management. The Cabinet Committee on Management of Natural Calamities was discontinued in 2014.

Cabinet Committee on Security (CCS)

• The CCS deals with issues related to the country's defense, law and order, and internal security, policy matters concerning foreign affairs that have internal or external security implications, and economic and political issues impinging on national security. 
• CCS will be involved in the decision making if the disaster has serious security implications.

National Crisis Management Committee (NCMC)

The NCMC deals with major crises that have serious or national ramifications. These include incidents such as those requiring close involvement of the security forces and/or intelligence agencies such as terrorism (counter­insurgency), law and order situations, serial bomb blasts, hijacking, air accidents, CBRN, weapon systems, mine disasters, port and harbour emergencies, forest fires, oilfield fires, and oil spills.

National Platform for Disaster Risk Reduction (NPDRR)

• The Government of India recognized the need to evolve a participatory process of decision making with active involvement of the Central & State Governments and other stakeholders including people representing different interests in disaster management. Accordingly, a multi-stakeholder and multi-sectoral National Platform for Disaster Risk Reduction (NPDRR) was constituted.
• The NPDRR is chaired by the Union Home Minister and Minister of State in-charge of Disaster Management in the Ministry of Home Affairs and Vice-Chairman, National Disaster Management Authority is Vice-Chairperson of NPDRR. 
• Special Secretary/Additional Secretary in-charge of Disaster Management Division in the Ministry of Home Affairs will be the convener of NPDRR. It performs the following functions:
• To review the progress made in the field of disaster management from time to time
• To appraise the extent and manner in which the Central and State Governments have implemented the Disaster Management Policy, and other concerned agencies, and to give appropriate advice in the matter
• To advise regarding coordination between the Central and State Governments/UT Administrations, local Governments and civil society organisations for development of Disaster Risk Reduction
• To advise suo-moto or on a reference made by the Central Government or any State Government or a Union Territory Administration on any question about disaster management.
• To review the Disaster Management Policy

National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA)

The NDMA, is the apex body for disaster management, responsible for laying down the policies, plans, and guidelines for disaster management. The guidelines of NDMA assist the Central Ministries, Departments, and States to formulate their respective Disaster Management (DM) plans. The NDMA has the mandate to deal with all types of disasters - natural or human-induced.

• It approves the National Disaster Management Plans and plans of the Central Ministries / Departments.
• The general superintendence, direction, and control of the National Disaster Response Force (NDRF) are vested in and are exercised by the NDMA.
• The National Institute of Disaster Management (NIDM) works within the framework of broad policies and guidelines laid down by the NDMA.
• NDMA has the power to authorise the Departments or authorities, to make emergency procurement of materials for rescue and relief in a threatening disaster situation or disaster.
• It takes such other measures, as it may consider necessary, to prevent disasters, or mitigation, or preparedness and capacity building, for dealing with a threatening disaster situation or disaster.

Other emergencies such as terrorism (counter (Chemical, biological, radiological and nuclear) forces and/or intelligence agencies, and other incidents such as mine disasters, port and harbour emergencies, forest fires, oilfield fires and oil spills are handled by the National Crisis Management Committee(NCMC).

NDMA Advisory Committee

The 15-member Advisory Committee under NDMA consists of experts from various Disaster Management and allied disciplines and has representatives from academia, governments, Non-Governmental Organisations (NGOs) and civil society members.

National Institute of Disaster Management (NIDM)

The National Institute of Disaster Management is the nodal agency responsible for human resource development, capacity building, training, research, documentation and policy advocacy in the field of disaster management.

• The NIDM has built strategic partnerships with various ministries and departments of the central, state, and local governments, academic, research and technical organizations in India and abroad and other bi-lateral and multi-lateral international agencies.
• It provides technical support to the state governments through the Disaster Management Centres (DMCs) in the Administrative Training Institutes (ATIs) of the States and Union Territories.
• Presently it is supporting as many as 30 such centres. Six of them are being developed as Centres of Excellence in the specialised areas of risk management - flood, earthquake, cyclone, drought, landslides, and industrial disasters.

National Disaster Response Force (NDRF)

• The NDRF is a specialist response force that can be deployed in a threatening disaster situation or disaster. The general superintendence, direction and control of this force is vested in and exercised by the NDMA and the command and supervision of the Force vests in the Director General of National Disaster Response Force.
• National Disaster Response Force consists of 12 battalions, three each from the BSF and CRPF and two each from CISF, ITBP and SSB. Each battalion has 18 self-contained specialist search and rescue teams of 45 personnel, including engineers, technicians, electricians, dog squads, and medical/paramedics. At present, each Battalion consists of 1149 personnel.
• The "proactive availability" of this Force to the States and its "pre-positioning" in threatening disaster situations has immensely helped minimise damage, caused due to calamities in the country.
• The first major test of disaster for NDRF was Kosi Floods in 2008. The NDRF handled a war footing situation by sending flood rescue trained to the five flood affected districts with utmost promptitude. As a result, over 1,00,000 affected people were rescued during the initial stage itself. The then Chief Minister of Bihar appreciated the prompt and timely response of NDRF.
• In the 2015 earthquake in Nepal (magnitude 7.8) India's National Disaster Response Force made the headlines by capitalizing the golden hours' rule of disaster management by being the first on the ground. In the rescue operations, the personnel of NDRF pulled out 11 live victims out of a total figure of 16.
• NDRF has also acquired considerable expertise in facing CBRN (Chemical, Biological, Radiological & Nuclear) challenges. The creditable task of NDRF in retrieving Cobalt-60 radiological material at Mayapuri, Delhi, during April and May 2010 has been an acid test of NDRF’s CBRN capability.

Institutional Framework at State Level

• As per the DM Act of 2005, each state in India shall have its own institutional framework for disaster management and shall prepare its own Disaster Management Plan. The DM Act, mandates that each State Government shall take necessary steps to integrate measures for prevention of disasters or mitigation into state development plans, allocation of funds, and establish Early Warning Systems.
• Depending on specific situations and needs, the State Government shall also assist the Central Government and central agencies in various aspects of Disaster Management.
• The DM Act, 2005 mandates a State Disaster Management Authority (SDMA) setting with the Chief Minister as the ex officio Chairperson. Similar system will function in each Union Territory with Lieutenant Governor as the Chairperson.

State Disaster Management Authority (SDMA)

As per the DM Act, each State Government shall establish a State Disaster Management Authority (SDMA) with the Chief Minister as the Chairperson. In case of other UTs, the Lieutenant Governor or the Administrator shall be the Chairperson of that Authority. For the UT of Delhi, the Lieutenant Governor and the Chief Minister shall be the Chairperson and Vice-Chairperson respectively of the State Authority. Responsibilities of the SDMA include:

• It lays down policies and plans for Disaster Management in the State.
• It approves the State DM Plan following the guidelines laid down by the NDMA.
• It coordinates the state disaster management plan's implementation and recommends provision of funds for mitigation and preparedness measures.
• It reviews the developmental plans of the different departments of the State to ensure the integration of prevention, preparedness and mitigation measures.

State Executive Committee

The State Governments constitute a State Executive Committee (SEC), headed by the Chief Secretary, to assist the SDMA in its functions' performance. The SEC will coordinate and monitor the National Policy, the National Plan, and the State Plans for disaster management. It will also provide information to the NDMA relating to different aspects of disaster management.

Institutional Framework at District Level District Disaster Management Authority (DDMA)

• At the district level, District Disaster Management Authority (DDMA), headed by the District Collector/District Magistrate, is responsible for overall coordination of the disaster management efforts and planning.
• As per provisions of the Act, each State Government establishes a District Disaster Management Authority for every district in the State.
• The DDMA is headed by the District Collector with the elected representative of the local authority as the Co- Chairperson.
• The State Government appoints an officer not below the rank of Additional Collector/Additional District Magistrate of the district to be the District Disaster Management Authority's Chief Executive Officer.
• The DDMA prepares the Disaster Management plan for the District and monitors its implementation.
• It also ensures that all the district-level offices follow the guidelines laid down by the NDMA and the SDMA.

Local Authorities

Panchayati Raj Institutions (PRI), Municipalities, District and Cantonment Boards, and Town Planning Authorities, which control and manage civic services, ensure their employees' capacity building for managing disasters, carrying out relief, rehabilitation and reconstruction activities in the affected areas. They also prepare their disaster management plans as perthe national and state guidelines.

Strengthening of State Disaster Management Authorities and District Disaster Mangement Authorities

Ministry of Home Affairs has sanctioned the scheme to improve all SDMAs and selected DDMAs and make them functionally operational by providing dedicated disaster management professionals. The project is implemented by the Scheme Implementation unit (SIU) at NDMA.

Financial Arrangements under NDM Act, 2005 National Disaster Response Fund

• It is a fund managed by the Central Government for meeting the expenses for emergency response, relief and rehabilitation due to any threatening disaster situation. 
• In the event of a calamity, if the requirement of funds for relief operations is beyond the funds available in the State Disaster Response Fund account, additional Central assistance is provided from National Disaster Response Fund. The National Calamity Contingency Fund (NCCF) introduced by 11th Finance Commission was merged with NDRF.

State Disaster Response Fund

• The SDRF is used only for meeting the expenditure for providing immediate relief to the victims of disasters. The state-specific disasters within the State's local context, which are not included in the notified list of disasters, are also eligible for assistance from State Disaster Response Fund.
• National Disaster Response Fund and State Disaster Response Fund have provision for Gratuitous Relief, Search and Rescue ops, Relief measures, Air dropping of essential supplies, Emergency supply of drinking water, Clearance of affected area, including management of debris, Agriculture, Animal husbandry, fishery, Flandicraft, artisans, Repair/ Restoration (of immediate nature) of damaged Infrastructure and Capacity development.

National Disaster Mitigation Fund

• The National Disaster Mitigation Fund (NDMF) has not been set up. The Government feels that at present there are sufficient schemes to take care of mitigation measures in different projects and the need for creation of separate NDMF has not been felt.
• The objective of creation of National Disaster Mitigation Fund (NDMF) is for the projects exclusively for mitigation which is being served by the existing Centrally Sponsored Schemes / Central Sector (CS) Schemes such as Pradhan Mantri Krishi Sinchai Yojana, National Mission on Sustainable Agriculture, Namami Gange-National Ganga plan, River Basin Management, National River Conservation Plan and Water Resource Management.

National Disaster Response Reserve

• The 13th Finance commission recommended creating a National Disaster Response reserve (NDRR) with a corpus of Rs.250 crore to meet the immediate requirement of relief material/equipment after a disaster. 
• Creating National Disaster Response Reserve (NDRR) aims to mitigate the sufferings of the victims of the disaster that are beyond the coping capacity of the States.

14th Finance Commission on Fund Mobilisation for DM

The Finance Commission is required to review the arrangements regarding financing of Disaster Management funds as envisaged in the Disaster Management Act, 2005.

Recommendations of the fourteenth Finance Commission are:

• It recommended that a State can use up to 10 percent of the funds available under the SDRF for occurrences that State considers to be 'disasters' within its local context and not in the notified list of disasters of the Ministry of Flome Affairs.
• As the financing of NDRF has so far been almost wholly through the levy of cess on select items, it recommended that Union Government must ensure an assured source of funding for NDRF once the various cess and levies were subsumed under the GST.
• The FFC recommended allocating Rs 55,000 crores to all states under the Disaster Management head.

Drawbacks of the National Disaster Management Act, 2005

• The National Disaster Act's implementation, 2005 has been slow, and slack. From 2006 to 2013, there was a seven-year delay in finalising the National Plan on Disaster Management, which was finally released in 2016. 
• The act has been criticized for marginalizing Non-governmental organizations (NGOs), elected local representatives, local communities and civic groups. It has also been accused of fostering a hierarchical, bureaucratic, command and control, 'top down', approach that gives the central, state, and district authorities sweeping powers.
• A performance audit report of the disaster management mechanism in the country by was released by the Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) of India in 2013. The CAG report highlighted several other loopholes in the functioning of NDMA.
• It said none of the major projects taken up by NDMA was complete. The projects were either abandoned midway or redesigned because of initial poor planning.
• As per the CAG report, NDMA has also not been performing several functions such as recommending provision of funds to mitigate and recommend relief in repayment of loans.
• It also highlighted that several critical posts in NDMA were vacant and consultants were used for day-to-day working.
• The Public Accounts Committee submitted its report on 'Disaster Preparedness in India' in December 2015. It made the following observations:
• Under the Act, the National Executive Committee is required to meet at least once in three months. However, it was found that the committee met infrequently even when there had been disasters, such as the 2007 floods in West Bengal and the 2008 stampede in Rajasthan.
• The centre, states and districts had not constituted Mitigation Funds which could be utilised for disaster preparedness, restoration, etc.
• Various projects undertaken to strengthen the communications network for disaster management were either at the planning stage or delayed.
• The CAG report summary suggested that against a target of installing 219 telemetry stations (flood forecasting instrument) between 2012 and 2017, only 56 had been installed as of August 2016 and 59% of the existing telemetry stations were non-functional.
• 27% posts in the National Disaster Response Force (NDRF) were vacant. The NDRF's training institute, the National Institute of Disaster Response, had not been established, though it had been approved in 2006.

National Policy on Disaster Management, 2009

• NDMA came up with a 'National Policy on Disaster Management' (NPDM) in 2009. It is prepared with the vision "To build a safe and disaster resilient India by developing a holistic, proactive, multi-disaster oriented and technology-driven strategy through a culture of prevention, mitigation, preparedness and response".
• Disaster Management is a multidisciplinary activity that is to be performed with cohesive synergy among all stakeholders. The National Policy on Disaster Management provides an integrated approach for management with emphasis on building strategic partnerships at various levels.
• It places an enabling environment for all and addresses the concerns of all the sections of the society including differently abled persons, women, children and other disadvantaged groups.
• It also aims to bring transparency and accountability in all aspects of disaster management through community, community-based organizations, Panchayati Raj Institutions (PRIs), local bodies, and civil society.

The National Disaster Management Plan, 2016

For the first time, the Government of India released its first National Disaster Management Plan in 2016. The Vision of the Plan is to "Make India disaster resilient, achieve substantial disaster risk reduction, and significantly decrease the losses of life, livelihoods, and assets - economic, physical, social, cultural and environmental - by maximizing the ability to cope with disasters at all levels of administration as well as among communities."

It has been aligned broadly with the goals and priorities set out in the Sendai Framework for Disaster Risk Reduction, the Sustainable Development Goals 2015-2030 and the Paris Agreement on Climate Change at COP-21.
While Sendai framework is the first international agreement adopted within the post 2015 development agenda, the Sustainable Development Goals also recognize the importance of disaster risk reduction as integral to sustainable development. The Paris Agreement notes the urgent need to consider the increasing frequency of extreme weather events due to global climate change.

Major highlights of the Plan

• For each hazard, the approach used in this national plan incorporates the four priorities enunciated in the Sendai Framework into the planning framework for Disaster Risk Reduction under the five Thematic Areas for Actions:
• Understanding Risk
• Inter-Agency Coordination S Investing in DRR-Structural Measures
• Investing in DRR - Non-Structural Measures & Capacity Development

It covers all phases of disaster management: Prevention, Mitigation, Response and Recovery and covers human induced disasters like chemical, nuclear etc. It plans for short medium and long run respectively 5, 10, and 15 years to deal with disasters.

Integrating approach with role clarity

• It provides for horizontal and vertical integration among all the agencies and departments of the Government. Also, it spells out the roles and responsibilities of all levels of Government right up to Panchayatand Urban local body level in a matrix format.
• Ministries are given role for specific disasters e.g. Ministry of Earth Sciences is responsible for Cyclones S The plan has a regional approach, which will be beneficial not only for disaster management but also for development planning.
• It is designed so that it can be implemented in a scalable manner in all phases of disaster management.

Major activities

• It identifies major activities such as early warning, information dissemination, medical care, fuel, transportation, search and rescue, evacuation, etc. to serve as a checklist for agencies responding to a disaster.
• It also provides a generalised framework for recovery and offers flexibility to assess a situation and build back better.

Information & media regulation

• To prepare communities to cope with disasters, it emphasises on a greater need for Information, Education and Communication activities.
• It calls for ethical guidelines for the media for coverage of disasters and self-regulation.
• The plan wants the media to respect the dignity and privacy of affected people.
• Also, in a move aimed to stop rumours and spread of panic, the plan directed the authorities to schedule regular media briefing (depending on the severity of the disaster) and designate a nodal officer for interacting with the media on behalf of the government
• It focuses on training, capacity building and incorporating best international practices.

Significance of the NDMP

• It provides a framework and direction to the government agencies for all phases of disaster management cycle.
• It recognizes the need to minimize, if not eliminate, any ambiguity in the responsibility framework. It, therefore, specifies who is responsible for what at different stages of managing disasters.
• It is envisaged as ready for activation at all times in response to an emergency in any part of the country.
• It is designed in such a way that it can be implemented as needed on a flexible and scalable manner in all phases of disaster management:
  (i) Mitigation (prevention and risk reduction),
  (ii) Preparedness,
  (iii) Response and
  (iv) Recovery (immediate restoration to build-back better).

Shortcomings of National Disaster Management Plan, 2006
The National Disaster Management Plan, 2006 is devoid of many important elements that make a good and robust action plan.

Drawbacks

• It fails to lay down a clear and practical roadmap. It is too generic to identify the activities to be undertaken by the central and states governments for disaster risk mitigation, preparedness, response, recovery, reconstruction, and governance.
• The plan refrains from providing a time frame for undertaking these activities beyond vaguely prescribing that these must be taken up in short, medium, mid- and long-term basis.
• The plan does not project the requirement of funds needed for undertaking these activities, nor does it explain how funds shall be mobilised for this purpose.
• The plan further does not provide any framework for monitoring and evaluating the plan.
• The plan is aligned with the Sendai Framework for Disaster Risk Reduction and Sustainable Development Goals. Still, unlike in the Sendai Framework or the SDGs, the plan does not set any goals or targets, nor does it spell out how the Sendai goals and marks shall be achieved.

Therefore, the national plan needs to be supplemented by national roadmaps for disaster resilience with clear goals, targets, timeframe, and ideas about how resources shall be mobilised for its implementation

Reducing Risk and Enhancing Resilience

• Integrating risk reduction measures into all development projects.
• Initiating mitigation projects in identified high-priority areas through the Central and State Governments' joint efforts.
• Encouraging and assisting State level mitigation projects.
• Paying attention to indigenous knowledge on disaster and coping mechanisms.
  (i) Giving due weightage to the protection of heritage structures.

Sustainable Reduction in Disaster Risk in 10 Multi-Hazard Districts
To build the capacity of the most hazardous districts in the most vulnerable states, the Government of India has launched a project on sustainably reducing disaster risks in two districts each in five identified states (Uttarakhand, Assam, Bihar, Himachal Pradesh and Jammu and Kashmir).

Disaster Preparedness and Response

• Response measures are taken immediately after receiving early warning from the relevant authority or immediately after an event. It is considered as the most visible phase amongst various phases of disaster management.
• Response includes those activities that directly address the immediate needs, such as search and rescue, first aid and temporary shelters, and rapid mobilization of various systems necessary to coordinate and support the efforts.
• As defined by UNISDR, Preparedness consists of "the knowledge and capacities developed by governments, professional response and recovery organizations, communities and individuals to effectively anticipate, respond to, and recover from, the impacts of likely, imminent or current hazard events or conditions.
• " Based on the preparedness, the response process begins as soon as it becomes apparent that a disastrous event is imminent and lasts until the disaster is declared to be over.
• No single agency or department can handle a disaster situation of any scale alone. There are specific tasks, roles and responsibilities in the response domain, which is the most critical and time-sensitive aspect of disaster management.

The institutional arrangements for the response system consist of the following elements:

• Nodal Central Ministries with disaster-specific responsibilities for national-level coordination of all the necessary resources' response and mobilization.
• Central agencies with disaster-specific responsibilities for Early Warning Systems and alerts.
• National Disaster Response Force (NDRF).
• State Disaster Response Force (SDRF).

National Early Warning System

• The GoI has designated specific agencies to monitor the onset of different natural disasters, set up adequate Early Warning Systems (EWS), and disseminate necessary warnings/ alerts regarding any impending hazard. 
• These agencies provide inputs to the MHA, which will issue alerts and warnings through various communication channels.

Role of Central Agencies/Departments

• The National Emergency Operations Centre (NEOC) will act as the communication and coordination hub during this phase and it will maintain constant touch with early warning agencies for updated inputs. 
• It will inform State Emergency Operations Centre (SEOC) and District Emergency Operations Centre (DEOC). The DM Division of the MHA will communicate and coordinate with designated early warning agencies, various nodal Ministries, and State Governments.

Coordination of Response at National Level 

At the national level, the Central Government has assigned nodal responsibilities to specific Ministries for coordinating disaster- specific responses. At the national level, the Central Government has assigned nodal responsibilities to specific Ministries for coordinating disaster- specific responses.

The NEC will coordinate response in any threatening disaster situation or disaster.

Relief Measures

• The first responders and relief must reach the affected areas in the shortest possible time. Often, there are inordinate delays due to real constraints imposed by the location, nature of disaster and, most regrettably, due to inadequate preparedness. 
• Relief tends to arrive in a highly fragmented or uncoordinated form with multiple organisations acting independently of each other without a cohesive plan or mechanism to avoid overlaps and without proper prioritization of different relief aspects such as shelter, clothing, food, or medicine.

NDMA guidelines on Minimum Standards of Relief

NDMA has prescribed guidelines on minimum standard of relief, which include the following:

1. State/District Administration must pre-identify locations and buildings like schools, anganwadi centres which can be used as relief shelters. Advance MoUs can be made with suppliers to provide tents/toilets/urinals etc.
2. Special care and arrangements must be made for women, children, old and differently abled persons. A minimum area of 3.5 sq. m/person with lighting facilities must be made available.
3. Men and women must be supplied food with minimum calorie intake of 2,400 Kcal/day. Minimum supply of 3 litres water per person per day must be ensured.
4. Maintenance of Hygiene must be ensured at camps with provision of sufficient water for personal cleanliness. Drainage from toilets should not run towards any surface water source.
5. Mobile medical teams should visit the camps regularly and arrangements for safe delivery should be made for pregnant women.
6. Death certificate of spouse for widows should be issued within 15 days of the disaster by the district administration and necessary financial assistance must be arranged within 45 days.
7. Relief centres should be temporary and closed as soon as normalcy returns in the area.

Disaster Risk Governance

• From the mid-2000s onwards, governance was commonly accepted as the crux of Disaster Risk Reduction. Disaster risk governance is how public authorities, civil servants, media, private sector, and civil society cooperate at various levels in orderto manage and reduce disaster related risks.
• This requires ensuring sufficient levels of capacity and resources available to prevent and prepare for disasters. It also entails institutions and processes for citizens to articulate their interests, exercise their legal rights and obligations, and mediate their differences.

The Sendai Framework states that disaster risk governance at different levels is of great importance for an effective and efficient management of disaster risk. The Sendai Framework emphasizes the following to strengthen disaster risk governance:

• Mainstream and integrate disaster risk reduction within and across all sectors. It must guide both the public and private sectors and clearly spell out the roles and responsibilities. Mechanisms and initiatives for increasing disaster risk transparency must be encouraged.
• Adopt and implement disaster risk reduction strategies and plans, across different levels (local to national) and timescales to the strengthen resilience-economic, social, health and environmental.
• Assess disaster risk management capacity to deal with the identified risks at different levels
• Promote necessary mechanisms and incentives to ensure high compliance levels with the safety-enhancing provisions.
• Periodically review and assess the progress on various DM plans and encourage institutional debates, including by parliamentarians and relevant officials, on DRR plans. Also establish grievance redress mechanisms.
• Assign clear roles and tasks to community representatives within disaster risk management
• Establish and strengthen government coordination forums composed of relevant stakeholders at the national and local levels, such as national and local disaster risk reduction platforms.
• Work with parliamentarians and other elected representatives for disaster risk reduction by developing or amending relevant legislation and setting budget allocations.
• Promote the development of quality standards, such as certifications and awards for disaster risk management.