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the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation
Centre for Disaster Management.)
Disaster risk reduction in development
In keeping with dominant global thinking, the
Government of India introduced for the first time a
chapter on ‘Disaster Management: The Development
Perspective’ in the document of the planning commis-
sion. The document categorically reinforced that “the
compounded costs of disasters relating to loss of life,
loss of assets, economic activities, and cost of recon-
struction not only of assets but of lives, can scarcely
be conceived. Therefore, all development schemes in
vulnerable areas should include a disaster risk miti-
gation analysis, whereby the feasibility of a project
with respect to vulnerability of the areas and the miti-
gation measures required for sustainability should be
built in.”
Thus, having continually focused on mainstream-
ing in the subsequent plans, the Government of India
is operationalizing the mainstreaming of disaster risk
reduction (DRR) in development plans, as envisaged
in the HFA.
Capacity development framework
The capacity development framework focuses on a
multi-hazard, multi-sectoral and multi-level approach
in addressing all phases of the disaster management
management at the national, state and district levels. The Disaster
Management Bill, unanimously adopted by both houses of parlia-
ment, and the Disaster Management Act 2005, demonstrated the
national vision of a paradigm shift from post-disaster response to
improving pre-disaster preparedness, initiating disaster manage-
ment projects and strengthening the capacity of the people both
for response and mitigation. This strengthened the paradigm shift
approach for governing disasters – from relief-based to a disaster
risk management approach.
The Disaster Management Act 2005 stipulated the establish-
ment of requisite institutional mechanisms for drawing up and
monitoring the implementation of disaster management plans and
capacity development, ensuring measures by various wings of the
government for prevention and mitigating the effects of disasters,
and for undertaking a holistic, coordinated and prompt response
to any disaster situation. In the new approach, drawing experi-
ence from the International Decade of Natural Disaster Reduction
(IDNDR) and the Hyogo Framework for Action 2005-2015 (HFA),
capacity-building, training, public awareness and institutional
development became the key focus areas of Government initia-
tives in ex-ante risk reduction. The National Institute of Disaster
Management (NIDM) has been established as the apex training and
capacity development institute for disaster management in India.
NIDM, in consultation with the National Disaster Management
Authority (NDMA) and Ministry of Home Affairs (a nodal ministry
for disaster management), has developed a capacity development
framework which determines various short – medium – and
long-term capacity development components. (NIDM also hosts
Men, women and children partcipate in community-led initiatives
Image: Dasholi Gram Swaraj Mandal, Chamoli