Disaster management in India: the cycle, the law and the institutions

Detail

Why manage disasters at all

• NCERT's conclusion: we cannot stop natural disasters from happening. So the best options are mitigation and preparedness.
• Disaster (as defined in the Disaster Management Bill, 2005): a catastrophe, mishap, calamity or grave occurrence in any area. It can come from natural or man-made causes, or from an accident or negligence. It causes substantial loss of life, human suffering, or damage to property or the environment. The damage is beyond the coping capacity (the community's own ability to handle the event with its own resources).
• Hazard vs disaster: a hazard is the threat, such as a cyclone out at sea. It becomes a disaster only when it hits people who cannot cope.

The disaster management cycle

• Disaster management cycle: the repeating set of actions taken before, during and after a disaster. Each round should leave the community better prepared for the next one.

Stage (NCERT)	What is done	Example from India
Pre-disaster	Collect data and information; make vulnerability zoning maps; spread awareness; plan; prepare; prevent	Seismic zone maps; cyclone shelters on the Odisha coast
During disaster	Rescue; evacuation; shelters and relief camps; water, food, clothing; medical aid	NDRF boat rescues in floods
Post-disaster	Rehabilitation (resettling people); recovery; capacity building (training people and institutions so they cope better next time)	Rebuilding homes to earthquake-safe codes

• The fuller cycle (beyond NCERT): prevention → mitigation → preparedness → response → recovery → reconstruction → back to prevention.
• The first three come before the event.
• Response comes during it.
• Recovery and reconstruction come after it. The aim is to "build back better".

Disaster mitigation

• Disaster mitigation: actions taken before a disaster to reduce its impact.
• Hazard mapping: marking which areas face floods, quakes or landslides.
• Building codes: rules on how to build, such as earthquake-resistant design in high seismic zones.
• Land-use controls: no houses on floodplains or unstable slopes.
• Embankments: raised earth walls along rivers, as on the Kosi and Brahmaputra.

• Early warning: telling people early enough to move.

• Mitigation vs preparedness:

• Mitigation lowers the damage. Example: a stronger building.
• Preparedness readies the response. Examples: drills and stocked relief material.

Shift in India's approach: from relief to risk reduction

• Old model (relief-centric):
• States worked from Relief Codes (old manuals on how to give out help after a calamity).

• The Agriculture Ministry was the nodal ministry, because most calamities meant crop loss.

• New model (risk reduction):

• Plan and invest before the disaster, not only pay after it.
• The Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) has been the nodal ministry since 2002.

• Exception: drought still stays with the Agriculture Ministry.

• Global frameworks that shaped the shift:

Framework	Year	Host city	Core idea
Yokohama Strategy	1994	Yokohama, Japan	First global plan for a safer world; prevention and preparedness
Hyogo Framework for Action	2005–2015	Kobe, Hyogo, Japan	Build resilience of nations and communities
Sendai Framework	2015–2030	Sendai, Japan	Reduce disaster risk, not just disaster losses

Disaster Management Act 2005

• Enacted: 23 December 2005. It gave India a legal system for disaster management.
• Three tiers of authorities:

Level	Body	Chairperson	Key note
National	NDMA	Prime Minister	Supported by a National Executive Committee (NEC) under the Union Home Secretary
State	SDMA	Chief Minister	Prepares state plans
District	DDMA	District Collector (or District Magistrate / Deputy Commissioner)	The elected zilla parishad chief is co-chairperson

• National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA): the apex statutory body. It lays down policies, plans and guidelines for disaster management. It has issued guidelines on floods, cyclones, heat waves, earthquakes, landslides and other hazards.
• Key national documents:
• National Policy on Disaster Management (2009): the vision of a safe, disaster-resilient India.
• National Disaster Management Plan (NDMP), 2016: India's first national plan, aligned with the Sendai Framework. It was revised in 2019.

Disaster Management (Amendment) Act 2025

• Origin: the Amendment Bill was introduced in the Lok Sabha on 1 August 2024 [2].
• Plans: NDMA and SDMAs will now prepare disaster plans themselves. Earlier, their executive committees prepared them [2].
• New duties for NDMA and SDMAs: assess disaster risks, including climate-related risks; give technical support; and carry out post-disaster audits [2].
• Disaster databases: national and state databases on disaster risks, fund allocation and preparedness measures [2].
• National Crisis Management Committee (NCMC): now has statutory status. It is chaired by the Cabinet Secretary and is the nodal body for major disasters with serious or national ramifications [2].
• High Level Committee (HLC): now has statutory status. It is chaired by a minister and approves financial assistance to states from the national disaster funds [2].
• Urban Disaster Management Authority (UDMA): states may set one up for state capitals and cities with municipal corporations. It is headed by the Municipal Commissioner and handles local threats such as urban flooding [2].
• State Disaster Response Force (SDRF): states may raise their own response force. The state decides its tasks and service conditions [2].
• NDMA staffing: NDMA can decide its own staff needs and hire consultants, with Central Government approval [2].

National Disaster Response Force (NDRF)

• National Disaster Response Force (NDRF): a specialised force for disaster rescue and response.
• Constituted in 2006 under the DM Act 2005.

• Raised from battalions of the Central Armed Police Forces (CAPFs: BSF, CRPF, CISF, ITBP, SSB, Assam Rifles).

• Size: 16 battalions, placed across India according to each region's vulnerability (NCERT: stationed at 12 locations).

• Skills:
• Collapsed-structure search and rescue after earthquakes and building collapses.
• Flood and water rescue.
• CBRN response (Chemical, Biological, Radiological and Nuclear emergencies).

• Landslide and other rescue work.

• Deployments abroad:

• Japan 2011: Tōhoku earthquake and tsunami.
• Nepal 2015: Gorkha earthquake.
• Türkiye 2023: earthquake; Operation Dost.

National Institute of Disaster Management (NIDM)

• Location: New Delhi.
• History:
• Began in 1995 as the National Centre for Disaster Management.

• Became a statutory institute under the DM Act 2005.

• Role: training, research, documentation and capacity building. NCERT calls it a positive step.

Disaster finance: response and mitigation funds

• State Disaster Response Fund (SDRF fund): the state's first source of money for relief after a notified disaster.
• The Centre pays 75%.

• For northeastern and Himalayan states, the Centre pays 90%.

• National Disaster Response Fund (NDRF fund): extra central money when a disaster is severe and the state fund is not enough.

• Fifteenth Finance Commission (2021–26):
• Created the National and State Disaster Risk Management Funds.

• Each is split into a response window (80%) and a mitigation window (20%).

• Trap: "NDRF" can mean the force (people) or the fund (money). Read the question carefully.

Notified disasters

• Notified disasters: the disasters officially listed by the Centre. Only these are eligible for SDRF/NDRF relief money.
• The 12 notified disasters:
• cyclone
• drought
• earthquake
• fire
• flood
• tsunami
• hailstorm
• landslide
• avalanche
• cloudburst
• pest attack

• frost and cold wave

• Local disasters: states may spend up to 10% of their SDRF on state-specific disasters not on the list, such as lightning.

• Not on the national list: heat wave and lightning. Both are handled as state-notified local disasters.

Early warning and alerts

• Warning agencies by hazard:

Agency	Hazard warned
IMD (India Meteorological Department)	Cyclones, heavy rain, heat waves, cold waves
CWC (Central Water Commission)	River floods
INCOIS (Indian National Centre for Ocean Information Services, Hyderabad)	Tsunamis, high waves, storm surges
DGRE (Defence Geoinformatics Research Establishment)	Avalanches
GSI (Geological Survey of India)	Landslides

• IMD cyclone tracking: IMD follows a cyclone from formation to landfall and issues stage-wise warnings. Mission Mausam aims to make weather and climate forecasts more accurate.
• Common Alerting Protocol (CAP): an international standard format for emergency messages. It lets one alert go out at once over many channels, such as SMS, TV and radio.
• SACHET: NDMA's alert platform built on CAP.
• Sends location-based SMS and cell-broadcast alerts to phones in the danger zone only.

• Alerts are in local languages.

• Aapda Mitra: NDMA scheme that trains community volunteers as first responders. Local people are always the first on the spot, before any force arrives.

Linking to NCERT case studies

• Punjab floods 2025 (Class 9 case study): it asks what role NDMA plays. Answer: NDMA sets guidelines and plans. The SDMA and DDMAs lead on the ground. NDRF battalions and state forces do the rescue.
• Climate change raises the number and strength of extreme events. This makes resilience (the ability to absorb a shock and bounce back) and mitigation more important.

Prelims Hooks

• NDMA chair: Prime Minister. SDMA chair: Chief Minister. DDMA chair: District Collector, with the zilla parishad chief as co-chair. NEC chair: Union Home Secretary.
• NCMC is chaired by the Cabinet Secretary, not the PM. It got statutory status under the 2025 amendment [2].
• UDMA under the 2025 amendment is headed by the Municipal Commissioner [2].
• Nodal ministry: MHA since 2002 for all disasters except drought, which stays with the Agriculture Ministry.
• NDRF (force): raised in 2006 from CAPFs; 16 battalions; Operation Dost was in Türkiye (2023).
• NIDM: New Delhi; started 1995 as the National Centre for Disaster Management.
• Fund sharing: Centre pays 75% of SDRF, or 90% for NE and Himalayan states. Fifteenth FC split: 80% response, 20% mitigation.
• Trap: heat wave and lightning are not among the 12 notified disasters. States can use up to 10% of SDRF for such local disasters.
• Agency–hazard pairs: INCOIS → tsunami; DGRE → avalanche; GSI → landslide; CWC → flood.
• Ordering: Yokohama (1994) → Hyogo (2005) → Sendai (2015–2030). All three host cities are in Japan.

Mains Points

• From relief to risk reduction: India moved from Relief Codes and the Agriculture Ministry to the DM Act 2005 and the MHA (nodal ministry since 2002). This built a three-tier system: NDMA–SDMA–DDMA. The NDMP (2016, revised 2019) is aligned with the Sendai Framework.
• Gaps and the 2025 fix: cities had no dedicated disaster bodies, and plans were made by executive committees. The 2025 amendment adds UDMAs, disaster databases, post-disaster audits and climate-risk assessment, and gives the NCMC and HLC statutory status [2]. This matters for urban flooding in cities such as Mumbai, Chennai and Bengaluru.
• Money for mitigation: before the Fifteenth Finance Commission, funds went almost only to relief. The 80:20 response–mitigation split pays for work before disasters, such as embankments, cyclone shelters and slope stabilisation. Use: GS-III on disaster management.
• Last-mile warning: IMD, CWC and INCOIS produce forecasts. SACHET/CAP alerts in local languages carry them to people, and Aapda Mitra volunteers act on them in the community. Odisha's low cyclone deaths show how warning plus evacuation saves lives.