UPSC Prelims Practice Questions — Counting people is not counting disaster risk

Q1. Which one of the following is the FIRST Priority for Action listed under the Sendai Framework for Disaster Risk Reduction 2015-2030?

  • A. Understanding disaster risk
  • B. Strengthening disaster risk governance to manage disaster risk
  • C. Investing in disaster risk reduction for resilience
  • D. Enhancing disaster preparedness for effective response

Q2. Which Union ministry is the nodal ministry for the administration of the State Disaster Response Fund and for disaster management in India?

  • A. Ministry of Home Affairs
  • B. Ministry of Finance
  • C. Ministry of Earth Sciences
  • D. Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change

Q3. How many disaster types are incorporated into the Disaster Risk Index used by the 16th Finance Commission for SDRF allocation in 2026-31?

  • A. Six
  • B. Eight
  • C. Ten
  • D. Twelve

Q4. The multiplicative Disaster Risk Index (Risk = Hazard × Exposure × Vulnerability) used for inter-se distribution of SDRF for 2026-31 was formulated by which body?

  • A. Sixteenth Finance Commission
  • B. National Disaster Management Authority
  • C. NITI Aayog
  • D. National Institute of Disaster Management

Q5. The Disaster Risk Index that assigns 30% weight to risk and 70% to past disaster expenditure for SDRF allocation was recommended by the Finance Commission chaired by whom?

  • A. Arvind Panagariya
  • B. N. K. Singh
  • C. Y. V. Reddy
  • D. Vijay Kelkar

Q6. Which one of the following is the primary fund available with State Governments for responding to notified disasters under the Disaster Management Act, 2005?

  • A. State Disaster Response Fund (SDRF)
  • B. National Disaster Response Fund (NDRF)
  • C. State Disaster Mitigation Fund (SDMF)
  • D. National Disaster Mitigation Fund (NDMF)

Q7. Among the three components of the FC-XVI Disaster Risk Index, which one is the component for which projected population (October 2026) is used as the surrogate?

  • A. Exposure
  • B. Hazard
  • C. Vulnerability
  • D. Coping capacity

Q8. In the horizontal devolution formula of the 15th Finance Commission, which single criterion carried the highest weight?

  • A. Income distance
  • B. Population (2011)
  • C. Area
  • D. Demographic performance

Q9. As per the UNDRR terminology used in global disaster-risk frameworks, which one of the following best defines 'vulnerability'?

  • A. The conditions determined by physical, social, economic and environmental factors that increase the susceptibility of people, assets or systems to the impacts of hazards
  • B. The presence of people, assets and infrastructure located in hazard-prone areas
  • C. A natural or human-induced physical event with the potential to cause loss of life or damage
  • D. The ability of a community to anticipate, absorb and recover from the effects of a hazard