Disaster Management

India has been traditionally vulnerable to natural disasters on account of its unique geo-climatic conditions. About 60% of the landmass is prone to earthquakes of various intensities; over 40 million hectares is prone to floods; about 8% of the total area is prone to cyclones and 68% of the area is susceptible to drought. Considering the vulnerabilities of India, Sendai Framework plays an important role in response, recovery and resilience of India in terms of disaster management.

Sendai Framework

1. Sendai framework is a 15-year voluntary, non-binding agreement adopted at the Third World Conference on DRR. It is a successor instrument to Hyogo Framework for Action (HFA) 2005- 2015.
2. It recognizes that the State has the primary role to reduce disaster risk but that responsibility should be shared with other stakeholders including local government, the private sector and other stakeholders.
3. The Sendai Framework has set seven targets and four priorities along with guidelines for a substantial reduction in losses including a reduction in the number of deaths from disasters, number of people affected by disasters, economic losses and infrastructure losses.
4. It also calls for an increase in capacities through national and local strategies, international cooperation and improved access to early warning.
5. The Sendai Framework works hand in hand with the other 2030 Agenda agreements, including The Paris Agreement on Climate Change, The Addis Ababa Action Agenda on Financing for Development, the New Urban Agenda, and ultimately the Sustainable Development Goals.

Important Initiative Taken By India Based On Sendai Framework

In furtherance to its commitment to the Sendai framework, the Government has taken up several important initiatives post-Sendai Declaration.

1. Asian Ministerial Conference on Disaster Reduction (AMCDRR): India hosted the Asian Ministerial Conference on Disaster Reduction (AMCDRR) in November 2016. It provided an opportunity for multiple stakeholders to come together and make specific commitments to the implementation of Sendai Framework.
2. New Delhi Declaration: The ‘New Delhi Declaration’ declares the commitment of participating governments towards preventing and reducing disaster risk, and strengthening the resilience of communities, nations in the Asian region. It also emphasises the need to enhance the capacity of communities and ensure participation of all stakeholder groups towards achieving resilience.
3. Asian Regional Plan: The ‘Asian Regional Plan for Implementation of the Sendai Framework’ focuses on the ‘How to’ reduce disaster risk at national and local levels. It has arrived at a longer-term road map of cooperation and collaboration, spanning the 15-year horizon of the Sendai Framework, as well as a two-year action plan to further disaster risk reduction with specific, actionable activities.
4. Prime Minister’s 10-Point Agenda on Disaster Risk Reduction: This agenda includes motives such as, to build a coalition to support disaster resilient infrastructure, encourage greater involvement and leadership of women, leverage technology to enhance the efficiency, develop a network of universities to work on disaster issues, utilize the opportunities provided by social media and mobile technologies, build on local capacity and initiative and bring about greater cohesion in the international response to disasters, etc.
5. Training programmes: First national-level Training of Trainers programme for Sendai Framework was organised in 2017 by the National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA) in collaboration with the United Nations Office for Disaster Risk Reduction (UNDRR). Aim of the programme was to sensitise various Central Ministries and Departments on the utilisation of Sendai Monitor for developing action plans for Disaster Risk Reduction (DRR).
6. International Cooperation on Disaster Management: India had signed bilateral/ multilateral agreements with the several countries for cooperation in the field of disaster management like SAARC Agreement on Rapid Response to Natural Disasters, Agreement between India and Russia on cooperation in the field of Emergency Management, and Joint Declaration of Intent (JDI) between India and Germany on cooperation in the field of Disaster Management, etc.
7. KNOWLEDGE SHARING AND REGIONAL COOPERATION: India is keen to share her expertise and help other countries in disaster response as it did during the Japan Earthquake in 2011 and Nepal earthquake of 2015. The government of India is making consistent efforts to promote regional cooperation by hosting the SAARC Disaster Management Centre to reduce disaster risks in the region and promoting knowledge sharing among the SAARC countries.

India Specific Initiatives

1. A National Disaster Management Plan was framed by the NDMA. It provides a framework and direction to the government agencies for all phases of the disaster management cycle. It has short, medium and long term measures that will be completed within the time frame of 5, 10, and 15 years. 2.
2. The Government of India has issued a set of priority actions to all the State Government based on the goals, targets and priorities of Sendai Framework 2015-2030.
3. In line with Sendai priority 4, National Disaster Response Force (NDRF) is strengthened, both in terms of state-of-the-art training and equipment so as to further empower it as a professional disaster response force.
4. Government of India has approved the creation of National Disaster Response Reserve (NDRR) through a revolving fund of Rs.250 crore to be operated by the National Disaster Response Force. This dedicated fund would enable the NDRF to maintain a ready inventory of emergency goods and services.
5. The Government of India has constituted the National Disaster Response Force Academy at National Civil Defence College, Nagpur for training to personnel involved in disaster management and response.

The Sendai Framework also calls upon all the stakeholders to be involved in disaster preparedness and mitigation planning as well as the relief and recovery phase. In the mission of Disaster Risk Reduction, there is a need for collaboration by all entities, public and private, to strengthen the mechanisms for disaster risk reduction by using and sharing reliable and affordable modern technology for capacity building. The country requires protocols to involve civil society in myriad post-COVID roles.