What is Disaster?

Disaster is usually a naturally occurring phenomenon, though not confined to it, which makes it unavoidable and involves a significant impact on all the aspects of the environment (the surroundings), which when exceed the threshold can even cause the loss of livelihoods of the economy and further can aggravate the situation making it difficult to manage.

What is Disaster Management?

Disaster Management is the continuous process of working in the field of reducing the impact of disasters which can have a positive impact to the economy.

Two points needs to be kept in mind.

1. Disaster management should help in mitigating the impact of disasters.
2. Disaster management should have a positive impact on the society and economy as a whole.

Evolution of Disaster Management paradigm in India

Post-Independence : Reactive Approach Phase

1. This deals with the reactive based approach which can provide relief to the society.
2. This doesn’t served the actual purpose because of lack of proper institutional mechanism.
3. The primary responsibility for the management of disasters was given to the states with the center just playing the role of assisting them.

UN-driven change in perspective about Disaster Management

1. The UNGA designates the decade of 1990’s as the international decade for natural disaster reduction which makes it an over-burning challenge and thus upgraded its priority in the international arena.
2. The first such conference on natural disasters was thus adopted in 1994 as the Yokohama strategy for safer world.

Decade of 1990’s : Early Beginnings in Disaster Management setup

1. The period marked the setting up of Disaster Management Cell in Ministry of Agriculture.
2. As a result, the National Institute for Disaster Management (NIDM) was setup in 1995.
3. A series of disasters struck India like the Latur Earthquake (1993), Orissa Supercyclone (1990), Malpa Landslide (1998), etc. which has laid bare open the inadequacies of the disaster response in India.
4. The JC Pant Committee on disaster management (1999) was setup which recommended setting up a Disaster Management Ministry but this did not fructify.

Early 2000s : Institutionalization of disaster management in India

After Bhuj Earthquake (2001), an All Party National Committee on disaster management (chaired by PM) which recommended for the creation of NDMA under MHA. Therefore, in 2002 the Disaster Management Division was shifted to the MHA which marked the beginning of hierarchical structure for disaster management in India. The 10th FYP (2002-07) document had for the first time a detailed chapter on disaster management.

Paradigm shift : Advent of pro-active approach

After the Indian Ocean Tsunami (2004), the government decided to enact the Disaster Management Act in 2005 which was hailed as a significant development in the paradigm of disaster management in India.

Significance of enactment of Disaster Management Act, 2005 : Why is it considered a paradigm shift

1. There was a paradigm shift from the erstwhile relief-centric response to a pro-active prevention, mitigation and preparedness driven approach to minimize loss of life, property and livelihood.
2. The new approach is obtained from the conviction that development cannot be sustained unless disaster mitigation is built into the development process.
3. This paradigm shift underpins that disasters can be managed through adequate planning and preparedness for response.
4. The new approach also originates from the belief that investments in mitigation are much more cost effective that expenditure on relief and rehabilitation.

Therefore, with the enactment of Disaster Management Act, 2005, one can say that disaster management in India has evolved from an activity based reactive setup to a pro-active institutionalized structure, and from a relief based approach to a multi-dimensional holistic approach for reducing disaster risk.

Disaster management has been a tedious task in India keeping in view the aspects related to it. Although, definite steps have been taken in this direction still it lacks in some respects. This article deals with disaster management in India from the time of India’s independence, and what changes have been done in each successive phase.

Disasters can be caused due to many factors such as natural, human-induced, biological, etc. Since Biological disasters have a composite nature incorporating both natural and human-related phenomena, this has been discussed in greater detail. Further, it being a continuous process involving the political, environmental, social, and economic angles minimizing has been an impressive area of research all over the world so that lives can be enhanced and disasters can be minimized. As is usually understood by many individuals, disaster management involves reducing the occurrence of disasters but disaster being an unavoidable circumstance, disaster management deals with minimizing the effects of disaster.