The NDMA

In the aftermath of the devastating Bhuj earthquake, the Indian think tank came with a quite a few proposals on how to deal with such natural disasters. As one of the
steps, in 1999 a committee was setup to look into the feasibility of setting up an organisation dedicated towards disaster management and preparedness in the country.
Hence, the National Disaster Management Act came in 2005 and as a consequence, National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA) with Prime Minister as its Chairman was setup in
2006.
The NDMA was founded on the principals of Prevention, Mitigation and Preparedness in the pre-disaster and Response, Rehabilitation and Reconstruction in the post-
disaster phase. Over the years, with recognition of new possible disasters and with growing nature's fury every year, a few changes to the structure came across. Right
now there are around 8 functionaries of Cabinet Minister level, leading different threads of disaster management across different states. The whole country which has
79% of it's coastline prove to cyclones and tsunamis, 28% land prone to earthquakes, 39% prone to flooding and 68% prone to drought, has been distributed among these
members. Over the years, specially from the 12th Plan, a separate amount of money has been dedicated towards proper functioning of NDMA and also towards the running of
National Institute of Disaster Management (setup in 2009), which produces people educated and trained in specific disaster management related activities.
An analysis of disaster preparedness and response in the country, the floods of 2009 in Mumbai, earthquake in Sikkim in 2011, the Uttarakhand tragedy recently, clearly
suggest that the performance of the NDMA has barely been satisfactory and so even the NDM Act seems to have not served its purpose.
Disaster prevention is a big step and can easily be implemented by assuring that any construction in areas prone to disasters like floods, earthquakes, land slides have
controlled human interference. Regulated construction activity like in Ecologically Sensitive Areas needs to be the mandate and only after proper approval from the NDMA
should such activities in these areas be taken up. It also then entails the requirement of more scientists and professionals who can come up with upto date data about
the fragility of these areas and provide clear analysis on which activities can be taken up. Also, these states should anyway come up with their own disaster management
authorities under the overall prefecture of the NDMA, involving even the locals who may not have the required degree and technical knowledge, but the local knowledge of
terrain which proves to be like gold dust in such cases. We have implemented a few precautionary steps, but we need to further emulate the technologies used in
different nations like earthquake preparedness in Japan, because though we cannot stop or restrict natural phenomena from acting, but can surely reduce their impact on
living population and resources, and hence reducing its disaster character.
Rehabilitation and reconstruction entail the most significant part for people affected by the disasters and NDMA has again been found wanting.The govts. need to ensure
that the state machinery is ready to take up steps as per the recommendations on NDMA, because expecting NDMA to do the ground work with the available human and
economic resources, is an unrealistic expectation. The states specially in disaster prone areas and also otherwise, should prepare proper infrastructure facilities
to store relief material when need be, have enough transportation resources to be able to use whatever mode of transport, rail, road or air available after a calamity
has struck. Also, the PHCs and CHCs shold have enough medication available everytime, to cater to a disaster struck population. This may mean a little more burden on
the exchequer, but the realisation when these facilities are not available, in terms of losses of life and property is much more.
We need to realise the importance of human life and property, ensure that the livelihoods of people are restored as soon as possible, only then can we say that the NDMA
will start moving on the path towards meeting its set goals.