PM Modi releases National Disaster Management Plan

New Delhi: Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Wednesday released India’s first ever National Disaster Management Plan (NDMP), which aims to make the country disaster resilient and reduce loss of lives.

The plan is based on the four priority themes of the “Sendai Framework,” namely: understanding disaster risk, improving disaster risk governance, investing in disaster risk reduction (through structural and non-structural measures) and disaster preparedness, early warning and building back better in the aftermath of a disaster.

The plan covers all phases of disaster management: prevention, mitigation, response and recovery and provides for horizontal and vertical integration among all the agencies and departments of the Government.

The plan also spells out the roles and responsibilities of all levels of Government right up to Panchayat and Urban Local Body level in a matrix format and boasts of a regional approach, which will be beneficial not only for disaster management but also for development planning.

It is designed in such a way that it can be implemented in a scalable manner in all phases of disaster management and it also identifies major activities such as early warning, information dissemination, medical care, fuel, transportation, search and rescue, evacuation, etc. to serve as a checklist for agencies responding to a disaster. The plan also provides a generalized framework for recovery and offers flexibility to assess a situation and build back better.

To prepare communities to cope with disasters, it emphasizes on a greater need for Information, Education and Communication activities.

Minister of Home Affairs Rajnath Singh, Minster of State for Home Affairs Kiren Rijiju, and senior officers of the Prime Minister’s Office, Ministry of Home Affairs and National Disaster Management Authority were present during the function.