Disaster Management — Quick Revision

Disaster management on one page — the most frequently asked Internal Security topic in Mains.

Concepts

Term	One-liner
Hazard	Potentially damaging event
Vulnerability	Susceptibility to harm
Capacity	Resources to cope
Risk	Hazard × Vulnerability ÷ Capacity
Disaster (DM Act, s. 2(d))	Grave occurrence beyond the community’s coping capacity
Cycle	Mitigation → preparedness → response → recovery

Hazard	Exposure
Earthquake	~58.6% of landmass (moderate to very high intensity)
Flood	Over 40 million ha (~12% of land)
Cyclone and tsunami	~5,700 km of the 7,516 km coastline
Drought	~68% of cultivable area

Body	Chair	Section
NDMA	Prime Minister	3
NEC	Union Home Secretary	8
SDMA	Chief Minister	14
SEC	Chief Secretary	20
DDMA	District Collector (local body representative co-chair)	25
NIDM	—	42
NDRF (force)	Director General	44
National Disaster Response Fund	—	46
National Disaster Mitigation Fund	—	47
False warning offence	—	54

Outside the Act’s pyramid (until the 2025 amendment gave it statutory backing): NCMC, chaired by the Cabinet Secretary.

High-yield facts

SDRF share: Centre 75%, or 90% for North-Eastern and Himalayan States.
Twelve notified disasters: cyclone, drought, earthquake, fire, flood, tsunami, hailstorm, landslide, avalanche, cloudburst, pest attack, frost and cold wave.
States may spend up to 10% of SDRF on local disasters they notify (for example, lightning, heatwave).
15th Finance Commission: response-to-mitigation split of 80:20.
NDMP: 2016 (first), revised 2019.
INCOIS (Hyderabad) runs the Indian Tsunami Early Warning Centre (2007).

Priorities (4)	Targets (7)
Understanding disaster risk	↓ Mortality
Strengthening disaster risk governance	↓ Affected people
Investing in DRR for resilience	↓ Economic loss (relative to GDP)
Preparedness and “Build Back Better”	↓ Damage to critical infrastructure
	↑ National and local DRR strategies (by 2020)
	↑ International cooperation
	↑ Multi-hazard early warning and risk information

Predecessor: Hyogo Framework (2005–2015). Before that: Yokohama Strategy (1994).

Initiative	Year
PM’s Ten-Point Agenda on DRR (AMCDRR, New Delhi)	2016
Coalition for Disaster Resilient Infrastructure (CDRI)	2019
G20 Disaster Risk Reduction Working Group (first, under India’s presidency)	2023

Hazard and vulnerability — why this place, why these people.
Institutions — NDMA/SDMA/DDMA, NDRF, early warning.
What worked — Odisha cyclone model, heat action plans.
Gaps — local capacity, urban planning, building codes, relief-heavy finance.
Way forward — Sendai priorities, risk-informed development, community, insurance, climate adaptation.