INTRODUCTION
India is known to be highly vulnerable to a variety of natural disasters, including floods, earthquakes, cyclones, and landslides, and has developed quite a sound legal regime to manage disasters to reduce the role of these disasters, ensure response mechanisms, and facilitate recovery. This blog shall argue about the disaster management legal framework of India in terms of major legislations and institutional structures and, by bringing out the field experience in the light of certain relevant case studies, carry an integrative understanding.
LEGAL REGIME ON DISASTER MANAGEMENT IN INDIA
The Disaster Management Act, of 2005 brought in the basic framework that has been incorporated and applied in the legal regime on disaster management. Particularly, this law was enacted immediately following the catastrophic 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami and provided a broad-based comprehensive repository of disaster management that included provisions for prevention, preparedness, mitigation, response, and recovery.
The definition section under sec 2(d) defines a disaster to be: A calamity, misfortune, disaster or grave happening in any area, arising from natural or man-made causes, or by accident or negligence which results in substantial loss of life or human suffering or damage to, and destruction of, property, or damage to, or degradation of, environment, and is of such a nature or magnitude as to be beyond the coping capacity of the community of the affected area’. [1]
This wide-ranging definition becomes inclusive of both natural and anthropogenic disasters. The National Disaster Management Authority is the apex body for disaster management in the country, constituted under Section 3 of the Disaster Management Act, 2005. It consists of the Prime Minister, who chairs the NDMA, as well as members, who are appointed from among the senior officials of the central government to guide and coordinate disaster management efforts throughout the country. [2]
It formulates policies, plans, and guidelines for disaster management. The most important document by the NDMA in this regard is the National Policy on Disaster Management, 2009, which lays down the strategic framework for disaster risk reduction and preparedness.[3]
The National Executive Committee (NEC) has been constituted under Section 8 of the Disaster Management Act. The functions of the NDMA are to implement the policies and plans laid down by the NDMA. The NEC looks into the effective execution of disaster management strategies and national disaster response operations.[4]
At the state level, the responsibility to formulate and implement state-specific disaster management plans lies with the State Disaster Management Authorities. Section 14 of the Act says the Chief Minister of every state shall at the state level necessarily be the Chairperson of SDMA which shall formulate and coordinate the policies on disaster management for the state.[5]
District Disaster Management Authorities in the Act, under Section 25. These authorities, headed by the District Collector or District Magistrate, have been mandated to handle localized disaster management, including relief coordination and vulnerability assessment, at the district level.[6]
LEGAL PROVISIONS FOR DISASTER RESPONSE AND RELIEF
According to the mandate in the Disaster Management Act, an early warning system for these different types of disasters is required. This has very high importance to save people from disaster by giving warnings to the people. For example, weather-related disasters, such as cyclones or floods, are forecasted and warned by the India Meteorological Department beforehand.[7] On the same line, the National Centre for Seismology keeps an account of seismic activities and issues rue warnings in the event of earthquakes. [8]
The Act also contains provisions for relief and rehabilitation. The Act states that it is the duty of the central government, concerning providing the affected people an absolute and timely relief, to set forth the necessary mechanisms to access food, shelter, medical care, and other essential services.[9] The Act also provides for the creation of a National Disaster Response Fund and a State Disaster Response Fund to be used in the expenditure of disaster response.[10]
GUIDELINES ON NATIONAL DISASTER RESPONSE FUND 2010
The NDRF is the fund constituted under Section 46[11] Of the Act and is managed by the Ministry of Home Affairs. It finances relief against severe disasters. SDRFs at the state level are managed in the same line to act as complements to meet “costs of responders to any disaster/disasters” from the State Disaster Response Fund to supplement the efforts of the State Government to contain the disaster.[12]
Issues identified in the coordination and implementation of disaster management include the following:
Effective disaster management must have coordination between various agencies and levels of government. The failure of coordination can, in effect, fail disaster management. For example, the 2018 Kerala floods brought out information failure about inter-agency coordination and management of resources.[13] Effective disaster management, therefore, needs improvement of mechanisms of coordination between the NDMA, SDMAs, and DDMAs.
Funding and Resource Allocation: One major concern is the required funding for disaster management. Delay in the release of funds and a lack of finances would compromise the effectiveness of disaster response activities. For instance, regarding Cyclone Amphan in 2020, fund disbursement was delayed, allowing relief operations to be less effective.[14]
Socio-economic Vulnerabilities: The disasters often most cruelly affect the marginally placed. The legal regime has to address these vulnerabilities so that the efforts at relief remain egalitarian. The National Policy on Disaster Management 2009, therefore, provides for addressing the needs of vulnerable groups by way of focussed interventions and support.[15]
CASE STUDIES
Kerala Floods 2018: The 2018 Kerala floods, it was one of the primal natural disasters in Indian history. Unprecedented monsoon rains led to severe flooding, causing widespread damage. As a lot of relief work was done through the state government, followed by the NDMA and other agencies, there was big coordination of relief work, from rescue to medical help to rehabilitation of affected groups. This disaster saw the role of community involvement and local volunteers involved in disaster response efforts.[16]
Uttarakhand Floods 2013: The 2013 Uttarakhand floods, popularly known as the “Himalayan Tsunami,” threw up some of the strengths and some of the weaknesses of India’s disaster management framework. It was a resultant catastrophe of overflowing rivers due to very heavy rain and melting glaciers. Gloomy, and destructive, the reaction to the disaster was criticized for its slow course and unpreparedness, which puts up a case for improvement in early warnings and coordination among agencies doing disaster management.[17]
INTERNATIONAL LEGAL FRAMEWORK FOR DISASTER MANAGEMENT
The Sendai Framework for Disaster Risk Reduction: India’s disaster management policies are at par with international standards and obligations under the aegis of the Sendai Framework for Disaster Risk Reduction 2015-2030. The same was adopted during the Third United Nations World Conference on Disaster Risk Reduction, which provides a global strategy for reducing disaster risks and building resilience. It focuses on the following four priority areas: i) Understanding disaster risk, ii) strengthening disaster risk governance, iii) investing in disaster risk reduction for resilience, and iv) enhancing disaster preparedness for effective response.[18]
CONCLUSION
The legal regime of India relating to disaster management is quite comprehensive and developing to tackle the intricacies of the problems posed by natural and man-made disasters. The overall framework of structured disaster management through the Disaster Management Act, of 2005, backed by institutions like NDMA, SDMAs and DDMAs, encompasses prevention, preparedness, response, and recovery. While much has been achieved regarding disaster management maturation in India, issues related to coordination and funding and the unremitting features of socio-economic vulnerability must be addressed to make this process of ‘disaster management’ more effective. By further developing and advancing these legal mechanisms, India would be able to protect its people more perpetually and reduce the disastrous consequences of future disasters.
Author(s) Name: Lakshav Singh Sambyal (Faculty of Law, Jamia Millia Islamia)
Reference(s):
[1] Disaster Management Act 2005, s 2(d)
[2] Disaster Management Act 2005, s 3
[3] National Policy on Disaster Management 2009
[4] Disaster Management Act 2005, s 8
[5] Disaster Management Act 2005, s 14
[6] Disaster Management Act 2005, s 25
[7] India Meteorological Department, ‘Cyclone Warning System’ <https://www.imd.gov.in/pages/cyclone.php> accessed 9 July 2024
[8] National Centre for Seismology, ‘Earthquake Early Warning System’ <https://seismology.gov.in/> accessed 10 July 2024
[9] Disaster Management Act 2005, s 12
[10] National Disaster Response Fund Guidelines 2010
[11] Disaster Management Act 2005, s 46
[12] Ministry of Home Affairs, ‘National Disaster Response Fund’ <https://www.mha.gov.in/sites/default/files/GuidelinesForNDRF_27082020.pdf> accessed 10 July 2024
[13] Jomon KM and Jisha K, ‘Disaster Management Challenges: The Case of Kerala Floods 2018’ (2020) 15 Journal of Environmental Protection 201
[14] Rao GV, ‘Cyclone Amphan: Challenges and Lessons for Disaster Management in India’ (2021) 14 International Journal of Disaster Risk Reduction 14
[15] National Policy on Disaster Management 2009
[16] Sankar A, ‘The Kerala Floods of 2018: A Study on the Management and Recovery Efforts’ (2019) 9 International Journal of Disaster Management 8.
[17] Pandey A, ‘The 2013 Uttarakhand Floods: Lessons Learned from the Himalayan Tsunami’ (2014) 5 Indian Journal of Disaster Management 22.
[18] United Nations Office for Disaster Risk Reduction, ‘Sendai Framework for Disaster Risk Reduction 2015-2030’ <https://www.unisdr.org/we/inform/publications/43291> accessed 10 July 2024.
