Most of the states in India have not conducted comprehensive state specific assessment of hazards, vulnerabilities and exposures of the changing dynamics and complexities of disasters,” highlights a risk assessment study undertaken by the Union Ministry of Home Affairs across 640 districts in the country.
The level of resilience to disaster is low and there is a need of ‘considerable improvement’, the report adds.
Even though India has one of the most advanced satellites and early warning systems which can forecast imminent hazards and bring down casualties, government’s emphasis on disaster risk reduction (DRR) and capacity building for disaster resilience seems to have remained on paper.
In the next ten years as many as 16,000 people may lose their lives to floods and property damage of Rs 47,000 crore is estimated by calculating the average loss of lives and property due to floods as predicted by National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA). Yet, NDMA is currently restricted to issuing guidelines and organizing seminars and meetings when emergency arises.
The study by Union Ministry of Home Affairs created a National Resilience Index based on performance of states and union territories on DRR measures adopted such as risk assessment, risk prevention and mitigation, disaster relief and rehabilitation. Except Himachal Pradesh, none of the states have carried out comprehensive risk assessment or engaged any professional agency to map hazards, vulnerabilities and exposures, the report stated.
“Around 10 years back, Gujarat had done comprehensive risk assessment but since then it has neither updated it not made it available in public domain for use of stakeholders,” the report added.
