A for Apple .....D for Disaster !!!

Ø  National Disaster Management Authority has been constituted with the Prime Minister of India as its Chairman, a Vice Chairman with the status of Cabinet Minister, and eight members with the status of Ministers of State. Ø  Each of the members has a well defined functional domain covering various states as also disaster specific areas of focus and concern Ø  To carry out the mandated functions, NDMA has evolved a lean and professional organization which is IT-enabled and knowledge based. Skills and expertise of the specialists are extensively used to address all the disaster related issues. . Ø  A functional and operational infrastructure has been built which is appropriate for disaster management involving uncertainties coupled with desired plans of action.

The concept of the organization is based on a disaster divisions-cum-secretariat system. ü  Each member of the Authority heads disaster-specific divisions for specific disaster and functional domains. Each member has also been given the responsibility of specified states and UTs for close interaction and coordination.

The NDMA Secretariat, headed by a Secretary is responsible to provide secretarial support and continuity. It is proposed to have two Disaster Management Wings under the Secretariat. They are :-

·         DM I wing dealing with mitigation, preparedness, plans, reconstruction, community awareness and dealing with financial/administrative aspects. ·         DM II wing is proposed to be composed of the National Disaster Management Operations Centre with the state-of-the-art multi-redundant communication systems, to carry out the tasks of capacity development, training and knowledge management.

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Disaster Management Act

• By the enactment of the Disaster Management Act 2005 (DMA), government of India ordered the creation of the National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA) as opposed to creating a separate ministry recommended by the Pant committee. 
• The importance that the government gave to this newly created body can be adjudged by the fact that the NDMA is chaired by the Prime Minister himself, with a Vice Chairman of the status of Cabinet Minister and 8 members of the status of Ministers of State. The Vice Chairman and the members are charged with the responsibility of running the day to day functions of the NDMA.
• The salient features of the DMA were that it was a proactive, holistic and integrated approach as opposed to a reactive one. 
• It had the legal authority to respond and take action as demanded by the situation and was backed by an institutional framework. And, last but not the least, it had what its predecessor organisations did not have viz. financial support by the creation of a Response Fund and a Mitigation Fund.

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• The disaster management set up was structured at three levels viz. national, state and district. 
• The NDMA was set up as the apex body at the national level, while at the state level State Disaster Management Authorities (SDMA) were set up. These were headed by the Chief Ministers. 
• At the district level District Disaster Management Authorities (DDMA) were set up. These were headed by the District Collectors and co-chaired by elected representatives of the local authorities. 
• All these authorities were charged with the responsibility of formulating holistic and integrated plans for disaster management and ensuring the implementation of these plans when required.

The executive committee of the NDMA is called National Executive Committee (NEC). 

• It coordinates the response on behalf of the NDMA. 
• It consists of 14 Secretaries of the government of India as well as the Chief of the Integrated Defence Staff. 
• To assist the NDMA two other bodies have been created called the National Institute of Disaster Management (NIDM) and the National Disaster Response Force (NDRF).

	Role of Cabinet Secretary	Role of Army
	Cabinet Secretary, as the highest executive officer, heads the National Crisis Management Committee (NCMC). NCMC can give directions to any ministry, department or organization for specific action needed for meeting the crisis situation.	They’re most effective in dealing with Natural Disaster relief because of their ability to organize action in adverse ground circumstances, Their speed of operational response and also their resources and skills (army engineer, doctors etc) Thus, they play a major role in assisting the civil administration. They provide communications, search and rescue operations, health and medical facilities, transportation, power, food and civil supplies, public works and engineering, in the immediate aftermath of major disasters

Role of Chief Minister	Role of Chief Secretary	Role of District Collector
a Cabinet Committee on Natural Calamities under the chairpersonship of the Chief Minister takes stock of situations and is responsible for all important policy decisions.	Every state has a Crisis Management Committee under the chairpersonship of the Chief Secretary, It reviews crisis situations on a day-to-day basis at the time of crisis, coordinates the activities of all departments and provides decision support system to the district administration	District Magistrate/Collector has the responsibility for the overall management of disasters in the district. All departments of the State Government including the police, fire services, public works, irrigation etc. work in a coordinated manner under the leadership of the Collector during a disaster, except in metropolitan areas where the municipal body plays a major role. District Collector also enjoys the authority to request for assistance from the Armed Forces if circumstances so demand

NDRF- National Disaster Relief Force !!!!

• At present, National Disaster Response Force consist of ten battalions, three each from the BSF and CRPF and two each from CISF and ITBP. 
• Each battalion have 18 self-contained specialist search and rescue teams of 45 personnel each including engineers, technicians, electricians, dog squads and medical/paramedics. 
• The total strength of each battalion is 1,149. Union cabinet has also approved the conversion/up-gradation of 02 Bns from SSB. 
• All the ten battalions have been equipped and trained to respond natural as well as man-made disasters. 
• Four battalions of them are also trained and equipped for response during chemical, biological, radiological and nuclear (CBRN) emergencies.

Miscellaneous ---

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Desert Locusts  Under favourable environmental conditions, a few insects can dramatically multiply, form large swarms able to migrate great distances they threaten agriculture over a large part of Africa, the Middle East and Southwest Asia leading to food security problem. International cooperation lies at the core of an effective strategy for locust control	Avian Influenza

The International Nuclear and Radiological Event Scale 

is not definite: 

• Even though the INES scale is intended to help publicly convey the threat created by a nuclear event, designation of a certain level on the scale is not a reason to panic. 
• The INES scale runs from 1 (very little danger to the general public) to 7 (widespread health and environmental impacts). 

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Tit Bits

• Yokahoma Declaration -The Yokohama Declaration was a very significant outcome of the World Conference on Natural Disaster Reduction from May 23 to 27, 1994

• The United Nations General Assembly designated the 1990s as the International Decade for Natural Disaster Reduction (IDNDR).