Modi releases India’s first National Disaster Management Plan
Prime Minister Narendra Modi released the first ever National Disaster Management Plan (NDMP) prepared in India. The plan intends to make the country more disaster resilient and decrease the loss of lives and property. NDMP is based on the Sendai Framework and its four priorities–understanding disaster risk; strengthening disaster risk governance; investing in reducing disasters; and disaster preparedness & recovering from disasters.
The National Livestock Disaster Management plan was launched by Agriculture Minister Radha Mohan Singh for the Department of Animal Husbandry, Dairy, and Fisheries. Syncing animal protection with disaster management, the plan would ensure that animals are included in disaster preparedness, thereby saving thousands of animals. Several Centre and state government representatives attended the event organized by National Institute of Disaster Management, WWF, and PPF.
The goal of the plan was to identify and address the gaps and constraints faced by authorities due to inadequate resources in livestock disaster management. Agriculture Minister Singh stated that animals were the country's assets, and their protection was the state's responsibility. He assured that the Centre would include as many suggestions and inputs possible to "bring animals into the heart of disaster management."
Radha Mohan Singh–Minister of Agriculture stated: "In India, animals are at the heart of everything, be it family, culture, and livelihood, animals are an intrinsic part of our lives. It's ironical that animals were missing in the picture till now."
The Home Ministry organized the annual conference of Relief Commissioners and Secretaries of the Departments of Disaster Management of States and Union Territories. The primary aim was to review the preparedness for coping with any disaster arising because of the Southwest Monsoon 2016 apart from other disaster issues. The need for measures to be adopted by both Centre and state governments were discussed.
NDMP offers a general framework for recovery from disaster and flexibility to assess a situation and rebuild better. To prepare and create awareness among communities to deal with disasters, NDMP focuses on the need for information, education and communication.
NDMP would cover all phases of managing disasters–prevention, mitigation, response and recovery. It provides integration among all departments and agencies of the Government. NDMP outlines the roles and responsibilities of different levels of the Government, right from Panchayat to Urban Local Bodies in a matrix format. It also gives a regional approach that would be beneficial for disaster management as well as development planning.
The NDMP launch event was attended by Home Minister Rajnath Singh, State Home Minister Kiren Rijiju, and National Disaster Management Authority. The plan is devised in such a manner that it could be implemented in a scalable way in several phases of managing disaster. It identifies primary activities like early warning, disseminating information, medical care, transportation, fuel, search and rescue, evacuation, recovery, rebuilding, etc.
