Lok Sabha Question No. 1756 (UNSTARRED), answered on 2023-12-13
Subject: Disaster due to Heat Waves
Ministry: EARTH SCIENCES
Asked by: N.K. Premachandran

- (a) Yes Sir.
- (b) India Meteorological Department (IMD) has taken up various steps to improve monitoring and timely early warning which helped minimizing loss of life due to the rising frequency and intensity of heat waves in the country. These include:
- i. Introduction of seasonal, monthly, and extended-range forecasts of temperature, and heat wave condition
- ii. Impact based forecast of heat wave condition at district levels
- iii. Heat wave vulnerability Atlas over India to help State Government authorities and disaster management agencies in planning and taking appropriate action
- iv. The hot weather hazard analysis over India that includes daily temperature, winds, and humidity condition
- v. Heat index forecast for the entire country
- vi. Real time heat wave information and warnings on the Web-GIS platform
- vii. Heat Action Plans (HAPs) in 23 States jointly implemented byNDMAin collaboration with the State Governments.

## GOVERNMENT OF INDIA

## MINISTRY OF EARTH SCIENCES LOK SABHA

## UNSTARRED QUESTION NO. 1756

## TO BE ANSWERED ON WEDNESDAY, 13 TH DECEMBER, 2023

## DISASTER DUE TO HEAT WAVES

## 1756.     SHRI N.K. PREMACHANDRAN:

Will the Minister of EARTH SCIENCES be pleased to state:

- (a) whether  the  Government  proposes  to  address  the  rising  frequency  and  intensity  of  heat waves in the Country;
- (b) if so, the details of action taken thereon;
- (c) whether the Government has assessed the gravity of disaster due to the heat waves;
- (d) if so, the details of action taken thereon;
- (e) whether the Government proposes to notify the disaster due to heat waves as the disaster entitled for sufficient funding for emergency response, relief and rehabilitation efforts from both National Disaster Response Fund and State Disaster Response Fund;
- (f) if so, the details of action taken thereon;
- (g) whether the Government proposes to equip the Disaster Management Authorities to address the challenges due to heat waves;
- (h) if so, the details of action taken thereon; and
- (i) if not, the reasons therefor?

## ANSWER

## THE MINISTER OF EARTH SCIENCES (SHRI KIREN RIJIJU)

- viii. Improvement of warning dissemination services; using modern tools of dissemination systems for timely public outreach
2. (c)-(d) Yes Sir.  It  is  a  fact  that,  annual  temperature  is  increasing  globally  and  the  impact  of  the same  is  reflected  in  the  increase  in  heat  waves  in  various  parts  of  the  globe  including India.In  view  of  that,  a  study  has  been  conducted  by  Public  Health  Foundation  of  India (PHFI)&National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA) on 'Assessment of vulnerability and threshold of heat-related health hazards in four cities of India'.The four cities are Karimnagar, Kolkata, Ongole, and Angul from Telangana,West Bengal, Andhra Pradesh  andOdisha,  respectively.This  study  is  focused  on  the  vulnerabilities  of  the  local population due to heat waves by looking at the exposure, sensitivity and coping capacities of  the  people.This study  thus tries to capture the gamut of the vulnerabilities of the local population due to heat waves by looking at the exposure, sensitivity and coping capacities of the people.The study also looked at the threshold of heat wave related health hazards on multi-sectoral data with respect to morbidity and mortality.
3. (e)-(f) No Sir. However, heat wave is a local disaster. The State disaster management authorities have  their  resources  available  through  State  disaster  response  fund  (SDRF)  and  State disaster  mitigation  fund(SDMF)  to  support  it.If  there  is  a  request  from  the  States  for financial  assistance,  the  Central  Government  considers  it  in  accordance  with  the  relevant guidelines for national disaster response (NDRF)  and national disaster mitigation fund(NDMF).
4. (g)-(i) IMD issues forecasts and warnings related to severe weather events including heat waves in different  spatial  and  temporal  scales  and  share  the  same  with  public  as  well  as  disaster management authorities so as to initiate required mitigation measures.IMD in collaboration with  State  Governments  and  NDMA  implemented  HAPs  in  23  States.  Heat  wave vulnerability atlas was published by IMD for necessary action of disaster managers.  Also, IMD started issuing Impact Based Forecast (IBF) recently which give details of what the weather will do rather than what the weather will be.

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