Lok Sabha Question No. 1966 (UNSTARRED), answered on 2025-03-11
Subject: Innovative Methods to Save People from Disasters
Ministry: HOME AFFAIRS
Asked by: Shri Anil Yeshwant Desai

## GOVERNMENT OF INDIA MINISTRY OF HOME AFFAIRS

## LOK SABHA UNSTARRED QUESTION NO. 1966

TO BE ANSWERED ON THE 11 TH  MARCH, 2025/ PHALGUNA 20, 1946 (SAKA)

INNOVATIVE METHODS TO SAVE PEOPLE FROM DISASTERS

1966.     SHRI ANIL YESHWANT DESAI:

Will the Minister of HOME AFFAIRS be pleased to state:

(a) whether the Government has adopted various innovative methods to save people from various disasters whether natural or man-made, if so, the details thereof;

(b) the position or rank of our country in dealing with such calamities in comparison to other countries; and

(c)  whether  there  is  any  new/better  method  used  in  other  advanced countries in this regard, if so the details thereof ?

## ANSWER

MINISTER OF STATE IN THE MINISTRY OF HOME AFFAIRS (SHRI NITYANAND RAI)

(a)  to  (c):  The  Central  Government  has  adopted  a  holistic  approach  to disaster  risk  reduction  to  address  whole  range  of  issues  in  the  entire disaster management  cycle,  ranging from preparedness, response, capacity  building,  recovery  &  reconstruction  and  mitigation  by  use  of innovative methods, technology and international cooperation.  During the last  decade,  India has  made  significant  progress  in disaster risk reduction.

Major innovative methods adopted by Central Government are as under:-

- i. National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA) has developed the first National Disaster Management Plan (NDMP) in 2016.  The plan was revised in 2019 and is aligned with the ten-point agenda. The revised NDMP brings together all the sectors, ministries and departments at Central and State level as well as district level functionaries and defines their respective roles and responsibilities in disaster risk reduction.
- ii. NDMA has issued thirty-eight (38) guidelines for management of hazard  specific  disaster  on  various  thematic  and  cross-cutting issues.
- iii. NDMA has developed a web-based Dynamic Composite Risk Atlas and Decision Support System (Web-DCRA & DSS tool) for cyclone risk  mitigation  and  response  planning.    The  tool  has  been successfully  used  in  recent  cyclones,  such  as  Biparjoy  and Michaung.
- iv. Flood  Hazard  Atlas  have  been  developed  by  National  Remote Sensing Centre (NRSC) for flood prone states of West Bengal,

Andhra Pradesh, Bihar, Odisha, Assam and Uttar Pradesh and for comparatively  less  flood  affected  states  such  as  Jammu  & Kashmir, Tamil Nadu, Kerala, Gujarat, Arunachal Pradesh, Karnataka and Maharashtra.

- v. NRSC has prepared a comprehensive data set of 28,000 glacial lakes in the Indian Himalayan Region.
- vi. Building Material & Technology Promotion Council (BMTPC) has developed a digital atlas that captures the vulnerability of various parts of the country to different hazards.  All States and UTs have been sensitised to use this information in project preparation.
- vii. India Meteorological Department (IMD) issues regular and precise weather forecasts & warning bulletins including for cyclones to all the affected/ likely affected States/ UTs.
- viii. IMD uses a suite of quality observations from Satellites, Radars and Conventional & Automatic Weather Stations for monitoring of cyclones developing over the Bay of Bengal and Arabian Sea. It includes INSAT 3D, 3DR and SCATSAT satellites, Doppler Weather Radars (DWRs) along the coast and coastal Automated Weather

## L.S.US.Q.NO. 1966 FOR 11.03.2025

Stations  (AWS),  High  wind  speed  recorders,  Automatic  Rain Gauges (ARGs), Meteorological buoys and ships.

- ix. A  number  of  other  new  mobile  Applications  such  as  Damini, Mausam, Meghdoot etc. have been developed for timely dissemination of early warnings and alerts to the common people / farmers.
- x. Under  the  National  Cyclone  Risk  Mitigation  Project  (NCRMP), Early Warning Systems have been installed in the Coastal States, which have proved to be of great help in alert dissemination to the coastal community during recent cyclones.
- xi. 'Common Alerting Protocol (CAP) based Integrated Alert System' has  been  implemented  for  dissemination  of  geo  targeted  early warnings/alerts related to disasters to the citizens of India for all 36 States/UTs using various disseminating medium like SMS, TV, Radio,  Costal  Sirens,  Cell  broadcast,  Internet  (RSS  feed  & Browser Notification), Satellite Receiver of GAGAN & NavIC etc., through integration of all alerting agencies, [India Meteorological Department  (IMD),  Central  Water  Commission  (CWC),  Indian National Centre for Ocean Information Services (INCOIS), Defence

## L.S.US.Q.NO. 1966 FOR 11.03.2025

Geo-informatics Research Establishment (DGRE), Geological Survey of India (GSI) and Forest Survey of India (FSI)].

- xii. In  CAP  system,  the  alerts  related  to  various  disasters  are generated by Alert Generating Agencies like IMD, CWC, INCOIS, DGRE & FSI and moderated by SDMAs of concern States/UTs.  The alerts are sent to geo targeted areas in regional languages. More than 4500 crore alert messages have been disseminated till date. There is a web-based dashboard and a mobile application SACHET to  disaster  managers  for  approving/editing  alerts  and  choosing media for dissemination. The system has been used successfully in recent disasters.
- xiii. In  order  to  implement  the  vision  of  Prime  Minister  for  'Single Distress  Number  for  all  emergencies  across  the  country'  the Project 'Extension of ERSS' with existing single number '112', has  been  implemented,  to  cater  for  emergency  call  related  to disasters.
- xiv. Indian Universities and Institutions Network (IUINDRR-NIDM) has been established, under the aegis of National Institute of Disaster Management (NIDM), to highlight the role of education, research

and training in disaster resilience and to develop model curricula for  DRR  with  its  integration  at  various  levels.  The  IUINDRR provides a platform for interface between academia and policy. It also provides a platform for collaborative development  of knowledge products on disaster risk reduction.  So far, more than 330 Universities and Institutes have joined the network.

- xv. National Disaster Response Force (NDRF) with 16 battalions and 28 Regional Response Centres are well equipped and trained to respond to various disasters.
- xvi. Mock  exercises  and  community  awareness  programmes  are regularly  conducted  by  NDMA  and  NDRF  to  create  awareness among people.
- xvii. At global level, India is playing a leadership role in Disaster Risk Reduction (DRR).
- xviii. The  Coalition  for  Disaster  Resilient  Infrastructure  (CDRI),  was launched by Hon'ble Prime Minister at the United Nations Climate Action Summit, in New York On 23 rd  September, 2019.  So far, 42 countries and 7 other organizations have endorsed its charter and

## L.S.US.Q.NO. 1966 FOR 11.03.2025

joined as Members.  CDRI is presently supporting 13 Small Island Developing  Countries  in  making  their  infrastructure  systems disaster  resilient.    In  addition,  CDRI  is  working  on  integrating disaster  resilience  in  specific  development  sectors  such  as Power and Telecommunications.

- xix. During India's Presidency of G20, a Working Group on disaster risk reduction was established in which five priority areas of  disaster risk reduction were identified.
- xx. Government has advanced regional cooperation on disaster risk management through active engagement under multiple regional organizations, such as Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO), Bay of Bengal Initiative for Multi-Sectoral Technical & Economic Cooperation (BIMSTEC) and Indian Ocean Rim Association (IORA). With these organizations, India has conducted joint exercises as well as facilitated sharing of good practices in disaster management.

- xxi. India is considered by UNDRR as one of the five countries in the world to predict risk to coastal areas, height of waves that can hit  them  and  even  pinpoint  vulnerable  buildings  in  'real  time' through  the  Indian  Tsunami  Early  Warning  Centre  (ITEWC)  to provide early warnings to the entire Indian Ocean region.
- xxii. The Government has been providing Humanitarian Assistance and Disaster Relief Support to disaster hit countries. Under the spirit of 'Vasudhaiva Kutumbakam', Government of India had extended immediate help to Turkiye and Syria, hit by massive earthquake in February, 2023, by dispatching NDRF and medical teams along with relief materials.

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