Hyderabad, October 9
About 54 per cent of the subcontinent’s landmass is vulnerable to earthquakes, said M. Sashidhar Reddy, a member of the National Disaster Management Authority.
Speaking to reporters here today in the backdrop of the quake that shattered North India and Pakistan on Saturday, Mr Reddy said many parts of the Indian subcontinent were susceptible to different types of disasters owing to the unique topographic and climatic characteristics.
While floods and high winds account for 60 per cent of disasters in the country, about 10 crore acres is vulnerable to periodic floods and 68 per cent of the total geographical area is vulnerable to droughts.
Asia is particularly vulnerable to disaster strikes, as evident from the fact that between 1991 to 2000, the continent has accounted for 83 per cent of the population affected by disasters globally.
Sashidhar Reddy said the National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA), constituted recently, would look at disasters from a development perspective and make mitigation an integral component of development planning.
“The Five-Year Plan documents have, historically, not included consideration of issues relating to the management and mitigation of natural disasters. The traditional perception has been limited to the idea of ‘calamity relief’, which is seen essentially as a non-plan item of expenditure,” Dr Reddy, an MLA from the ruling Congress, explained.
He said the authority, which has seven members at present, would meet soon under the chairmanship of Prime Minister Manmohan Singh. “We haven’t got into the picture as yet,” he said.
The NDMA, envisaged in the National Disaster Management Bill, 2005, awaiting passage in Parliament, was constituted by an executive order. The Bill was introduced in March this year to provide for requisite institutional mechanism for drawing up and monitoring the implementation of the National Disaster Management Plan.
Gen N.C.Vij, former Chief of Army Staff, is the Deputy Chairman of the authority. Besides, Sashidhar Reddy, who was also a former Andhra Minister for Environment, Prof S.P. Sukhatme, former Director of IIT, Bombay, and ex-Chairman of the Atomic Energy Regulatory Board, Mr K.M. Singh, Former Director-General, CISF, Mr Mohan Kanda, former Chief Secretary of Andhra Pradesh, Lieut-Gen J.R. Bhardwaj, and Mr N. Vinod Chandra Menon are the other members.
The NDMA, expected to start functioning by the end of the year, would facilitate setting up of a National Disaster Response Force, which would have nearly 8,000 trained personnel of the Central paramilitary forces.
It will be responsible for drawing up the disaster management plan, coordinating and monitoring its implementation.
