PM Modi unveils first-ever National Disaster Management Plan

Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Wednesday unveiled the first-ever national plan for disaster management, which encompasses a blueprint for making the country disaster-resilient and reducing loss of lives and livelihoods significantly.

The National Disaster Management Plan (NDMP) provides a framework and direction to the government agencies for all phases of disaster management cycle -- prevention, mitigation, response and recovery.

The NDMP is a dynamic document in the sense that it will be periodically improved keeping up with the emerging global best practices and knowledge bases in disaster management, a home ministry statement said in New Delhi.

The vision of the plan is to make India disaster-resilient, achieve substantial disaster risk reduction, and significantly decrease the losses of life, livelihoods, and assets -- economic, physical, social, cultural and environmental -- by maximising the ability to cope with disasters at all levels of administration as well as among communities, the statement said.

“It (NDMP) focuses on disaster resilience and reducing damage during disasters. The comprehensiveness of this plan is noteworthy. It covers all phases of disaster management- prevention, mitigation, response and recovery,” Modi tweeted.

The NDMP provides a generalised framework for recovery since it is not possible to anticipate all the possible elements of betterment reconstruction.

The Prime Minister said to prepare communities to cope with disasters, the plan emphasises on a greater need for information, education and communication activities.

“A regional approach has been adopted in the NDMP, which helps in disaster management and in development planning,” he added.

The Plan also highlights that the disaster risk reduction will be achieved by mainstreaming the requirements into the developmental plans.

Globally, the approach towards post-disaster restoration and rehabilitation has shifted to one of betterment reconstruction.

The NDMP has been aligned broadly with the goals and priorities set out in the Sendai Framework for Disaster Risk Reduction. PTI ACB AKK AKK