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Government has decided to set up a National Disaster Management Authority and initiated action to build up specialized capabilities for rapid intervention in case of disasters. This information was given by the Minister of State for Home, Shri S. Regupathy in written reply to a question in the Rajya Sabha today. In reply to another question, the Minister said that the Authority would be constituted under the Chairmanship of the Prime Minister. It shall be assisted by an Advisory Committee of Experts and an Executive Committee of Secretaries. The Authority shall be responsible for drawing up a National Disaster Management Plan in consultation with States, coordinating and monitoring its implementation as also coordinating response to a disaster.
A number of measures have been initiated by the Government to effectively respond to disasters. These include regular monitoring of the situation; coordination and review of response and relief at various levels; issue of early warnings; and strengthening the preparedness by taking up training and equipping of specialist response teams drawn from Central Para Military Forces. The mitigation measures taken include training and orientation of members of All India Services, other Government functionaries and representatives of Panchayati Raj Institutions etc. for disaster management; building up the capabilities of engineers and architects though training in hazard resistant design and construction of buildings; promoting awareness generation; incorporating the subject in school education as well as in the engineering and architecture curricula at under graduate level; strengthening the institutional mechanisms for human resource development in the field of disaster management etc.
The country has experienced recurrent heavy rains and floods, cyclonic storms, landslides, hailstorm, heavy snowfall, avalanches and Tsunami of varying magnitude during the last three years. Based on the information received from the affected States/UTs, details of the human lives lost and damage to property as a result of these disasters are given below:-
Sl. No.
Details 2002-03
2003-04
2004-05
1.
Human lives lost (No.)
835
1992
12,551
2.
Cattle lost (No.)
3729
25,393
47,994
3.
Houses damaged (No.)
4,58,048
6,82,209
18,71,111
4.
Cropped area damaged (lakh ha.)
12.58
31.98
102.272
5.
Fishermen’s boats (No.)
-
-
83,788
OK/AD/MM
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