NDMA to Observe its Eighth Formation Day on 28 September

New Delhi: The National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA) shall be observing its 8th Formation Day on 28th September, 2012 at Vigyan Bhawan, New Delhi with the objective of reaffirming its commitment to make India disaster resilient. The Authority is mandated to take measures for prevention, preparedness, capacity development, mitigation, awareness generation, rehabilitation & recovery, response, recommend provision of funds for the purpose of mitigation at National and State level for all kinds of natural and manmade disasters.

In the inaugural session, Shri M. Shashidhar Reddy, the Vice Chairman shall highlight the contribution made by the Authority over the years in developing systems for the management of different kinds of disasters. While Shri Pawan Kumar Bansal, Union Minister of Water Resources and Parliamentary Affairs will be the Chief Guest at the inaugural session, Shri Mullapally Ramachandran, Minister of State in the Ministry of Home Affairs shall be the Guest of honour. During the course of the day, there will be three technical sessions on management of major disasters like floods, tsunami and cyclone where the domain experts will make presentations and also have interactive sessions with the participants. Floods in the State of Assam and the assistance provided by the National Disaster Response Force (NDRF) in the rescue and relief operations will also be discussed during the day.

Senior officers of Government of India, Chief Secretaries/Secretaries(DM) of the State Governments/Chief Executive Officers of State Disaster Management Authorities (SDMAs), Heads of the organizsations related to floods. tsunami and cyclone Disasters, major NGOs, key Corporate players such as FICCI, ASSOCHAM, CII, UN Organisations, former Vice Chairman and Former Members of NDMA and others will also be present at this function.

While the NDRF continues to assist the State Governments in most disaster situations, National Institute of Disaster Management helps in capacity building, training and research studies. A strong contingent of NDRF had gone to Japan during the Great East earthquake in March, 2011 and helped in rescue and relief operations, which was highly commended by the Government of Japan.

India is one of the most cyclone prone countries in the world and is frequently hit by cyclones and many times by severe and super cyclones. In order to mitigate impact of cyclone a National Cyclone Risk Mitigation Project (NCRMP) has been developed with the support of World Bank and is presently under implementation in the States of Andhra Pradesh and Odisha at a total cost of Rs. 1496.71 crores. The major components of the project include early warning dissemination to coastal communities, construction of Cyclone Risk Mitigation infrastructures and technical assistance for Cyclone Hazard Risk Mitigation capacity building and Knowledge creation. In Phase II of this Project, four more States i.e. West Bengal, Kerala, Maharashtra and Gujarat are proposed to be covered with an outlay of Rs. 1755crores. The deliberations during Formation Day are expected to bring up new ideas for the management of different disasters.

NDMA was constituted on 30th May, 2005 and its constitution was notified on 27th September, 2006 with the Prime Minister of India as its Chairman. Presently Shri M. Shashidhar Reddy is the Vice Chairman of the Authority.