How India institutionally organises disaster preparedness and response, from national policy down to the district level.
Enacted after the 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami exposed major gaps in disaster response, the Disaster Management Act, 2005 created a three-tier institutional structure: the National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA), chaired by the Prime Minister, at the apex; State Disaster Management Authorities (SDMAs), chaired by Chief Ministers; and District Disaster Management Authorities (DDMAs) for ground-level coordination.
The National Disaster Response Force (NDRF), a specialised force under NDMA, is trained and equipped for search, rescue and relief during natural and man-made disasters. India also follows a shift from a purely relief-centric to a proactive, prevention-and-mitigation-centric approach, integrating disaster risk reduction into development planning.
Disaster management increasingly overlaps with climate policy, since climate change intensifies hydrological and meteorological disasters (floods, cyclones, heatwaves) — this connects directly to India's National Action Plan on Climate Change (NAPCC), whose adaptation-focused missions address exactly these risks.
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