Evolution of Disaster Risk Reduction Systems in India

India has always been vulnerable to different hazards due its diverse geographic and climatic condition. In its initial years, disaster management in India was purely driven by relief-based approach. Major activities during that period included only providing relief and rehabilitation of necessary infrastructures, focussing primarily on post disaster phases. Better understanding of disaster risk and lessons learnt from past disaster events helped India in redesigning its approach for managing disasters. It was then, when we witnessed a paradigm shift in India’s disaster management, a shift from ‘relief centric approach’ to a more comprehensive and holistic approach for managing disasters; addressing disaster prevention, mitigation and preparedness along with disaster relief and response through dedicated and committed interventions in all the disaster phases (pre or post-disaster). This whole transition in the disaster management approach is a result of enormous initiatives taken over the years. Presently, India has a well establishment legislative, institutional and financial arrangement at national and sub-national levels (states and districts) for managing disasters efficiently. In this chapter, an attempt is made to trace this evolution of Indian disaster management systems by highlighting various national or international policies/strategies that have played a defining role in reaching where India stands today in this disaster management discourse. Along with this, efforts are made to draw an understanding of the present challenges of disaster risk reduction systems and the need for environment-based disaster management approach in the present scenario of climate change and increased disaster risk.