National Disaster Management Authority

The National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA) along with the Uttar Pradesh State Disaster Management Authority (UPSDMA) conducted one of the largest Mock Search and Rescue Exercises to review preparedness for floods in the ongoing monsoon season. Rising river waters have a tendency to wreak great havoc and cause significant loss of life and limb in the sprawling flood plains of UP and the disaster response agencies do not want to be caught unprepared for the event.

What is the NDMA?

• It was established through a Disaster Management Act on 23 December 2005.
• National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA) is the Ministry of Home Affairs agency whose main purpose is to coordinate the response to any natural or man-made disasters in the country.
• It also focuses on the need to build capacity in the aspect of disaster resiliency and fine-tunes the crisis response of the country.
• The NDMA is also responsible for formulating the various disaster response policies, enumerating guidelines and best-practices for the same.
• It also coordinates with the State Disaster Management Authorities (SDMAs) to ensure a comprehensive and distributed approach to disaster management.
• The NDMA is lead by a nine-member board which is chaired by the Prime Minister of India, himself.
• The rest of the board comprises of mainly members who have been nominated based on their expertise in disaster response areas such as planning, infrastructure management, communications, meteorology, and natural sciences.
• The NDMA also collaborates with the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare to develop emergency health and ambulance services for use in disaster response.

What is the National Disaster Response Force?

The National Disaster Response Force (NDRF) is a specialized disaster force which was constituted for a professional and trained response to a disaster situation or disaster. It is also established under the Disaster Management Act, 2005. The NDRF is under the NDMA.