Disaster Management is a multi-disciplinary area in which a wide range of issues that range from
forecasting, warning, search and rescue, relief, reconstruction and rehabilitation are included. It is
multi-sectoral as it involves administrators, scientists, planners, volunteers and communities. Their roles and
activities span the pre-disaster, during disaster and post-disaster plans. All these activities are complementary
and supplementary to each other and here is a critical need for coordinating these activities.
Natural disasters directly impact economies, agriculture, food security, water, sanitation, environment
and health. It is therefore one of the single largest concerns for most of the developing nations. Apart from
the economic aspect, such disasters also have social and psychological dimensions that needs to be studied
and appropriate strategies for mitigation developed.
Today, we have a range of early warning systems for a range of natural hazards. However, it is not
enough to ensure that communities are safe from disasters. This is where disaster mitigation can play an
important role.
In this issue of Yojana, experts write on how India responds to disasters, its preparedness to deal with
them and strategies for its mitigation, the challenges that are before us and how we can rise beyond crisis
situations and thereby safeguard precious lives and property and reduce losses to the development gains
of the country
