Disaster risk index: India
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The most vulnerable
As in 2018
From: Pradeep Thakur & Neeraj Chauhan, Among UTs, Delhi is most vulnerable on disaster index, June 10, 2018: The Times of India
A national disaster risk index mapping hazards and vulnerabilities across 640 districts puts Maharashtra at the top of the chart followed by West Bengal, UP and Madhya Pradesh, while Delhi is most at risk among Union territories.
At first glance, the lower hazard ranking to states like those in the northeast and others like Uttarakhand and Himachal, which are prone to earthquakes or floods, seems surprising but the index takes into account economic vulnerabilities and actions taken to mitigate risk.
The index factors in exposure of population, agriculture and livestock and environmental risk in drawing up the rankings. The top three states are followed by Rajasthan, Karnataka, Assam, AP, Gujarat and Bihar while those vulnerable to disasters like cyclones, landslides and earthquakes, like AP and hill states, are relatively lower in the index.
Low chance of calamities but UP, MP still vulnerable
Some states have made significant progress in disaster risk reduction (DRR) by building resilient infrastructure and investing in early warning systems. Capacity building by Gujarat, Tamil Nadu, Assam, Tripura and Himachal Pradesh has lowered their net risk to population and economic losses.
The index is currently in the form of a draft report prepared by the Union home ministry with support from the United Nations Development Programme. States like UP, MP and Rajasthan are considered high-risk states despite facing lower natural hazard possibilities due to high vulnerability and low capacitybuilding, the report notes. The report has also separately ranked states on just hazard, exposure and vulnerability indexes. These will be used to prepare a composite disaster scorecard, the first of its kind by any country.
The idea of a DSC is to have a “comprehensive assessment of hazards, vulnerabilities and risks of disasters at different levels, prevention of new risks and mitigation of existing risks, and mainstreaming DRR across different sectors of development”.
This national disaster risk index is also in line with India’s commitment to the Sendai Framework, successor to the Hyogo Framework, where it has to substantially bring down disaster losses in terms of lives and properties. The government is simultaneously working on a disaster database which will capture nationwide losses due to disasters on a digital platform.
A working paper prepared by the National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA) said India is vulnerable to more than 30 different types of disasters.
