Disasters occur with unfailing regularity in India and Himachal Pradesh causing loss of life, assets and livelihood. The increasingly shifting paradigm from a reactive response orientation to a proactive prevention mechanism has put the pressure to build a fool-proof system, including within its ambit, the components of prevention, mitigation, rescue, relief and rehabilitation.
Pre-disaster planning is crucial for ensuring an efficient response at the time of a disaster. A well-planned and well-rehearsed response system can deal with the exigencies of calamities and also put up a resilient coping mechanism. Optimal utilisation of scarce resources for rescue, relief and rehabilitation during times of crises is possible only with detailed planning and preparation.
Section 23 of the Disaster Management Act, 2005 mandates that there shall be a plan for disaster management for every State to be called the State Disaster Management Plan. Copies of the State Plan shall be made available to the departments of the Government of the State and such departments shall draw up their own plans in accordance with the State Plan.
In the present executive structure of the country, the district administration is bestowed with the nodal responsibility of implementing a major portion of all disaster management activities. Keeping in view the nodal role of the of the district administration in disaster management, preparation of District Disaster Management Plans (DDMP) is imperative. Each DDMP needs to be prepared on the basis of the vulnerability of the district to various disasters and the resources available. Section 31 of the DM Act, 2005 also states that there shall be a plan for disaster management for every district of the State. Further the Act states that every office of the Government of India and of the State Government at the district level and the local authorities shall, subject to the supervision of the District Authority prepare a disaster management plan.
The National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA) has issued detailed guidelines for the preparation of State DMP in the year 2007 and the National Institute of Disaster Management (NIDM) has issued model template for the DDMP. Model templates for the preparation of Block and Panchayat Plans are also there.