UPSC Mains 2020 · GS III · Q18 · 15 marks · 250 words

Discuss the recent measures initiated in disaster management by the Government of India departing from the earlier reactive approach.

हिन्दी में

आपदा प्रबन्धन में पूर्ववर्ती प्रतिक्रियात्मक उपागम से हटते हुए भारत सरकार द्वारा आरम्भ किए गए अभिनूतन उपायों की विवेचना कीजिए।

How a topper answered the closest question

Toppers wrote this one in a test series: “The Formation of the Coalition for Disaster Resilient Infrastructure brings more robustness to the Disaster Management approach in India. Comment and justify the need for a new strategy to tackle Disasters in India.”

RuhaniAIR 5 · CSE 2023 · 274 wordsTheir whole copy

Opening · a definition

The Coalition for Disaster Resilient Infrastructure (CDRI) is a global partnership that brings countries, UN agencies and private institutions together to make the infrastructure disaster-resilient.

Body · points and prose

→ The CDRI draws from the Sendai Principles of Disaster risk reduction.

→ The objective of CDRI has brought more robustness to Disaster Management approach due to following reasons:

• The objective now is not just to minimize disaster losses but also to reduce risks to infrastructure.

Risk to infrastructure can be reduced through: i) Reduction in exposure to Hazard ii) Reduction in vulnerability iii) Improving the capacity of infrastructure to cope with hazard. For example, earthquake resistant buildings can be designed with light weight materials.

→ They can be made ductile so that they can sway with the earthquake and return to the original position once the earthquake is over.

→ Also, the infrastructure can be made resilient only if it is built in areas regarded as safe or less vulnerable (in microzonation studies).

→ Thus, CDRI aims to involve governments as well as communities as stakeholder in making the infrastructure more disaster-resilient.

Close · a summary

NEED FOR NEW STRATEGY:

To cope with Climate change \ To deal with \ Extreme \

weather events
|
| Need for a /---> Floods, | new strategy to / cloudbursts | tackle disasters | / \ ---> Unpredict- | / \ -able | / \ earthquakes To enhance <--------/
preparedness

To develop
an institutional
mechanism To avoid
for Land
response, subsidence,
recovery, Joshimath
mitigation \

Thus, disasters can be handled deftly if we have a proper strategy alongside a resilient infrastructure.

13 more toppers’ answers to this question, part by part, and how they all approached it: open the question.

Toppers’ answers to other close questions

Source: UPSC, Civil Services (Main) Examination 2020, General Studies Paper III, Q18. The paper on upsc.gov.in. Themes and links to toppers’ answers are by UPSC Grade, not by UPSC.