From time immemorial, society has been suffering with damages and injuries from catastrophes like: floods, droughts, earthquakes, cyclones, bomb blasts and volcanic eruptions. These catastrophes leave many people, more specifically the poor, with disgusting experiences. The risks of these disasters are rising across the globe and India is not an exception. During the last few years, India has been facing many man-made and natural disasters like: the tsunami, earthquakes and severe cyclones. Governments have a greater role to play. The state should not only rehabilitate people, but should also plan appropriately to prevent and mitigate such calamities by adopting various methods. Now, the state has taken proactive steps to conserve development and minimize loss to life and property of the common man. This paper attempts to underline laws and policies relating to disaster management in India.

`World Disaster Report 2010' cites the data of the Centre for Research on the Epidemiology of Disasters as—351 natural disasters and 225 technological disasters were reported worldwide in 2009. Both the figures are the lowest of the decade in relation to casualties (natural disasters: 10,551; technological disasters: 6,707) and the number of persons affected (natural disasters: 142 million; technological disasters: 33,000). Since the mid-1990s there has been an increase in the recorded number of all types of disasters and the number of recorded fatalities resulting from disasters, especially in developing areas and despite disaster preparedness programs. People in low-income countries are four times more likely to die from extreme natural events than those in high-income countries. During the 1990s, more than two-thirds of deaths are from disasters occurred in Asia, which was also the continent most frequently hit by disasters. In this context, India is vulnerable to a large number of natural as well as human-made disasters. About 58.6% of the landmass is prone to earthquakes of moderate to very high intensity; over 40 million ha (12% of land) is prone to floods and river erosion; of the 7,516 km long coastline, close to 5,700 km is prone to cyclones and tsunamis; 68% of the cultivable area is vulnerable to drought and hilly areas are at risk from landslides and avalanches. Vulnerability to disasters of chemical, biological, radiological and nuclear origin also exist. Heightened vulnerabilities to disaster risks can be related to the expanding population, urbanization and industrialization, development within high-risk zones, environmental degradation and climate change. In this paper, an attempt has been made to underline the law and policies relating to disaster management in India.

Disaster management is a combination of two terms—disaster and management. A disaster is a serious disruption of the functioning of a society, causing widespread human, material or environmental losses which exceed the ability of affected society to cope using only its own resources.

Law Review Journal, World Disaster Report, Natural Disasters, Technological Disasters, Disaster Management, World Health Organization, Organizational Goals, Environmental Degradation, Risk Assessment, Disaster Risk Reduction, National Disaster Management Authority, National Disaster Mitigation Fund.