India’s Role and Contribution to Building Global Resilience in Disaster Management

Abstract

In the two decades following the devastating Tsunami of 2004, India has emerged as a global leader not just in having a well-defined structure for mitigating disasters but also in providing humanitarian support to other countries affected by disasters. The Hyogo Framework for Action (HFA) (2005–2010) brought vulnerable communities in disaster zones into key focus of decision making; it also emphasized preparedness (resilience building to enable communities to bounce back faster) as an important area of state responsibility. The Sendai Framework (2015–2030) that followed Hyogo evolved further by indicating that ‘risk identification’ helps timely action. As disasters observe no political boundaries, so disaster management strives to overcome every political and ideological division to cooperate, collaborate, and hand hold affected nations. Resilience building includes a strategy to prevent other nations from succumbing to disasters its impact is never confined to the one victim nation alone but spreads to other nations in different ways. In the previous decade, India has unswervingly sent relief material as well as shared her experience, expertise, and technology for the longterm resilience building of several countries. The Disaster Management Act 2005 has provided a statutory framework for global resilience building, and the National Disaster Response Force (NDRF) as a new team of ‘Samaritan Diplomats’ has helped India in image building, winning trust, and forming alliances. This goes a long way in strengthening both resilient infrastructure and sustainable projects, such as the ‘Solar Alliance’, and also create sturdy platforms for encountering pandemics like the COVID-19. Disaster Management Diplomacy is a new buzz word as traditional military competitors have now also become competitors in humanitarian interventions — such as India and China in South Asia. While resilience building strategies help a peace building process, they also ensure continuity of supply chains in global business by linking resilience building with Sustainable Development Goals.