In India, especially during monsoon, incidents of natural disasters increase. In Kerala alone, more than 300 people have lost their lives due to landslides after heavy rains. But do you know what kind of benefits the people of a disaster area get after declaring it a national disaster.
National Disaster
After the massive devastation in Wayanad, Kerala, PM Narendra Modi had visited the landslide affected areas of Wayanad. After which the PM had said that these tragedies are not normal. Meanwhile, the demand to declare the Wayanad tragedy as a national disaster has been raised again. Leader of Opposition and former MP from Wayanad Rahul Gandhi has also reiterated this demand. Do you know when a disaster is declared a national disaster and what is the benefit of it?
When is a national disaster declared
In the Disaster Management Act 2005, ‘disaster’ has been defined as a disaster, accident or serious incident in any area. These man-made disasters can be nuclear, biological and chemical. Natural disasters include earthquake, flood, landslide, cyclone, tsunami, urban flood, heat wave.
The biggest challenge in declaring the Wayanad tragedy as a national disaster is that there is no provision in any guideline to declare a ‘natural disaster’ as a national disaster. The flood in Kedarnath in 2013 was declared a severe disaster on the basis of its intensity and magnitude.
What is the benefit of being declared a ‘national disaster’?
According to the National Disaster Management Policy, relief is provided to the state government from the State Disaster Response Fund (SDRF). Help is provided from the National Disaster Response Fund (NDRF) only if there is a severe natural disaster. If a disaster is declared a ‘national disaster of extraordinary severity’, then the state government gets assistance at the national level. The central government helps in other ways besides NDRF. A disaster relief fund is created, the amount deposited in it is shared between the center and the state in the ratio of 3:1.
What if there is no budget?
Now the question is, what will happen if the disaster relief fund has less funds than required? Let us tell you that help is provided from the National Disaster Contingency Fund (NCCF). The entire funding in this fund comes from the central government. Not only this, arrangements are made for loan recovery from the affected people by waiving or giving new loans at concessional rates.