Strengthen institutions at lower levels and focus on communities at risk - Reshmi

"It is important for us to continue strengthening the institutions we set up post-tsunami and take it to the lower levels of governance. Simultaneously, we have to bring back the focus on to communities at risk and strengthen their resilience through sustained efforts by both governmental and non-governmental actors." 

 - Reshmi Theckethil, UNDP India

Looking back, one of the significant responses at the national level to the large sale devastation unleashed by the tsunami was the enactment of the Disaster Management Act in 2005. Though efforts had been underway since the publication of the Report by the High Powered Committee on Disaster Management in 2001, the tsunami gave a “real push” for the Bill to become an Act.

As of today we have an institutional setup in the country from national to the district level with the mandate to undertake disaster management activities. While this has been a huge accomplishment, we still have a long way to go towards strengthening these institutions, building capacities of people in these institutions to carry out their responsibilities and more importantly for disaster risk management to become a part of all developmental activities.