New Delhi, Jun 1 (India Today): Prime Minister Narendra Modi today released the National Disaster Management Plan (NDMP). This is the first ever national plan prepared in the country.

The plan aims to make India disaster resilient and reduce loss of lives.

The plan is based on the four priority themes of the "Sendai Framework," namely: understanding disaster risk, improving disaster risk governance, investing in disaster risk reduction (through structural and non-structural measures) and disaster preparedness, early warning and building back better in the aftermath of a disaster.

Salient features of the plan

The plan covers all phases of disaster management: Prevention, Mitigation, Response and Recovery. It provides for horizontal and vertical integration among all the agencies and departments of the Government. The plan also spells out the roles and responsibilities of all levels of Government right up to Panchayat and Urban local body level in a matrix format. The plan has a regional approach, which will be beneficial not only for disaster management but also for development planning.

It is designed in such a way that it can be implemented in a scalable manner in all phases of disaster management.

It also identifies major activities such as early warning, information dissemination, medical care, fuel, transportation, search and rescue, evacuation, etc. to serve as a checklist for agencies responding to a disaster. It also provides a generalised framework for recovery and offers flexibility to assess a situation and build back better.

To prepare communities to cope with disasters, it emphasises on a greater need for Information, Education and Communication activities.