Making India Disaster Resilient

Various natural and man-made hazards are nowadays increasingly considered as disasters, particularly by individual and communities are lacking in awareness and where a system as a whole has no adequate management mechanism. Consequently, the world is facing serious negative outcome in form of loss of life, injury, disability, loss of property, infrastructure, and economic disruption followed by psycho-social disorders. Other than this, disasters adversely affect wildlife and environment in long terms. Developing countries are worst sufferers as these regions are poorly prepared for potential hazards at one hand and are exposed to disasters due to the complexity of (socio-cultural, economic and physical) vulnerability. Government, World communities, NGOs are recognizing the problems and are trying to build resilient communities to reduce disaster impact at various levels.Year 1990-99 was observed as the decade for natural disaster reduction by United Nations (UN) and United Nations International Strategy for Disaster Reduction (UNISDR) was established to support and coordinate this movement. Year 2015 has been very important in the history as three global agreements have been signed by global communities (Sustainable development goals, Paris agreement and Sendai framework for DRR). Where, SDGs are extension of MDGs to make the planet more sustainable. It proposed 17 goals and 15 years’ time frame adopted in the year 2015. SDGs target various social, cultural, economic, challenges followed by wildlife, environmental protection through knowledge share and technological innovation among all member countries. In December 2015, UNFCCC reached a landmark agreement to combat climate change and to accelerate and intensify the actions and investments needed for a sustainable low carbon future known as Paris agreement. Sendai Framework 2015 is voluntary, non-binding agreement which recognizes that the state has the primary role to reduce disaster risk but that responsibility should be shared with other stakeholders including local government, the private sector and other stakeholders. This framework focuses on the pre-disaster management rather than post disaster relief and recovery. This book is an insight into the various issues related to the emerging disasters (both natural and man-made), vulnerable communities, and government initiatives taken with a geographical focus on India. This volume contains selected papers written by faculty and research scholars. This book is an empirical work on disasters vulnerabilities and management which will benefit researchers, academicians, professional, practitioners and policy makers.

Dr. Vishwa Raj Sharma, Professor at the Department of Geography, Shaheed Bhagat Singh College, University of Delhi, with more than 20 years of teaching and research experience. He received Ph.D. from the Department of Geography, Delhi School of Economics, University of Delhi. His field of specialization is environmental issues, urban planning and disaster management. He has published a number of research papers in national and international journals. His recent book ‘Making Cities Resilient’ published from Springer, Switzerland in 2023. He participated and presented research papers in many conferences in India and abroad, such as International Geographical Union (IGU) conferences held at Kyoto, Japan (2013), Krakow, Poland (2014), IGU Moscow, Russia (2015) and IGU Congress in Beijing, China (2016), IGU, Paris, France (2022) and ICSSR-JSPS joint academic program in March 2023 in Japan as a lead collaborator.He completed a major research project entitled “Appraisal of Urban Growth Dynamics and Pollution using GIS Techniques along River Yamuna”, sponsored by Indian Council of Social Science Research (ICSSR) under IMPRESS Scheme. He worked as a co-investigator of the international research project ‘Emerging Mega Regions and Socio-Economic Developments in Contemporary India: A Study of Delhi Mega Region, sponsored by Hiroshima University, Japan’. He completed Major Research Project entitled ‘Sustainable Tourism Management in Agra: Carrying Capacity Assessment and Modelling’ sponsored by the Indian Council of Social Science Research (ICSSR) in the capacity of project director. He worked as Principal Investigator of two Innovation Research Projects ‘Monitoring and Modeling Socio-Economic Impact of Land Use/Cover and Pollution along River Yamuna in Delhi’ (2013-2014) and ‘Earthquake Disaster Vulnerability Assessment and Management in Delhi’ sponsored by University of Delhi (2015-2016).He has been the convener of several national conferences and workshops and chaired and co-chaired sessions in conferences. Many institutions invited him to deliver lectures and talks from time to time. He received travel grants from University Grants Commission (UGC) in 2013 and 2016 and from Indian National Science Academy (INSA) in 2014 and ICSSR in 2022 to participate in international conferences abroad.He contributed as a working group member for the revision of the Courses in University of Delhi and IGNOU. Presently he is the Academic Council Member of Dr. Bhim Rao Ambedkar University, Agra. He is also supervising and guiding Ph.D. students in University of Delhi. He contributed immensely in administrative, academic, cultural and social life of the college and University like Deputy Superintendent, Examinations, and Chief Coordinator admissions in SBS College.He is a life member of several Academic and Professional bodies like NAGI, National Association of Geographers India, AGS, Association for Geographical Studies, Executive Member of Association for Geographical Stu