Institutional framework and administrative systems for effective disaster risk governance - Perspectives of 2013 Cyclone Phailin in India

Risk Governance mechanism is guided by the administrative systems and institutional framework of the central and provincial governments. Policies and legislations related to the risk management are paramount towards defining the efficiency of the on-ground implementation of the Disaster Management Plan. The present study will analyse the efficacy of robust national level institutional system on India in the form of Disaster Management Act 2005 along with a wide range of National Level Institutions related to early warning, meteorology, remote sensing, information and communication technology, satellite technology, disaster response management, which have substantially contributed to high level of preparedness, in term of effective response to disaster in the light of a category 5 tropical cyclone Phailin, which struck the east coast of India in October 2013.The study principally examines the effectiveness of the Indian policy pertaining to the disaster management in achieving its intended outcome, i.e. achieving effective mitigation and response to a disaster thereby minimising the casualties and losses to the community caused by the cyclone Phailin, India in 2013. It is also analysed how the implementation of the policy enabled the government of the Indian state of Odisha to minimize the casualties and damage to property, in stark contrast to the 1999 Super Cyclone in the same state of India where over 10,000 people died. This was a remarkable achievement considering the havoc anarchy among administration in the year 1999, when Odisha was challenged by the similar intensity cyclone.