India Disasters Report II: Redefining Disasters

India Disasters Report II highlights the reality of disaster vulnerability in India due to natural causes and developmental interventions. It emphasizes the need to look at disasters as an outcome of processes rather than stand-alone events. Adopting a multidisciplinary approach, this Report emphasizes the importance of understanding the causes, effects, and complex dynamics of disasters. It asserts the need to link natural systems, social systems, and technological limitations to devise policies and action plans for disaster prevention, relief operations, and environmentally-inclusive development. With climate change becoming a global concern, India now has laws and policies, national, state, and district level administrative set-ups, and humanitarian initiatives in place for disaster preparedness and response measures. Exploring diverse issues such as vulnerability, development, environment, gender, health, and information, communication, and technology, in disasters, this Report discusses recent disasters in India and how new thinking affects policy initiatives and actual practice in disaster management. Contributors to this volume - Ravi Agarwal is Director, Toxics Link, New Delhi ; Janki Andharia is Professor, Jamsetji Tata Centre for Disaster Management, School of Habitat Studies; Nilanjana Biswas is an independent researcher in Bengaluru; Shripad Dharmadhikary is founder Manthan Adhyayan Kendra, Badwani (M.P.) and Pune (Maharashtra); Walter Fernandes is former Founder-Director and Senior Fellow, North Eastern Social Research Centre, Guwahati; Surinder Jaswal is Professor, School of Social Work, and Dean, Research & Development, Tata Institute of Social Sciences, Mumbai; Nityanand Jayaraman is an independent writer based in Chennai; Jacquleen Joseph is Associate Professor, Jamsetji Tata Centre for Disaster Management, Tata Institute of Social Sciences, Mumbai ; Unni Krishnan is Disaster Response Policy Coordinator, Plan International, London, UK; Vijoo Krishnan is Joint Secretary, All India Kisan Sabha, New Delhi ; Richard Mahapatra is Senior Editor, Down to Earth magazine, New Delhi ; Max Martin is a PhD student and Associate Tutor, Department of Geography, University of Sussex, United Kingdom; Laxmi Murthy is Consulting Editor, Himal Southasian, Kathmandu and Director, Hri Institute for Southasian Research and Exchange, Bangalore; Frederick Noronha is an independent researcher in Goa; S. Parasuraman is Director, Tata Institute of Social Sciences, Mumbai; M. Rajeevan is Scientist G, Ministry of Earth Sciences (MoES), New Delhi; Kalpana Sharma is an independent journalist and columnist, Mumbai; Himanshu Thakkar is Coordinator, South Asia Network on Dams, Rivers and People, Delhi; Christian Wolff is an independent consultant in Hyderabad.