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<keyword id="58585" type="ORGANIZATION" weightage="20" keywordseo="NDRF">NDRF</keyword> or the <keyword id="119446" type="COMPANY" weightage="20" keywordseo="National-Disaster-Response-Force">National Disaster Response Force</keyword> is an exclusive body formed for the sake of providing expert and dedicated response to a disaster or a threatening disaster situation. The constitutional provision for forming this body has been made via the Disaster Management Act, 2005 section 44–45. The National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA) is the authoritative Apex Body for Disaster Management. The Prime Minister of India is the Chairman of the NDMA. Why NDRF? In the federal system of governance found in India, the responsibility of disaster management lies with the State Government. Ministry of Home affairs is the nodal ministry in the central government for managing natural disasters. When the country faces some severe calamity, the central government has the responsibility to provide the necessary assistance and aid to the affected state. This will also include the deployment of Armed Forces, National Disaster Response Force (NDRF), Central Paramilitary Forces, and the communication, air and other assets that are required and available. Authority and ranks National Disaster Response Force (NDRF) is governed by the National Disaster Management Authority. The office of the head of the NDRF is known as Director General. IPS officers are posted in this position on deputation from Indian police organizations. The Director General of NDRF holds the rank on par with the army’s three star general. In addition to the Director General, there are also many Inspector Generals and Deputy IGs in NDRF. As per their ranks, they are allowed to fly flags and also wear army style badges pertaining to their ranks. <keyword id="8020071" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="20" keywordseo="What-is-NDRF">What is NDRF</keyword> made of? NDRF is composed of 12 battalions. These battalions are organized in the same fashion like the para military forces. In fact they are also managed by persons drawn from the para military forces on deputation. The total strength of personnel in each of the battalions is 1149. Each of the NDRF battalions is capable of undertaking 18 self-contained specialist service. Their team of 45 rescue personnel consists of engineers, electricians, technicians, paramedics, medical professionals and dog squads. In addition to providing assistance during a natural disaster, the NDRF can also handle the crisis situations like a nuclear, biological, chemical and radiological disaster. Deployment The 12 battalions of NDRF are stationed at 12 different locations across the country on the basis of vulnerability profile of different locations in order to cut down the response time required for their deployment. NDMA will carry out the proactive deployment of these forces during a threatening disaster situation in consultation with the state authorities. This period is also called as the preparedness period. Functional parameters National Disaster Management Authority in India works with the objective of building a safer as well as disaster resilient India by way of developing a comprehensive, proactive and technology oriented disaster management strategy. NDRF has proved its efficiency in terms of its appreciable performance during some grave instances of landslides, floods, cyclones, building collapses and many others. The personnel in NDRF are thoroughly trained, re-trained and subjected to mock drills and joint exercises with other bodies to stay prepared to combat any arising disaster situation.

Unknown facts about NDRF

<div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table"><div><div class="image on-image">(AP Photo/Carlos Giusti, File)FILE - In this Oct. 5, 2017 file photo, Department of Homeland Security personnel deliver supplies to Santa Ana community residents in the aftermath of Hurricane Maria in Guayama, Puerto Rico. A government watchdog has found the Federal Emergency Management Agency wrongly released to a contractor the personal information of 2.3 million survivors of hurricanes Harvey, Irma and Maria and the California wildfires in 2017.</div></div></div><ul class="summary-list"><li>The Federal Emergency Management Agency's ability to respond to natural disasters has been reportedly stretched to the brink after multiple natural disasters in the last three years.</li><li><a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2019/07/12/climate/barry-storm-fema-staff.html">The New York Times reported</a> that fewer than a quarter of the agency's disaster workforce of 13,654 people is ready for deployment, with the rest already deployed elsewhere or unavailable.</li><li>The Government Accountability Office <a href="https://www.politico.com/story/2018/12/26/fema-staffing-puerto-rico-1074809">issued reports</a> over the past six years that FEMA has repeatedly lacked trained staff to aid in recovery efforts in disaster-stricken areas. </li><li><a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/">Visit the Business Insider homepage for more stories.</a> </li></ul>The Federal Emergency Management Agency's ability to respond to natural disasters has been reportedly stretched to the brink after multiple natural disasters over the last three years.<a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2019/07/12/climate/barry-storm-fema-staff.html">The New York Times reported</a> that fewer than a quarter of the agency's disaster workforce of 13,654 people is ready for deployment, with the rest already deployed elsewhere or unavailable.It continues a downward trend over the last two years. At this point in 2018, 34 percent of its emergency staff were available for deployment and 55 percent the year before.<div>"I'm worried," former FEMA director of disaster operations Elizabeth Zimmerman told The New York Times. "That's of concern, to make sure that there are enough people to respond."FEMA spokeswoman Abigail Dennis told The New York Times in a statement that the agency has grown its disaster response workforce by a quarter since Hurricane Harvey struck Texas in 2017 and that its ready to draw personnel from other agencies to make up for any shortfalls.With Tropical Storm Barry expected to make landfall Saturday along the Louisiana coast, FEMA's disaster management ability has come under new scrutiny. The Government Accountability Office <a href="https://www.politico.com/story/2018/12/26/fema-staffing-puerto-rico-1074809">issued reports</a> over the past six years that FEMA has repeatedly lacked trained staff to aid in recovery efforts in disaster-stricken areas. Shortages also forced the agency to move workers into roles the agency had not qualified them for, further prolonging recovery efforts.Read more: <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/california-governor-trump-fema-help-earthquakes-2019-7">California's governor is asking Trump for emergency assistance after major earthquakes rattled the state 2 days in a row</a>Last month, acting FEMA administrator Peter Gaynor <a href="https://homeland.house.gov/activities/hearings/assessing-femas-readiness-for-future-disasters">testified</a> to the House Committee on Homeland Security that the agency was still short-staffed by 2,000 people.While the agency implemented some reforms during the Obama administration, staffing has been a long-term issue. Its also struggled to fill its ranks due to low unemployment and declining interest among Americans in public-sector jobs, <a href="https://www.politico.com/story/2018/12/26/fema-staffing-puerto-rico-1074809">Politico reported. </a>But the accelerating tempo of natural disasters in the United States - floods, hurricanes and forest fires - have stretched FEMA, particularly after the natural disasters of 2017, which included Hurricanes Harvey, Irma, and Maria. These disasters are also becoming larger in scale with longer recovery periods that mandate more aid workers.FEMA still has 2,400 employees working on Hurricane Maria recovery efforts and 650 are helping communities recover from Hurricane Harvey. And 1,150 are still dealing with the aftermath of the devastating Midwestern floods earlier this year.</div> <div class="margin-top"> <h3>NOW WATCH: <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/armenian-revolution-serzh-sargsyan-prime-minister-armenia-2019-7">A year after Armenia's 250,000-person revolution, Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan explains what comes next for the country</a></h3> <div> </div> </div>

Multiple natural disasters have reportedly stretched FEMA's disaster response workforce to the brink

Nearly 80 hours of struggle to rescue a three-year-old boy stuck in a discarded borewell near here failed with the death of the child and retrieving of his decomposed body from a depth of 88-feet in the early hours of Tuesday. Commissioner of Revenue Administration J Radhakrishnan said those posted near the borewell noticed foul smell around 10.30 pm on Monday following which medical personnel and teams of the National Disaster Response Force (NDRF) and State Disaster Response Force (SDRF) assessed the situation. <keyword id="8261745" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="20" keywordseo="sujith-wilson">Sujith Wilson</keyword> had fallen into the disused farm borewell while playing near his house in Nadukattupatti on Friday evening, and various central and state agencies were called in to rescue him. After Radhakrishnan declared that Wilson was dead, his body was pulled out and was sent to a government hospital at Manapparai, about 40 km from here for autopsy, and was later handed over to his parents. The exercise of pulling out the body was done in keeping with the national guidelines on "managing the dead" during such circumstances, he said in reply to a question. Tiruchirappalli district collector S Sivarasu told reporters at Nadukattupatti village that personnel of the national and state disaster response force personnel retrieved the body. Earlier on Monday, a heavy German-made drilling machine was deployed to dig a parallel shaft to reach the boy stuck at a depth of 88 feet, but rescue efforts were hampered by rocky soil and rain. Two Fire and Rescue Services personnel were lowered into the freshly drilled shaft, using a ladder and with all necessary support like oxygen, for initial assessment of the condition inside. The collector said, "Three loads of redimix concrete has been ordered and I will not leave this spot without closing the defunct borewell and as well as the parallel hole dug up for the rescue effort." As the boy's body arrived, a pall of gloom descended on the village and people lined up to pay their last respects. Police personnel have been deployed in adequate numbers to maintain law and order. Later, the body was buried in a local cemetery. Health Minister C Vijayabaskar and his Cabinet colleagues, including Vellamandi Natarajan, paid their last respects to the boy at the hospital. DMK chief M K Stalin, and leaders of political parties also condoled the death.

A 3-year old was stuck 88 feet under ground in a borewell for 72 hours before losing his life

<ul class="summary-list"><li>Hurricane and <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/california-wildfire-crisis-getting-worse-climate-change-2019-10">wildfire seasons</a> in the US both begin in June.</li><li>The US probably won't have its <keyword id="1754604" type="PERSON" weightage="60" keywordseo="coronavirus">coronavirus</keyword> outbreak under control by then, so officials are scrambling to prepare for the likely intersection of at least two major disasters this summer or fall.</li><li>Disaster management and relief will almost certainly be hampered by the pandemic, since social distancing would be compromised as people evacuate and emergency personnel mobilize. </li><li><a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/?hprecirc-bullet">Visit Business Insider's homepage for more stories</a>.</li></ul>In the last 10 years, California experienced four of its five <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/california-wildfire-crisis-getting-worse-climate-change-2019-10">biggest fires</a> ever. The US's fifth consecutive season of above-average hurricane activity is expected this summer.The 2020 hurricane and wildfire seasons are imminent: June 1 marks the official beginning of hurricane season, and the last of California's snowpack is expected to melt within weeks of that. So it's very likely that a <keyword id="54165" type="EVENT" weightage="60" keywordseo="natural-disaster">natural disaster</keyword> will come before the US is able to get its coronavirus outbreak under control.Americans in California and the Gulf Coast could be caught in the crossfire as the two intersect.Given that social distancing is key to minimizing the coronavirus' spread, emergency officials are already beginning to plan for the ways the pandemic will fundamentally change how Americans evacuate at-risk areas and how personnel respond to fires and storms."We will see concurrent disasters. The only variable is when and how big it will be," Jeff Schlegelmilch, deputy director at Columbia University's National Center for Disaster Preparedness, told Business Insider. "A major disaster will be made worse by <keyword id="8763838" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="60" keywordseo="covid-19">COVID-19</keyword>, and COVID-19 will be made worse by another major disaster. There is no way around that."<h2>COVID-19 will intersect with a natural disaster</h2><div type="image" title="FILE - In this Sept. 10, 2017 file photo, waves crash over a seawall at the mouth of the Miami River from Biscayne Bay, Fla., as Hurricane Irma passes by in Miami. In his first 10 months in office, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis has appointed a science officer, established a czar on climate change and pushed action against red tide and algae blooms. (AP Photo/Wilfredo Lee)" height="2120" width="3144" msid="75718777" hostid="261"></div>The National Interagency Fire Center <a href="https://www.predictiveservices.nifc.gov/outlooks/monthly_seasonal_outlook.pdf">expects</a> a higher-than-normal risk of large fires in northern California and parts of the Pacific Northwest starting in June. The 2020 hurricane season, meanwhile, is slated to be above average in terms of activity, according to projections from <a href="https://engr.source.colostate.edu/csu-researchers-predicting-active-2020-atlantic-hurricane-season/">Colorado State University</a> and <a href="https://www.accuweather.com/en/hurricane/accuweathers-2020-atlantic-hurricane-season-forecast/705233">AccuWeather</a>. One model suggests there's <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/weather/2020/04/02/above-average-atlantic-hurricane-season-predicted-including-possible-major-hurricane-strike/">a nearly 70% chance</a> that at least one major hurricane (Category 3 or higher) will make landfall in the US.Climate change <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/summer-heat-waves-wildfires-link-to-climate-change-2019-7">increases the severity and likelihood</a> of storms and fires, and the last five years were the hottest ever on Earth. The trend is is anticipated to continue in 2020. The intersection of severe weather and COVID-19 is already happening in the southeastern US, which is experiencing its <a href="https://weather.com/storms/tornado/news/2020-04-27-2020-tornado-outbreaks-south-impacts">deadliest tornado year</a> since 2012. Nearly 50 people have died.<div type="image" title="tornado " height="1333" width="2000" msid="75718784" hostid="261"></div><h2>The coronavirus complicates evacuation orders and emergency shelters</h2>Throughout the coronavirus pandemic, messaging from public <keyword id="6354750" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="60" keywordseo="health">health</keyword> officials has been consistent: "Stay home, prevent the spread of the virus." But once a major hurricane is heading for the US, staying home will prove too dangerous for residents of high-risk areas. Trevor Riggen, senior vice president for disaster cycle services at the American Red Cross, told Business Insider that the organization has been "planning for the impact of the pandemic since late-January."<div type="image" title="Hurricane Matthew evacuation efforts us army relief disaster" height="1956" width="2935" msid="75718786" hostid="261"></div>The <a href="https://weather.com/health/coronavirus/news/2020-03-24-red-cross-evacuation-shelters-new-guidelines-coronavirus">Red Cross</a> recently adapted some of its disaster management protocols to keep its staff, volunteers, and evacuees safe during the outbreak. The organization is using laptops and other mobile technology to limit person-to-person contact when assessing damages and providing emotional and financial support for impacted families. The guidelines also call for volunteers to deliver supplies, rather than distributing food and other emergency items a central location.The biggest protocol tweak the Red Cross has made, according to Riggen, is that the organization is already working with state officials to identify and prepare hotels and dormitories for those who need to flee their homes. Usually, displaced people are housed in Red Cross shelters that open following a disaster. "We'd like to not open one at all if we can avoid it," Riggen said.These guidelines have already come into play with the recent tornadoes. <a href="https://apnews.com/beba94b079b531b0dc24771b2ee3d1bd">According to the Associated Press</a>, about 550 people across four states stayed in hotel rooms paid for by the Red Cross — rather than shelters — after the of twisters destroyed homes in April.<div type="image" title="hurricane florence shelter" height="3400" width="4534" msid="75718791" hostid="261"></div>Riggen noted, however, that future disasters could impact more people than hotels and dorms can accommodate. "When we do need to open a shelter, we're going to make sure it's safe enough that families feel secure evacuating there and removing themselves from harm's way," he said.That will involve instituting temperature checks at the door, requiring everyone to wear masks, creating a separate facility for evacuees with COVID-19 symptoms, staffing the shelter with healthcare workers, separating cots 6 feet apart, and serving meals individually, rather than cafeteria style.<div type="image" title="red cross" height="2030" width="3000" msid="75718798" hostid="261"></div>Greg Brunelle, vice-president of global engagement and emergency management for the California company One Concern, told Business Insider that he expects greater fear of outsiders who flee disasters than has been seen in other years. "We need to reassure the people in those places that may receive disaster refugees that states and localities are taking every measure to protect them and the people who are evacuating," he said. Despite all these preparations, however, the exposure risks of travel, coupled with fears about the safety of crowded emergency shelters, will likely lead more Americans to try to ride out storms at home this year. Even during a regular season, many people are reluctant to evacuate ahead of a hurricane, since doing so is costly and requires access to transportation. Plus, not all families have nearby friends or relatives with whom to shelter.<h2>It's 'almost impossible' to keep firefighters safe from COVID-19</h2>The same challenges around evacuations and shelters apply to Californians fleeing a blaze; but then add to that the need for firefighters to stay 6 feet apart.Typically, after a major fire sparks, thousands of firefighters come to the area and set up a nearby camp, where they stay until the fire is brought under control."Picture it this way: You have 1,400-plus firefighters sitting on 5 acres of land, and there are facilities to house them, wash their clothes, maintain and store their equipment," Tim Edwards, president of the Cal Fire Local 2881 union, told Business Insider. "It's almost impossible to keep your 6-foot distancing and feed these guys."<div type="image" title="firefighters" height="2133" width="3200" msid="75718804" hostid="261"></div>It's also challenging to keep equipment and vehicles sanitized during a fire, and wearing protective masks can make it difficult for firefighters to communicate with each other. Cal Fire, like the Red Cross, is looking into measures that would minimize coronavirus risk, like temperature checks and isolating individual fire crews from one another. But Edwards said it's not realistic to properly fight both COVID-19 and major fires.<div type="image" title="inmate california firefighters" height="2200" width="3300" msid="75718815" hostid="261"></div>What's more, the coronavirus may already be increasing the threat of <keyword id="394841" type="PERSON" weightage="60" keywordseo="wildfires">wildfires</keyword>, since the US Forest Service suspended prescribed fires — which lower fire risk — during the pandemic out of concern that smoke generated would affect Californians with compromised airways. So crews haven't cleared the vegetation that serves as fuel.<h2>A dearth of emergency personnel and mutual aid between states </h2>In March, President Donald Trump tapped FEMA (the Federal Emergency Management Agency, which is responsible for responding to natural disasters) to lead the US's response to the coronavirus pandemic. The agency is working with the Department of Health and Human Services to procure and distribute <a href="https://www.fema.gov/blog/2020-03-24/fema-leads-whole-america-coronavirus-operations">additional medical supplies and ventilators</a> to state, local, tribal, and territorial governments. A FEMA spokesperson told Business Insider in an email that the agency has enough personnel to fight a two-front war."FEMA currently has over 3,035 employees supporting the COVID-19 pandemic response out of more than 20,443 agency employees who are prepared to respond to other emergencies should they occur," the statement said.But Brock Long, the former FEMA administrator, told Business Insider that responding to overlapping disasters requires more than just one agency. "Disaster response and recovery is locally executed, state managed, and federally supported. It's a team sport," Long said.So even if FEMA's resources aren't compromised, the pandemic is still likely to create roadblocks for local responses."I am concerned that many of the first waves of response that survivors depend on during a disaster, including first responders, neighbors helping neighbors, and volunteers who travel from out of state to help with clean-up, cooking, and donate much needed supplies, will all be constrained because of the public health crisis," Caela O'Connell, an anthropologist at the University of North Carolina, told Business Insider.<div type="image" title="hurricane harvey" height="1092" width="2000" msid="75718820" hostid="261"></div>Usually, fire-struck or storm-struck states rely on mutual aid from neighboring states in the form of supplies and personnel. "That may not be the case this year," Brunelle said.Read the original article on <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/plan-for-hurricanes-wildfires-emergency-coronavirus-outbreak-2020-5">Business Insider</a>

A hurricane or wildfire will likely hit while the US is still fighting the coronavirus, compounding both disasters. Officials are preparing now.

The June 2013 disaster in <keyword id="44522" type="CITY" weightage="100" keywordseo="Uttarakhand">Uttarakhand</keyword> is unforgettable for the heavy loss of human life, as well as the economic and ecological damages it caused. However, the inadequate disaster management and delayed response from the government were even more ominous. 
 While heavy rain (more than 375% of normal rainfall) inundated Uttarakhand and the surrounding areas, it also led to the melting of the Chorabari Glacier and the <keyword id="30363" type="PERSON" weightage="100" keywordseo="Mandakini">Mandakini</keyword> burst its banks, resulting in the region’s worst-ever flooding in five decades. 
 
Government officials committed many errors that had a direct bearing on the tragedy: 
· Early weather warnings went unheeded. Otherwise, the loss of human life would have been lower. 
· Haphazard development with hotels near the waterways, extensive tunnelling for badly planned roads and more than 70 hydroelectric projects have created a serious environmental imbalance. 
· Private sources put it to over 5,000 deaths. As the flooding occurred during peak pilgrimage season, more than 70,000 pilgrims were stranded with little or no food for over three days. 
 
Total economic loss is estimated at Rs 20,000 crore. The damage to infrastructure such as roads, hydro projects and housing will be difficult to overcome. As tourism accounts for almost 30% of Uttarakhand’s GDP, road and other infrastructural damage means the state government has to ask tourists to stay away, leading to loss of economic activities. 
 
Disaster management While the <keyword id="107430" type="ORGANIZATION" weightage="100" keywordseo="National-Disaster-Management-Authority">National Disaster Management Authority</keyword> (NDMA) and the National Disaster Response Force (NDRF), along with the Indian Army and Indian Air Force, did their best, it was not enough. The NDMA and the NDRF have to be better equipped, especially in terms of communications, to properly manage quick relief work. The director general of the NDRF has been changed every year for the past nine years, causing a lack of continuity in this body. Moreover, we don’t have fully trained and fully equipped disaster management personnel. The locals are not trained either or opt to work with the authorities. Early and prompt action is vital for all disaster management and this requires active involvement of the locals. 
 
Local people should be made aware of the problems likely to occur and must be taught how to respond to those. Each region or locality should have a rescue shelter and a command network in place. In other words, public awareness of ecology and environmental issues is a must. The government has to work with the people to protect the environment. Also, weather warnings should be taken seriously and government officials should focus more on prevention in order to minimise such losses. 
 
A comprehensive Himalayan environment and ecology plan covering all the Indian states concerned should be drawn up and implemented. Experts even advocate an international policy in co-operation with other countries such as China, Nepal and Bhutan. 
 
Uttarakhand today is focusing on rebuilding its infrastructure and preventing further ecological damage. The state has already reconstructed a major part of its roads, bridges and communication infrastructure. However, this should top the priority list now as transport and communication are extremely vital to keep the economy going in this mountain state. 
 
Only last month, the government reopened the Char Dham Yatra for the pilgrims, which can revive the tourism-based economy to some extent, bringing in the badly needed tourist money to the state. The government has also been criticised for the slow pace in rebuilding houses and infrastructure, and thus generating employment. 
 
The state government has come under fire for the irregular disbursal of compensation – Rs 2 lakh for every affected family and Rs 3,000 per month for two years as rental compensation to each of the 3,320 families that lost their houses. An additional compensation of Rs 5 lakh for building a house on the land owned by a family did not help either. That is because the families that lost their homes in the floods found it difficult to prove land ownership as all their belongings had been washed away. In many cases, the land itself no longer exists and it is still unclear where the new dwellings can be built. Understandably, the government will have to reassess and speed up the relief and rehabilitation process for genuine sufferers. 
 
Additionally, the government is taking steps to ensure proper development of watershed areas, water supply and sanitation. Loans to the tune of $121.20 million for a decentralised watershed development project and $24 million for rural sanitation and water supply have been obtained from the World Bank. 
 
Employment issues 
Uttarakhand is now witnessing third highest level of unemployment across the country. The state has a largely rural economy and last year’s dislocation of the tourism industry and loss of homes have increased unemployment and forced many to migrate. 
 
The failure of industrialisation also contributes to unemployment in the state. The government has to first ensure that the rural areas have access to sufficient clean water, land and clean environment. It should also actively support local agriculture and other employment-generating activities. 
 
The government is currently working towards better forest management and planned hydroelectricity management. Two of the country’s major rivers, the Ganga and the Yamuna, originate in Uttarakhand and responsible handling of these river projects is not only crucial for the state but for the entire country. 
 
However, Uttarakhand is gradually overcoming the impact of the natural disaster that struck last year and rebuilding itself. But how fast it can be back on the prosperity track is the key question now.

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Unknown facts about NDRF

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Multiple natural disasters have reportedly stretched FEMA's disaster response workforce to the brink

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A 3-year old was stuck 88 feet under ground in a borewell for 72 hours before losing his life

PTI

A hurricane or wildfire will likely hit while the US is still fighting the coronavirus, compounding both disasters. Officials are preparing now.

Aylin Woodward

Uttarakhand: Dealing With The Disaster Aftermath In The Abode Of Gods

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