Ministries to handle specific disasters; MoD for avalanche, Agri for cold wave, drought, hailstorm

NEW DELHI: To effectively handle disasters, the government has designated specific ministries and departments for their monitoring, early warning, prevention, mitigation and preparedness, with the aim to ensure zero or minimum inconvenience and casualties due to the disasters.

While avalanche, oil spills will be handled by the Ministry of Defence , the Ministry of Earth Sciences will provide early warning for the cold wave, cyclone, tornado, earthquake, heat wave, lightning, tsunami, hail storms and heavy rainfall and the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare will take care biological disasters, according to a notification issued by the Ministry of Home Affairs .

The Ministry of Agriculture and Farmers Welfare has been given responsibility for frost and cold wave, drought, hailstorm and pest attack, the Ministry of Jal Shakti will handle floods, glacial lake outburst flood and Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs will take care urban floods (excluding early warning).

Ministry of Environment, Forests and Climate Change has been given the responsibility for forest fire, industrial and chemical disasters, the Ministry of Mines will handle landslides and the Department of Atomic Energy will take care nuclear and radiological emergencies.

"In exercise of the powers conferred by sub-section (1) read with clause (ha) of sub-section (2) of section 35 of the Disaster Management Act, 2005 (53 of 2005), the central government hereby notifies... the Ministries or Department of the government of India... which shall have the responsibility for monitoring, early warning, prevention, mitigation, preparedness and capacity building with regard to disaster arising from various hazards...," the notification said.