India’s size and diversity makes it one of the the most disaster-prone countries in Asia. Large coastal areas in the south suffer from cyclones, while the northern mountainous areas suffer from landslides and floods, and droughts regularly affect the country’s central region.
Every year, these result in a huge loss of lives, damage infrastructure, and disrupt vital services. The country’s National Disaster Management Agency (NDMA) has just announced plans to build a national disaster database by 2020, which it hopes will help minimise the impact.
GovInsider finds out why this is crucial from Rajesh Sharma, a disaster risk information and application specialist at the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) – one of the UN agencies working on the project with the Indian Government.
[...]