As we will discuss in this course, the global average temperature is rising.

This global change has different

implications in different places. Average temperature and rainfall may be changing, but also, for instance, the
timing of the rainy season, the intensity of rainfall, the duration of dry periods, the intensity of storms, just to
mention a few.
In order to gain an understanding of the way climate change may be affecting disaster risk management in
your country, please answer briefly the following background questions:
1) Describe the weather/climate-related disasters affecting your country (regardless of climate change)
2) Describe whether any unusual disasters have occurred in recent years, or particular trends in disasters
are discernible
3) If you are aware of them: describe the current or projected impacts of climate change in your country
(rising average temperature, rainfall, possibly changes in weather extremes)
In order to understand how the changing risks should be incorporated in disaster risk management in your
organization and/or your government, please answer the following questions:
4) Briefly describe your government’s disaster management structures (including both response and risk
reduction)
5) If you are aware of it: describe the coordination of climate change related issues in your country (for
instance by a climate change unit in the ministry of environment).
6) Briefly describe the role of your organization in disaster risk management in your country
7) Are you in touch with climate change specialists (for instance, at the environment ministry or national
meteorological office) for your work on disaster risk management?
8) In your opinion, is climate change being taken into account in disaster risk management strategies of your
government, and of your own organization?

Climate change is often used to denote deviations of climatic statistics over a given period (e.g. a month,
season, or year) when compared to long-term statistics for the same calendar period. Variability in
climate may be due to natural processes of the climate system (internal variability), or to variations in
external factors (external variability). It can also cause tropical zones and events like EL NINO OR LA
Nina, which influence the conditions differently causing variability. For example - if we take the
temperature of last 50 years of Delhi region, we see that there has been a change of 1.5-2 degree
Celsius in highest and lowest range of temperature of that region, but some area like hilly areas or
desert areas showing strong increase or decrease in temperature.

1. Our county is being affected by extreme weather event/climate-related disasters, following are
some of the examples:
 Flash Flood in Kedarnath 2013, due to heavy rainfall and cloud burst caused many casualties.
 In 2014 Kashmir suffered disastrous flood across many districts caused by torrential rainfall.
 Chennai flash flood of 2015 resulted from heavy rainfall by north-east monsoon.
 Bihar is suffering from flood in last few years like in 2020, 2019, 2017, 2016, 2013 and many
more years.
 Gujarat suffered the drought in 2018 and flood in 2020 which damaged the agricultural stream.
 In 2019 Rajasthan suffered heavy rainfall in the desert area and in some areas, hailstorm was
also registered.
 Hazard caused by lighting in Haridwar on 21 st July 2020.
 Floods in Assam and Bihar in 2020 and some casualties were registered due to the thunderstorm
and lighting in the Bihar.
 Cloud burst, Flash flood, drought, flood, fluctuation in precipitation patter, extreme wind events
and landslide due to flood, increase frequency and intensity of cyclone.

2. Following are some of the unusual disaster examples:

 In August 2019 Kerala faced severe damage and destruction by unusual flood.
 Bihar in 2019 faced the heat wave in which 184 lives were lost and same year flood caused 130
lives of people.
  Recently entire world including India has been hit by pandemic known as covid-19 and caused
more than 32000 casualties and more than 15,00,000 infected people. It has become major
disaster because of high number of casualties.
 In the last 10 years, country has faced a greater number of clouds burst in lower Himalayan zone
as well as flash floods events which cause the landslide also.
 Weather conditions are becoming unusual and turning extreme in terms of magnitude and
intensity like occurrence of cyclones in the Arabian sea. Rise in heat wave events in the northern
and central parts of India.
 Sea level rise causing flood like situation in many regions including Sundarbans, West Bengal etc
in India. Further our neighboring country Bangladesh is also one of the most vulnerable nations
of climate change with its low-lying coastal regions being at high risk of getting submerged due
to sea level rise.
 Torrential rains and flood during December month have been happening in Chennai for the past
few years.

3. The current or projected impacts of climate change in our country -

 Glaciers are melting at a very high speed due to global warming and thus leading to flash flood
and also increasing the sea level. Live example: Nepal affecting Bihar (India), because of
melting of glaciers in the region and flooding the rivers, water has been released to India and
causing floods.
 Weather pattern of the country has become unpredictable. The weather pattern has changed
drastically. Cherrapunji was famous for the highest rainfall in the country is now comparatively
receiving low rainfall.
 Heat waves and droughts have affected the rural population, causing scarcity of drinking water
and in urban area affecting the environmental temperature by using air-conditioners.
 Hazards facing because of increase in extreme weather condition, increase in heat and cold
waves, change in wind patterns, and sea level changes.
 Due to climate change our ecosystems are at the risk of being damaged by unusual weather
conditions like ocean acidification posing a risk of marine life in marine ecosystems.
 Unexpected extreme rainfall observed in India such as Bihar, Assam, West Bengal, Rajasthan,
Madhya Pradesh, and some other North East region and drought events have frequently been
observed in most part of India.

4. Government’s disaster management structures -

 National Disaster Management Act was enacted act in 2005 which created structure at National,
state and district level. NDMA (National Disaster Management Authority), SDMA (State Disaster
Management Authority), DDMA (District Disaster Management Authority), NEC (National
Executive committee), NDRF (National Disaster response force), NIDM (National Institute of
Disaster management) and State Disaster Management Authorities (SDMAs) are the main
government bodies responsible for disaster management planning, preparedness, response and
risk reduction.
 National Climate Change Policy (NCCP), National Climate Change Adaptation Strategy, National
Action Plan on Climate Change (NAPCC), State Action Plans on Climate Change (SAPCC) are the
government initiatives taken up for climate change adaptation, mitigation and risk reduction.
 Disaster risk reduction and more robust development planning are crucial in adapting to the
increasing risks associated with climate change.
 This is important in the face of mounting vulnerability to natural hazards, as reflected, for
instance, in rising numbers of people affected and escalating levels of economic damage.
5. The coordination of climate change related issues in our country -
 Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change (MoEFCC), Ministry of Earth Sciences
(MoES), and allied concerned state agencies are working on allied climate change issues.
 Local information on climate change, organizations also working on disaster risk reduction and
development would need to establish adequate linkages with new partners, such as national
meteorological offices or global centers of expertise on climate research.
 Mobilizing the concerned agencies and timely implementation of Climate Change Solutions is
the key, which is currently being done partially, as currently the main focus is on Covid-19.
 General patterns and trends are projected, some of the information on precise changes in risks,
particularly at the local level will remain relatively uncertain.

6. The role of your organization in disaster risk management in your country -

 Early stage warning, providing emergency service numbers, crop insurance, policy and advocacy,
warning to farmers, capacity building, agriculture insurance, and weather bulletins.
 In Skymet, I was exclusively involved in the agriculture insurance, risk mitigation, which helped
me to know the community at the local level and challenges they were facing.
7. Climate change specialists in my network working on disaster risk management
 Yes, I have working experience with Skymet weather services which is the first private weather
forecasting company in India and know the following concerned persons:
 Dr. Rajnish Ranjan, (Ex- NDMA & NIDM) now Vice President - Skymet (Disaster Management)
 Mahesh Palawat, Vice President - Skymet (Metrology and climate change)
 GP Sharma, President - Skymet (Metrology and climate change)

8. Climate change being considered in disaster risk management strategies of your government -
 Yes, addressing climate change is need of the hour and it should be considered in disaster risk
management strategies by government, and by our organization.
 Climate change is being addressed at the national level in India through national disaster
management plan NDMP 2019 and National Action Plan on Climate Change (NAPCC), it is being
further addressed at the state level and district level through State Disaster Management Plan
(SDMP), State Action Plan on Climate Change (SAPCC), and District Disaster Management Plan
(DDMP).
 In almost all cases, climate change should be considered, which can be embedded in existing risk
reduction strategies.
 Mostly hazards are now causing by climate change and increase in global warming affecting the
overall climate in almost every area.
 Timing of the rainy season, the intensity of rainfall, the duration of dry periods, the intensity of
storms, duration of cold period is changing.
 The areas which were recording very high rainfall, are now receiving less rainfall in recent years
and the areas which were facing drought, are now facing flood/ flash flood (For Ex: Rajasthan
etc) so climate change disaster risk management will help the society, government and local
stakeholders to effectively deal with it and to survive in the available resources.