The last decade witnessed several disasters in India, including earthquakes, landslides, floods, cyclones and droughts with large losses of life and property. The trend in annual losses has been markedly upward, and appears to be related to the greater exposure of a larger number of people and infrastructure to natural disasters and the attendant manifold increase in risk, the underlying reasons for which are population growth and increase in aerial extent of habitation in vulnerable areas. These losses are a massive drain on the exchequer. It is clear that massive efforts have to be mounted – to improve our performance in dealing with disasters and to develop a sound scientific strategy for disaster mitigation.
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