National Institute of Disaster Management, Delhi Member of the Core Group for Drafting National Guidelines on Landslides at NDMA
Online published on 14 September, 2012.
Infrastructure is basic physical and organizational structures needed for the operation of a society or enterprise or the services and facilities necessary for an economy to function. It is a set of interconnected structural elements that provide framework and supports an entire structure of development. It includes roads, communication, power, water supply, sewerage systems etc., which are essential to enable, sustain, or enhance societal living conditions. However, infrastructure is not only the public works facilities, but also the operating procedures, management practices, development and disaster management policies that interact together with societal demand and the physical infrastructure. The large physical networks necessary for the functioning are often referred as "Hard Infrastructure" whereas "soft infrastructure" refers to the institutions/systems/procedures which are required to maintain the safety, economy, health, cultural and social standards as well as the law enforcement and emergency
The present paper focuses mainly on the soft infrastructure, with particular emphasis on landslide risk reduction related to development, maintenance and management of hard infrastructure in hilly terrains. It is well known fact that unplanned and unscientific developments have aggravated the incidences and impacts of disasters/landslides on the society as well as environment in hills, resulting in huge losses. According to an economic estimate, India loses about Rs.100 billion annually on an average due to landslides. Besides the economic losses, hundreds of human lives are lost and thousands of people become homeless and/or jobless. Considering the magnitude of landslides impacts and risks, National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA), Government of India had widespread consultations with all stakeholders and issued national guidelines for management of landslides and avalanches. The guidelines envisage systematic approach to landslides risk reduction and proposed action plans for different activities to be undertaken by organizations, professionals and communities. NDMA has also proposed a disaster risk audit for the development projects so that adverse impacts of development can be reduced as well as the risks of disasters on our development are also minimized It gives an overview of the national guidelines on management of landslides and avalanches with particular reference to infrastructure projects for mainstreaming disaster risk reduction in development.
