Vulnerability Profile of India
🧭 Why Study Vulnerability?
Before we prepare for disaster management, we must first ask: “Vulnerable to what, and where?”
Just like a doctor needs to diagnose before treatment, a disaster manager needs to understand vulnerability — the degree to which people, property, or systems are likely to be affected by a hazard.
India, due to its vast size, varied geography, and dense population, is one of the most disaster-prone countries in the world.
🌏 India’s Overall Vulnerability
According to the UN Office for Disaster Risk Reduction (UNISDR) Report, 2017,
👉 India ranked among the most disaster-prone countries globally in terms of displacement of residents due to disasters.
Now let’s understand the statistics that reflect this vulnerability:
| Indicator | Vulnerability Status |
|---|---|
| States/UTs prone to disasters | 28 out of 36 |
| Area vulnerable to single or multiple disasters | ~85% of India’s land area |
| High seismic zones | ~57% of total area |
| Flood-prone area | ~40 million hectares |
| Cyclone-prone area | ~8% of land mass (mainly eastern & western coasts) |
| Drought-prone area | ~68% of total geographical area |
So, nearly every part of India faces some kind of disaster — natural or man-made.
🗺️ Regional Distribution of Vulnerabilities
Let’s break this into India’s five distinct physical regions, each facing its own dominant hazards:
| Region | Major Hazards |
|---|---|
| Himalayan Region | Earthquakes, landslides, glacial lake outburst floods (GLOFs) |
| Indo-Gangetic Plains | Floods (Ganga, Brahmaputra, Kosi, etc.) |
| Desert (Western India) | Droughts and famine due to erratic rainfall |
| Coastal Zone (Eastern & Western coasts) | Cyclones, tsunamis, storm surges, coastal erosion |
| Plateau Region (Central & Southern India) | Droughts, mining-related land degradation, forest fires |
👉 UPSC Tip: You can easily draw a map showing these regions with arrows indicating the major disaster types — very effective for a 10-marker or map-based question. Try it yourself.
🌳 Anthropogenic (Man-made) Vulnerabilities
Natural disasters often become catastrophic because of human actions that intensify their impact.
Some major anthropogenic causes include:
- Deforestation → reduces slope stability → triggers landslides, floods.
- Unscientific construction and urbanisation → buildings in seismic zones or flood plains without safety norms.
- Faulty agricultural practices → over-irrigation, groundwater depletion, salinisation — increasing drought vulnerability.
- Industrial and chemical hazards → due to poor enforcement of safety regulations.
💡 Concept Reminder:
A hazard is natural; a disaster happens only when that hazard meets unprepared people and weak systems.
So, human mismanagement converts a hazard into a disaster.
🧱 Institutional Tool: Vulnerability Atlas of India (2019 Edition)
▶️ Released by the Building Materials and Technology Promotion Council (BMPTC), this is an essential technical document for disaster preparedness and planning.
Purpose:
- To map and quantify the vulnerability of India’s regions to various hazards.
- To guide engineers, architects, and planners in adopting safer construction practices.
Features of the 3rd Edition (2019):
- Provides state-wise maps and tables for six major hazards:
- Earthquakes
- Wind and Cyclones
- Floods
- Landslides
- Thunderstorms
- Housing stock vulnerability
- Indicates risk levels for different house types — kutcha, semi-pucca, pucca, etc.
- Helps in identifying high-risk zones for prioritising retrofitting and resilience building.
👉 Example:
If a state like Bihar or Assam shows high vulnerability to floods in the Atlas, local planning must emphasize flood-resilient housing, drainage design, and embankment reinforcement.
🏛️ Nodal Ministries for Various Disasters (from your attached chart)
Every type of disaster in India has a designated nodal ministry or department responsible for policy, preparedness, and coordination.
Let’s look at some key ones in a simplified table:
| Disaster Type | Nodal Ministry / Department |
|---|---|
| Biological (Pandemics, Epidemics) | Ministry of Health & Family Welfare |
| Chemical / Industrial | Ministry of Environment, Forests & Climate Change |
| Civil Aviation Accidents | Ministry of Civil Aviation |
| Cyclone / Tsunami / Earthquake | Ministry of Earth Sciences |
| Floods | Ministry of Jal Shakti (earlier MoWR) |
| Forest Fires | Ministry of Environment, Forests & Climate Change |
| Drought / Hailstorm / Cold Wave / Pest Attack | Ministry of Agriculture & Farmers Welfare |
| Landslides | Ministry of Mines |
| Avalanche | Ministry of Defence |
| Nuclear / Radiological Emergencies | Department of Atomic Energy |
| Railway Accidents | Ministry of Railways |
| Road Accidents | Ministry of Road Transport & Highways |
| Urban Floods | Ministry of Housing & Urban Affairs |
🌎 Why India’s Vulnerability Matters Globally
- India’s large population means that any disaster here affects millions — globally significant in scale.
- It’s part of the tropical monsoon belt, where hazards like floods, cyclones, and droughts are frequent.
- India’s rapid urbanisation, coastal development, and climate change impacts are compounding existing vulnerabilities.
Thus, India’s disaster risk profile directly influences global humanitarian and climate resilience strategies.
🧭 Essence
“Disasters are not just about nature’s fury — they are about society’s fragility.”
India’s vulnerability is not accidental; it’s structural — born out of our geography, but worsened by our greed and neglect.
Hence, disaster management in India must begin not in the control room, but in the planning room — with policies, preparedness, and people’s participation.”
