NCMC RECONVENES TO OVERSEE PREPAREDNESS FOR AMPHAN

Why in news?

The National Crisis Management Committee (NCMC) held a meeting to review the preparedness of States and Central Ministries/Agencies to deal with the Cyclonic Storm ‘AMPHAN’.

Expected impact of Amphan

• India Meteorological Department (IMD) has stated that the Super Cyclone is expected to impact the West Bengal coast by the afternoon/evening of 20th May.
• Very high wind speeds ranging up to 155-165 kmph gusting to 185 kmph are expected, accompanied by heavy rainfall and storm surges of 4-5 metres in the coastal districts of the State.
• The damage potential of the cyclone is expected to be higher than that of Cyclone ‘Bulbul’, which hit the West Bengal Coast on 9th November 2019.

What is done is preparedness against Amphan

• Evacuation of people from the low-lying areas is being carried out.
• All actions have been taken to stock food grains, drinking water and other essential supplies.
• Teams for maintenance and restoration of Power and Telecom services have also been positioned.
• Teams for road clearance and other restoration work were advised by NCMC to be kept ready.
• 36 teams of NDRF are currently deployed in both Odisha and West Bengal.

National Crisis Management Committee (NCMC)

• A National Crisis Management Committee is a committee set up by the Government of India headed by Cabinet Secretary.
• NCMC was set up for effective coordination and implementation of relief measures and operations in the wake of a natural calamities.
• It deals with major crisis which have serious or national ramifications.
• At the national level, Cabinet Committee on Security (CCS) and National Crisis Management Committee (NCMC) are the key committees involved in the top-level decision-making with respect to Disaster Management.
• The NCMC Oversees the Command, Control and Coordination of the disaster response, and gives directions as necessary to the Crisis Management Groups (CMG).

Composition of the NCMC:

1. Cabinet Secretary- Chairman
2. Secretary to Prime Minister Member
3. Secretary (MHA) Member
4. Secretary (MCD) Member
5. Director (IB) Member
6. Secretary (R&AW) Member
7. Secretary (Agri & Coopn.) Co-opted Member
8. An officer of Cabinet Secretariat. Convenor

National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA)

• National Disaster Management Authority, abbreviated as NDMA, is an apex Body of Government of India which was established through the Disaster Management Act enacted by the Government of India on 23 December 2005.
• Hence, NDMA is a Statutory body.
• NDMA is responsible for framing policies, laying down guidelines and best-practices for coordinating with the State Disaster Management Authorities (SDMAs) to ensure a holistic and distributed approach to disaster management.
• It is headed by the Prime Minister of India and can have up to nine other members. Since 2014, there have been four other members.
• The tenure of the members of the NDMA shall be five years.
• The phrase disaster management is to be understood to mean ‘a continuous and integrated process of planning, organising, coordinating and implementing measures, which are necessary or expedient for prevention of danger or threat of any disaster, mitigation or reduction of risk of any disaster or severity of its consequences, capacity building, preparedness to deal with any disaster, prompt response, assessing the severity or magnitude of effects of any disaster, evacuation, rescue, relief, rehabilitation and reconstruction’.