India Disaster Report 2012

The India Disaster Report (IDR) was started as an annual documentation
effort from the year 2011, covering the major disaster events from January to
December of each year in the country. When launching the maiden issue it was
decided that this report will discuss major disasters of each year for which the
state governments had requisitioned the Central Government for supplementary
support. Further to this some unique disaster events were discussed which
reported huge loss of lives and there was a lesson to be learnt from them. The list
of disasters in which 10 or more human lives were lost was annexed at the end
of the report under three headings Road Accidents, Extreme Weather Events
and Others, along with NIDM activities. All these are covered in this issue also.
The first issue of IDR received good appreciation from various quarters for
initiating such documentation process and was also cited in many web sites
and referred by various stake holders working in Disaster Management sector.
This has encouraged the NIDM to further strengthen this process with the help
of Ministry of Home Affairs, Government of India. Further, it is to be realized
that the study of Disasters, has relevance not only for the fact that it is to be
documented but also for those in Disaster Management to learn from these
events and use these lessons as an opportunities for development.
All the figures quoted in the text and tables, are mainly taken from the
Memorandum’s submitted by the respective State Governments, and are
provisional, as these figures were not supplied primarily for documentation, and
only based on preliminary reports and enquiries. Other figures quoted are given
source of information, where ever possible.