ABSTRACT
Covid-19, despite being the biggest global disaster since last 100 years, has been visualised and handled across the world, more as a health and medical emergency rather than a disaster. However, keeping in view the peculiar challenges it posed because of prolonged physical, social and economic impact; dealing with the pandemic of such magnitude requires an integrated approach across all the sectors for planning, preparedness, response and recovery measures. Covid-19 or any other pandemic vastly differs from other disasters, especially in spatial and temporal domain. In fact, all the chemical, biological, radiological and nuclear (CBRN) disasters/emergencies have peculiar dimensions, and impact differently. Hence, CBRN disasters/emergencies are required to be managed differently in a holistic manner at the strategic and operational level during each cycle of disaster management. After enactment of Disaster Management (DM) Act 2005, an integrated institutional framework for disaster management for all types of disasters, including CBRN emergencies/disasters, has evolved in India. Consequently, disaster management authorities at national, state and district level have been instituted, and a comprehensive national disaster management policy; several guidelines for different disasters, including CBRN disasters/emergencies, and National Disaster Management plan have been issued by the National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA). A dedicated National Disaster Response Force (NDRF) to provide specialised response has also been created. For holistic capacity development, the National Institute for Disaster management (NIDM) has been established. The said institutional framework, which evolved in last 15 years, improved the preparedness and response to certain natural disasters; however, keeping in view the challenges encountered during Covid-19, it apparently falls short to handle CBRN disasters/emergencies. In this paper, besides analysing existing framework, distinct characteristics and likely impact of CBRN disasters/emergencies requiring different measures for preparedness, immediate response, mitigation and recovery have been deliberated. Accordingly, the adequacy of relevant aspects of the existing institutional framework for management of CBRN disaster/emergency in India have been analysed. Besides exploring various primary and secondary sources, in this paper the experience of Covid-19 has also been factored to arrive at findings and recommendations to improve upon the existing framework, which may enable holistic and effective management of CBRN disasters/emergencies in the future.
