ABSTRACT
India’s geo-climatic conditions as well as its high degree of socio-economic vulnerability, make it one of the most disaster-prone countries in the world. Disaster risks in India are further compounded by increasing vulnerabilities related to changing demographics and socio-economic conditions, unplanned urbanization, development within high-risk zones, environmental degradation, climate change, geological hazards, epidemics and pandemics. All these contribute to a situation where disasters seriously threaten India’s economy, its population and sustainable development. The fact that India exists in the High-Risk category as evaluated by the INFORM Global Risk Index which measures the risk of humanitarian crises and disasters in 191 countries, must propel us to, not only be aware of this Risk but also to attempt to combat it at all levels of human endeavour.
Though it is not possible to completely avoid natural disasters, the sufferings can be minimized by creating proper awareness of the likely disasters and its impact by developing a suitable warning system, disaster preparedness and management of disasters through the application of Information Technology tools. The changing trends have opened a large number of scientific and technological resources and skills to reduce disaster risk. There are mainly applications we can use to manage disasters - GIS and Remote Sensing; Internet; Warning and Forecasting System. The paper delves into the three aspects and how they aid in utilisation of IT tools for DM.
