Disaster Management in India

India is vulnerable to various natural disasters due to its varied geo-climatic conditions. The natural disasters such as droughts, floods, cyclones, earth quakes, tsunamis, landslides, forest fires, hail storms, volcanic eruptions, locusts etc cause great destruction to human life, environment and economy. Although the natural disasters cannot be controlled and ceased when occurred, efforts can be made to avoid them and decrease the affect of the natural disasters on human lives, properties and infrastructure. Disaster management requires continuous effort of being alert and it should be attempted to bring all the disasters under the vision of management. The response to disaster is not merely sufficient as it yields only temporary results at very huge cost. It is important to define various preventive measures to avert disasters. Prevention and mitigation of disasters improves the safety of human lives and environment. Disaster prevention, mitigation and preparedness are considered to be better than disaster response in achieving the goals and objectives of vulnerability reduction. The paper highlights on various relief elements of disaster management which contribute to sustainable development of the country.